| From www.ocreloaded.com: U2 Rocks Anaheim's Angel Stadium |
| Written by Paul Lyons |
| Monday, 20 June 2011 22:01 |
 As far as I’m concerned, there’s only two bands left today that could fill a gigantic stadium and really make it count. The Rolling Stones have been among the best for over 40 years, yet have had some line-up changes and enough recent internal squabbles to have kept them off the road since 2006. The other band is a tight quartet from Ireland who has been around for over 30 years with the exact same line-up as when they first started. For those lucky enough to attend Friday or Saturday night’s U2 concerts at Angel Stadium of Anaheim…you got to experience one of the best stadium shows you’ll ever likely to see. Filling a stadium ain’t easy, yet there are plenty of bands that can do it. “Making it count” is another thing entirely. Never mind record sales, never mind ticket sales…you have to be bigger and better than all of that in order to truly give a great performance in a football or baseball stadium. Sure, massive outdoor stadiums are not the ideal venue to listen to music…yet going to rock and roll concerts have rarely been about just “listening.” Perhaps even more important than the music, it’s the experience one has at a concert that truly defines what makes a great show. Such was the case when U2 last came to town, performing at the humongous Rose Bowl football stadium in Pasadena. They presented a feast of sights and sounds that transfixed and thrilled the sold out audience whether one was in the first row, or the last row. “'Thank you Orange County for your patience, some of you are two years older than you were when you bought your tickets for tonight's show.” So said Bono, U2’s ebullient, charismatic lead singer, on the second night in Anaheim. Two years is right. The Angel Stadium shows were originally booked for June 6th and 7th 2010. Yet a severe back injury postponed U2’s entire 360 North America tour for a year. Fortunately, good things come to those who wait. Bono, lead guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton, and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. delivered a spectacular show on Saturday night which more than made up for the year-long delay. Amazingly, U2 performed music from all eleven of their full-length studio albums  At 9:00pm, to the sounds of David Bowie’s 1972 classic “Space Oddity”, U2 hit the stage and blasted the audience with no less than five songs in a row from their 1991 masterpiece ACHTUNG BABY: “Even Better Than The Real Thing,” “The Fly,” “Mysterious Ways,” “Until The End of the World,” and “One.” With the crowd singing along to every song, it was a startling way to begin the show, especially since they ended up playing more songs from that 20-year old album than their most recent effort...2009’s NO LINE ON THE HORIZON (which was represented by a scant three numbers). After a few raw verses of “Amazing Grace,” U2 next went straight into the 1987 JOSHUA TREE classic “Where The Streets Have No Name” that had the crowd leaping to their feet. The band looked and sounded great, as if no time had passed since they first recorded the song. Bono choose to end the track with a bit of the Beatles classic “She Loves You.” U2 may not be the Beatles, yet they are the closest thing we have to the Fab Four in the 21st century. Perhaps with that in mind, U2 next reached back to a single from their teenybopper years…performing a great version of 1980’s “I Will Follow.” It’s always a treat to hear that song played within the context of the music they’ve made in the last 10 years. You’re instantly reminded of how much U2 has grown, and changed over time. To further enhance that point, U2 followed this with the equally punchy and up-tempo “Get On Your Boots”…a 2009 single from NO LINE ON THE HORIZON. Speaking of singles, U2 next brought out 1987’s number one smash “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” to great effect. The audience could not help but sing along to that number, as well as the next song…a great acoustic version Bono and The Edge performed of 2000’s “Stuck In a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of.” The song was dedicated to the great Quincy Jones, who was in attendance that night, as well as the late great INXS singer Michael Hutchence (who tragically died in 1997).  From tragedy to the power of positive thinking, U2 next played 2000’s uplifting “Beautiful Day” with all its might…finishing the song with a small snippet of David Bowie’ “Space Oddity” before performing another uplifting classic from 2000…”Elevation”…a song that never fails to get the crowd to jump and down. Bono performed like a boxer…full of fight and energy, as if he was saying to the crowd “I’m pumped and ready to conquer you…what’ve YOU got?” He was also in a chatty mood Saturday night in Anaheim, making note of the two years since the band last played Southern California with ”A lot can happen in that time.” He went on to mention that Adam Clayton was now a father, and that Larry Mullen Jr. was going to star with Donald Sutherland in a new movie called MAN ON A TRAIN. Making reference to The Edge’s recent rejection by the California Coastal Commission to build five mansions on undeveloped land above Malibu, Bono said “The Edge became a farmer, just yesterday actually. He had a slightly different plan. He was going to build a nuclear reactor, but farming is good, he's back to wind farming.” Bono remarked later on in the show “Who wouldn’t want to be neighbors with this man?!” Bono later made sure to point that it was The Edge’s wedding anniversary, and shouted out a 'Big love to Morleigh' …Edge’s wife. The massive 360 stage that U2 employs…with its movable bridges and walkways…allows the band to spread out far and wide into the audience…never confining themselves too long to the limits of the main stage. The band made good use of their space when they performed 1985’s classic “Pride (In The Name of Love)”, and especially on the next song… the 1995 Passengers ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS 1 gem “Miss Sarejevo.” Bono expertly handled both his and the late Luciano Pavarotti vocals to do justice to the song.  U2 took advantage of their 360 stage again with the rarely performed 1993 track “Zooropa”…allowing a huge see-through light cylinder to cover the band completely as they performed the song wearing electric jackets that flashed with light. It was very haunting to watch up close, and must have looked even better up in the stands. Keeping the jackets on to maintain their electrified aesthetic, U2 shifted gears to more uplifting numbers: a double-shot of songs from 2004’s HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB: “City of Blinding Lights” and the great rave-up “Vertigo” (with parts of the Rolling Stones “It’s Only Rock n Roll (But I Like It)” and “Miss You” thrown in at the end). The band spread out again for 2009’s “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight.” Even Larry Mullen Jr. got up off of his drum kit to prowl the walkways out in the crowd with his conga drum. As they had done at the Rose Bowl show, the song was played in a faster dance groove than on the original recording. At the tail end of the song, Bono teased the crowd with snippets from two songs off of their 1997 POP album…“Discotheque” and “Please.” Reaching back even further in their catalogue, U2 dusted off the 1983 flag-waving warhorse “Sunday Bloody Sunday” to remind the crowd of who they used to be, as well as the 1981 OCTOBER rarity “Scarlett”…whose lyric of “Rejoice, rejoice” seemed to fit the night perfectly. This was soon followed by 2000’s uplifting “Walk On” (with a touch of the 1945 Rogers and Hammerstein classic…and European football anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” at the end) to close the main set. For the encore, U2 brought out the dry ice, and turned the lights down low. Bono was lit up only by a microphone held in an lighted circle that came down from the sky on a wire. Bono held on to, and swung the mike as he and the band belted out another classic from ACHTUNG BABY…”Ultraviolet (Light My Way).” Bringing the lights up a bit, U2 then wowed the crowd with their 1987 number one smash “With and Without You.” To close out the night, U2 performed a moving version of 2009’s “Moment of Surrender.” Bono’s soulful vocals evoked the ghosts of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. The song was dedicated to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s iconic saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who sadly had just died that day after suffering from a stroke last week. Bono read part of the lyrics to Springsteen’s “Jungleland” (a song that features a legendary solo from Clemons) at the end of “Moment of Surrender” and told the crowd “I want you to think about the beautiful symphonic sound that came out of one man's saxophone. I want you to think about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band of Brothers. I want you to think of Clarence Clemons. This man just carried music and music carried him until this day.” It was a touching tribute, and a beautiful way to end the two hour and twenty minute concert. How great is it that U2 has still got it after all of these years? This is a band that (arguably) has yet to peak. All four members are as strong and as healthy as they were 30 years ago. Not only was it great to see them back in the day (as I have)…it’s also great to see them NOW. For that we can be thankful. With the 360 North America tour scheduled to come to an end at the end of July, it’s anyone’s guess what the band will do next. We can only hope that they won’t wait too long before paying a visit to Southern California once again. There’s one thing you can always guarantee…if U2 can build it, they will come… Lenny Kravitz opened the show with an energetic 50-minute set featuring his greatest hits “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” “Let Love Rule,” “It Ain’t Over Til “It’s Over,” “American Woman,” and “Fly Away.” Some songs were stretched out a little too long for comfort, yet Kravitz’s energy and enthusiasm was not lost on the Anaheim crowd, who eat it all up. |
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