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U2 in Tempe
By Dianne Ebbertt Beeaff
?We?ll shine like stars in the summer night;
We?ll shine like stars in the winter night;
One heart, one hope, one love.?
There?s a great glowing wide-eyed expectancy whenever I think about Sun Devil Stadium in December of 1987. Another time; another place. Can it be nearly two decades since U2 came back to Arizona to close out The Joshua Tree, a tour that had opened there nearly a year earlier? Concert footage from Sun Devil was to be the centerpiece of the transitional film that would become "Rattle and Hum" a year later--a record of U2?s bid to illuminate the myth of America, celebrate the country?s musical heritage, and update the essence of U2 on celluloid. ?A kind of photograph,? Edge said.
A lot has happened in the world since those all-too-brief winter nights in Tempe so long ago. Gone is the World Trade Center in New York City. And though Palestinians and Israelis have continued to kill each other with persistent and vigorous regularity, in 1987 we looked out on the hills of El Salvador, where now we have the minefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. Iran-Contra and government subterfuge under Reagan/Bush filled the newspapers in ?87. Today it?s WMDs and government subterfuge under Bush/Cheney. In 1987, AIDS had just come to Africa and the world?s glance suggested it just might tackle the threat. Today, Africa?s AIDS crisis has reached plague proportions and the world is still dithering. ?It?s not what you?re dreaming, but what you?re gonna do.? On the plus side, South Africa has slipped the bonds of repression and institutionalized segregation, and genocide has been capped in Bosnia.
Meanwhile, U2 went from being the biggest rock band in the world to being . . . well . . . the biggest rock band in the world. In the early ?90s, following those now-legendary Sun Devil shows, they dreamt it all up again, waking to the multi-media extravaganzas of the Zoo TV, Outside Broadcast and Zooropa tours and the gimmickry and color of Pop Mart. All of these were incredible experiences and accomplishments, but the new millennium brought us "All That You Can?t Leave Behind" and a band that?s come full circle from the passionate soulfulness epitomized in Tempe. ?Life presents us with all the possibilities of finding our way back home.?
"Rattle and Hum" director Phil Joanou successfully shot Tempe for ?intense and epic.? Yet those lustrous December nights had a seeming simplicity that turned a vast stadium space into something intimate and communal, like the JT tour itself. ?It was like--throw out technology,? Adam said. And for the most part, they did. The staging was simple, a wide white wing to either side that spelled out ?U2? and straight-ahead twin performances that were exceptional--sublime and uplifting.
The first night, December 19th, was cool and cloudy with a fine hazy rain. Joanou would later call it a ?fucking disaster.? But that?s director-speak from a filmmaker?s point-of-view. Few fans who were there would agree. That mystical rain created powerful atmospherics that wrapped the night in inspiration and hopefulness. Under a half-light red-orange sky shredded with cloud, the gigantic blue-black-bowl venue filled often with flickering golden light, and the stage swirled under a tea-rose pink mist. The view from a dozen or so rows back from center-stage was extraordinary. As always for me, "Bad" was a highlight, along with Edge?s blistering "Bullet" solo, and the red screen and strobe lights of "Streets."
Producer Michael Hamlyn would declare the next night, December 20th, ?the best show of the tour.? And they got it all on film. There was an ?epic 'Bad,'? nine moving minutes of "El Pueblo Vencera" tacked on to "Mothers of the Disappeared," a stirring "One Tree Hill," "In God?s Country" for our lush Sonoran desert, a gigantic party-time "It?s Christmas, Baby Please Come Home," and a rousing "Jingle Bells" serenade-of-a-closing. The energy and excitement made the night incomparable and exhilarating, one enormous Christmas party with 50,000 of your closest friends. In the end, when ?It?s Christmas in Killarney? came up over the sound system, snapping electrical surges still swept through the crowd and no one wanted to go home. It was ?a great show,? Joanou would say, in an understatement of gigantic proportions. ?We nailed it visually and they nailed it musically and the crowd was great.?
Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward, Nels Bohr has written. In retrospect, I understand--as much as it?s possible for a fan to understand--the permutations and continued blossoming of a vibrant and living band like U2, as it moved from the innocence of "Boy" through the heart of "The Joshua Tree" to the soulful maturity of ATYCLB. And looking back on those two brilliant winter nights in Tempe I?m hungrier than ever for whatever?s next.
[align=center]Dianne Ebbertt Beeaff is the author of "A Grand Madness: 10 Years on the Road with U2." Interference.com thanks Ms. Beeaff for sharing her memories of Tempe with us.[/align]
U2 in Tempe
By Dianne Ebbertt Beeaff
?We?ll shine like stars in the summer night;
We?ll shine like stars in the winter night;
One heart, one hope, one love.?
There?s a great glowing wide-eyed expectancy whenever I think about Sun Devil Stadium in December of 1987. Another time; another place. Can it be nearly two decades since U2 came back to Arizona to close out The Joshua Tree, a tour that had opened there nearly a year earlier? Concert footage from Sun Devil was to be the centerpiece of the transitional film that would become "Rattle and Hum" a year later--a record of U2?s bid to illuminate the myth of America, celebrate the country?s musical heritage, and update the essence of U2 on celluloid. ?A kind of photograph,? Edge said.
A lot has happened in the world since those all-too-brief winter nights in Tempe so long ago. Gone is the World Trade Center in New York City. And though Palestinians and Israelis have continued to kill each other with persistent and vigorous regularity, in 1987 we looked out on the hills of El Salvador, where now we have the minefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. Iran-Contra and government subterfuge under Reagan/Bush filled the newspapers in ?87. Today it?s WMDs and government subterfuge under Bush/Cheney. In 1987, AIDS had just come to Africa and the world?s glance suggested it just might tackle the threat. Today, Africa?s AIDS crisis has reached plague proportions and the world is still dithering. ?It?s not what you?re dreaming, but what you?re gonna do.? On the plus side, South Africa has slipped the bonds of repression and institutionalized segregation, and genocide has been capped in Bosnia.
Meanwhile, U2 went from being the biggest rock band in the world to being . . . well . . . the biggest rock band in the world. In the early ?90s, following those now-legendary Sun Devil shows, they dreamt it all up again, waking to the multi-media extravaganzas of the Zoo TV, Outside Broadcast and Zooropa tours and the gimmickry and color of Pop Mart. All of these were incredible experiences and accomplishments, but the new millennium brought us "All That You Can?t Leave Behind" and a band that?s come full circle from the passionate soulfulness epitomized in Tempe. ?Life presents us with all the possibilities of finding our way back home.?
"Rattle and Hum" director Phil Joanou successfully shot Tempe for ?intense and epic.? Yet those lustrous December nights had a seeming simplicity that turned a vast stadium space into something intimate and communal, like the JT tour itself. ?It was like--throw out technology,? Adam said. And for the most part, they did. The staging was simple, a wide white wing to either side that spelled out ?U2? and straight-ahead twin performances that were exceptional--sublime and uplifting.
The first night, December 19th, was cool and cloudy with a fine hazy rain. Joanou would later call it a ?fucking disaster.? But that?s director-speak from a filmmaker?s point-of-view. Few fans who were there would agree. That mystical rain created powerful atmospherics that wrapped the night in inspiration and hopefulness. Under a half-light red-orange sky shredded with cloud, the gigantic blue-black-bowl venue filled often with flickering golden light, and the stage swirled under a tea-rose pink mist. The view from a dozen or so rows back from center-stage was extraordinary. As always for me, "Bad" was a highlight, along with Edge?s blistering "Bullet" solo, and the red screen and strobe lights of "Streets."
Producer Michael Hamlyn would declare the next night, December 20th, ?the best show of the tour.? And they got it all on film. There was an ?epic 'Bad,'? nine moving minutes of "El Pueblo Vencera" tacked on to "Mothers of the Disappeared," a stirring "One Tree Hill," "In God?s Country" for our lush Sonoran desert, a gigantic party-time "It?s Christmas, Baby Please Come Home," and a rousing "Jingle Bells" serenade-of-a-closing. The energy and excitement made the night incomparable and exhilarating, one enormous Christmas party with 50,000 of your closest friends. In the end, when ?It?s Christmas in Killarney? came up over the sound system, snapping electrical surges still swept through the crowd and no one wanted to go home. It was ?a great show,? Joanou would say, in an understatement of gigantic proportions. ?We nailed it visually and they nailed it musically and the crowd was great.?
Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward, Nels Bohr has written. In retrospect, I understand--as much as it?s possible for a fan to understand--the permutations and continued blossoming of a vibrant and living band like U2, as it moved from the innocence of "Boy" through the heart of "The Joshua Tree" to the soulful maturity of ATYCLB. And looking back on those two brilliant winter nights in Tempe I?m hungrier than ever for whatever?s next.
[align=center]Dianne Ebbertt Beeaff is the author of "A Grand Madness: 10 Years on the Road with U2." Interference.com thanks Ms. Beeaff for sharing her memories of Tempe with us.[/align]
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