U2 Gives Me Vertigo
If you are going to see U2 on their current tour get to know this refrain; you're going to need it...
Hello, Hello
Hola!
I'm at a place called Vertigo (¿Dónde está?)
It's everything I wish I didn't know
But you give me something I can feel
Feel
So we saw U2 on Friday...I was waiting to try to get some camera phone photos to send, but my co-viewers aren't being good about transferring these to their computers.
Anyway, snap judgement: A lot of people need "more" in their lives. People are fucking insane about this group; they are very good, and very good in concert, but man, get a freaking life. There were so many people just awed to be there. I don't know, maybe it's the ultimate cynic in me that causes me to be jaded by such affairs.
But it was a lot of fun. We had great places (look for the red circle):
For a middle-aged band they can still rock pretty well; even if they played Vertigo to open AND CLOSE the show. Bono's a preachy bastard that tends to have a number of inconsistencies in his "statements" and obviously doesn't care if they people listen to him or not. It's a really interesting sociological test to see how bands react with crowds that don't understand a bloody word that comes out of their mouths. Bono just pressed on like he was talking at a Save Africa, or Amnesty International meeting in Dublin or London.
Plus the fact that he has us pay sums of money to give to him (and the group) for the show and then urges us at the concert to send a 34 cent text message to "Help Africa." I would be much more impressed if he acknowledged the money he got from the show and said he would be donating X amount of the proceeds to help cure malaria or AIDS or whatever the hell he wants to cure.
But hey, private citizen Bono can do whatever he wants and charge whatever he wants for his albums and his concert tickets. And he has every right to make whatever political statement he wants, as confused and inconsistent as it may be. But he can't make me do one little thing.
Kammann Came Back with the Following:
3 comments:
I saw U2 in 1985, back when Kris was still running around in his Andre Reed Under-oos. I'm pretty sure that when I see them in October 2005 (roughly 20 years ago today), they won't be able to top the excitement and energy that surrounded that first show. I'm still not sure why I decided to get Vertigo tickets; when it hit my credit card (hard), I felt like I had got hoodwinked by a telemarketer selling me a timeshare in Tikrit. So I think when the concert finally comes around, like most situations, I think that consuming copious amounts of alcohol will be the only way I can truly enjoy it. That's where you and others probably went wrong, like being the designated driver at your own bachelor party. To further enhance my enjoyment, I'm hoping to sell the two extra tickets I bought for at least double the price on eBay.
In any case, I think U2 has begun to turn the corner, to the point where they will merely exist as a "greatest hits" live act, churning out an album every so often as an "excuse" to tour. The troubling sign is that the last 2 albums only produced about 3 memorable songs; quite honestly, you could erase those two albums from their catalog and not miss a thing. The best thing I can say about them is at least they seem sincere about it, and although Bono's rantings are jumbled sociopolitical nonsense, at least he's passionate about, uhm, whatever it is he's talking about. But I don't care if a song has been scientifically determined to be the greatest song ever written: playing it at the beginning and the end of a concert makes you seem like a smarmy Vegas act (which only supports my above theory). I just hope that they know when to quit, and don't follow in the footsteps of the Rolling Stones and Jerry Rice.
* * * * * * * * *
Here's the setlist, which allows me to formulate a beer-buying game plan during the lulls for the show I go to:
08/05/2005 Parc des Sports Charles Ehrmann - Nice, France
Vertigo, I Will Follow, The Electric Co., Elevation, New Year's Day, Beautiful Day / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (snippet) / Here Comes The Sun (snippet), I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, City Of Blinding Lights, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Love And Peace Or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet The Blue Sky / Please (snippet) / The Hands That Built America (snippet) / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet), Miss Sarajevo, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Where The Streets Have No Name, One
encores: Zoo Station, The Fly, With Or Without You, All Because Of You, Yahweh, Vertigo
(as you can see, Kris was not lying when he got twice the recommended daily allowance of Vertigo)
If you want my advice, your beer buying trips should be as follows:
* Elevation
* Miracle Drug (he gets really preachy)
* At the break
* The Fly
* Yahweh
Someone told me just before the encore began that it was "awesome" (based on their friend's experience in Paris) or something to that effect in French. Nope, it wasn't. "With or Without You" was the only solid song in there...Although "Zoo Station" starts out pretty well.
Seeing Bono sing in Italian during Saravejo Girl was pretty interesting. I do wish Pavarotti made the trip...Shit, Nice is only 15 minutes from Italia, you'd think he could hall his ass up there.
Okay, I'm penciling in a beer run during the middle of the set when they trudge through the 4 new songs, maybe right after "City of Blinding Lights" and before "Sunday Bloody Sunday". By the looks of it, they more or less do the same encore for every show, and I can tell you just by reading the song titles: no, it's far from inspiring awe.
They'll never beat this set list from the first time I saw them (back when the NJ Devils were still wet behind the Mickey Mouse ears, L.T. owned the Swamp, and Villanova owned the NCAA championship):
04/15/1985 Brendan Byrne Arena - East Rutherford, New Jersey
11 O'Clock Tick Tock, I Will Follow, Seconds, MLK, The Unforgettable Fire, Wire, Sunday Bloody Sunday, The Cry, The Electric Co., A Sort Of Homecoming, Bad, October, New Year's Day, Pride (In The Name Of Love)
encores: Party Girl, Gloria, 40
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