With or Without U2

Source: The Honolulu Advertiser, Derek Paiva, Entertainment Writer

April 08, 2006

No, U2 isn't playing Aloha Stadium tonight. Still no word on a rescheduled date for the show, either.

How to endure this Godot-like limbo? Well, between the band's 14 albums, 42 singles, and long list of compilations, it's easy to inject some Bono into your night.

If you're fan enough, you could drop $149 on iTunes' The Complete U2 to collect all that U2's left behind. But that's a pricey option.

Here's another: five U2 CDs you need to own (for starters) and one to avoid, in the name of love and all of the band's old mullets.

 War (1983) U2's third album is its first great one. Raging against the strife in its Northern Ireland backyard, the band arrived at 10 songs that comprise a "best of" album on their own. U2 wouldn't rock as viscerally, confrontationally or completely for another eight years.

'Hola Argentinos!'

Source: U2.com, March 2, 2006

The 3D cameras were here tonight, suspended over the stage so you couldn't miss them, and this Argentinian audience looked like they knew they were going to be famous.

'Hola Porten-yos!

Hola Argentinos!

Hola Chicas...'

Wow, the reception to that alone gave the show lift-off and then we were higher than the sun with Elevation, and soon lost in a lyrically customised Beautiful Day.

'See the world in white and blue

Buenos Aires right in front of you

From the Pampas to Patagonia

Tierra del Fuego, Rio Parana

Argentina is in motion

From the Andes to the ocean

See the bird with the leaf in her mouth

After the flood all the colours came out...'

With Edge and Bono out on the b-stage for the first time, the crowd were chanting, 'Ole, Ole, Ole... Bo-no, Bo-no.'

'I love The Edge,' says Bono, before introducing Sometimes - 'para mi padre' - because he loved his dad too. It's a huge performance and surrounded by crowd and cameras on the b-stage the 3D filming is proving quite a spectacle.

'Love and Peace' read signs in English and Spanish, jostling with Argentinian flags and sure enough here is Love and Peace, cameras sliding along the dolly track set up along the front of the pit. Now the chants are for 'Edge, Edge, Edge' as Sunday Bloody Sunday breaks into the night sky. 'Sing for us' invites the singer and the audience oblige.

A searing performance of Bullet the Blue Sky, all the more potent for its peculiar meaning in this part of the world, runs into snatches of Johnny Comes Marching Home and The Hands That Built America and then we are soaring again with Miss Sarajevo, one of the great surprises of the whole tour.

A moving spoken introduction heralds the arrival of One, a song which is finding new audiences at present, following the band's Grammy duet with Mary J Blige and its release as her current single.

'If you come from a small country like Ireland,' raps Bono.

'Argentina is a very very big place

But our countries have a lot in common

The most important thing is

The difficulties of our past

Will not prevent us making a better future

If we work together

Left and Right

Rich and poor

Old and young

If we act together

As one...'

And we are one as the lights bathe the stage in yellow, the images of the band members hang on the video screen and 'One' - in many languages as at the Grammys - lights up the smaller screens.

'Gracias Franz Ferdinand,' sings Bono, reminding us of the very fine support act we have in South America. 'Muchos gracias Buenos Aires...'

Returning for an encore, the band bursts into 1991 with Zoo Station, The Fly and Mysterious Ways, Adam walking out in front of a wall of static, Bono dancing his way down stage left. For The Fly Mark Pellington's hurricane of words and phrases are translated into Spanish and the band are almost performing to each other, to the delight of the audience.

The night closes on a surprise.

'Love is blindness, I don't want to see

Won't you wrap the night around me?

Oh, my heart, love is blindness....'

And the night is wrapped around us and a memorable show draws to a close.

Mexico City of Blinding Lights

Source: U2.com, February 18, 2006

'From Guadalajara to Monterrey/Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco Bay/A new world is in motion/ From the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean...' Beautiful Day got a lyrical makeover last night, to reflect the band's time in Mexico in the past year and from the dazzling epiphany of Blinding Lights to the moving benediction of 40, this was some show in Mexico City.

Right from the get go, people all around the top of this huge stadium were jumping and they were still pumped more than two hours later. Three shows in to the fourth leg of Vertigo '05/'06 and the band have found their stride. They barely took their foot off the pedal before Until The End of the World when Bono walked down to the front of the crowd to spray water over everyone. As New Year's Day rang out, Adam seemed to be swinging his bass into Bono, but then rolled off around the stage, the epitome of cool. Edge at piano and guitar was in total control and the huge audience sang 'Olé, olé, olé...'

'Muchos gracias Mexico Thank you to The Secret Machines for opening the show,' said Bono, introducing Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. 'This is for our friend Kirsty MacColl. Extraordinary woman, voice, wife, mother. Wanna thank all the people in Mexico who keep her memory alive. So this song is for Kirsty MacColl.'

The cameras were on stage tonight, second show in succession, and the band were using them more, playing with them, reacting to them. Something interesting is going on...but our lips are sealed, we'll bring you more on this in the coming days. As Beautiful Day arrived the new words appeared on screen, a literary and cultural acknowledgement to Mexico, reflecting some of the places the band have visited in recent times.

'See the world in red and green

Mexico city in a waking dream

From Guadalajara to Monterrey

Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco Bay

A new world is in motion

From the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean

See Cancun with a leaf in her mouth…

After the flood all the colours came out…'

'Sorry it took us so long to come back,' apologised Bono, at the close of the song. 'Mexico we love you. Mexico is a country of the future. U2 is the band of the future.'

And with that we were into a beautiful duet for Stuck In A Moment which led into 'Sometimes' ('para mi padre') in which the singer found the opera in him, eliciting a massive ovation. By now this show had achieved elevation and the night just flew past. New visuals from Willie Williams, Show Designer, were on view for Mysterious Ways with Edge and Adam grooving down the catwalk and 100,000 people lost in music. One young woman was pulled from the crowd to dance, offered a seat on Larry's drum riser and given a welcome drink: by the time With or Without You arrives, she was applying to become lead vocalist.

'We're going to try something new,' explained the singer, returning for a second bow and with that came the flamenco passion of Fast Cars. Didn't matter that most people had no previous experience of this track, they followed Larry's slamming style and that was enough - turned out to be a bit of a moment. We can do no better here in fact that close with an extract from Willie William's tour diary which he keeps for U2.Com Subscribers.

'Last night’s set list was generally deemed a triumph so we tweaked it a little further, bravely including an unrehearsed Stuck in a Moment and Fast Cars. The latter received its finest rendition to date (according to me) which rounded out a great show.

'I couldn’t believe how many cell phones there were in the building, and with most of the audience going for the double-fister - cell phone held high in one hand, cigarette lighter in the other - being in the centre of this high-sided stadium was more immersively beautiful than is possible to convey in a few lines.

'I love the way the audience ‘flick’ their lighters in this part of the world. They hold them up, then on the beat they ‘flick’ them to produce a momentary flame or spark. Seen from afar, this produces a wave of flashes, like expanding rings of ripples on a pond. Everyone flicks in time to the beat of the song as they hear it, so what you’re seeing is the sound wave traveling through the stadium - lighting at the speed of sound.'

And you can't ask for more than that at a rock'n'roll show.

'Mexico we love you'

Source: U2.com, February 13, 2006

Nearly two months after Vertigo '05 closed in Portland, and eight years since their last visit to Mexico, U2 opened the fourth leg of the Vertigo Tour in Monterrey last night.

We've had hot nights on this tour, we've had wet nights and this was one of the coldest and darkest but from the moment 'Vertigo' blasted across the stadium and the band arrived on stage, this was set to be a night to remember. It takes an audience as well as a band to make a great night in rock'n'roll and tonight we had an audience which was really up for it.

Earlier The Secret Machines had opened up proceedings and won a lot of new fans, some of whom noticed that Bono too had slipped out from the dressing room to hear them play live. Within an hour, he and his bandmates were onstage themselves as Vertigo ran into I Will Follow, Electric Co and Elevation. As Beautiful Day arrived Bono took a breath to remark on a beautiful night and in the cold air under a full moon this show was surely visible from space.

'A Monterrey moon, Shine on me,' he sang, as Beautiful Day lifted the Mexican fans, some of whom had been waiting outside - camping in tents no less - for a couple of days. 'I've been waiting,' said Bono. 'It's finally here tonight.'

Slipping between Spanish and English, his delight at being back in Mexico, eight years since PopMart, was clear. 'Mexico we love you,' he exclaimed, evoking more ecstacy from the locals. 'Mexico is a country of the future.'

This is the first time the outdoor set up, with the huge steel backdrop and acres of staging, has been used since back in Lisbon in August. It worked a treat despite the time off. When Bono made a dedication to the late Kirsty McColl, 'a great friend of ours, a great voice', the lighters and cells came out adding to the atmosphere for City of Blinding Lights.

'Buenos Nachos Monterrey' added the singer, walking down the steps from the main stage to get closer to the audience, many of whom had painted 'U2' on their faces.

Original of the Species arrived to the sound of Edge on piano and a particularly huge roar of appreciation for a song which has gone down spectacularly on Vertigo despite making a late appearance in the set list and only then turning up irregularly. The new lighting and visuals chime with the acclaimed video and when it sequed into Sometimes it was not hard to see how this won 'Best Vocal in a Rock Performance' at the Grammy's last week. There was another moment of special rapture with the familiar opening chords of Bad, before the fierce and furious combination of Love and Peace, Sunday, Bullet and Miss Sarajevo.

As Adam headed down the front of the catwalk in Love and Peace, fans started chanting his name in unison, which drew an appreciative grin from the bassman.

'Thank you for coming' read the balloons hanging in the air before Larry blasted out the opening of Sunday Bloody Sunday.

The Declaration of Human Rights was in Spanish, much to the appreciation of this audience and as the band arrived back on stage for Pride, it seemed like they'd never been away. For End of the World images of the band were projected onto the back of the stage which looked sensational while in Mysterious Ways a young woman climbed up onto the stage and was so excited to be performing with U2 she almost wrestled the microphone off the singer.

'Johnny, take a walk with your sister the moon

Let her pale light in, to fill up your room...'

And the pale light of the moon lit up this night in Monterrey.

'Thank you for waiting for our band.' said Bono.

Relevance Rockets From U2's Inspiring Spectacle

If the music wasn't quite stellar, at least the band walks its talk magnificently

The Oregonian, Marty Hughely

December 21, 2005

You have to wonder how Bill and Melinda Gates celebrated.

On the day the Seattle billionaire philanthropists made the cover of Time magazine as "Persons of the Year" for 2005, the fellow who shared that honor with them -- some Irish guy with a made-up name and a big mouth -- sang for joy.

And for hope, for pain, for yearning, for truth, for struggle, for unity, for kindness and justice, peace and love.

Bono, honored for his activism on issues of global poverty and health, sang with his band U2 on Monday night at the Rose Garden arena, and together they put the lie to something once said by an earlier Time honoree, 1958 "Man of the Year" Charles de Gaulle: "Nothing enhances authority better than silence."

The former French president's maxim might hold true for politicians, but not for rock stars. Never mind for the moment how rare it is to be able to speak of rock stars with moral authority; Bono and his indispensable cohorts, bassist Adam Clayton, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and guitarist the Edge, enhanced theirs with more than two hours of glorious noise.

It is possible, perhaps likely, that this wasn't the band at its finest. In the early part of the set, on songs such as the stirring opener "City of Blinding Lights," "Elevation" and the classic "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," Bono's voice lacked the flexibility to find the notes comfortably. "Vertigo," for one song, lacked the sort of forward thrust that makes the album version such a pure rock rush, and as great as the band sounded most of the time, it didn't seem to find that elusive high gear that inspired veterans can reach on the right night.

And yet, that hardly mattered. Whether or not this was one of the best shows ever to hit the Rose Garden, it surely was among the most inspiring.

After all, it can't be easy to come out night after night in front of thousands of expectant fans and be not simply entertaining but majestic.

The 21st-century superstar concert experience is, of course, partly about performance. But $160 tickets become justifiable with the addition of two things: spectacle and meaning.

U2 delivered spectacle with lighting effects that were dazzling yet never overdone, employing circles of tracer lights along the borders of the elliptical stage set, a half-dozen shuttlecock-like chandeliers, and huge, retractable curtains of golf-ball-sized reflective beads. Still, many of the show's most powerful moments came with nothing but plain white light, when the ringing guitar architecture of, say, "Pride (In the Name of Love)" dovetailed with the years of personal associations fans have with the song. Often, the crowd nearly took over the songs, singing refrains loudly, passionately, beautifully.

It may seem cliched to speak of chills and goosebumps, but they were everywhere in this show. The stark opening to "I Will Follow" still sounds, after 25 years, like a clarion call to the spirit, the first flowering of a genius for motif and tone that Edge has continued to cultivate. And Bono telling the crowd, "America! This is your song now!" as the band launched into "Sunday Bloody Sunday," then tucking "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" into the middle of "Bullet the Blue Sky," moved me to tears.

War and peace are longtime components of the U2 dynamic, and Bono bolstered one side of that equation by evoking the spirit of John Lennon repeatedly, adding bits of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" to a couple of tunes and leading a wonderfully raw cover of "Instant Karma." Perhaps more than any other rock band, though, U2 has taken its peace-and-love ideals beyond sloganeering, and into not just the streets, with grass-roots organizing by the anti-poverty One Campaign, but into the corridors of world power.

And Monday night's show was a wonderful celebration of all of that.

© The Oregonian, 2005.

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Source: U2.com, December 20, 2005

Everybody was feeling grateful at last night's final show of 2005: the fans with their signs around the venue; Bono thanking Edge, Larry and Adam as well as management and crew; Edge thanking Bono; and the crew themselves, who came on stage and stretched out around the ellipse wearing t-shirts which read 'The U2 crew would like to thank Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam for a great 2005.'

It was one of those unforgettable tour moments, one we'll talk about for years to come: as the familiar opening bars of Elevation arrived thousands of fans, standing and seated, raised banners reading 'Thank You'. It was pretty obvious that the band were touched: 'No! Thank YOU!' said Bono in response. A night of gratitude all round - what great fans U2 have, no-one comes even close!

Plenty of highlights from the show too, including a soaring Miss Sarajevo ('A beautiful city above the sea, a capital of CoeXisT') where it seemed like this was the loudest American audience of the year - and there have been some pretty deafening nights. The ellipse seemed to be fuller than ever and the cellphone Christmas tree for One was glittering as bright as any tree in any home. Thousands more people signed up to the ONE Campaign and it prompted Bono to thank Paul Allen of Microsoft and 'the Nike people... doing great things in Africa.'

'Let's celebrate John Lennon!' announced the singer as U2 broke into Instant Karma. Who could have predicted nine months ago that this track should have turned into such a highlight? After that Bono is reciting, with thanks, name after name of members of U2's crew and management...and still reciting them, even as he is wandering off stage.

Returning and still giving thanks, Bono shakes champagne over the audience as the band break into a celebratory Until the End of the World before heading into a very groovy Mysterious Ways - with Edge and Adam heading out down the ellipse. Two girls find their way on stage and both can dance. Bono, meanwhile, is still reeling out the names of crew members. At which point, the crew themselves start arriving on stage for the final encore - wearing their thanks on their shirts. Great to see the band follow them out and applauding them for their work.

Vertigo '05 comes to a psalmic close with Yahweh and 40. Enough said. (For now)

U2 Rocks Omaha with Atomic Force

With passion and precision, U2 delivered an exhilarating concert that transcended entertainment.

Omaha World Herald, written by Niz Proskocil

December 16, 2005

During the Irish rock band's sold-out performance Thursday night at the Qwest Center Omaha, the arena took on the reverence of a worship service and, at times, the urgency of a human-rights rally.

Before a crowd of more than 16,000 fans, the band used its music to convey compassion, hope, tolerance and spirituality during a jubilant two hour and 20-minute performance.

The veteran rockers stopped in Omaha as part of the third leg of the band's Vertigo tour, which has grossed $260 million and was recently named the year's top-grossing tour by Billboard magazine.

The concert started with a 40-minute set from confident, charismatic rapper-producer Kanye West.

Accompanied by an all-female, six-piece string section, a harpist and a turntablist, West delivered an entertaining set of songs from his latest album, Late Registration, and his Grammy-winning debut, 2004's The College Dropout.

About 9:25 p.m., U2 took the stage as confetti rained from the rafters. The band opened with "City of Blinding Lights" and "Vertigo" from its latest album, 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

The opening numbers, and the rest of the set, for that matter, generated deafening cheers, enormous applause and lots of crowd participation.

"I don't know why we don't come down to these parts more often," Bono told the crowd. "Thank you for giving us a great life."

Though the Omaha show was the band's third-to-last concert of a North American tour that began in March, band members showed no signs of wear.

Frontman Bono commanded the stage with his powerful lyrics and rock-star charisma. Guitarist the Edge laid down one searing riff after another. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton provided solid, muscular rhythms.

The show was a visually stunning production with retractable curtains of beaded lights that flashed images during certain songs. Other cool elements included the "ellipse," an oval-shaped ramp that served as a catwalk for band members and enclosed several hundred lucky fans on the arena floor.

The set list featured a nice mix of old and new songs. For old-school fans, there were classics like "I Will Follow" from 1980. Newer cuts included "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," which Bono dedicated to his late father, Bob Hewson.

He dedicated "Original of the Species" to Omahan Susie Buffett, who serves on the board of his DATA organization (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa).

An outspoken political and social activist, during the opening notes of "Sunday Bloody Sunday," Bono exclaimed: "This is your song now, America."

During the chills-inducing performance, he pulled a young girl on stage with him to help him chant "No more!" over and over again. He also told the audience that "we must not become a monster in order to defeat a monster."

The band then launched into an explosive version of "Bullet the Blue Sky," in which Bono pulled a white bandana with the words "coexist" over his eyes, fell to his knees and put his hands over his head like a prisoner of war.

Before the anthem "One," Bono asked crowd members to hold up their cell phones, which lit the arena with thousands of blue-tinted screens. He encouraged fans to join his ONE Campaign to combat AIDS and end poverty.

After a short break, the band returned for two encores. Among the highlights of the first encore was "With or Without You." Bono plucked a young woman from the crowd, then danced with and embraced her onstage throughout the song.

U2 proved that the band hasn't lost its ability to take fans on an awe-inspiring, musical journey.

© Omaha World-Herald, 2005.

'Oh Nebraska!'

Source: U2.com, December 16, 2005

That's what Bono was calling out as the show kicked off in Omaha last night. Beautiful performances of Original of the Species, Miss Sarajevo and Crumbs From Your Table were among the highlights, songs that weren't in the show when the tour opened in the Spring. Here's some more colour from the show - and what they played.

For Hayley's generation,' said Bono, during Bullet The Blue Sky, referring to the little blonde girl who climbed onto the stage from the front of the ellipse. 'Outside it's America... Omaha, Nebraska.'

Miss Sarajevo was introduced with a memory of the city. 'A great example of CoeXisT,' said Bono, 'Very good about living around each other. The people defended themselves with whatever they could...a black sense of humour goes a long way.'

This one was originally recorded with Luciano Pavarotti, he added: 'Big man, big voice. He's not here - I'm a poor stand-in but I'll give it a shot.'

Streets, within seconds, found everyone pulling out their cellphones and 'turning the arena into a Christmas tree, a C21st Christmas tree.'

It's a moment for Bono to remember people he wants to express thanks to as Christmas arrives and the tour of North America comes to a close. He mentions, 'the tribe of Buffet' referring to the financier Warren Buffet and family, and also 'The Gates Foundation, The Shrivers...'

'The truth is Omaha, this is where we're having our Christmas party tomorrow,' he explains of the DATA gathering. 'Thanks for listening to me, thanks for listening to us. A great county, casinos to churches, rock stars to hip hop stars...'

Here's what they played:

City of Blinding Lights

Vertigo

Elevation

I Will Follow

Still Haven’t Found

Beautiful Day

Original of the Species

Sometimes you Can’t Make it On Your Own

Love and Peace or Else

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Bullet The Blue Sky

Miss Sarajevo

Pride in the Name of Love

Where the Streets have no Name

One

Until the End of the World

Mysterious Ways

With or Without You

Stuck in a Moment

Crumbs From Your Table

Yahweh

40

U2/Kanye West

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, written by Kevin C. Johnson

December 15, 2005

The Rolling Stones may be offering a bigger bang, but U2 remains the biggest band in the land. It's also the most important - and, possibly, the most self-important.

All of this was evident Wednesday night at Savvis Center, where the long-running Irish band - Bono (vocals), the Edge (guitar), Adam Clayton (bass) and Larry Mullen Jr. (drums) - performed its blowout of a show in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 18,000. Some fans began lining up outside Savvis the night before the concert to ensure a spot in the pit in front of the stage.

Opening for the band was one of the few artists who can match U2 in the self-importance category, Kanye West. Thankfully, in the case of both of these passionate artists, their music is potent enough that we're willing to indulge most anything.

A surprise appearance from Bono at the top of the evening kicked things off, as he introduced West in typically overblown, though not necessarily inaccurate, fashion. The controversial West, one of Grammy's top dogs when nominations were announced last week, nicely lacked a posse, dancers and other often unnecessary rap-concert conventions, keeping the focus squarely on himself as he performed songs from his "The College Dropout" and "Late Registration" CDs.

Flanked by a DJ and an all-female string section that sometimes overshadowed his vocals, West opened with the message-laden "Diamonds From Sierra Leone." "The New Workout Plan," "Touch the Sky" and "Heard 'Em Say" were among the early songs in his set. "Slow Jamz," "All Falls Down," "Through the Wire" and, of course, "Jesus Walks" and "Gold Digger" finished out an entertaining set.

West's performance was his first on U2's seemingly never-ending "Vertigo" tour. But when a tour is the year's biggest grosser, bringing in $260 million from 90 sell-out concerts, why end it?

From the opening moment of "City of Blinding Lights," amid a confetti shower, it was clear the band was out to thrill, and it's a testament to U2 that it's still able to deliver at this level. Though any real fan is familiar with the U2 live set, either through a past tour or the new concert DVD, the performance never felt stale or repetitive. Even the heavy proselytizing, both political and religious, was presented in ways that made it tolerable.

Bono and the boys still know how to put on a heck of a show - visually, vocally and musically - and at this point can probably mount a tour in their sleep. They remain amazingly on top of their game live, even without benefit of gigantic lemons. The show felt stripped down from past road treks, which sometimes leaped over the top from a production perspective.

U2 offered such staples as "Pride (in the Name of Love)," "Mysterious Ways" and "Where the Streets Have No Name," songs the band can never - and should not - escape. Some songs came in pairs: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" with "In a Little While," "Beautiful Day" with "Many Rivers to Cross" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" with "Rock the Casbah." Future staples were worked in nicely, with the band performing "Love and Peace or Else," "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" and "Yahweh" from last year's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," another Grammy favorite.

The two-hour show ended with band members exiting the stage one by one after John Lennon's "Instant Karma" (newly added to the set in honor of the recent 25th anniversary of his death), "Yahweh" and "40." And fans left feeling better for the experience.

© 2005 St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Beautiful Night in St Louis

Source: U2.com, December 15, 2005 

First night with Kanye West opening up and for the first time on the tour, Bono arrives on stage ahead of the support act. He wants a special welcome from the U2 audience for the first of four nights with Kanye West. 'I want to introduce a truly great American voice,' he tells the St Louis audience.

Kanye performed with a DJ and a seven-piece string section - including a harp - and the U2 crowd were knocked out. He even headed out along the elipse stage to perform h is Grammy-winning 'Jesus Walks' which really blew people away. Later, when U2 were on stage, Bono slipped a snatch of Jesus Walks into Beautiful Day. We've had some great support acts this year and this is quite a climax. Just three shows to go for Vertigo '05, hard to believe. Here's the set list, more to come.

City of Blinding Lights

Vertigo

Elevation

Gloria

Still Haven’t Found

Beautiful Day

Original of the Species

Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own

Love and Peace or Else

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Bullet The Blue Sky

Miss Sarajevo

Pride in the Name of Love

Where the Streets Have No Name

One

Until the End of the World

Mysterious Ways

With or Without You

Stuck in a Moment

Instant Karma

Yahweh

40

U2 Sings to All Generations

Charlotte Observer, written by Jeff Elder

December 13, 2005

"Jesse Helms is in the house!" is just not what you expect to hear murmured by an excited rock concert crowd.

But Monday was no ordinary night in and around uptown, as U2 packed the arena. (More about the senator later.)

Before the show, scalpers skittering after tickets and cash-burdened victims demanded $200-$350 for good seats. (The businessmen preferred to remain anonymous.)

Folks streamed in from all over. Roger and Susan Riggs drove five hours from Williamsburg, Va., because this was the closest U2 show. "The city looks awesome," said Susan.

The big trend for concert dates? Teens and parents. Robert Lilien, a 17-year-old senior at Charlotte Country Day, came with his dad, also named Robert. "We listen to U2 around the house all the time," junior said.

There were those with a philosophical, far-sighted view: Harrison Colby and Stephen Vastardis, teenagers from Chesapeake, Va., were as far from the stage as one can possibly be. From the precipitous elevation of Section 201, Row O, Seats 1 and 2, Colby surmised, "Yeah, but we probably have really good seats, acoustically speaking."

Closer to the action was Will Gray, who stood right against the stage. The Marine, who was in Baghdad five days ago, drove from Green Bay, Wis., and waited in line since late Sunday to get so close. What does the Marine think of U2's liberal world view? "I just wish George Bush would listen a little harder to Bono."

There were volunteers fighting hunger, like Michelle Keown of Raleigh, selling white rubber bracelets for the One Campaign affiliated with Bono. And VIP suites where fresh fruit, crab cakes, three kinds of shrimp cocktail, fajitas, Szechwan steak skewers, cheesecake and Franciscan Cabernet were spread out like paradise.

Bobcats players in a suite checked out how different their home court looked. Were they fans? Emeka Okafor said he had U2 CDs. Others were downright enthusiastic. "Are you kidding? They're HUGE overseas!" said the HUGE overseas product Primoz Brezec.

Other biggies in attendance were Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon (rumored to be by the stage) and Brian Vickers from NASCAR, hizzoner the mayor, tourism guru Tim Newman and tan entertaining mogul Mary Tribble, the Queen City's own Oprah.

But no one had a night like Jarrett Bury of Charlotte. When U2 hit the stage and the crowd went wild, Bury was in the center of the ringed stage, where only the very lucky tread. Bury tossed Bono a Santa hat, and the singer pulled him up onstage.

"Oh, my God!" Bury shouted when he returned to the floor, if not quite to earth. "That didn't just happen!" No one got closer to Bono in Charlotte on Monday night.

Except possibly a certain former senator. Helms, 84, has long been a strange political bedfellow with the cause-oriented lead singer. And arena officials say they were seen in the arena together. (No word on how long Helms stayed.)

And so U2 drew all kinds to uptown Monday night -- even an aging conservative.

Perhaps Helms, too, still hasn't found what he's looking for.

© Charlotte Observer, 2005.

U2 Rocks Charlotte

Band rolls through decades of songs in two-hour set

Source: News & Observer, written by David Menconi

December 13, 2005

U2 singer Bono once said that " 'Where the Streets Have No Name' [is] the one song we can guarantee that God will walk through the room as soon as we play it."

That's a bold declaration; but danged if it didn't feel as if the Almighty turned up around 10:05 p.m. Monday as U2 went soaring into that song at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

It's not bragging if you can pull it off, and the performance Monday night was a start-to-finish triumph of arena-rock stylings. The two-hour-plus show started with "City of Blinding Lights" and "Vertigo" from U2's 2004 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and the set list went as far back as U2's early-1980s salad days with "Gloria."

U2 brought in a state-of-the-art production with lots of lighting effects whizzing about. An oval-shaped catwalk extended from the stage into the crowd, and Bono scampered about as he worked the room. He was the frontman in every sense, commanding attention and giving shout-outs to everyone from former Sen. Jesse Helms to the late Frank Sinatra (Monday would have been Sinatra's 90th birthday).

"Thank you for givin' us a great life," Bono declared at one point. "We're tryin' to live it as large as we can."

Guitarist Dave "The Edge" Evans served as Bono's primary foil, coaxing his usual array of wide-open sonic effects from his guitar over bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr.'s solid martial rhythms. Highlights included "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Bullet the Blue Sky" and the encore version of "Until the End of the World."

For a more in-depth follow-up report on the U2 show, check this Sunday's Arts & Entertainment section.

© News & Observer, 2005.

Neon is great in the snow

Source: U2.com, December 12, 2005

A great sign in the crowd tonight: 'Bono I married your reflection'. U2 audiences are becoming more creative and surreal as the tour rolls on. 'Can you take the lawn mower? Or the air hostess?' Bono asks Larry, before proceeding to illustrate these particular dance steps. You sense the holiday spirit is in the air.

Well, you'll guess what opened the show and we can do no better than defer, for a sense of atmosphere, to the reporter from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

'Leave it to U2 to make an arena feel intimate. No other band does a better job of connecting with a roomful of 20,000 people. In short order, Vertigo and Elevation upped the intensity several more notches. Video screens underscored the quartet as a democracy, with close-ups of not just the ever-charismatic Bono, but also guitar hero the Edge and the propulsive rhythm section of bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. They're in their 40s now, four high school friends from Dublin who threw their arms around the world.'

The city looks cool too. In the deep midwinter, with the Christmas lights jinking in the streets, Cleveland looks like picture post-card stuff.

'Neon is great in the snow,' adds Bono, taking a breath after an ecstatic version of Gloria. 'Twenty five years ago on this very night we played in Cleveland.'

Just a year or two before Gloria itself was written but song and band sound as young as ever tonight. There's another notable anniversary too: just under sixty years ago to the day 'human rights were enshrined in a way that we can never forget.'

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was formally adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948) - and this year it has come centre-stage every night for millions of U2 fans.

'We’d like to dedicate this song to this day; which is human rights day across the world…'

And what could be more appropriate than Miss Sarajevo leading into the words of the Declaration itself, scrolling up the screen at the back of the stage. The ghostly faces in the smoke, delivering the words, had a mystical beauty about them and there is added power tonight, the band having just been awarded the ‘Ambassador of Conscience’ Award for 2005 by Amnesty International. (Read our earlier story here.)

When One comes up tonight, the musos and eagle-eyed discern that Edge is using a new guitar on stage. In fact it's the Music Rising special edition, a guitar manufactured in limited edition to raise funds to buy instruments lost by musicians in the New Orleans area during the recent hurricanes. Check out our picture, read more about Music Rising here, and get yourself one of the guitars here.

The crowd are in fine voice tonight, nowhere more so than behind the stage - whenever any of the band turn round they get the most massive reception. Kudos Cleveland! Tonight's show could not be complete without one more honourable mention of John Lennon, who lost his life 25 years ago and singing Instant Karma, Bono adlibs, 'All we ever wanted was to be in the rock'n'roll hall of fame.'

For Jim Henke and the his team at the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame here in Cleveland - we’re so proud to be in your city.'

Euphoria! From Irish Group of Friends

Source: Plain Dealer, written by John Soeder

December 12, 2005

"I'm getting ready to leave the ground," Bono sang, launching a rock 'n' roll rocket ride.

We had ignition! U2's concert Saturday night at The Q was the hottest ticket in town, sold out months in advance.

Pent-up anticipation gave way to euphoria as the Irish group took off with a gravity-defying "City of Blinding Lights." When Bono belted out the refrain -- "Oh! You! Look! So beautiful tonight!" -- fans sang the words right back to him.

Leave it to U2 to make an arena feel intimate. No other band does a better job of connecting with a roomful of 20,000 people.

In short order, "Vertigo" and "Elevation" upped the intensity several more notches.

Video screens underscored the quartet as a democracy, with close-ups of not just the ever-charismatic Bono, but also guitar hero the Edge and the propulsive rhythm section of bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. They're in their 40s now, four high school friends from Dublin who threw their arms around the world.

By way of introducing "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," Bono said of their career: "We're just getting started." You had to believe him.

When most performers who've stuck around a quarter-century trot out new material live, showgoers tend to heed the call of concession stands or restrooms. Not so with these Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.

The gut-wrenching "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" and other vital-sounding selections from U2's latest Grammy-nominated album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, were as well-received as "Where the Streets Have No Name," "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "Gloria" and other old standbys.

With a nod to last week's 25th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, a U2 role model, Bono slipped in snippets of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," "All You Need Is Love," "Help" and other Lennon and Lennon-McCartney compositions throughout the evening. A seven-song encore included a rousing "Instant Karma!"

Prior to the poignant ballad "One," Bono made a pitch for the One Campaign to fight poverty. Fans who text-messaged their support via cell phone saw their names crawl across video monitors.

Such social-consciousness-raising is de rigueur at a U2 gig. Nonetheless, the proceedings never felt too preachy.

Curtains of lights decorated the stage like giant love beads. As on the band's last tour, some of the action unfolded on an elliptical runway extending deep into the crowd. Bono and the Edge raced around it at full speed during "Until the End of the World."

Another highlight was Bono's operatic aria in the middle of "Miss Sarajevo," dedicated to Human Rights Day.

A young girl joined U2 onstage for "Sunday Bloody Sunday," whose anti-violence message rang true anew. Bono crooned "With or Without You" while locked in the embrace of a young woman.

Two hours and 15 minutes after it began, the lovefest between band and audience ended on a contemplative note with a pair of rock 'n' roll psalms, "Yahweh" and "40."

Opening act Institute was a derivative bore. Ex-Bush singer Gavin Rossdale's grungy new group came off like a secondhand version of his old band, which itself was a poor man's Nirvana.

© The Plain Dealer, 2005.

When U2 Played WashU

Source: St. Louis Post, written by Daniel Durchholz

SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH

December 9, 2005

Not many rock bands stick around for a quarter-century, and the ones that do aren't always eager to acknowledge, much less revisit, their humble beginnings.

But on U2's "Vertigo 2005" tour, lead singer Bono has been pausing to reflect on the band's first two trips to America in 1980 and '81. From the stage, he's been naming the venues they played back then and thanking the fans who have stuck with them throughout the years.

Among the list of clubs are places like Boston's Paradise, Washington's Bayou Club, Chicago's Park West and Kansas City's Uptown Theater.

In St. Louis, on the other hand, U2's first performance - on April 7, 1981 - was held at an unlikely venue: Graham Chapel on the campus of Washington University.

"A miniature Van Morrison"

Whether Bono recalls anything about that show will remain unknown until (or if) he says something about it at Savvis Center on Wednesday night.

But others who were there remember plenty.

"It was the perfect match between artist and venue," says Alex Weir, who at the time was a student at SIU Edwardsville and attended the show with friends. "The idea of U2 playing in an old stone church was perfect: an ideal fit."

"Bono had a tremendous presence," says Tom Lunt, who lives in Chicago and is a partner in the Numero Group, a record label. "But I remember thinking he looked like a goat. He looked like a goat-man. There was something about him that was chimerical, you know? He kept leaping up and down and kicking his knees up, like a miniature Van Morrison."

"They were definitely what you would call seasoned performers already," recalls Steve Scariano, who watched the show from Graham Chapel's balcony. "But they were still thought of as an underground band, still breaking through. You didn't know that they were going to sell millions of records at that point. I just remember them being really, really good. And Bono was a great frontman."

At the time, rock music was in a strange place, still dominated by the dinosaur acts of the '60s and '70s, but with the post-punk/new wave/MTV-bred bands on the rise.

"I remember it being a really fallow time in music right then," Lunt says. "It was kind of during that Pat Benatar-Kenny Loggins period."

Yet St. Louis had been primed for bands like U2, if not by radio, then by a network of clubs and fans and fanzines such as the late, lamented Jet Lag, eager to find something new and exciting.

"We had a few good years, from '78 on, of fairly good new-wave bands coming through town," Scariano says. "Mississippi Nights had most of them, and the old Stages, across the river, had some of them, too. There was also Night Moves (where U2 played its second St. Louis show, on Feb. 19, 1982).

"I saw Talking Heads at Mississippi Nights, (former New York Doll) David Johansen and the Boomtown Rats, all in that two- or three-year span. The Pretenders and the English Beat on their first tour played at Night Moves. And there were lesser acts coming through town, too. There was nobody playing that stuff on the radio, but the clubs were taking a chance on them. So we were used to seeing that stuff that was being called new wave, and U2 fell under that umbrella."

U2 may have made some lifelong fans at that Graham Chapel show, but Lunt (who has come around since) says he didn't care for them at the time.

"Right around then I saw the band Magazine, and I remember thinking that, of the two, they were the more deserving, more adventurous act, at least in terms of, you know, plumbing the epic depths of spirituality. I remember walking out of the U2 show and saying to (a friend), 'Those guys aren't going to get very far on four chords.'"

It wasn't the Graham Chapel show, but rather U2's Night Moves appearance that ticked off Tony Renner, who attended both shows.

"Bono said, 'Oh, this is so much nicer than the place we played last year.' Now, I'm sure that was true of every other place they played on that tour, St. Louis excepted. But I thought, 'No, you were in Graham Chapel last year, with a huge stained-glass window behind you.'

"That made me mad. He was doing stage patter. I thought, 'You're no better than the rest of them.' I don't dislike them now, but if Bono hadn't said that ridiculous thing, maybe I wouldn't have a grudge. It doesn't take much in rock 'n' roll."

"Super-super-nice guys"

When U2 hit town, they were placed in the care of Tony Marfisi, a promotions and marketing rep for record distributor WEA. It was his job to shepherd the band members to record stores and radio stations to help grease the wheels for sales and airplay.

"(The band's debut album) 'Boy' had just come out," Marfisi recalls. "They were so low-key back then. They were still really, really young, like 20 or 21 years old. They were just boys from Ireland, doing their first tour of America and learning about the music business.

"But the show was remarkable. They were just monsters. The thing I remember most, though, is just hanging out with them. I think we went to Blueberry Hill and had a few pints of Guinness."

Scariano happened to be working at Streetside Records in Webster Groves when Marfisi brought them in.

"I remember they were super-super-nice guys, and they had this glint in their eyes," Scariano says. "You could tell they couldn't believe any of this was happening to them. They had this vibe that said, 'Pinch me, am I dreaming?' They were just ecstatic to be in America."

As for the show itself, U2 played a set of a dozen songs and then returned for an encore. But rather than play a few cover tunes or songs they hadn't done already, they simply repeated three tunes from earlier in the evening.

"I've never seen anybody do that," Weir says. "The thing is, it didn't detract at all. Some people in the crowd were grumbling about it, but it didn't bother me a bit. It's still one of the best shows I've ever seen."

Afterward, the band hung out and mixed with fans. Renner recalls, "I asked a girl I knew if she wanted to go backstage. She was a cute girl, of course, so she got to talk to Bono, and I wound up with the bass player or drummer. I didn't really have anything to say to him."

Weir says, "Bono and a couple of other people walked just a few feet in front of us. Nobody mobbed them. They just looked like fans. But I remember them walking by like it was no big deal.

"In spite of that, a lot of us could sense from that show that they were going to be huge and that we would never see them in such an ideal place again. And that's more or less what happened."

U2 setlist Graham Chapel, April 7, 1981

The Ocean

11 O'Clock Tick Tock

I Will Follow

An Cat Dubh

Into the Heart

Another Time, Another Place

Cry/Electric Co.

Things to Make and Do

Stories for Boys

Boy-Girl

Out of Control

Encore:

A Day Without Me

11'O Clock Tick Tock

The Ocean

I Will Follow

Lennon Recalled As Bono Powers U2

Source: Hartford Courant, written by Eric Danton

December 08, 2005

It was a raspy-sounding Bono who took the stage Wednesday night when U2 played to a packed house at the Hartford Civic Center.

A solid year of touring will do that to a person.

But the iconic singer powered through a few hoarse moments as he and his mates delivered 20 songs spanning U2's 25-year career and some of the Irish band's influences.

John Lennon was chief among the latter. Bono dedicated the show to the late singer, who was murdered 25 years ago today, and sneaked in Beatles and Lennon lyrics to several of U2's songs. The crowd roared each time, but U2's own songs were the main attraction.

The band performed on a sleek, modern stage, augmented by a horseshoe-shaped runway that curved through the crowd, and various lighting configurations, including a series of lighted beaded curtains that were among the coolest stage effects of any act touring this year. They shimmered in the dark on the opening number, "City of Blinding Lights," and produced images of crosses, crescents and Stars of David on "Sunday Bloody Sunday." As Larry Mullen Jr. tattooed a martial beat on the drums, Bono called on the crowd to embrace the idea of co-existence with those who are different.

It was one of several political statements the singer made, and not all of them were verbal. Wearing a white headband over his eyes like a blindfold, Bono kneeled during "Bullet the Blue Sky" and crossed his hands over his head at the wrists, mimicking a pose used during interrogations. The band also projected the Universal Declaration of Human Rights onto its video screens as a female voice read aloud the various tenets (after the crew worked out a technical glitch).

Most of the time, though, Bono simply sang. He and guitarist the Edge work together like they're extensions of the same brain. As Bono played up the seductive lyrical rhythm of "Elevation," the Edge dialed in a dirty buzzing sound on his guitar. The two built the chorus of "Beautiful Day" into a joyous explosion of reverberating guitar and soaring vocals, and the Edge nailed the staccato dikka-dikka-dikka riff on "Pride (In the Name of Love)" as Bono reached up for the high notes.

The rasp in Bono's voice enhanced the emotion of "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own," and conveyed the deep-seated sense of yearning that drives "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

U2's main set lasted 17 songs (including a brief bit of the Beatles' "Help!") and about 90 minutes, and then the band returned for a three-song encore. "Until the End of the World" led to the swampy riff of "Mysterious Ways," and then the quiet opening strains of "With or Without You" began filling the arena. The Edge's clanging guitar riff unfurled midway through like a sail catching the wind, and the song glided to a breathtaking finale to end the show.

© Hartford Courant, 2005.

'Don't Forget About Us!'

Source: U2.com

December 6, 2005

After a week off stage there's been a real energy about the two shows in Boston and last night there was plenty of variety in the set for the last of seven gigs in the city this year. Linda Laban of The Boston Herald was taken by the experience of seeing the show from within the ellipse, the area right in front of the stage. It's the best spot in the house, she decided but then again, 'Wherever you stood or sat, clearly there was still much to scream about...'

She loved the production extras too: 'The confetti canon delivers metallic "snow" of perfect flight capability and luminosity; thousands of individual spheres make up the LED daisy chain curtain; cameras trained on the band are manipulated by a modified PlayStation console; and Sun Microsystems provides hookup for the U2 interactive SMS campaign, which lobbies the audience to send text messages to One.org, the poverty relief charity.'

The songs weren't bad either from City of Blinding Lights and Vertigo right through to Yahweh and 40. 'Tech-heads on the backline,' as Linda puts it. 'U2 is all heart on the frontline.'

Well said and great to have Gloria in the set again which was followed by plenty of chat from Bono and lots of laughter. After Beautiful Day he noticed that Father Christmas was down in the ellipse and took the chance to reel off his present list - including 5 million people signed up for the One Campaign to Make Poverty History, peace on earth and a shiny new train set for the guitarist.

Original of the Species got some extra special treatment tonight - visuals from the Catherine Owens directed video which premiered on TV a few days ago. Bono finished it, playing unaccompanied on guitar, with some verses from The Beatles' Norwegian Wood. 'In memory of our friend Roy Orbison' he added, before a song in memory of someone closer to home with 'Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own'.

Sunday Bloody Sunday is 'your song now...America' he announced, once again segueing it at close into a sample of Rock The Casbah from The Clash. And then came Pride...maybe we should get some kind of decibel counter into the shows, just to work out - once and for all - which opening chords of which song really does generate the wildest reception each night. There's a few in contention.

'For Rosa Parks - sing

For Robert and Jack Kennedy - sing

For a dream, that every man is created under God - sing

For Africa - sing....'

Very few rock bands can link the politics and the music so seamlessly that you barely notice the join. 'Take out your phones,' urged Bono, already thinking of answering one of his Christmas gift requests himself. 'Maybe you're just thinking about the Patriots winning the SuperBowl... I'm going to turn the new garden into a Christmas tree.

'Because at the bottom of my Christmas tree is two million people who signed up to make poverty history

We’re getting somewhere

You're going to live in the generation that said 'No!'

You can't fix every problem but the ones you can you must..'

And we are into One, which tonight includes a few verses of Orbison's 'She's A Mystery To Me.'

'Thanks for the glasses Roy!'adds Bono, reminding us that apart from their way with a poetic lyric and emotional delivery, the two singers also share a special thing for shades. Adam and Edge are at the top of the ramps for Mysterious Ways and there is something deeply mysterious about the arrival on stage of Santa Claus...shortly to be joined by Elvis. (These Bostonians eh?)

As Bono performed from the front of the main stage, Santa and Elvis danced around the back of the stage to the unrestrained delight of those behind. In a break with Vertigo 05 tradition, no-one is pulled on stage for With or Without You tonight... well, how could anyone follow Santa and Elvis?

'Don’t forget about us!' said the singer as the band went off stage. How could we forget them? In fact here they are again for a beautiful version of Crumbs From Your Table, a surprise rendition of Instant Karma and a couple of closers that are hard to match - Yahweh and 40.

U2 Dazzles With Passionate, Powerful Show

Source: Boston Globe, written by Jonathan Perry

December 5, 2005

When he's not busy stumping for human rights across the globe, meeting with world leaders and presidents, or being considered for peace prizes, Bono sings for a fair little rock and roll combo called U2. You might have heard of them: aside from some geezers called the Rolling Stones, they're just about the biggest band touring the world right now.

Last night's dazzlingly celebratory, pitch-perfect performance (the first of two sold-out shows in Boston, and one of seven this year in the city alone) illustrated why. Jubilant, poignant, impassioned, grateful, and always, always musically brilliant -- U2 was all of these things during a show in which one magnificent song from one era (an urgent, joyous "I Will Follow") bled into another ("I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For") and fed into yet another ("Beautiful Day").

What U2 reminds us every time the four take the stage, some 25 years into their run as Ireland's most popular export this side of Guinness, is that they've never let up, looked down, or looked back. They've been the ambitious architects of monumental rock statements (The Joshua Tree), brazenly thrown themselves headlong into new sonic adventures (Achtung Baby), and effortlessly re-established their greatness by hitting new creative peaks (How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb). But they keep striding forward, a pop institution yet inimitable and still challenging themselves, and us.

Surrounded by a circular catwalk and flanked by a curtain of blinking lights that constantly shifted patterns and flashed like Las Vegas neon with a message, U2 had no trouble matching the electricity of the surroundings. At the center was Bono, of course, a bulky yet sensual presence in superb, soaring voice, preening and exhorting the crowd to exultation like a left-wing holy roller, as if he were leading a political rally inside the world's biggest pub. At his side, as always, was the Edge, peeling off those lovely shimmering guitar tones to match the easy majesty of the songs.

The evening started, appropriately enough, with "City of Blinding Lights," dipped into the slippery dance-floor groove of "Vertigo," and then the boisterous pomp and stomp of "Elevation," with the Edge's bumblebee guitar buzz swirling Bono's cavorting romp around the lip of the stage.

Showmanship and sincerity collided beautifully on the evening's early showpiece, "Sunday Bloody Sunday," an apocalyptic war-torn vision still timely to the world's events. "America, this is your song now!" Bono called out. Someone from the audience then handed him an American flag, which he gingerly draped across an amplifier onstage, before shouting "No More!" He immediately dedicated a howling, white-hot "Bullet the Blue Sky" to the "brave young men and women of the United States military." The sequence proved something of a paradox, but it was honest. And that's what U2 has always been about.

© Globe Newspaper Company, 2005.

U2 keeps its Edge in year’s 7th Hub show

Source: Boston Herald, written by Linda Laban

December 5, 2005

It’s luck of the draw. Or luck at the door. The U2 tour’s random lottery allocates wristbands to general admission ticket holders, allowing entry to the front-of-stage ellipse. Tickets are scanned; another encoded ticket is found; another lucky winner squeals. And rightly so. It’s the best spot in the house.

Wherever you stood or sat, though, clearly there was still much to scream about as the Irish rockers pulled into the TD Banknorth Garden last night for a two-gig run that continues tonight, and marks U2’s seventh sold-out show there this year. After a few days off, these Boston shows open up the final segment of the fall leg of the 2005 “Vertigo” extravaganza.

The intimacy of the ellipse gets audience members up-close with the superstar Irish rockers. Or at least their performance. It also allows insight to the astounding technology behind the performers’ pat pomp and prowling.

Talk about intelligent design: The confetti canon delivers metallic “snow” of perfect flight capability and luminosity; thousands of individual spheres make up the LED daisy chain curtain; cameras trained on the band are manipulated by a modified PlayStation console; and Sun Microsystems provides hookup for the U2 interactive SMS campaign, which lobbies the audience to send text messages to One.org, the poverty relief charity.

This is simple stuff in comparison to U2’s ZooTV tour in 1992, when Bono and Co. first dabbled with taking arena performances into a new era of indulgent, but introspective, spectacle via familiar media technology.

It would all be for nothing if it did not serve the song though. Culling mostly from the ballad-heavy new “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” the show was mellow, with spectacular punctuation from such oldies as “I Will Follow,” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” The latter was strangely segued with The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah,” nodding perhaps at current Middle Eastern politics.

Newer and shinier, “Beautiful Day” and “Vertigo” were simpler: perfectly orchestrated everyday sentiments, captured in a rousing pop song. U2 songs serve emotion, that intangible currency. Tech-heads on the backline, U2 is all heart on the frontline.

Led by ex-Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, AKA Gwen Stefani’s hubby, labelmates Institute opened, mixing moody anthems and noisy crunchy rockers with an astoundingly dreary cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes.”

Steve Morse's Top 10 U2 Shows

Source: Boston Globe, written by Steve Morse

December 2, 2005

U2 has had a love affair with Boston ever since the band played its first US gig at the Paradise in 1980. Personally, I've rarely seen a U2 concert that didn't move me to the core.

I'm taking this opportunity to thank all the readers who have made music as central a part of their lives as I have. I'm leaving the Globe next week after 31 years on the beat. Many memories have been priceless, including the following Top 10 list of U2 performances.

March 5, 1981; The Paradise

This was U2's first headlining set at the Paradise (they had previously played the room as an opening act) and their charm was quickly apparent when Larry Mullen Jr.'s bass drum broke. Singer Bono read the crowd's minds when he sighed, "Aaah, I knew they weren't as good as they said they were." The band's intensity eventually carried the night. Bono praised Boston opening act La Peste and the Boston scene in general. "I'm from Ireland where not too many people say good things about other bands," he said.

May 5, 1983; The Orpheum Theatre

U2 turned the 2800-seat Orpheum into their living room. Bono's showmanship made it all feel intimate, from powerful, gospel-tinged number "Gloria" to political anthems "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day" to a snatch of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." And Bono got so carried away that he ended up on a side balcony, pumping fists and shaking hands in a frenzy.

Dec. 2, 1984; The Worcester Centrum

The night had the striking image of Bono singing "Bad" (with the line "isolation, desolation, let it go") while inviting a young female fan on stage for a therapeutic hug. Slides of Martin Luther King Jr. affirmed U2's civil rights stance, and their tribute to King, "Pride (In the Name of Love)," was a dramatic closing tune. Bono also led a chant of "no war, no war" during the show, as the Centrum crowd joined him movingly.

June 14, 1986; Amnesty International's 25th anniversary show at Giants Stadium

Somewhere amid 11 hours of music and the sight of protest legend Abbie Hoffman running around in a stars-and-stripes-draped shirt, U2 stole the show. This "Conspiracy of Hope" concert featured a slew of musical activists such as Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Peter Gabriel, and Lou Reed, but U2 blew everyone away, lifting hearts with the anti-apartheid hit, "Sun City." And pity the Sting-led Police, which followed U2 but was rusty from inactivity.

Sept. 17, 1987; The Boston Garden

Incredibly, the band's lighting rig broke down, but Bono shouted, "Let's turn the house lights on! Rock 'n' roll doesn't need all these expensive lights and smoke bombs!" The show was salvaged by songs from the group's "The Joshua Tree" album and by The Edge rippling through guitar leads while dressed in a Navajo vest with wide-brimmed hat that made him look like a psychedelic medicine man. And emotions were touched on "One Tree Hill," a tribute to band employee Greg Carroll who'd died in a motorcycle accident.

March 13, 1992; The Worcester Centrum

U2's Centrum connections ran deep, since the venue was the first arena the band ever played in America -- back in 1983 when the top ticket only cost $13. This night was bassist Adam Clayton's birthday. The band hired a woman in bunny ears to present him with balloons and a pink feather boa. A crazy moment, but the music soared beyond the kitsch and a stunning moment came when Bono sang "Angel of Harlem" on a B stage in the middle of the floor.

Aug. 20, 1992; "Zoo Station" tour at Foxboro Stadium

U2 didn't go into stadiums lightly. It used a tech-heavy production with eight video screens (a satellite dish pulled in various cable shows on them), and several East German Trabant cars dangling overhead. But they also managed to find the human element by featuring a live bellydancer on "Mysterious Ways" and a tribute to Celtics basketball star Larry Bird from Mullen, who dedicated "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" to him.

April 26, 1997; "PopMart" tour kickoff in Las Vegas

Out in a stadium in the Vegas desert, U2 unveiled a $6 million light-emitting diode screen and popped out of a giant, 40-foot-high, lemon-shaped mirror ball at the end. It was a bit Spinal Tap-ish and very loud given the massive dimensional sound towers throughout the stadium, but possibly U2's ultimate spectacle. And they brought it all home with the closing peace anthem, "One."

March 24, 2001; "Elevation" tour kickoff in Sunrise, Fla.

U2 debuted a heart-shaped ramp that extended from the stage well into the crowd (and has been modified for their 2005 tour as well). The only problem was that Bono fell off of it during the apocalytpic hard-rock of "Until the End of the World," sending a gasp through the audience. But the tough Dubliner was back on his feet quickly, doing volcanic versions of new tunes from the "Elevation" CD and sprinkling in improvisations on the fitting Bob Marley song, "Get Up Stand Up."

May 26, 2005; The FleetCenter