Review from the
NY Post
PAPA DO PREACH
By DAN AQUILANTE
U2
SOME performers say they love New York, but U2's 25-year affair with the city couldn't be expressed better than at their Madison Square Garden Vertigo Tour opener, played with panting passion that was returned kiss for kiss by the sold-out house.
The performance on Friday was the kind of show that makes it easy to answer anybody who asks, "What was the best concert of the year?" This was it — hands down and no question.
During the two-hour gig, Bono was chatty and even reminisced about when he first came to New York at age 19. He half-joked, "That's when the megalomania began." At past New York concerts, Bono has used the stage as a pulpit with sledgehammer suavility. But Friday, he made amends saying, "Thanks for listening to me. I know I can be a pain in the ass."
During "Sunday Bloody Sunday" he requested "The Stars and Stripes Forever." He treated the flag respectfully and later praised the men and women in the U.S. military. He observed about the United States: "It is in the worst of times that this country finds the best of America . . . America is a powerful idea, it belongs to the world."
Bono sang with heart-pounding power when the song demanded it, as "Vertigo," "Elevation" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" did. He was able to maintain vocal strength with unexpected gentleness when he eased The Beatles' "Blackbird" out of "Beautiful Day" and rendered a cover of Jerome Kern's classic "Old Man River" toward the concert's close.
Because Bono is such a high-profile figure — on and off stage — it's easy to think of him as the band. This powerhouse Garden performance corrected that misconception.
Guitarist The Edge was unrelenting in his telegraphic rhythm strums and stinging lead work, and his falsetto vocals throughout the evening added depth to Bono's middle range.
As for lanky bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen, the beat they laid down was so tight it seemed as if they have rhythm ESP. As good as Bono and The Edge are, it's the Clayton/Mullen partnership that propels this music.
There was a fifth member of the band at this concert — the audience, who sang and actually listened. They offered rapt attention to U2 during the show's encore when Bono announced he was "road testing" not one, but two new songs.
Both tunes were musically upbeat and kept the house on its feet and focused on the stage. The first was "Fast Cars." That one was more interesting than "Crumbs From Your Table" because you heard the band spreading it's stylistic wingspan into a percussion-based number mirrored by syncopated vocals.
This was the best arena concert of the year, but it wasn't perfect. The operatic "Miss Sarajevo" wasn't as spirited as it is on record. The real shame of that selection was that Luciano Pavarotti, who recorded the song with Bono, was in the audience. The tubby tenor should have been invited onstage.
There are rumors that the band is in negotiations with iTunes to sell its recorded concerts for $9.99 a pop. If that project happens, this show may be the most sought after from the American leg of the world tour. It's a must-have for no other reason than the outstanding "Where the Streets Have No Name," which was stretched into a seven-minute jam.
U2 continues at the Garden tonight, tomorrow and next Friday, and returns to New York Nov. 21 and 22.
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