Here is a review in the Oakland Tribune!
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune
Bono, front and center
Another anthemic performance from U2, and lead singer, of course
By Jim Harrington, CONTRIBUTOR
Bono performs with Adam Clayton and The Edge Tuesday night at the Oakland Arena. (Mike Lucia - Staff)
BONO is no genius.
It's not as if he was the one who came up with the Theory of Relativity, penned "Ulysses" or created the peanut butter cup.
He's a rock'n' roll singer who seems to operate by one simple motto: Do the next right thing onstage. With that principle in mind, the leader of U2 will hand the microphone to a young girl in the crowd, dance with a passionate fan during a big number, shake hands with a guy in the front row or, really, whatever else is the appropriate move at any particular moment.
Yet, if that motto is so simple, one has to ask why there aren't more performers who live by it? Good question.
Although he's best known for putting on big stage shows and singing big rock anthems, Bono proved yet again on Tuesday night at the Oakland Arena that the real reason he is rightfully considered to be the greatest front man in rock is because he does all the little things right.
Talk to the fans who attended Tuesday's show, which kicked off a two-night stand at the venue, and I bet the first thing they mention isn't the cool light show, the stage with the
heart-shaped walkway that extended halfway across the arena floor or the great version of the anthem "Pride (In the Name of Love)." I'm willing to wager that they instead bring up how Bono carried a woman on his back during "Mysterious Ways" or let a young girl lead a chant of "No More" in "Sunday Bloody Sunday."
In all, it was another winning chapter in the book that some are calling "The Biggest Week in Bay Area Rock'n' Roll History." U2 was at least as good Tuesday as Paul McCartney had
been at the HP Pavilion in San Jose Monday. And the Rolling Stones, who play Sunday and Tuesday at SBC Park in San Francisco,
In perfect rock star form, U2's Bono filled the stage - with both big and small gestures - in concert Tuesday night at the Oakland Arena. (Mike Lucia - Staff)
certainly have their work cut out for them if they are to top either Paul or Bono.
Following a moderately entertaining opening set by reggae-star Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, who also performs Monday at the Independent in San Francisco, U2 launched its two-hour-plus concert in a very dramatic fashion.
The house stereo system pumped out a tune by Arcade Fire, the Montreal-based buzz band that will take over as opening act for U2 later this month, and then three-fourths of the legendary Irish band took the stage and began to play "City of Blinding Lights," one of the best tracks from last year's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb."
Last but not least
If you have to ask which member of U2 was the last to appear on stage, well, you clearly haven't been paying attention.
It was, of course, Bono, who burst out of seemingly nowhere
at the point of the stage that reached farthest into the crowd. He was surrounded by a sea of outstretched arms as he sang "City of Blinding Lights" with the passion of a preacher delivering a sermon in a revival tent.
"Vertigo" — which, despite popular opinion to the contrary, is really an actual song found on "Atomic Bomb" and not just a jingle for Apple's iPod — was another big crowd pleaser. The band kept the adrenaline pumping as it charged directly through "Elevation" (from 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind") and "Mysterious Ways" (from 1991's "Actung Baby").
Played crowd favorites
The mood remained electric as the quartet focused the early part of its show on such crowd favorites as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (the anthemic hit off 1987's "Joshua Tree"), "Until the End of the World" (another "Actung Baby"
Bono sings another U2 classic at their concert Tuesday night at the Oakland Arena. (Mike Lucia - Staff)
track) and "Beautiful Day" (which opens "All That You Can't Leave Behind").
No matter the song, or the era of its origin, there was never mistaking whose show it was on this night. Even during the new album's "Miracle Drug," which featured some fine vocal work from The Edge, Bono completely dominated the spotlight, in that case by telling a humorous story about how the guitarist was really a space alien from the future. Later, a single drum was erected on the walkway for Larry Mullen Jr. to play during "Love and Peace or Else." After Mullen finished, Bono took over, tied a cloth around his forehead, began beating the drum in Kodo-worthy fashion and made people forget about Mullen.
Yet one doesn't mind Bono hogging the spotlight because he is such a natural. Things just seem to happen at the right time at the right place for Bono, such as when crowd members handed him an Irish flag and, then, an American flag during "Sunday Bloody Sunday." Still, the credit can't all be chalked up to chance. Bono is smart enough to take advantage of those situations in a way that, really, no other performer seems capable of doing.
If that doesn't qualify him as a genius then Bono will simply have to settle for being the greatest front man in rock.