Yes, Bono, you’re right – people do have the power… and you are one of the most powerful people on this earth. Bono’s demi-god presence can make people speechless, burst into tears, and go weak in the knees – we witnessed this first hand yesterday at Madison Square Garden before and during the U2 show (the sixth of 7 shows at MSG this tour). And what a show it was!!
I know I said that Coldplay at ACL Fest this year had now topped out U2’s Elevation tour, but Bono and the boys have regained their number one spot in my heart. Chris Martin still can learn a bit from Bono as far as being an entertainer goes. Both bands are incredibly talented and make amazing music, but U2 has always had a creative confidence when it comes to their performance.
Chris and CJ and I got to MSG at noon and were just within the first 100 people there (some silly people got there at 10pm the night before – so not worth it). We sat on the sidewalk of 33rd street for 6 hours and made some cool friends with folks -- Fran does wardrobe on Broadway currently for Sweet Charity, and Daniel is a freelance TV editor, then we made friends with Josh and Caroline who just moved to NYC from Austin and we stood with them the entire show. The logistics of “the line” kind of fell apart but it turned out ok. Although none of our tickets earned the “VERTIGO VERTIGO VERTIGO!” to be randomly chosen to go into the inside of the ellipse, we think we had better spots than most of those folks around us who did. We hauled ass into the arena (I lagged behind a bit since I had to be the mom with the bag full of all our crap) but we got on the rail on the right side, Adam’s side, and it turned out to be a winner spot because most of the traffic on the ellipse was right in front of us!
The legendary Patti Smith was the opening act. It was great to see her, but she needed to choose whether to do a mellow or rockin’ set – half and half didn’t win me over. But come on, “Because the Night” is a classic!! It was entertaining to see her cover “Vertigo” because she had to read the lyrics off a sheet of paper and proceeded to totally botch it!! I’m glad we weren’t in the front row for her set because she kept hacking loogies on the stage and I read reviews from some people that they got hit by them. EWW!
As the crew was changing the set for U2, the intermission music mix was awesome – Bloc Party, Radiohead, and “Wake Up” from Arcade Fire ushered in the show. (And Dallas, Edge’s guitar tech, threw us his guitar pick as he walked by.)
This was more Bono-centric than the shows I saw last tour, but its ok because he was so on his game and in front of us so much. Adam, Larry and Edge all made their way out on the catwalk and had some solo spotlights but they seemed content to be on stage letting Bono do his thing – they just love what they do. Adam always wore his signature smirk and Edge did his Popmart shuffle and skipped and twirled down the catwalk. Larry just chilled at his drum set loving his mullet look (yeah Larry, that thing has got to go, man!!) And I have to say --- for being in their forties, they are still so sexy!! Edge is the only man who can wear glitter, sequins, and tie-dye and still be hot. And Bono, he danced around like a cat, it doesnt get better than that!! And his stamina to kick ass for 2.5 hours - WOW!
U2 shows have always been very energetic and engaging with their lights, set design and sing alongs. Plus their catalog has a lot of great concert-type music. I wish we had seen Electric Co. and Zoo Station live like the Chicago DVD. Ours was a little too much of the Joshua Tree hits, too little Boy, and none of Pop which was disappointing. That said, it still was a kick ass show!!
As “Wake Up” faded out, the lights went down and “City of Blinding Lights” kicked off the show, which of course is appropriate since it was written during the Elevation Tour at MSG in 2001. We are all staring at the stage and then BOOM! Bono is at the tip of the ellipse and confetti starts falling from the ceiling. An amazing start. I forget how much pain my legs are in from standing all day and my heart starts pounding like it might just fly out of my chest as Bono makes his way to the stage right by us!!! We could have reached out and tripped him if we wanted to! Damn, it was awesome.
As “Wake Up” faded out, the lights went down and “City of Blinding Lights” kicked off the show, which of course is appropriate since it was written during the Elevation Tour at MSG in 2001. We are all staring at the stage and then BOOM! Bono is at the tip of the ellipse and confetti starts falling from the ceiling. An amazing start. I forget how much pain my legs are in from standing all day and my heart starts pounding like it might just fly out of my chest as Bono makes his way to the stage right by us!!! We could have reached out and tripped him if we wanted to! Damn, it was awesome. Next was our Spanish lesson in “Vertigo”. You think that song kicks ass on the radio, see it live! Bono did come out on our side again for this song and then went back for “I Will Follow”, the only track from “Boy” that they played. In honor of the Rattle and Hum version of “Still Haven’t Found” when they brought out the Harlem choir, the audience was singing along the entire time. “Sometimes in life you are given opportunities – you should have taken that one” said Bono.
In ninth grade, my friends and I would play the game Song Connection during lunch every day. U2 would have kicked our asses! They are so great at incorporating little clips of other songs into their own --- sometimes they even snip their own songs!! For “Beautiful Day” they blended the Beatles’ “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Blackbird” and it was seamless, as was "Stories for Boys" into "Vertigo".
Their newest single (my guilty pleasure from HTDAAB album), “Original of the Species” was great. I love when he points to himself during “some people got way to much confidence, baby”. Bono, to me, is the definition of charisma. Somehow he has an enormous ego because, yeah he rocks, yet he knows it and can still be grounded by it too and maintain a sense of humor.
Then they did “Sometimes you Can’t Make It” as a tribute to Bob Hewson, Bono’s dad. Another great thing about U2 shows is that they are like VH1’s Storytellers – they explain the origin or tell stories about their songs. For this one, Bono introduced it saying “For the past ten years, every conversation with my father began the same way. He’d always say ‘Take those fucking glasses off’. So for him, I will do that right now.” Bono shed his shades to reveal those beautiful blue eyes of his and then sang straight to us from the right side of the ellipse. So powerful I loved it!! And got tons of pictures of him too.Larry finally comes out of the woodwork and pounds out that sexy intro to “Love and Peace” on a single drum at the tip of the ellipse. This begins the political portion of the set. Bono eventually comes out to meet him and then takes over the drum for the transition into “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. Just before he takes the sticks, he gets a bandana from a crew guy that shows the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian symbols all equal to each other, which he will go into later ("Jesus is Jew. Mohammad its True. All are sons of Abraham"). Once he makes it back to the stage, he pulls this 9 yr old kid up there to sing the “no more” part of Sunday. I read a post by his dad who was so glad he brought his son to the show – I know they’ll never forget it. “Rock the Casbah” was a great incorporation too. Then continued with "Bullet the Blue Sky" where Bono blindfolded himself with the bandana, knelt down and crossed his arms above his head as if he was tied up to be tortured and then stumbled around to find his mike again. The imagery is unmistable.
Miss Sarajevo – the unbelievable highlight of the show. He described the girl in war-torn Sarajevo who was holding a beauty pageant to fight back with lipstick and how he couldn’t resist writing a song about it. I didn’t get too many pics of this moment because I was so blown away. Luciano Pavarotti recorded the opera part of the song and Bono surprisingly held his own – Bob Hewson, a lover of opera, would undoubtedly be proud. He held that note so long and strong I literally put my hands to my mouth in shock and pride. He definitely was on his mark tonight.Not too much to note about the rest of the regular set since they play these hits all the time. The ONE campaign was discussed before playing “One” but I wasn’t listening – I was talking to Shawn because I called to let him listen to part of the show.
The ENCORES: A throw back to their Zoo TV tour for the Actung Baby album. And then, I didn’t think he’d do it, but Bono did bring up a girl for “With Or Without You”. It’s kind of old but if it were me my dream would have come true!! So I’m glad it happened for that girl. This was the first time I had seen “The First Time” live and they did a fantastic job of it. A forgotten favorite from the Zooropa album and the Million Dollar Hotel Soundtrack. And as a tribute to playing in MSG, Patti Smith came back out for John Lennon’s “Instant Karma”. U2 will always shine on!! They were unsure how this would turn out but it sounded great to me. And a personal favorite of mine, “Bad”, closed out the show in typical U2 fashion. Kicked ass and then left the stage with the audience chanting “People have the power!”
Hands down best show I've ever seen and best $50 I've ever spent in my life. Doubtful anything can top it. Wish you were there with me. You can virtually be there by checking out my Yahoo photos page for the rest!
Here is the complete set list:
11/21/2005 Madison Square Garden - New York, New York
City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo / Rockaway Beach (snippet), Elevation, I Will Follow, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Beautiful Day / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (snippet) / Blackbird (snippet), Original Of The Species, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own / Torna A Surriento (snippet), Love And Peace Or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet), Bullet The Blue Sky / Please (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet) / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet), Miss Sarajevo, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Where The Streets Have No Name, One / Ol' Man River (snippet)
