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By Devlin Smith, Contributing Editor
2005.03
When during the band's encore set, Bono said that the Vertigo Tour was made from "the best bits from the last tour and some stuff no one could imagine before," I got a little nervous. Certainly the tour opener at the San Diego Sports Arena blew me away, but there definitely were certain aspects of the show that seemed familiar. Was this tour already shaping up to be U2's swan song?
The stage, which I got my first glimpse of during Kings of Leon's lackluster performance, was small, much smaller than what I remembered from the Elevation Tour, but still carried through the basic idea of the heart stage (except this time it's an ellipse, or egg, that fans gather inside of). The four screens that showed each band member during Elevation shows were back as well, only this time it was one long screen that could show either a single image or be broken in to fours to focus on Bono, Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. The lighting effects were taken from the PopMart and ZooTV stages.
With all this looking back in the stage design, and a set list that featured nearly as many songs pre-"Acthung Baby" as post (there was even a "Boy" reference thrown into "Vertigo"), was U2 trying to put a bow on its impressive career and call it a day?
That would be an easy call to make for someone who only saw pictures of the stage and caught the set list in the paper or online, but for someone who was in the audience, Monday's show proved that U2 truly is at the top of its game. The band sounded amazing from start to finish, its music both sonically tight and fluid. And even though Bono said at the end of the main set, "You can screw up a little. We're amongst friends, right?" I couldn’t name a single blunder.
(Photo courtesy of Devlin Smith)
Each band member has come to perfectly fill their role on stage. Bono is the manic frontman, the one who interacts most with the crowd. During "An Cat Dubh," he stroked an imaginary cat and then growled and scratched like a puma. He strutted around the ellipse, sometimes lying down next to the GA crowd during moments when the musical focus was on someone else. He even took a turn at the drums during "Love and Peace or Else."
Before "The Fly," Bono called out, "He's back," then launched into a version of the song with lyrics that seemed to be mostly made up on the spot. His banter was surprisingly to a minimum, but when he did speak, Bono was electric. The first three songs of the encore ("Pride," "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "One") were dedicated to Bono's causes in Africa and he urged everyone in the audience to join up in The One Campaign, making sure Martin Luther King's dream of equality spread to people on every continent. "The dream of equality moves on," he said.
While finding the time to place his incredible spotlight on important causes, Bono also had time to poke fun at himself. Perhaps taking Bruce Springsteen's high praise at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony as mandate to revel in his messiah complex, Bono said during "One," "Did you come here to play Jesus, because I did," and introduced himself to the audience during the night’s closer "40" as "Little Lord Jesus."
With Bono finding the seriousness and humor in his mission here on Earth, Edge has finally come to grips with being a rock star. His performance Monday was phenomenal. Edge was confident and comfortable, taking much of the spotlight for himself as he shared vocal duties on "Miracle Drug," sang "La, la, la, la, de, day" on "Running to Stand Still" and sported a Madonna-style head mic to provide backing vocals on "Zoo Station."
Whether debuting the new "thingy" that helps his standard guitar sound like a slide guitar on opener "City of Blinding Lights" or stepping behind the keyboard for "Running," "Miracle Drug" and "New Year's Day," Edge seems to have finally overcome any hesitancy he felt before about being one with his instrument. Everything he did was fluid and extraordinary, his guitars truly acting as an extension of himself. His solo for "Bullet the Blue Sky" took on a new darkness and intensity, and his thick, electric playing on "One" added a new dimension to the song without diminishing its power.
Larry was also broadening his stage persona, supplying backing vocals for "Love and Peace or Else" and "Elevation," and picking out notes on a synthesizer for "Yahweh."
Adam, though, was still Adam, acting, as Springsteen said to the Waldorf-Astoria crowd, as the musical and physical center of the band. He and Edge did mix it up, readopting an early-'80s tradition of swapping instruments for "40."
Though the design of the Vertigo Tour may seem like a typical greatest hits package, an aging band looking to its past highlights to reinvigorate it today, the band wasn't on board for that particular ride. U2 came to rock the house, to blow our minds, to remind all of us why we've followed them this far and taken the group's words to heart. These four men succeeded and exceeded these goals and showed that when it comes to this band, forward is the best place to look.
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Published on
03-29-2005 at 09:14 PM |
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03-30-2005 04:33 AM - thank you..
Can't wait to see them in November 
