Opinion: Potential Set List for U2’s 2005 World Tour*

By Andrew MacLachlan
2005.01

Whisper it quietly but U2 is set to embark on a world tour in the spring. It may come as a shock to some but when you consider there’s a chart-topping new album it’s not that surprising.

One of the most pleasurable experiences of going to gigs is anticipating what the act will play. On December 18th I was lucky enough to watch Morrissey in London. It was a wonderful show and for the first time in years Morrissey played "Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me," a surprise and dream come true for many in the audience. In this article I am going to attempt to compile the set list for the forthcoming tour and in return all those in San Diego in March can print it out, take it to the gig, match it to the show and then e-mail me to tell me how wrong I was. Here we go.

Track 1: This is the track upon which the whole tour will hinge. Why? How many people did you speak to who went to Elevation shows and how many reviews did you read that eulogized the house lights being up during "Elevation"? Like an album, the first track is what sets you up, the opening track on most albums is a rocker. My prediction therefore is "Vertigo." Not surprising but I think it the band will want to emphasize the relevance of the new material and probably won’t use something from another record.

Track 2: After the opener, the second and third track must keep the tempo going. If this is true, and if Bono, Larry, Adam and The Edge are reading this column, the second track will be "Beautiful Day." It was almost always the second track on the last tour and regularly makes those Top 100 Singles Ever charts. "Beautiful Day" will be No. 2 because it keeps the pace going and we can all bounce up and down to it, that is crucial.

Track 3: It is getting tough now as the set list in my head is beginning to look too much like that of Elevation. The thing is that it’s hard for it not to. "Until the End of the World" is a U2 classic and is the most lyrically brilliant track Bono has ever written. I’m torn between "Elevation" and "Until the End of the World" but can’t help but feel "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" will figure more than just once in the opening trio hence track three is "All Because of You."

Track 4: That last one was a tough one. Can I hedge my bets and say that it could be the other two? It’s track four now and it’s got to be "Miracle Drug." Before I chose that it was going to be "Love and Peace or Else" but I feel the band will slow down the mood in order to let everyone get their breath back but not too much.

Track 5: This next piece is a hopeful choice more than anything. I was lucky enough to hear it in London on Elevation, it followed a long introduction by Bono about how the band came to London and lived on Earl’s Court and used to travel up and down the U.K. "in an old V.W. van.” Track four, then, is "Out of Control." Just imagine hearing this now and hearing it with thousands of people, it would be awesome and you would get out of control.

Track 6: We’re about a third of the way through the show and about half-an-hour in. Track six is "Kite." On the last tour this was sung because Bono felt it was about losing someone, "might be a lover, a friend, a relation" I think he said. The passing of his dad led Bono to write some of the new album the way he has done and that he has kept this theme firmly part of his agenda has convinced me that "Kite" will figure in the set list in 2005.

Track 7: We need a rocker guys, what you got? Drum roll please as Edge reaches into the bag and pulls out "Pride (In the Name of Love)". It has to figure on this tour because we all need to believe that Bono is still capable of singing it. We also need this song in order for us in the audience to sing at the top of our voices and because our own voices are drowned out to believe we’re good.

Track 8: By now, Bono has probably said "Hello" to every one of his mesmerized followers and is leading the flock. Track eight, then, is likely to be one that turns the union between band and audience into one of mutual trust. I think track eight is "Love and Peace or Else." As I have already said, I think the band will want to make this show relevant to the new album and I think there will only be one or two omissions from it.

Track 9: I think we’re at halfway now and I think we need to get another classic out, the only question is which one. I think it’ll be "I Will Follow." Much of the talk around the last album was about U2 "reapplying for the job." This time, the talk has been about this being the rock record, about the new album being U2′s "debut." Hence I think the sound of the early records will be scattered about rather than there being a block of hits followed by a block of new songs, and vice versa.

Track 10: I think it’s getting tougher for me to get these predictions right because there are so many possibilities but I think track 10 will not come from the new album. Rather, I think it will come from "The Joshua Tree" and I think it will be "I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For." It’s U2′s most poignant track and if we’re going to build further upon the premise that we’ll be watching a show with a strong undercurrent of loss then this one makes sense.

Track 11: I think track 11 will "City of Blinding Lights," my pick for the best track off "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." I think the inclusion of this is certain in the new set list and a fresh track is needed to follow the two classics. It’s a wonderful song and is U2 at its best hence it is a good way to refocus the attention on the U2 of now, which I think we agree is what the show is all about.

Track 12: I’m not sure if I am convinced but at this point we might have an encore here. If not, then we will probably get a track from "All That You Can’t Leave Behind." I think that it will be "Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of." I chose this over "New York" because I think it carries us very sweetly onto the encore and will have us clapping our hands and stamping our feet in anticipation of more.

Track 13: "Bullet the Blue Sky" It makes sense for this to follow an encore because it has that aggressive, foaming-at-the-mouth rage which grabs your attention and says "Look at this inequality."

Track 14: I think, if the political vein of the show is now pumping, then the next song will be "Crumbs From Your Table." It has such a taste of abject disappointment that it makes you want to stop singing and dancing and think about the lyrics. The problem is you can’t. But you really should because they are expressive of the other of the album’s themes—social and economic disadvantage.

Track 15: I said somewhere near the start that this will be an 18-song show. I’m not so sure now because there are a few other tracks I feel will be included before we filter out and the night sky embraces us with its frosty cold fingers. I think we have now reached the moment we have been waiting for—"Where the Streets Have No Name." There is an inevitable feeling that the band will play this song, but not enough to make me think that U2 is certain to. Nevertheless, that it has figured on every other tour so that is reason enough to suspect it will do so again. Or it could be reason to suspect it will depart the set list.

Track 16: Perhaps an encore will interrupt 15 and 16. These last few tracks have got me guessing in the dark with no light at all, I am not sure whether there will be this many hits in the last section so I am torn at this point. I think "Original of the Species" will keep the idea of the album being the focus going for us. I’m really convinced about this being the focus and hope I am right.

Track 17: Now we’re in the final stages of the show. I think it is a safe bet to say that "With or Without You" is going to be in the show at some point and I do not think it will close the show so I suspect it will be track 17. Like "Where the Streets Have no Name," I am not sure it will figure at all but if it does I suspect it will fall towards the end of the show.

Track 18: "Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own I am virtually certain this will make the show—it’s a great song and a U.K. single. Because it is a ballad, I think it will come at the end and because, like "Kite" it’s written for Bob Hewson. Cue a possible montage but I would not stake money on that.

Track 19: "One" It’s like "Where the Streets Have no Name" in that it seems likely and yet unlikely. I think it will be played because this is a crucial year for the eradication of global poverty. There is Jeffrey Sachs’ study for the U.N. in January, Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa in March and a W.T.O. meeting in Hong Kong in December, all of which I suspect Bono will wish to draw attention to. Aside from this, "One" is a great song and usually closes out U2′s shows, which is probably reason to suspect it won’t close out these shows.

Track 20: I think this is either "Yahweh" or "A Man and a Woman." I am not too sure on which one it will be because they are both quite similar in their compositions. Both are crescendo and are less guitar-driven than much of the album so I am really at a loss to rationalize a choice. I am, however, going for "A Man and a Woman" simply because I prefer it to "Yahweh."

Track 21: This is a tough one. I suspect the show, if it hasn’t already done so, will close at the end of this track. I think the band will want a song that sends the crowd out into the night thinking about all they have seen and heard much like the house-lights and the famous heart of Elevation. I can’t look past "Walk On" for this reason. I have always felt that this song was written primarily to close a show and I don’t think its use will change just because it is not from the latest album.

It’s possible that this took you longer to read than you will spend at the show but I think there are viable reasons for this being the set. First, I stand by my assessment that this will be a show about 2004 and "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" rather than a show about 1987, 1991 or 2000.

There are some massive exclusions from this listing, including "New Year’s Day," "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Mysterious Ways," that have made me think that I am going to receive this as an e-mail attachment along with the real set list in March.

It’s important to stress that, like you, I am a fan and don’t have access to any kind of information beyond the internet and the records. I have enjoyed writing this article and am nervous about the prospect of seeing the set list for the show in March and being totally wrong. There is a small chance though, a feeling so much stronger than a thought, that I could be right.

Fans Debate: Who To Induct U2?*

By Carrie Alison, Chief Editor
2005.01

It’s a daunting task, but someone’s gotta do it.

On March 14th a charismatic and well-versed speaker must induct U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A speaker that can woo the crowd, work the room, set fire to the sky and hit a mean falsetto—all in the span of just one speech on one very special night in New York City that U2 fans have been dreaming about for years.

Not that there was ever any question about U2′s official place in the annals of rock. This is a band that has scaled the highest of heights, sold 150 million records worldwide and still retains a high degree of respect from their colleagues and extremely loyal yet critical fan base. As proof, the band’s latest effort, the highly praised "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" has already notched triple platinum at press time. Not bad for a group of Irishmen in their mid-40s.

It’s true, 2005 is U2′s year to shine, shimmy and rock the world to its knees with what promises to be another fantastic tour that will no doubt sell out most venues it plays.

But now the question is—who to induct our favorite boys from Dublin?

Based on their deep influence on the band, the late and undeniably great Joe Strummer and Joey Ramone would surely have been asked to do the honors. In their absence however, who would satisfy as a worthy replacement? U2 fans believe they have found candidates in Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Oasis’ Noel Gallagher, Pete Townshend and Bob Geldof. Other frequently cited names were Michael Stipe (a longtime friend and contemporary of U2) and Bruce Springsteen (who was inducted into the Rock Hall by Bono in 1999).

Martin has never made a secret of the profound affect U2 has had on his life and its towering influence colors Coldplay’s albums in every facet imaginable, from ringing guitars to delicate piano, accomplished songwriting and beautiful vocals.

"I think it would be nice to see someone that has been influenced by U2′s music," said Interference.com member clementine_rose. "That being said, I think someone like Chris Martin would be a great choice. He has said a number of times that he is a fan of U2, and that Coldplay’s music has been greatly influenced by them. I also think it would be neat to see a group that is young and starting out, maybe someone like Franz Ferdinand."

Next to Martin, another outspoken rock star/U2 admirer that found his way on the shortlist is Oasis’ Noel Gallagher. While it has always been The Beatles’ influence and pomp that has clouded the reputation of Oasis among music fans since the 1995 release of "(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?" the members of Oasis are also big fans of U2, even serving as the opening act for several California dates on the 1997 PopMart tour.

"The person who inducts an artist/band is almost always a younger band who was influenced by the inducted artist, and Oasis was," offered member U2Kitten. "Also, one of the songs on ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,’ ‘One Step Closer,’ was dedicated to Noel. Bono used to joke that they were like their naughty little brothers and they babysat them as kids. The Gallaghers are hilarious and would make for a funny, cool, and interesting induction."

The Who’s Pete Townshend is another name that came up often among U2 fans on the Interference.com message boards, citing Bono’s recent proclamations that The Who "is everything U2 wanted to be" when the Dublin lads were first starting out. Perhaps appropriately, it was Bono who inducted The Who into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

"My vote goes to Pete Townshend," suggested member Greg Soria. "Who better to give the introduction—he comes from a band with similar styles and same musical format (three piece with a howling lead vocalist). It is documented that Bono has consulted Pete regarding life as a rock star. So Pete has history with the band and the band admires him. I just think he’s the best choice."

A frequently suggested name was none other than fellow Irishman, Bono crony, former Dublin punk rocker and relentless do-gooder, Bob Geldof. It was, after all, Geldof who organized the historic 1985 Live Aid concerts that saw U2 ascend to stratospheric heights with one simple gesture—Bono dancing with a woman from the crowd during a remarkably passionate performance of "Bad."

"It was at Live Aid where U2 began to make their mark on the world, [and] was an event that really encompassed the two things that are the embodiment of U2 at their core—great music and a fervent compassion for human rights and peace," said Interference.com member Octobermagic. "Geldof would be in a unique position to comment on a U2 comparison with the other legends playing that day (Queen, The Who, McCartney) and speak of their place among the greats"

What an intimidating and appropriate list for a band that has touched so many lives and still continues to reign supreme in all stages of its career. While all the men above would surely do a terrific job delivering U2′s induction speech, there is one final option. Bono has always said that U2 comes alive when playing in front of its audience, leading some fans to suggest that perhaps U2 should start a new trend by allowing a regular fan do the honors. Now that would be the stuff of legends.

"I’m a huge fan from the beginning," said member Joaoricardo. "I grew with them and I think no one better than a fan could express the influence of U2 in what matters most—the people."

In that case, I’m available, and better yet, I love public speaking.

Fan Reaction: Rebutting U2’s ‘Atomic Dog’*

By Dave Mance
2005.01

While going over reviews of U2′s latest album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," I was struck by one in particular, appearing on Nov. 22, 2004 in the Chicago Sun-Times and written by "pop music critic" Jim Derogatis. I guess what struck me initially was the 1-and-½ star rating.

The review began by asserting “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” is, "less of an artistic statement or a significant step forward than a simulation of what some unadventurous fans think a U2 album ought to sound like, and at times it veers obnoxiously close to self parody."

It didn’t get any kinder as he went on.

I began researching Derogatis’ tastes so I could at least get some inkling of what sort of mind I was up against. I figured I would find that he was more of a rhythm and blues kind of guy, or a "Skynyrd Rules!" guy, or someone from Chicago who never quite got over the disbanding of the Smashing Pumpkins.

Surprisingly though, I found the answer was far simpler. Apparently, Derogatis doesn’t like anything. If you do a Google search, you’ll see that most everything related to him deals with promoting his latest book, aptly named "Kill Your Idols". The premise of the book is that everybody sucks, or, as a hippy doped to the gills once told me in a barroom scene right off a Hollywood set, "Dude, everything you know is wrong."

The book, ironically, has a 1-and-½ star rating on Amazon.com.

In an interview with mediabistro.com, Derogatis revealed that, "It [the book] took a long time to sell. I sent the proposal out for a while, and I got, invariably, ‘nobody wants to read a book all of negative reviews.’ And I felt that was kind of a crock."

Indeed Jim.

In this collection of rock journalism, Derogatis and contributors blast 35 albums, including "Exile on Main Street," "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Pet Sounds," "Blood on the Tracks," "OK Computer" and Nevermind, basically everything anybody thought was ever any good.

But as I write this, the book is not as hilarious to me as his personal title, proudly displayed above the U2 review for all to see—Jim Derogatis, Pop Music Critic, Chicago Sun-Times. I giggle, imagining the news room at the Sun-Times bustling with activity, everyone drinking Starbucks coffee with saggy eyes scrambling to get a paper out, reporters filing copy after a night spent in the city’s underbelly, editors pouring over briefs from writers in Somalia or Fallujah or Sri Lanka, journalists on the phone demanding accountability from important public officials, and there in the corner, dressed like Comic Book Guy from "The Simpsons," is Derogatis, pencil in mouth, pensively crafting just the right words to describe to us how crappy Ashlee Simpson’s album is. I’m sure Hemingway is in heaven nodding his approval.

But I digress, back to the U2 album.

Derogatis’ main point seems to be that the band has lost its creativity and vitality and that the "uninspired" songs on “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” are "inferior simulations of the genuine achievements that preceded them."

And to that I say bullocks, but I don’t mean it like he thinks.

The problem with Derogatis’ review, and with most pop music reviews, for that matter, is that they all measure creativity with inapplicable instruments, like recording the air temperature with a rectal thermometer. The measure of a great album is not dependent on a radical reinvention or brazen song structure or unique notes, but in the energy it contains, the soul, if you will. Pop stars like Bono and U2 are more shamans than musicians, the same reason why Sid Vicious or Patti Smith never went to Juilliard and why Yo-Yo Ma never got panties thrown at him.

At the risk of shattering Derogatis’ notions of high art, or at least causing him to take a long hard look in the mirror with a "What am I doing with my life?" expression, I submit that all pop music is a superficial parody of something that’s already been done. This is not rocket science, it’s music born from the screams of teenyboppers at an Elvis show and the angst of musically illiterate ’70s punks. As Bono pointed out in the ’80s, it’s three chords and the truth. I mean no insult to the medium, rather I’m just saying that judging and deconstructing pop music’s simple beauty is a little like criticizing a sunset, it’s like telling a landscape painter that, "The skies are always blue in your paintings."

The parameters of the medium are specific; you have a limited number of minutes and a limited arsenal of musical equipment with which to get a point across, you have a limited number of notes, you’re limited by language, you’re limited by traditions, drums sound like, well, drums.

To hear Derogatis complain about the album’s same old "bombastic choruses and tinkling atmospherics and oh-so-arty mid-song breaks" is like hearing a fish complain about water, that’s what U2′s music is, Jim. To take it a step further, saying a respected, established artist has become a parody of itself is like saying established writer Jim Derogatis has become a parody of himself. Since U2 claim to be nothing but a pop band, and Derogatis (in my imagination, anyway) claims to be nothing but a regressive literalist whose imagination was long ago dissolved in a head full of venomous bile, the whole self-parody saying, in any context, is an oxymoron, both simply are what they are.

The synthesis of the four minds in U2 creates the original sound we associate with U2, it’s as simple as that. It’s been like that since the beginning and as long as they stay together, it will be that way, as such they will always sound like U2 and they will never sound like anyone else. I would point out that if you want to hear a band that doesn’t sound like U2, there’s only about 80 million to choose from.

In case I’m coming off as a blindly partisan U2 head, let me interject here to say that this is not the case. I also want to back off a little on Derogatis in case he’s a nice guy. At times in his review, I admit, he makes some valid points. I agree that "Vertigo" was formulaic, while I found some of Bono’s lyrics to be pure poetry, I could picture others in a fortune cookie ("The only pain is to feel nothing at all"), and, yes, I was uncomfortable with the iPod campaign. But to dwell on a handful of flaws at the expense of what is, top to bottom, a solidly constructed work of art is to miss the big picture—Michelangelo’s "David’s" hands are too big, the pyramids of Giza look smaller in real life, Heidi Klum has a bit of cellulite on the backs of her legs. So?

Looking beyond the few specifics Derogatis offers in his review, his implication that the album lacks creativity is itself uncreative. He vaguely insists that a few tracks are "Joshua Tree" rip offs (I’m assuming he meant guitar parts or rhythm parts were replicated), yet anyone with ears will hear that in this album every U2 album has been ripped off to some extent, from "Boy" to "All That You Can’t Leave Behind," this is what pop bands do, they discover sounds and use them to express things. The Edge has been using the same reverb and the same two chimey notes to make your neck hair tingle since "Into the Heart,"—the magic is that he does it like no one else can.

It’s not just itself that the band rips off either, it’s everyone. Larry Mullen, Jr. stole from Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham in "Bullet the Blue Sky" and Bo Diddly in "Desire." Bono steals many of his lyrics from authors, like "Quiet that comes to a house where nobody can sleep" from Raymond Carver (used in "Ultra Violet") and "In dreams begin responsibilities" from Delmore Schwartz (used in "Acrobat").

But here’s the point, Derogatis, and I address him specifically here in hopes that he’ll read this and really try to understand what I’m saying. None of that creativity, be it borrowed or stolen, makes a damn bit of difference because pop music is, above all else, about communication. A wise musician once said about Edge, "Never has someone done so much with so little." Those sentiments also apply to the band as a whole, indeed never has a group said so much with so little.

The miracle of U2 is not about the notes or the words, it’s about the spirit; always has been. It’s this unique spirit that turns a throw away song like "40," two boring chords and a bunch of verses pinched from the Bible, into a timeless mantra that U2 fans literally force into every show, even though the band retired the song years ago, "How long to sing this song?"; it’s the spirit in a thousand people getting ready for work in their living rooms, oblivious to the fact that the baroque key section in "Original of the Species" may have been borrowed from The Beatles as they jump around singing at the top of their lungs, "Sugar come on, show your soul!" like a bunch of crazed, blissful, monkeys.

I wonder when the last time Derogatis jumped around to a song in his underwear was.

Mr. Derogatis, I wish you weren’t a critic, I really wish you’d listened to this album because, with an open mind, you would have heard the band’s most substantive offering since "Achtung Baby." You would have found rhythm parts that could out-punch anything on the radio waves today, spectral guitar tones from one of the greatest musical painters the world has ever known (representing the synthesis of 44 years of knowledge) and a crackly crooney voice (1/3 alter boy, 1/3 Rat Packer, 1/3 bluesman) that has matured like a fine wine. You would have found something unprecedented in pop music history: a band at age 25 that has released an album that’s as good as anything it’s ever done.

For your own sake, listen again.

At the end of his review, Derogatis offered a few choice jokes at Bono’s expense. I gotta admit, they were funny, like "How many members of U2 does it take to change a light bulb? One. Bono holds the bulb and the world revolves around him." To return the favor, I’ll end this article with a few of my favorite quips about critics.

"I never met anybody who said when they were a kid, ‘I wanna grow up and be a critic.’"
-Richard Pryor

"Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on a full suit of armor and attacked a hot fudge sunday.
-Kurt Vonnegut

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain—and most fools do."
-Dale Carnegie

Book Review: ‘U2 Show’ by Diana Scrimgeour*

By Carrie Alison, Chief Editor
2005.01

I had two tickets for U2’s ZooTV concert in Miami on Oct. 3, 1992 for about two minutes late one Sunday afternoon. Public Enemy was scheduled to open and as a big fan of Flavor Flav, I had excitedly told my crush-of-the-moment, and anyone else who would listen, that I was attending that show. My father, a longtime U2 fan, was excited to take his youngest daughter to share the U2 concert experience, but as he looked at the show time on the ticket, he told me in no uncertain terms, “Carrie, we can only stay for about five songs because I have to work the next day.” We ended up not going to the concert.

Understandably, I was crushed, and would have to wait another five years before attending my first U2 concert—PopMart in Jacksonville on November 12, 1997.

Since that day 12 years ago, I have erected a shrine to ZooTV in my mind’s treasure trove. I eat up any filmed occurrence of that tour, buy every book and search out any magazine from that era. I simply can’t get enough. Yes, I’m one of those incessant fans; insistent that U2 release the famed 1994 Sydney concert on DVD, just so that my collection can be complete and I can indulge my ZooTV yearnings anytime I want to.

Enter Diana Scrimgeour, and her newly released coffee table book, “U2 Show.”

A respected live photographer and journalist, Scrimgeour has worked with the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, Robbie Williams and many others. Her experience with U2 on their PopMart and Elevation Tours culminates in “U2 Show,” an authorized and fascinatingly detailed and vibrant depiction of each U2 tour from the ground up thanks to beautiful photography and insightful articles penned by show and lighting designer Willie Williams.

Like 2003’s comprehensive exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum curated by longtime U2 friend Jim Henke, and “U2 Faraway So Close!” by U2 insider BP Fallon before it, “U2 Show” creates its own must-read experience for U2 fans by giving them what they want—enumerable photo essays for each tour including rare and previously unseen photographs, production information from Williams, and interviews with the ultimate U2 insiders—including manager Paul McGuinness, producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.

The attention to detail in “U2 Show” is stunning. The book is divided by tour and closes with the most complete index of U2 personnel yet. Each section features a history lesson from Williams and photos documenting each tour. Looking over the early years, you are broadsided by the fact that the members of U2 were indeed very young men when they took on the world—still just in their early 20s at their triumphant Red Rocks appearance on the “War” tour in 1983—yet they perform with the seasoned confidence of grown men.

As U2 grew in popularity around the world, so did its approach to touring. Each tour grander in size, scale and mission, culminating into what was the band’s most sophisticated outing to date—the “Joshua Tree” tour, which utilized the latest in lighting technologies to create the most dramatic effects possible to boldly highlight tracks such as “Where the Streets Have No Name” and “Exit.” For her photo inclusions during this period, Scrimgeour offers beautiful still photography from the filming of “Rattle and Hum” and a smattering of black & white LoveTown tour shots with BB King along for the ride. Remembers Williams, “These proved to be exhilarating shows, the relationship between U2 and their audience having developed into an extremely powerful source of energy.”

The ZooTV tour found U2 with a sense of humor and a pair of devil horns. Gone were the dour faces of the ‘80s; the frown was turned upside down as U2 learned “to lie.” ZooTV was all about visual excess, sex and the smell of success, along with some of U2’s most brash and daring musical stylings yet, all in a richly hued swath of red, blue, silver and black tones that transfer beautifully on film. The ZooTV section opens with what is one of the most memorably iconic images from the most intentionally iconoclastic of tours—a photo of The Fly’s silhouette haphazardly dancing in front of a vidi-wall during show opener “Zoo Station.” The chosen photos for the book during this period highlight the grand scope of the “Outside Broadcast” leg of the tour—the stage design, the hanging Trabants, the vidi-walls, and Bono’s adopted alter-egos—The Mirrorball Man and MacPhisto. “It was all real: from the Trabants to the phone calls to the TV pictures,” writes Williams. “We let luck play a part and we took our chances as to what might appear from night to night.”

Although it was chaotic and fraught with bad reviews and giant lemons, PopMart gets its due in “U2 Show” by inviting fans and casual observers to take a step back and reassess our thoughts on the tour. Sure, “Pop” the album was arguably a mixed bag, but what break from any mold isn’t? In pictures, PopMart grows in stature and gains context; it was ahead of its time in theory and sarcasm, and perhaps that is to U2’s credit. Audiences for better or worse were not in on the joke that U2 was making about commerce as art. We were all so swamped by the look of that big golden arch, mammoth LED screen and olive swizzle stick that we couldn’t comprehend that U2 was forecasting (and embracing) the pop music revolution that artists like *NSYNC and Britney Spears would come to represent, and the monstrosity of “performance art” that followed them. The images of Bono clad in a boxing robe and muscle shirt, Adam Clayton looking straight out of Woody Allen’s “Sleeper,” and The Edge rocking a Space Cowboy ensemble, seem so much more now then when they were current, which is ironic, as pop culture in general is all about what is now. With “U2 Show,” PopMart finally gets the respect it deserved.

Rounding out the tour retrospective section is a long look at 2001’s mega-successful Elevation tour that put U2 firmly back in the populace’s hearts and minds, and U2 fans quite literally in U2’s “heart” with the use of a heart-shaped ramp as part of the set design. The selected photography highlights the tour’s use of the openness of space, the idea that we were all part of the show itself; that it was all about U2 and its adoring audience, and not the past theatrics of ZooTV or PopMart. In his note on the tour, Williams acknowledges that Elevation had to be “a distillation of everything U2 had done to date.” Unlike the imagery of past tours, it begged to be treasured, the awesome sight of the members of U2, now in their 40s, in full flight was something to behold and cherish. Quite possibly U2’s greatest live endeavor, the Elevation tour grew to personify the meaning of the album—it truly was all about getting down to beauty of basic essentials, in favor of just singing at the top of your lungs with tens of thousands of others in the raw and magnetic presence of U2.

The final portion of “U2 Show” shines the spotlight on the wheels that keep the U2 machine turning, featuring detailed essays written by band management officials, agents, tour management and personnel, and those involved with album recordings and production.

As a fan, it’s easy to get excited about a book like this. But then again, U2 has always had the great foresight to authorize their talented friends to release books about the zoo that is U2—“U2 at the End of the World” by Bill Flanagan, widely regarded as “the U2 bible” amongst fans, and “Stealing Hearts at a Travelling Show” by Irish graphic design powerhouse Four5One. Perhaps one day Lanois, Eno, and producer Steve Lillywhite will join forces to write a book about the U2 recording process, and all bases will have been covered. Until then, “U2 Show” will be the only show in town worth seeing again and again for many years to come.

For more information on Diana Scrimgeour, visit http://www.dvscrimgeour.com.

Coping With the Second Crap Album From My Favorite Band*

By G. Melton
2005.01

Having been a fan of this amazing quartet for 20 years now, it’s nothing short of an event anticipating the next release by U2. What songs are going to stick in my head for days on end? What look and feel are these guys going to have this time? Will it affect pop culture? Will this release sound and feel sonic, rocking, ethereal or all of the above? Harmonica or wah-wah pedal? Distorted voice or fat lady falsetto? Drum sequences and loops or piano and acoustic guitar?

In those 20 years of following the band, I’ve only felt the way I feel right now one other time, a feeling of, wow, kind of mystified and not used to this, but this is a pretty lousy album. The titles of the songs sound great, the hype machine was in place, "Vertigo" is catchy with a vibrant iPod commercial accompanying it, and supposedly Bono was crazy about this album. Edge was in better form than ever, the riffs were supposed to be some of his best, angriest, well, you all know the rest from the publicity machine that is Bono in interviews for the most part. Sadly, though, it looks better on paper—this album’s a real dud.

The other time I’ve felt like this about a U2 album was when the band released "Pop", the only other crap album in U2′s illustrious catalogue. The similarities between the two albums are there: the first single is the first song on the album, it sounds exciting, pushing into a new direction, yet distinctively U2, upbeat and rocking, then track number two comes on and I’m scratching my head wondering whether this meandering song is gonna be representative of the rest of the album. Then a less than stellar album unfolds.

As with "Pop," the boys traipsed in a handful of—collaborators, producers, engineers, mixers, et al—and on most tracks none of them were named Eno or Lanois. Also like "Pop," there is the problem of the middle songs, the fillers. These are the type of songs that start out with the feel of a rock ‘n’ roll song: tempo is good, steady, the strum of the E chord, the rock ‘n’ roll time signatures, tapping my foot, wanting it to work, then, nothing, forgettable, rock ‘n’ roll songs with no soul, no great chorus, no nothing, nada, nunca, catorce! These are the worst types of songs for bands, these are the songs that when played live, people leave to get another beer or go to the restroom, the songs that U2 stayed away from for most of their career, the songs the band may have been jazzed about playing live when recording them, only to find they didn’t go over that well live and are never, ever dusted off and brought out again on subsequent tours. The middle of this album is chock full of them—“All Because of You," their next single, the disastrous "Love and Peace or Else," "City of Blinding Lights" with it’s incredibly hokey and attempt to pull at the heartstrings, and the oh-so-close-but-naaaahhhh-forgettable-in-no-time-track "Crumbs From Your Table."

Part of the reason U2 has managed to stay away from fillers thus far is that guy to Bono’s right we affectionately know as The Edge. The stuff he came up with was too good, too original, too rhythmic to be just a strumming-chord-change-type-of-song. Not on this album, only the riff on "Vertigo" will be remembered. Shame, this was supposed to be a guitar album, and Edge can definitely shape an album. Whether flickering and full of ringing, hypnotic notes ("Joshua Tree") or the "I’m taking a front seat on this one" with slide guitar, distortion, sonic solos and a wah-wah peddle that’s also, well, danceable ("Achtung Baby") or just plain atmospheric and moody, yet sleepy and melodic ("The Unforgettable Fire"), Edge has always been the other dynamic component in this band, with Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. holding down the bottom end with pulsating rhythms. On this album Edge either got tired of coming up with rhythmic, sustaining, signature riffs or he had a lapse and thought he was in every bar band in the history of time that thinks it has a chance in rock ‘n’ roll. When he does come out of his lapse from time to time, he falls back on the ole Edge stand-bys and imitates himself with unoriginal riffs or notes that sound like me playing Edge on my Fender Stratocaster.

This album’s not without it’s little flashes of brilliance here and there; this is U2, afterall. The choruses in "Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own" and "City of Blinding Lights" are beautiful, harmonic, melodic and gone before you know it. "A Man and a Woman," though not a rocker, is a tightly constructed, poignant little ditty that explores "The mysterious distance between a man and a woman." This track is the other standout besides "Vertigo" and should be the next single, then the band should cut their losses. "Yahweh" sounds like four men in sync, but by then it’s too little, too late. A throwaway cut, "Fast Cars," that I guess is only on limited releases, is surprisingly good and sounds like U2 meets the acoustic side of Jane’s Addiction. By then, though, the only thing I’m humming is a line from "All Because of You," Bono proclaiming, "I’m not broke/But you can see the cracks."

Yes we can, Bono, yes indeed.

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