U2 Elevation Tour, Phoenix AZ, America West Arena, 4/28/01Apr 29 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Awe-inspiring, amazing energy onstage, a joy to behold and participate in! I missed the Zoo TV tour in the early 90s because I was a poor college student. Then for the Popmart tour I was living in Hawaii, and while my sister's tour book SAID they were going to hit Hawaii in 1998, they never came. So this was my first U2 concert experience, and it made me very happy, but also a bit sad that I had never seen them before, they have so many wonderful songs I didn't get to hear! To start, here is the set list that they played last night: Elevation Beautiful Day Until the End of the World New Years Day Kite New York I Will Follow Sunday Bloody Sunday Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out of In a Little While Stay (Faraway So Close) Bad Where the Streets Have No Name Mysterious Ways The Fly Bullet the Blue Sky With or Without You Pride One Walk On 20 songs, touching upon 8 of their albums, and playing for over 2 hours onstage, it was just amazing. The stage set-up was very interesting - there was a heart-shaped walkway, with the top of the heart connecting behind Larry's drum kit, and the tip of the heart connecting across from the stage about 75 feet across from the stage. The general admission ticket-holders were allowed inside and outside the heart, but separated from the walkway by barriers and security people. There were 4 square screens above the stage, these were used to enlarge each band member at any given moment, but broadcast in black and white. I was lucky enough (in my opinion!) to have a reserved seat in the upper level, directly across from the stage, so I had a perfect view of everything and the screens (and I had binoculars too, for close-ups). I don't know if the screens were two-sided, or if the people behind the stage missed out on that action. Their entrance wasn't foretold by the normal dimming of the lights, but an instrumental intro to Elevation played over the sound system, and then the band just strolled out onto the stage and launched into that song with full house lights up. They immediately took hold of the audience, and didn't let up until after the second encore. Near the end of Elevation Bono sang a verse from In God's Country ("Desert sky.. dream beneath a desert sky") that brought further screams of approval from the already-ecstatic crowd. The next song, Beautiful Day, showed some bright stage lights during the chorus, and was a big crowd favorite. It was hard to distinguish these favorites, though, since the audience was singing just about every lyric with Bono all evening, and in some cases he let us take over! During End of the World there was a nice strobe light effect that raced around the edges of the heart walkway, and Bono made his first of many forays near the edge, to grasp hands with the audience, and even kiss a few palms. Another crowd pleaser (and massive sing-along) with New Years Day, then Kite, and then New York. During this song some transparent banners dropped down alongside various points of the walkway, and a neat rotating pattern was projected upon them and the audience. The shadows created by the band members were also reflected onto these banners, making them larger than life. I Will Follow was followed by Sunday Bloody Sunday, during which an Irish flag was tossed to Bono, and he commented that he used to tear up the flag onstage, but now is isn't ashamed of it anymore. (there was also a little Bob Marley interlude near the end of this song: "Get up, stand up.. stand up for your rights"). Then he dedicated Stuck in a Moment to Michael Hutchence, something he has been doing throughout this tour. Then Bono said he was going to do something a singer has to do, but doesn't like to do: introduce the band. Not many bands do this these days, most expect you to know who they are, and U2 is pretty well known already, but it was a very cool thing. Larry Mullen Jr. was first, he strolled out along the walkway to the base of the heart, to shake hands and hug Bono. Then Bono introduced the "Jazzman, the musical conscience of the band", Adam Clayton. Next, "He could be flying the space shuttle. He has more children than Abraham, even his mother calls him.. The Edge." Screams and whistles of approval, and much applauding. After that, Bono dedicated In a Little While to the late Joey Ramone (side note: Bono was very influenced by the Ramones, and was close to Joey. I read an article that said that Joey was listening to this song just before he died. And later in the show Bono sang a few lines of the Ramones' I Remember You, except I can't remember exactly where in the show that was). Then Bono and Edge met at the heart point again (Bono spent most of the concert out on the walkway with a cordless mike) and performed an acoustic version of Stay, which was beautiful in its simplicity. Then came a song I had heard was in the set and was soooooo hoping they would play, and they DID! Bad was just awesomely good. And a huge crowd sing-along, of course. AND Bono worked in a crowd-by-itself moment by instigating the line from "40" : "How long to sing this song?" We sang that line quite a few times! Bono was beaming. During Streets, Bono ran a marathon around the walkway for a few laps, and there were extra screens that rose up from the stage behind Larry, showing random patterns. These screens were used to more effect during Mysterious Ways: various ones would pop up with colorful silhouettes of dancing women that Bono danced with. The Fly brought some words to these screens: "Love Me", and "Believe" with the word LIE expanding inside of it. Bono crawled around part of the heart, appropriately with the lyrics of the song, and then the first part of the show ended. The screens behind the drum set rose up as the encore started, and displayed a video of Charlton Heston talking about guns. Something to the effect of "Guns are not bad, guns are not good. A bad person with a gun is a bad thing. A good person with a gun is no threat to anyone ...except bad people." A popular sentiment here in Arizona, where concealed weapons are permitted. The screens then showed a little girl picking up a handgun from a bag on the floor in her living room. Which of course led right into Bullet the Blue Sky. Edge was playing superbly the whole night, but during this song his soul seemed to be pouring out through his guitar. Bono used a hand-held spotlight during his monologue near the end, shining it around and around the arena. During With or Without You, the transparent banners dropped down again, and rotating star charts were projected across them and the audience, it was a very surreal effect. Pride prompted yet more audience participation (I was hoarse when the evening was over :) There was another short break, and then the second encore began with One, and ended all too soon with Walk On. The main theme of this song, in case you don't always pay attention to lyrics (ahem. that might be me) scrolled up the sides of the arena near the end: "All that you fashion, all that you make, all that you build, all that you break, all that you measure, all that you steal, all this you can leave behind. Leave it behind." It was a fitting end to a beautiful night, but I will never leave behind the memories of Edge's soaring guitar solos, Larry and Adam's stoic yet emotional rhythms, and Bono's heartfelt vocals. Fans, start looking for a scalper, you don't want to miss this event!  |
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