LuminoMagazine.com - U2 lives up to religious label

U2 lives up to religious label

Written by MATTHEW SIEFERT, photos by BARRY BRECHEISEN

Thursday, 12 May 2005

A U2 show is not so much a rock concert as much as it is an experience. Rick Rubin called it a "religious experience" upon seeing them on 2001's Elevation Tour. This time around was no different really, even on the fourth sold-out night in a row at the United Center in Chicago.

Openers Kings of Leon played an uninspired set that had little acceptance from the crowd at large; much of it had not yet assembled. In fairness, the band's sound was not mixed well. But the band did little to show the audience why they have been critically acclaimed in many publications. And an arena is not the place to trot out wussy miniature rock anthems with no distinguishable hooks and even less personality.

U2 with Kings of Leon

Entertainment

Art

United Center
Chicago, Ill.
May 12, 2005

Setlist:
"Vertigo"
"All Because Of You"
"Elevation"
"Gloria"
"The Ocean"
"Beautiful Day"
"Miracle Drug"
"Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own"
"Love and Peace or Else"
"Sunday Bloody Sunday"
"Bullet the Blue Sky"
"Running to Stand Still"
"City of Blinding Lights"
"Original of the Species"
"Pride (In The Name of Love)"
"Where the Streets Have No Name"
"One"

Encore 1:
"Until the End of the World"
"The Fly"
"Mysterious Ways"
"With or Without You"
"Strangers in the Night"

Encore 2:
"Yahweh"
"Bad"
"Norwegian Wood"
"40"

So when the lights went down and U2 took the stage, it was not a minute too soon.

It couldn't have started any other way really, as the Dublin foursome ripped into "Vertigo," the first of many songs they would play from the new album. As Bono ran around the stage, a spiral-designed catwalk, fans went crazy.

The band played as tight of set as expected. A 26-song set in all, fans did not walk away disappointed. The transition from the most politically charged songs of the night like "Love and Peace or Else" to the melodic "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and then seamlessly to the biting "Bullet the Blue Sky" - the set could not have been executed more brilliantly.

Bono led the charge and challenged the audience, as usual. Few others can captivate an audience the way he does. Most notably on "Pride (In The Name of Love)" was the range of Bono's voice heard throughout the stadium amidst the thousands of others screaming along. All the while bassist Adam Clayton kept a quiet smile on his face picking the driving bass lines all night long.

The Edge led songs from both the guitar and keyboard, and showed why he is one of the best musicians in the business. When you see him play songs like "Mysterious Ways" and "Where the Streets Have No Name" in person, you feel that tingle up your spine as you did the first time you heard his unique guitar sound and style. Perhaps even more impressive - and presumably the most overshadowed in the band - was the play of drummer Larry Mullen Jr. on drums, who played flawlessly all throughout.

For those who couldn't make it to any of the four shows, there have been talks of a DVD one of the shows in Chicago, not unlike the Elevation DVD that came out that was shot in Boston in 2001. Plus, U2 is making its way back to the Midwest in the fall.

When you go home after seeing a show like this, your body fatigued from standing on edge all night and your pocket $150 lighter, you still can rest assured that you have seen one of the best rock acts to ever exist. And that, obscene as it may be, is worth more than anything concert promoters can offer.

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