It’d been 18 years since my last U2 gig – I tried to hitch hike with a friend to Paris (we ended up catching a bus…) but we did get to see Velvet Undergound supporiting the great U2 on their ZOOROPA tour on a gorgeous day in the open air.
Last night I witnessed the 360 event in full flight on u2’s opening night of the UK leg of their world tour.
Great things about the gig:
1. Visuals
The 360 claw is an amazingly imposing structure. It looks like a Klingon Space cruiser has landed. The screen is very impressive even when it is on TV mode when the warm up acts are on. But when “Vertigo” kicks in or “Crazy Tonight” it really comes online – I have never seen anything like it. It makes you feel you are on a theme park ride and you are travelling at a 100mph when in fact you are quite still and the screen is the only thing moving. Our seats were pretty high up – so having the screen was a must.
2. Energy
The band basically did a 2 hour set – with only a 60 second break – Bono’s stamina was very impressive he was bopping and dancing almost the whole time. His voice held out really well too. I kind of felt sorry for the rest of the band because he is such an incredible front man – we hardly heard from the rest of them. Larry Mullen Jnr on drums had a great night – but he has gone from looking like the youngest member of the band to the oldest. Adam Clayton ( I just found out he was born just up the road from me in Chinnor) was wearing some very bizarre sparkly shirt – I still can’t believe Naomi Campbell and him were an item at one stage…. Edge wore his trademark hat all night even though it was very warm where we were so under the billion candlepower lamps he was under I don’t know how he managed to keep the hat on and the lumberjack shirt… So the energy the guys generated was incredible. Elbow had an enourmous ensemble and yet they did not produce half the sheer presence of this four man band.
3. Elbow
It was such a treat to have Elbow as the supporting act. I’ve been a fan since this last album. Guy Garvey the front man came across as a very affable bloke. He must have been either very drunk or very nervous because his eloquence so apparent on the album was completely missing in his banter with the crowd, which mainly consisted of “are you ok?” , “are you ok over there?”, “are you still ok?” But his voice was amazingly pure, strong, clear and pitch perfect. Elbow did an excellent job – and would gladly have listened to another hour of them. Most people didn’t bother sitting down to enjoy Elbow and it wasn’t until they played “One day like this” that the audience really got involved with the music.
4. Back Catalogue
I am not a fan of the new album, “No line on the horizon” but U2 still kicked off with four songs in a row from the album. But it felt like the gig only started when started when the band played “Beautiful Day”
Breathe
No Line on the Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
Elevation
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
Unknown Caller
The Unforgettable Fire
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
MLK
Walk On
Where The Streets Have No Name
One
Mysterious Ways
Encore:
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender
Having given the new album a good listen and after the concert – Unknown caller has grown on me.
So that means i now quite like: Magnificent, Stand up for your love, Unknown Caller and a little bit of Sexy boots – so the album isn’t a dead loss…
5. Political dimension
The emotional heart of the concert was Walk On which was dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate. Bono sung her MLK almost as a lullaby. Not that many people had a Aung San mask to wear – but I love the idealism, the passion and the commitment to the poor this band show.
More will follow…