(04-29-2005) Vancouver 1 Set List, Reviews and More -- Interference.com*

[dsmith2904]

Vancouver Show 1 Set List, Reviews and More

Coverage of last night's show in Vancouver has already begun popping up. U2.com has porvided the set list as:

City of Blinding Lights
Beautiful Day
Vertigo
Elevation
Gloria
The Ocean / New Year’s 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 Standstill
Human Rights
Bad
Pride in the name of love
Where the Streets have no name
One

Zoo Station
The Fly
Mysterious Ways

All Because of You
Original of the Species
“40”

U2.com has also written a story about the night, sharing such tidbits as writer William Gibson is working on an article about the tour for Wired magazine. Read that story here.

The Canadian Press' review can be read here.

CTV covers the night here.

Julie sent in the following story from the Globe and Mail.

 

[DPrinceNY]

have the stopped playing the stories for boys bit right after vertigo?

 

[Harry Vest]

How was "Bad"????

 

[Roland of Gilead]

Stories... was still in there!

Bad was a friggin' MONSTER!!! Bono nailed it perfectly (WIDE AWAKE!!!).

Long night. I need a nap. GA tonight!

 

[whasjoewahn]

The only thing they (Canadian press) write about is Bono and his campaign... Again, great cause, but this tour is also about U2 and their music!

 

[Judah]

Yes...I was skeptical about Bono being able to pull off a memorable Bad. But I have to agree that it was a "Monster." A big, huge, cosmic monster. I don't know how the B-man does it...

 

[sue4u2]

Came across this article from Canada.com:

Honestly, I do try to read negative as well as positive articles, but I just don't find that many pointed articles that are negative>

I thought was worth passing along:

Thursday, April 28, 2005

U2 still winning fans, influencing people

Through everything, there has been U2. Since 1980, U2 has transcended post-punk, roots-rock, nu-rock, grunge, electronica, emo, and have been together long enough to witness an '80s revival.

The band has managed to remain relevant, so that even as bands as diverse as Duran Duran and Gang of Four have taken advantage of '80s nostalgia, U2 has cut its own swath.

It has made mistakes along the way, but such vulnerability, as opposed to infallibility, has made it more human and kept it earthbound.

At one time, Chris Blackwell, who signed the group to his Island Records, speculated that U2 could be to the '80s what The Who were to the '60s. That was a bold statement, but within reason.

If The Who were known individually -- Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Keith Moon -- fans also knew U2 -- Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr. If The Who was distinctive instrumentalists who added up to something uniquely greater than the sum of their parts, U2 was as distinctive. If The Who pushed the boundaries of rock with its records, U2 did it with its shows.

What Blackwell probably didn't foresee was that in 2005 the same four guys would still be together, still pushing at boundaries. U2 would be bigger than The Who, in 2005 possibly the world's biggest band.

The stability of the band has created a platform sturdy enough to have made Bono a spokesman, like him or not. He has been smart enough to use his power discerningly. He knows that whatever he says will be newsworthy, so he has been careful to align himself, and by extension U2, with meaningful causes. His stand on reducing third-world debt has resulted in people from the first world being aware that there is such a thing as third-world debt. When Bono expresses his disappointment in Paul Martin, it isn't just Canadians who listen.

That's a very dangerous power, for which rock musicians usually aren't prepared. In this way, U2 is like The Beatles. As a catalyst for the '60s, The Beatles naively made statements that carried more weight than they probably knew. They made them anyway.

At a time when most bands are discouraged from being controversial, U2 has shown the courage of its convictions. It has stuck its neck out and risked the chop. This has earned respect.

Not everything U2 does is fully understood. What was Bono really saying when he assumed his Mephisto character? Rattle & Hum, the movie, was overstatement. The Pop album and Popmart tour were misguided.
[I disagree of course: POP ]

Yet the band has been smart enough to make reparations, the result being that, with All That You Can't Leave Behind, U2 is more popular than ever.

There is a '60s-like interest in what the band does. Then, listeners would gather 'round the radio to hear the latest Who or Beatles single. What would they do? What innovations were they introducing? The current U2 album provoked the same kinds of questions.

U2 is one of the few bands that has lasted 25 years. It has adapted with the times yet remained recognizably U2. In the '60s and '70s you could follow certain groups as they developed and changed. There are few modern groups that are given enough time or room to develop and change. It's one of the things the new rock fan misses in contemporary music and finds attractive in older rock. They can discover The Who or rely on U2.

 

[A747BLDR]

Vancouver 4/28

Got inside the bomb shelter!
They let me and both my daughters in to the ellipse!!
Up close and personal to say the least, it is all you could hope for and more!
If Rhiannon is out there, I have photos for you...