By Miguel Gálvez
LOS ANGELES, CA The challenge is not to make it to the top, but to stay up there, and no other band in the planet has it any clearer than U2. Since the eighties, when they exceeded all the limits of global popularity with their iconic album The Joshua Tree, and their subsequent international tour earned them the title of “Rock’s Hottest Ticket” on the cover of Time magazine, far from merely enjoy the ephemeral intoxication that comes along with fame, they have dedicated themselves to reinvent their band again and again in an effort to remain a relevant group that by now has crossed musical, geographical, ideological, and even technological and chronological boundaries.
It happened during the first minutes of 1990 in a concert U2 offered in their native Dublin. At the dawn of the new decade, Bono surprised everyone when right from the stage said it was time to “Go away and dream it all over again… To forget about the past and celebrate the future.” After a couple of years of silence they returned with Achtung Baby, an album widely recognized as even better than their Joshua Tree, and they embarked on an extravagant and media-intoxicated world tour called ZOO TV, that unlike the simplicity of their shows in the eighties transformed the standard of rock and pop shows in something never seen before.
Thirty-six video screens combined images of the band playing live, satellite connections and flashing text phrases with ironic, almost subliminal, messages. Colorful Trabant cars -The sign of failed communism- hung from the stage to serve not only as an important décor element, but as the lighting system foundation, and a smaller stage placed right in the middle of the crowd allowed by the first time that intimate approach every artist seeks with the fans. The whole stage and show was designed to instill a sensory overload in its audience to show the scope and manipulation of mass media.
For their next tour, PopMart, U2 invested several million dollars to develop a new technology experiment that eventually became an article of common use: The LED screen. The result of this venture was not only one of the first screens of this type, but the largest at the time with 170 feet wide and 56 feet high. This colossal screen was placed behind the stage to project animations and footage of the band playing live. The next tour, Elevation, presented a fully minimalist stage design whose main intention was to put the audience in the middle of the show and as close as possible to the band. During the Vertigo Tour the essence of proximity to the public was preserved and the technological highlight consisted of seven retractable see-through LED based bead curtains that projected images and text without obstructing the view of the band playing live.
Between 2009 and 2011 their 360-degree Tour travelled around the globe with a massive structure 167 feet high holding the audio system and a cylindrical screen, the stage was surrounded by a circular ramp and bridges hovering over the crowd. The 360-degree design and placement of the stage towards the center of the stadium allowed to increase up to 25% the capacity, which helped make this tour the most watched show in history with 7.2 million tickets sold worldwide and the most commercially successful with $736 million in sales; figures that beat the historic Rolling Stones who were en route at the same time.
So after almost 40 years of career, nearly 1200 concerts throughout the world, but especially after that long reputation of best live rock band, for their new tour called Innocence + Experience which launched last May 14 in Vancouver and recently offered five shows in Los Angeles, of which I witnessed three, this time U2 decided to start their new show illuminated only by a single and simple light bulb. The intention according to Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry is to bring the audience to the late seventies Dublin, the city where their career began by playing in school gymnasiums and small clubs when they were just four teenagers unable to perform songs from famous bands, so they had to make their own. The town with loyal friends who have accompanied them for years, friends that in Bono’s words were already there when they found the first loves and the first fights in the playground. That old Dublin that contrasted the innocence of childhood and youth with the violence of an ancient conflict that used violent terrorist acts, in which innocent people lost their lives grotesquely by simply being in the wrong place and time.
And once again, technology that in the future will surely become so common and obsolete, as the LED TV's in our living rooms, helps U2 to bring the audience throughout this autobiographical journey in which they present their new album Songs of Innocence along with hits from their near and distant glorious past, and to prevent monotony they replace around five songs from one night to another, occasionally surprising the crowd with something they have not played in many years.
Regarding the new stage the first thing that stands out is that there is no better or worse place to appreciate the show, just a different view of it. And as the night goes on, the crowd is surprised to find out there are actually four stages that U2 uses throughout the nearly two and a half hours they play.
The first is a traditional stage they call "I" for "Innocence," the second is a small circular stage in the opposite end of the arena, which because of its lighting they called "E" for "Experience." Connecting these two stages there is a catwalk that Bono, Adam and The Edge use to perform just inches away from the fans, and that it turns into a third stage when the whole band performs an extraordinary new version of their hit Sunday Bloody Sunday. High above the catwalk a huge screen projects images to both sides of the venue, and it is on this screen where we can find the fourth stage and one of the greatest innovations that make this show spectacular, because it doesn’t just projects images, it also allows U2 to get inside and play live from the very middle. And combining their live presence with animations especially prepared for each song, the show takes the crowd to the places where Bono grew up and honors the memory of the people killed in the worst terrorist attack in Ireland’s history.
The second major innovation of this tour is found in the way they are managing the audio, because they have placed the speaker system on an elliptical framework hung from the venue’s roof. This ensures that every space in the arena receive the same quality and sound level. Historically, in every concert the audience near the stage was so close to the speakers that sound could be deafening, and those in the back rows were not close enough to receive the optimum audio. But with this new method, which is sure to become the standard, you can hear with great clarity and sharpness every instrument and voice regardless of the location and cost of the ticket.
Writing about the band and their quality of execution would be redundant. Fortunately that obsession with relevance continues to drive their search for new ways to reinvent themselves and to go where no one has gone before. And despite that early youth they seek to rediscover with this new album and tour was left behind many years ago, they still have the raw energy and vitality that turned them into “Rock’s Hottest Ticket” and not even the number of incidents that have accompanied the band in recent months... The door that was completely torn away in a private flight with Bono aboard last November, the catastrophic cycling accident four days later that left Bono with titanium plates and unable to play guitar, the overly criticized and controversial free launch of their new album via Apple, the dead of Larry’s father the same week of the start of this tour, The Edge accidentally falling off the stage at the end of the opening night in Vancouver, or the sudden death of their tour manager on May 27, have managed to overshadow what already is another great tour in U2’s history.
Bono Meets Turkish PM
With his band’s visit one of the most anticipated events on Istanbul’s cultural calendar this year, U2 singer Bono took time out of preparations for Monday’s concert by meeting Sunday with Turkey’s prime minister.
The meeting at the prime minister’s office at Dolmabahçe Palace featured Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader’s daughter, Sümeyye Erdoğan, Turkey’s chief European Union negotiator, Egemen Bağış, and State Minister Hayati Yazıcı.
Bono gave the Turkish prime minister a red iPod Nano, which he said would benefit the Global Fund to Fight Against AIDS.
The Irish rock star also told Erdoğan he knew the prime minister was a great fan of Turkish classical music. The prime minister then posed with the band for the press to take photos although the rest of their meeting occurred behind closed doors.
Bono’s program for the later part of the day was to include a walk on the Bosphorus Bridge with ministers.
Yazıcı and Bağış were to accompany him as the Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review went to print.
U2 will perform in Istanbul for the very first time Monday as part of its 360º Tour on Monday evening.
The rock band will be on stage at the Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium, contributing to Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture festivities. The U2 Istanbul concert is being organized by LiveNation, in collaboration with the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, or İKSV, and Pozitif.
New Zealand Ticket Alert
Tickets to New Zealand’s one and only U2 360 concert are already appearing on TradeMe, two days before they go on sale to the public.
U2.com subscribers had until yesterday to purchase tickets to the November concert, before they go on sale to the public this Friday.
Tickets are already appearing on auction website Trade Me for inflated prices - some have a ‘buy now’ of $1000 for two.
U2 360 organisers would not comment on scalping but the band website www.U2.com states: “We reserve the right to block access to or cancel a ticket order of any user that we believe, in our sole and absolute discretion is or is associated with any ticket broker or scalper.”
Wellingtonian Shelly Mackey subscribed for $50 just to ensure she could get tickets after almost missing out four years ago when U2 last performed in New Zealand.
“The main reason why I did it was because I wanted to get tickets. Last time they had a concert I lived in Hamilton and we broke up into groups, I lined up at the stadium, others were in town and another was online,” she says.
She missed out on tickets which were being sold at Waikato Stadium and at the ticket store in town, but did get them online.
“We almost missed out, so this time I thought ‘stuff it’ and paid the $50.”
She says it was worth paying the extra money because the previous concert was so good.
“Their concert was awesome last time.”
Miss Mackey says she purchased four of the $39.90 tickets, which ended up costing about $62 each after the subscription fee and postage.
New Zealand U2 360 spokeswoman Bridget de Launay says the U2.com subscribers allocation for $349.50 Red Zone tickets sold out, but could not comment on how many were sold.
She says there are still Red Zone tickets available to the public.
Miss Mackey says it is tempting to sell her spare two tickets.
“I am definitely considering it but I would feel a little greedy doing it.”
She says she might just sell them to friends for the amount she paid for them.
“I will just see what happens.”
The Irish superband will be joined by Jay-Z at Mt Smart Stadium on Thursday, November 25, exactly four years after U2 last performed in New Zealand.
About 54 percent of tickets are priced under $100, starting at $39.90.
The low prices are due to the specially built 50m-high stage with rotating bridges and a giant video system.
“The extra capacity U2 360 gives us means that there are a large number, several thousand in fact, of low priced tickets at every show,” says U2 tour producer/promoter Arthur Fogel, chief executive of Live Nation Global Touring.
Bringing the U2 360 production to New Zealand is no small feat. Six 747 freighters are required to fly the production to New Zealand.
The stage weighs 590 tonnes with all of the production gear hanging from it, and covers 6000 square metres.
‘The Claw’ itself stands 30.53m high, and with the pylon it’s 51.8m. That means it’s higher than most stadium roofs. Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium roof will have to be “cracked” and stay open to allow the pylon to be installed.
U2's Club Sound
As already reported the band has plans to release a rock album, and SOngs of Ascent a set of songs from the recording session of their 2009 album “No Line On the Horizon” also Bono and The Edge have been busy with Spider- Man the musical.
Bono says he thinks he “could have made a limp work.”
He adds: “There are a lot bigger problems out there than the ones I was facing. … But I came out of it perfect. And I feel incredibly grateful.”
U2 and the 700-ton monster arrive in Hanover
A total of 700 tons of steel and technology currently dominate the stadium on Thursday evening and prepare the stage for the concert.
After 13 years, the band is the first time to see again live in the state capital.
Six days and more than 8,000 hours was the construction of the 360-degree stage - a futuristic, spider-like structure - claim that it has, according to organizers in these dimensions so before given only U2.
The approximately 50,000 fans are expected to forward to an appropriate spectacle, production manager Jake Barry promised yesterday, while in the truest sense of the word were the latest work on the stage.
Hanover, the second of three German stations during the 2009 world tour the band started. On Tuesday evening, the rocker is already in the Frankfurt Commerzbank-Arena had occurred.
It had come to the end of the presentation for a moving invocation. Before the very last song called “Moment of Surrender” singer Bono recalled the 21 victims of the Love Parade in Duisburg. He then expressed his hope that the disaster should not lead to perish in Germany, the joy of music.
Quite easily, the German tour start was, however, does not. During the construction stage to comply with the giant screens, there was in Frankfurt a lot of trouble.
At 52 meters height, the steel structure for the stadium roof was too high. “In Hanover, there has been no trouble,” said the head of production.
Ensure that the lawn just before the season start of the Bundesliga season is not damaged, make special shoes. If the Green still suffer, there is a new turf by U2.
Opening is Kasabian. U2 starts at 20.45 Local Time
The current time in Hanover
Follow the tweets and concert news on @U2TOURFANS
New U2 Book
Due September 15th in the U.S.
Featuring an introduction by Cowboy Mouth’s John Thomas Griffith, the one-time frontman for Red Rockers, who opened for U2 on its Unforgettable Fire trek, U2FAQ also boasts rare artifacts and photos from U2 fans and collectors worldwide.
Active and relevant for nearly thirty-five years, Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen, Jr. have been masters of reinvention, thriving artistically while continuing to sell out concerts across the globe. From their start at Dublin’s Mount Temple School in 1976 up to the 2009 Rose Bowl show that shattered a U.S. concert attendance record (previously set by the group in 1987), U2’s members have experienced some amazing collective highs. But in its ascent, the band has seen its share of personal, artistic, and commercial setbacks, including Bono’s recent debilitating back injury, which prompted the postponement of its U.S. tour until 2011.
These are just some of the topics U2 FAQ explores: How did Bono recover his cherished suitcase of lyrics 23 years after its 1981 disappearance? What movie dialogue is sampled in the middle of Seconds? What effect did bull’s blood have on Larry’s drumming? How did Bono’s visit to Central America inform The Joshua Tree? What are the details of Adam’s 1989 marijuana bust? How did Mick Jagger wind up on “All That You Can’t Leave Behind”? Can Bono really save the world?
“What makes U2 FAQ different from the other books written about the band, is that – aside from all of the information it gathers – is the fact that it explores the band’s vulnerabilities,” Luerssen says. “I think that with U2’s enormous popularity, it’s easy to forget that Bono, The Edge, Larry and Adam are human beings like the rest of us. And I explore that in chapters like Broken Nose to the Floor: Public Debacles, Dangers, and Embarrassments, and Don’t Talk Out of Time—True U2 Stories. It’s a must-read book, whether you love or loathe U2.”
Luerssen – a regular AOL Music/Spinner contributor who has also written for Rolling Stone, Billboard, All Music Guide, and American Songwriter and penned 2004’s highly praised Rivers’ Edge: The Weezer Story (ECW Press) goes beyond the essential facts, delving into the legendary fables and unique anecdotes that make
U2 Fan Experience
What was yours ? How did the show move you ? What was your experience?
Of course we have tons of videos and photos and intereviews, what about your story ? Lets reach back in time and enjoy this fans experience.
U2 is an experience. And I know that sounds kitsch and over the top if you don’t like them, and have never been to one of their shows.
I’ve heard that said over and over again, and I thought I understood it. I’ve got the dvd’s of previous tours, and watch them a fair amount.
But when I got there, and stood in front of Edge’s amps as he drove out perfect note after perfect note on ‘Breathe’, taking a rather normal base chord structure to levels you wouldn’t think it could go to, and as Bono quite literally sang his heart out, and 97,000 people for just 2 hours got to drop their learned inhibitions and allow songs to take them somewhere they might not otherwise be able to go……as over the top as it might sound, it is a spiritual experience.
So as much as I joke about the night not being fulfilled until security escorts me out for trying too hard to touch Edge, Bono, Larry, Adam, or even one of the stage crew, once you get there, it’s just about letting yourself go.
Now, U2 is not for everybody. They’re obviously for a lot of people, but not for everybody. But I can pretty much guarantee you that if you were to go to a live show of theirs, and leave any preconceived notions at the door, you would at the very least feel something.
To be able to be crushed by 2490 fans in the inner circle jumping to ‘No Line on the Horizon’ as I in turn crush the 10 in front of me. To sing ‘No more!’ until you think you’re going to collapse, but it’s okay because thousands of other people from 5 years old to 65 years old are singing the same thing with the same intensity around you.
And of course, to almost be able to touch Edge’s guitar when he leaned over the rail. And above absolutely everything else, to hear the untouched and pre-mic’d tone directly from his amps. Not to sound overly sentimental