How was the concert?

A: It was amazing.

That is how this exchange is supposed to go right?  It's like Q: How are you?  A: I'm fine.  It's a good way to ask a question that you don't really want an interesting answer to...

However; How was the U2 concert? 
Why I am so glad you asked!

Last week I went to my third U2 concert.  My first was in Louisville KY 2001, then in Oakland CA, 2005... Where to even begin about what it is like to attend a U2 concert?  I suppose part of it is linked to the connection I have with their music.  If you know me, you know that they are my favorite band and have been since about 1993.  Are they my favorite band because their concerts are so special or are their concerts so special because they are my favorite band?  I'd like to think that the two are not mutually exclusive.




The beauty of a U2 concert is unique.  U2 is not just about the music.  Each of the U2 shows I've been to, I've been far far in the back... they are usually a centimeter high from my perspective and yet they manage to make the place feel full.  The use of multi-media as a fifth member of the band helps. This tour features a giant 360º LED screen that expands and changes height.  The screen helps add elements that could not otherwise be achieved in mere reality.  What other rock group could/would integrate astronauts in their rock show?

Astronaut Mark Kelly did this for Oakland (and probably other cities on the tour... but we went crazy when this came up)


What other group could/would take down the audience to discuss matters of humanitarian importance?  I had no idea about the prisoners of conscience in Myanmar, now I do.  Every show is a teaching opportunity for the band who spend a lot of their non-rock-band time in humanitarian efforts.

U2 will build you up, will play you the greatest song you can imagine (yes this is a biased opinion I know), but then they want you to think about your privilege, to think about the suffering in the world and to do something about it.  Every show I see they are grateful for the crowd, grateful for their careers and mindful of others.  Every show, they thank the audience for being there.  They are not spoiled rock stars.  At this concert Bono thanked us for our patience (we did wait an extra year to see this because of Bono's injury last summer, it has been two years since the tickets originally went on sale).  Because of this thought provocation, every show is filled with happy, mindful and friendly people.

After the show, at least half of the Coliseum funneled back to BART (our rapid transit) in a sea of people... you will never see a happier mob in your life.  At the end there were people keeping others from loosing keys, clearing the way for those on crutches, fun banter with strangers and no panicked pushing (gentle pushing maybe). In any other crowd I would probably have been fully freaked out.

I do get out to see concerts whenever I can, but there is nothing like a U2 show.

U2; No Line on the Horizon

Finally I have finished my review of No Line on the Horizon, the new U2 album that I think is fully worth the time. It is an album that is much like the Joshua Tree in the way that it is a journey. Bono said that this album is "a more meditative album on the theme of pilgrimage" I believe that is the best nutshell description of it… now for the longer song by song description;

1.No Line on the Horizon
Best Lyric; I know a girl, she’s like the sea/ I watch her changing every day for me/ one day she’s still, the next she swells/ you can hear the universe in her sea shells.

Time is irrelevant, it’s not linear…

Strong throughout, great lyrics, the instrumentation is hot, catchy lyric, it’s a travel anthem

2.Magnificent
Best Lyric; This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue/ only love can leave such a mark

Somewhere between The Joshua Tree and the better songs from POP is this song. Catchy, lyrical, vague in a grasping way.

Edge shows off his signiture 16th note riffs and a fine solo. While Larry drives the beat on in a steady journey.

3. Moment of Surrender
Best Lyric; At the moment of surrender of vision over visibility I did not notice the passers by and they did not notice me.

Somewhat lacking, seems more like a B-side. The lyrics are somehow reminescent of my junior high poetry. Bono has some interesting vocal lix in here though. It’s an ok song but not one I’m going to scream “Oh Yes!” if they play it live.

4. Unknown Caller
Best Lyric; I was lost between midnight and the dawning/ In a place of no consequence or company
It sounds like morning. The sun comes up, the birds start to sing, the world comes alive… the feeling of nature is juxtaposed with a more marching technological chorus; it’s beautifully evocative. It’s the feeling of travel alone, jumping out into the unknown, discovery… the simple beginning grows into organ music, french horn, guitar solos… full sound that burgeons out into the world.
This song grows on me more every time I hear it.

5. I’ll go Crazy if I don’t go Crazy tonight
Not going to choose a “best” for this song;

It’s lyrics are too sing-song, the chorus is like a bad movie soundtrack… it very well could end up on some obnoxious Oprah pick movie in the midst of a montage. The melody is repetitive and simplistic… I can’t even begin to say how much I hate it.

6. Get on Your Boots
Best Lyric; women of the future hold the big revelations… you don’t know how beautiful you are.

Strong track! It’s catchy, it’s all filled with girl power and makes me want to put on some tall stomping boots and dance around. It’s flattering (“you don’t know how beautiful you are” repeated over and over) It’s positive and sexy and fun and I cannot wait to hear this one in concert. Am I wearing sexy boots to the show? You betca I am!



7. Stand Up Comedy
Best Lyric; stop helping God across the road like a little old lady

I am still undecided about this song. The tune is fairly familiar U2, but it seems a little more complex somehow, the lyrics are all over… usually when I feel this way about a track it’s because it’s a new format, a new lyric, just something that is somehow foreign. I felt this way about Thom Yorke’s solo album until I had heard In Rainbows and went back to it. After hearing this a few more times I think I’m going to like it. Right now it seems a bit dischordant…

8. Fez – Being Born
Best Lyric; head first, then foot, then heart sets sail

Ah a Passenger’s track meets an Achtung Track… eerie instrumentation meets the Edge and Larry driving a flying car through the desert. An odd buzzing whirrs through the headsets. I Love this track. It’s a journey in itself.

9. White as Snow
Best Lyric; who can forgive forgiveness where forgiveness is not?

This is by far one of Bono’s best poems. It’s the searching for Grace, the coming short of it, and looking again. The music has a vague hamered dulcimer feeling, quiet piano… but still played with guitar and bass. Bono’s vocal work is longing and lilting, as Irish as it ever gets within the pop music format.

10. Breathe
Best Lyric; the forest fire that is fear so deny it, walk out into the street, sing your heart out!

This is quintissential U2. It’s got that heavy rhythm with soaring guitar and vocal work; it’s going to be amazing in concert. The lyrics are vague, but have enough catches that you can latch your own meaning onto that everyone will think they know what it means. It is independence, freedom, a brave journey into the ether… I love this track.

11. Cedars of Lebanon
Best Lyric; I’ve got a head like a lit cigarette/Unholy clouds reflecting in a minaret/ you’re so high above me, highter than everyone/ Where are you in the Cedars of Lebanon?

I’m still not sure of what I think this one means. Clearly it’s a story of someone far from home seeking truth. There are images of war-torn places, there are decisions to stay or leave… and the enigatic lyric that closes the album;
“Choose your enemies carefully ‘cos they will define you/ make them interesting ‘cos in some ways they will mind you/ they’re not there in the beginning but when your story ends/ gonna last with you longer than your friends”

I Think it’s a song about choosing your battles, and choosing the noble path in life, but still I admit I’m not solid on it.

U2 2009

Update; If you've stumbled across this via search engine, my actual review of the album can be found HERE

A month ago I put my netflix on hold in order to save for the U2 album that came out today. At 12:10 this morning I had already downloaded the new album with bonus tracks and movie from Anton Corbjin...
They are the musicians of my heart, they sing the songs I hear in my head... I love them...
because of that I'll probably be putting up a few posts about the new album this week...

however for those of you who aren't quite as die hard as I am and don't need all the bells and whistles, today (possibly only today) amazon.com is offering No Line on the Horizon as an MP3 download for only $3.99! If you liked All that You Can't Leave Behind, and/or How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, I can safely recommend the new one as well.

Here's the link to the amazon store;
U2's No Line on the Horizon

You'll need the amazon downloader, but that doesn't take up a lot of space on the computer and often the amazon downloads are cheaper than iTunes...