Review: U2 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, April 1, 2005*

[dsmith2904]

[SIMG]http://forum.interference.com/gallery/data//585/11265sandiego.jpg[/SIMG]
By Devlin Smith, contributing editor
2005.04

Walking into The Pond last night, I thought I knew exactly what to expect. Only four days earlier, I was at U2's opening show in San Diego, being completely knocked out by the sound and look of Vertigo. As the chant of "Everyone" came over the loudspeakers and the lights dimmed, I felt fully prepared for what was coming next.

U2 had something else in mind, though. In the days between the band's second show in San Diego and this first of two appearances in Anaheim, California, U2 decided major change was in order and turned the Vertigo show I'd seen on Monday completely on its head.

The new Vertigo show began with the four members of U2 processing around the ellipse shining lanterns into the audience. Bono and Larry stayed on the ellipse, a small drum kit set up for Larry, while Adam and Edge took their places on the main stage. Then the band went into "Love and Peace or Else."

Bono gave a very Fly-worthy performance, high-stepping and strutting around the ellipse. Like Monday, the band sounded fantastic, giving one of my favorite songs from "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" even more funk and energy. For the song's end, Larry walked from the small drum kit to take his proper place on the main stage and Bono, now wearing a headband emblazoned with religious images (one I believe he'll be sporting for the whole tour) took over the smaller drum set.

The band seamlessly flowed into "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and then "Bullet the Blue Sky." "Running to Stand Still" followed with Bono and Edge singing "Hallelujah" at the end, before the International Declaration of Human Rights video played.

New set addition "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was next, a much more appropriate follow-up to "Running" than "Zoo Station" was Monday. Five songs in, the crowd was still on its feet, willing to go with Bono wherever he'd lead them.

"New Year's Day" quickly followed, with Adam spotlighted both on stage and on the video screens. "Looking good," Bono said to him as he began the famous bass line that opens one of U2's most loved songs.

"Miracle Drug," a hold over from Monday's show, was next, but was performed with a new visual element. The stage and the ellipse were outlined in colored lights, resembling the orbital patterns of the solar system. Also different from Monday, Bono and Edge shared vocals on the final verse of the song, a section Edge had soloed before. Unfortunately, Edge seemed to be having some mic problems (problems that reappeared at the show's end) and his vocals kept cutting out.

"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" and "Beautiful Day" were next on the list. Again like Monday, Bono was pretty much silent, bantering very little with the audience or his band mates for the entirety of the show. While I did miss some of his little Bonoisms, it felt like a lot more songs got to be played because there were so few interruptions.

(Photo courtesy of Devlin Smith)

Bono did take his steps toward the pulpit on The One Campaign-themed section of "Pride," Where the Streets Have no Name" and "One," a trio that had been part of Monday's encore. Bono reminded the audience during "Pride" that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of equality was big enough to encompass the whole world and asked us to sing for Africa.

During "One," he asked everyone to pull out their cell phones, explaining exactly how powerful a phone can be. "During the ZooTV tour I used to call the White House…the president didn't take my calls then, now they take my calls," he said. That changed reaction from the presidency, though, has, according to Bono, gotten them used to his pleas so he asked all of us to make the calls instead to lobby for Africa. To those in the audience who didn't want to take part, Bono apologized and thanked them for indulging his rant, saying that now, "You know how the band feels."

The song ended with Bono saying, "Thank you, give us a couple of minutes."

After a short break, the band returned to the stage to play a second set that was more like part two than encore. "Zoo Station" opened this new section, with Edge walking the ellipse alone and letting rip that fantastic, charging guitar line that opened the "Achtung Baby" album. Like Monday, Edge sported the Madonna headset to provide his backing vocals. For his part, Bono made up all new lyrics for the song, getting his inspiration from members of the GA crowd, including one person who handed him a lily.

"The Fly" followed with Edge playing a black guitar decorated with the same red target pattern the "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" CD sports. A crowd-pleasing rendition of "Elevation" came next and then the band launched into new addition "Mysterious Ways." Bono pulled a girl named Tiffany from the pit, no doubt attracted by her MacPhisto-inspired ensemble. The pair danced and strutted across the ellipse together but, after it took too long to return Tiffany to her rightful spot in the crowd, Bono asked Edge to start the next song, "You'd really be helping me out," he said," and installed Tiffany on the ellipse, next to Larry's drums. Also during the song, a figure of a topless dancing woman swayed across the light curtains.

"City of Blinding Lights" was next, accompanied by the same falling glitter and twinkling lights as it had when opening Monday's show. "Vertigo" followed with Bono again throwing in a verse from "Stories for Boys." "All Because of You" and "Yahweh" came next, with Larry again tapping out notes on a synthesizer for the latter.

"40" once again ended the show, with Edge and Adam trading instruments and sides of the stage. The mic problems Edge had had earlier in the show resurfaced, so for a few minutes he and Adam were crowded together on the same side of the stage. Bono was having problems with his ear monitors and wound up taking one out during the song.

As the crowd sang "How long to sing this song," Bono said the song was being sung for the Pope, who he described as a friend of the poor. Names scrolled across the video screens, but Bono made no mention of their significance. Before the song ended, he picked up the lantern used at the beginning of the show and flashed the audience before installing the lantern in the center of the stage.

Bono left the stage after hanging something on his mic stand, possibly the rosary beads he received from the Pope. Adam and Edge followed and then Larry did a quick drum solo before taking his final bow.

The lights were left off for a long time and the crowd got restless, expecting the band to return to the stage. No one moved and soon a round of boos filled the arena. Thankfully, the crowd didn’t get too nasty before the lights were turned on and everyone began filing out.

How amazing is it that more than 25 years in, U2 still has the power to surprise its fans? I spent a great part of last night in total wonder over the fact that U2 had completely changed its show, and done it so successfully. Like Monday, the band was so tight and on, proving over and over again why U2 is the biggest band in the world. Edge, handling more musical responsibilities than seems humanly possible, gave another stand out performance. And last night, looking fantastic in black leather pants, Edge left me with no doubt that he is finally enjoying being a rock star.

 

[deep]

Saturday, April 2, 2005
U2 magnificent in Anaheim

Review: Having radically restructured its set, U2 proved even more potent at the Pond than at its tour kickoff in San Diego. So why no encore?

By BEN WENER
The Orange County Register

There are so many memorable moments from U2’s magnificent opener at Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim on Friday night worth discussing it seems odd to focus first on something that actually didn’t happen. Yet it’s surely what everyone who was there is still wondering: Where was the encore?

In one respect, the question needn’t be raised: This show ended as presumably all will on this tour, with the reinvigorated Irishmen stomping past the beefed-up glam-rock-for-God of "All Because of You," then slowing to a supernal close with their unplugged take on "Yahweh" and the revived hymn "40."

Bono dedicated that last piece to Pope John Paul II, who was on his deathbed at that hour. "Tonight we sing this for the Holy Father, a friend to the world’s poor," he said as the Edge (having swapped instruments with Adam Clayton) strummed the song’s familiar bass line.

Then he removed his crucifix, kissed it, hung it from his microphone stand and began the group’s one-by-one recessional from the stage.

That would havemade for a supremely satisfying finish to this two-hour deluge of emotion, which began aggressively and continued to gain potency and momentum, topping the pace and energy of Monday’s Vertigo 2005 Tour kickoff in San Diego.

If only the house lights had come up immediately after the band exited. Instead, the arena remained dark for what felt like five minutes. It may have been less, but time tends to stand still during such interminable pauses – and once 30 seconds passes without any crew emerging to tear down gear, the audience justifiably expects it will hear at least one more song.

Not surprisingly, the abrupt that’s-all-folks drew boos as loud as the cheers that preceded it.

So what happened? Was an 11 p.m. curfew strictly imposed? That’s possible, and logical, but also dubious; I’ve seen more than a few bashes here run a half-hour later than that, and I can’t imagine any Pond officials complaining if U2 had wanted to do another 10 minutes.

Did the band decide this particular crowd didn’t merit a slight return? That seems impossible. These fans were arguably more overcome than those on hand in San Diego, enthusiastically embracing not just staples in the set list but also Bono’s push for African aid and awareness and various other social statements – an unusual move from a region known to shout disapproval at rockers who make political asides.

Could it be, then – and this is what I think really happened – that the radical but rewarding rearrangement of the show’s musical segments, just three gigs in, threw the band for a loop?

Perhaps you, too, noticed U2’s main set seemed due to stop with "Vertigo," this night pushed back in the running order (more on that in a moment). Clayton and the Edge had unstrapped their axes, and Bono, having just sung "Hello, hello … goodbye," had given the guitarist acongratulatory hug. (I believe he muttered a deserved "Well done, gentlemen" as the number ended.)

Then came a brief huddle, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. gave a let’s-keep-going indication – and on they went into "All Because of You."

In that sense, we got our encore – and only one less song than San Diego scored at either of its shows. Yet the expectations that intensely mounted in those minutes in the dark couldn’t help but lead to a crushing letdown. Though it’s still very early in this international trek, here was the moment when U2 could have delivered that extra something, a bonus to really make those hundreds of dollars (thousands, even) that devotees doled out for tickets seem worth every cent.

And the delayed house lights suggest U2 was considering offering more, which must have had in-the-know types aflutter. After all, nearly everything in the show had been shifted.

For instance, the strikingly militant midsection – "Love and Peace or Else" into "Sunday Bloody Sunday" into "Bullet the Blue Sky" without pause, followed by the broodingly beautiful "Running to Stand Still" and a visual reminder of universal human rights – was now at the beginning, after each member entered by scoping out the crowd with spotlights while lapping the "elipse" (what the loop that encircles the stage is being called).

Rather than teasing with "Boy" oldies before getting to the meat of the message, this switch instantly asserted the evening’s themes: equality for everyone, don’t turn a blind eye to suffering, peace now, love is all you need.

The insertion of a robust "I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For" swiftly carried the substance of that bold start into the next, unchanged segment: a still-spectral "New Year’s Day" followed by a stronger "Miracle Drug" and this evening’s most moving moment, "Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own."

With Bono trading swaggering poses for believable introspection, this was one of those rare times when the outsized superstar has appeared unguarded, his soul bared as he sang a warts-and-all tribute to his late father: "And it’s you when I look in the mirror / And it’s you when I don’t pick up the phone."

Taking off again, "Beautiful Day" served as the entrance to a portion that so far has led U2’s encore: "Pride (In the Name of Love)," the crowd chanting as if at a soccer match while Bono recited the same short speech about Martin Luther King he debuted Monday; "Where the Streets Have No Name," more stirring and urgent than it’s been in years; and "One," before which Bono urged the audience to get out cell phones to text-message for information about the One Campaign (also at www.one.org), designed to enlist a million Americans for African relief work.

"Get our medicine out there, get our smarts out there," he implored. "That’s the proving ground now. It might have been civil rights in America in the ’60s, but it’s Africa now."

What remained, after an inexplicable break not long enough to qualify as an intermission, was the usual end ("Zoo Station," a much-redeemed version of "The Fly," the always rousing "Elevation") mashed into the usual start (a confetti-filled "City of Blinding Lights" and "Vertigo").

Those halves were separated by a strut through "Mysterious Ways," accompanied by a devil doll yanked from the throng inside the loop. Theme-free as it was, all of it came off as gratitude toward the audience for having paid to encounter a charitable appeal along with some tremendous music.

I notice that once again I’ve talked more about what happened and what it might mean than how assured U2 sounds these days. Let me say this: No major-scale band, save for Pearl Jam and maybe Radiohead or Coldplay on particularly boisterous nights, plays with as much vigor and fervency, and none (including those) can leave its minions so inspired.

And what power from so few instruments! So overwhelming yet controlled is the Edge’s singular, chiming sound, so tense and insistent are Clayton and Mullen’s rhythms, that the minor flubs each man inevitably makes get amplified a thousand-fold.

But such goofs were very few, and the impact of the whole profound. Bono believes these guys are in their prime. He may be right after all. Encore or no encore.

I also haven’t said boo about opening act Kings of Leon, a notable bunch of modern-day rockers with the pulse of the Strokes beating from a Southern heart. I caught most of their set in San Diego and was thrice impressed – at how trenchantly their sometimes tinny guitars filled the hall, how relentlessly they blasted their way through song after song, and how they won over a scarcely interested crowd.

I regret to report that I missed their set entirely at the Pond, despite heading to the venue seemingly early enough to hear at least a handful of tunes. Such was the crawl down Katella Avenue on a night sporting two sell-outs – a concert at the Pond and a Freeway Series face-off at the Big A.

 

[lady luck]

Thanks Devlin!

 

[jpjames]

Its too much like elevation for my liking!! Thought this tour would be a lot different.

 

[Adam Latham]

Photos

Just put up a gallery of my photos from the April 1st Anaheim show here in Los Angeles. These are large hi-quality images. You will need broadband and the flash plug-in to view the gallery :

angeladam.com

enjoy,

Adam.

 

[rick leigh]

excellent review, my wife and i cannot wait for the boys to come to tampa nov 16th, by that time who knows what set they will be playing, question for any fans that have been to the shows so far,we have tickets that are for rear view seats, do you still get to see the stage and band, or is the only view by monitor?

 

[dsmith2904]

excellent review, my wife and i cannot wait for the boys to come to tampa nov 16th, by that time who knows what set they will be playing, question for any fans that have been to the shows so far,we have tickets that are for rear view seats, do you still get to see the stage and band, or is the only view by monitor?

We were able to see the band fine from our seats. If you want to be able to see more details (like clothing, facial expressions, etc), binoculars are a big help.

 

[jd_zoo]

The lights were left off for a long time and the crowd got restless, expecting the band to return to the stage. No one moved and soon a round of boos filled the arena. Thankfully, the crowd didn’t get too nasty before the lights were turned on and everyone began filing out.

It took a while to get them out of the building is my guess...

 

[Ellay]

I'm surprised at how small the GA area looks at the pond. Is that just because the ellipse is bigger compared to the elevation heart?