My Somewhat long review after getting to see both nights in Phoenix.
U2 is still the best live band. Still the best. The still sound great, this still give a great performance, and much thought still goes into their live show and presentation. The show is heavy on the warhorses, but is still really great overall concert. They know their audience, and while a few small tweaks could make the show better for the diehards, to the average concert-goer it’s a really great show that is going to get all the big songs that most want to hear.
What was really great:
1. The First Act
The first act, of the first 10 songs is really remarkable show in and of itself. I purposely stayed away from watching all the videos and seeing the whole thing until attending in Phoenix. The overall story they are telling, and the way they staged it, and executed it is really incredible and I have never seen anything quite like it in a live rock concert.
I loved the first four old school rock club feel. To hear Electric Co. again in person made the first show. Out of Control was also great the second night. My only minor tweak would be replace I will Follow with 11 O’Clock Tick Tock, and that section would be perfect. Even if they would just rotate I Will Follow on night two, even with Seconds or Like A Song. Still really awesome section, and start to the show. I was skeptical of Miracle as opener, but for the narrative they are conveying I don’t know that they could improve on it.
As someone who has followed the band for 28 years, who reads all the articles and every U2 book, and knows the stories behind all the songs- Sunday Bloody Sunday took on a new life in this segment. Iris, which was already my favorite from the last two albums, took on a whole new emotional level, and was really an awesome moment. Having visited Dublin before to make my U2 pilgrimage Cedarwood Road, and the lead into Raised by Wolves were so powerful. I rolled my eyes when I read they were playing Until the End of the World again, but it was so perfectly placed and executed, I am not sure they could put anything else in it’s place and have the same impact (Maybe Gone?). It was just about a perfect way to end an extremely emotional run. I knew going in the first half was a strong story, but was really blown away with how well executed it was.
2. Bullet-> With Or Without You (Night 1)
On paper this seems like the tired, rehash section for the diehards that have seen these songs a lot but this was really great. To hear Bullet-Pride-BD-Bad-WOWOY section was so great. Bullet was back to having the right balance of angry, and not having seen it in a while, it was really a welcome return.
The segue to Hands (which I don’t care for at all) worked well to get to Pride, which is the perfect joyful break after the heaviness of Bullet. Pride sounded great, and goes well next to BD, it makes for a very uplifting joyous section. Then going to Bad and WOWOY, both in my personal top 5 songs ever was incredible. I really loved this section, and would have been ok with the show ending there. The only negative about Bad, was the ending was little truncated, and didn’t have the great build/snippets it usually has and seemed to end a little premature. Even so, Bad is always a highlight.
3. In God’s Country – Desire –Sweetest Thing (Night 1) / Angel of Harlem – Love Town (Night 2)
In God’s Country, although fairly significantly butchered, was such a great moment of U2 not taking themselves so seriously. They have always had some really great moments when they let this happen. Even if it was a sloppy thrown together version, it was great to hear in any form. I also enjoyed Desire and even a rough version of Sweetest Thing (which surprisingly got a huge reception and became a big sing-a-long.)
Night two Love Comes to Town and Angel of Harlem was a great highlight. I personally don’t really care for either of those songs, and never listen to them these days, but thoroughly enjoyed both. They played both with a real passion, and confidence that makes me wish they would open up the back catalog more. It was a great moment.
The Good
1. Most of the New Songs
All the New Songs sounded really good, and seemed to be fairly well received. I think Song For Someone first so well thematically, but it really is not a great live song. . Miracle is a really good live song, and goes over really well. Cedarwood Road was a highlight for sure, and the ending is great. Iris sounds great, the only negative is the weird forced sing-a-long moment Bono was trying to do at the end both nights. If they will just let it end, it will continue to be a great live moment.
The So-So
1. The Encore (Both Nights)
This is the first U2 show where the encore is almost like a tacked-on afterthought. I don’t think they were bad, I enjoyed Streets, but overall the encore seems like they are going through the motions. I would have preferred they ended the show with Streets, because One and Still Haven’t Found were really, really weak. One was far and away the worst performance I have ever seen of the song. It really seemed as if they didn’t want to play it at all. Adam sitting, Larry playing about the last 1/3, Bono letting over half song be sung by the crowd. It was a really poor ending. Still Haven’t felt very similar. They both seemed like songs they could put minimal effort into and let the crowd carry.
I think they could have a great encore, with just a little re-ordering. Move I Still Haven’t to end main set, and then add Bad to the Encore. Give the great transition from Bad to streets and end there, or let Streets open encore with full red screen and build up, and end with Bad. They could even add 40 onto Bad on given nights.
Night 1- COBL-WOWOY-Bad- Streets
Night 2- (Full Build-up) Streets- Miracle Drug-(Speech)-One- Bad
2. Invisible- EBBTRT-Mysterious Ways
Invisible sounds good, the effect of being in the screen seems like a good idea, but it bombs because half the crowd doesn’t know what’s going on. It so reminds me of Bono’s old joke about ZOOTV, ‘you haven’t come all the way out here to watch TV now have you?’ It’s almost like a bad joke, there is no them only us, as they are separated by a mammoth video screen. EBBTR and Mysterious Ways both seemed tired to me. I really like the EBBTR reboot on 360, but doing it again seems a little weak to me. I really wish they would rotate these two. Would love if they rotated two from POP, or even just Discotheque rotating with EBTTR. If nothing else rotate them, neither of those songs has to be there every night. Or they could do the mini-ZOOTV segment, Zoo Station could work great in the screen, the same with the Fly with the old zootv word-blitz.
This was by no means bad, but just seems to fall a little flat (Invisible more so that the other two), I hope they will consider revamping those three at some point. As has been said, MW ending is terrible now.
Overall, U2 is still great. They are aging, maybe not their very best tour but still a great privilege to get to see them live. As always don't judge the show by reading a setlist, totally different in person and still great. The only bad part is when they are ending and you realize it might be a while before you get to see them again.
on SBS. I'm guessing the people who don't like this version haven't been apart of the crowd yet. It's definitely something that needs to be experienced in person.
