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The Church of Bono: U2 Live at MSG, 6/17/01Jun 18 '01 (Updated Jun 21 '01) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line With their strongest album in a couple of years, there is no better reason to see U2 than the current tour.
U2. Though some will argue the point, this Irish band is STILL, arguably, the biggest band in the world even in this age of boy/girl pseudo groups, rap/rock, and assorted groups known more for their piercings and tattoos than anything else. So when my sister Anne called with an extra ticket to the Irish group’s June 17, 2001 show at New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden, some soul searching and negotiation was needed as my wife Kathy is also a big fan. "You should go." "No you go." ["I only have one ticket" reminds Anne.] "It’s OK, you go" "Cool, you’re the best. Babe. Can I call you Babe." "No. Go to the show." So I went off to revel with the band of my youth, along with other graybeards. My bounty was to be a good tee-shirt for the missus. Our seats were high in the rafters of the Garden, in section 414. We sat down just as opening act PJ Harvey started her 45-minute set. Ms. Harvey was resplendent in a loosely buttoned, silk shirt jacket, with thigh-high black boots and a guitar to match. A pair of black shorts completed the outfit. She was backed by four other musicians who played multiple instruments. Harvey’s set was short but intense, perhaps too intense to many in the crowd who sat slack-jawed as she and her band ripped through a selection of tracks from her latest and most accessible album Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. Her set included Man-Sized, Beautiful Feeling, This is Love, Down by the Sea and a few others, including the propulsive Rid Of Me. Some people around us twittered nervously as they listened to the lyrics "Lick My Legs…" PJ Harvey was something of a revelation live. Her stage persona is of a younger Chrissy Hynde perhaps. Harvey has grown from her earlier records and is really someone to seek out. She’s whip-smart, sexy, powerful, and intelligent. Her sound is crunchy enough for even the most jaded ears. After a break of about a half-hour, U2 strolled onto the specially designed stage with ease. The stage set-up featured a huge heart with a platform surrounding it. People paid $$$ to stand in the middle of the heart in front of the stage. I wasn't about to do that at my age, but I wound up standing throughout the show anyway since there was no other way to see U2 over the big haired, Long Island suburbanites that surrounded us. For the fashionistas keeping score at home, Bono dressed in rock star leather, the Edge was equipped in a red tee emblazoned with the number 2 in glitter in front. He wore jeans with studded glitter on the sides. His knit cap was black; his goatee trimmed. Bassist Adam Clayton wore his usual camouflage pants, his bass playing as solid and understated as his stage persona. Larry Mullin sat behind his drum kit in a silver ensemble and went to work. Once they launched into Elevation the crowd was theirs, a powerful start to a 2-hour and 20 minute tour through some of their bigger hits with heavy emphasis on tracks from All that You can’t Leave Behind. Main Set:* Elevation, Beautiful Day, Until the End of the World, Mysterious Ways(Sexual Healing), Kite, Gone, New York, I Will Follow, Sunday Bloody Sunday(Get Up Stand Up, In My Life)/ Stuck In a Moment, In a Little While, Desire (Gloria), Stay, Bad(Wild Horses,40), Where the Streets Have No Name, Pride Encore(s): Bullet the Blue Sky, With or Without You, The Fly, One, I Remember You, Walk On(Hallelujah) There were no bad moments and some were absolutely revelatory. The I Will Follow, Sunday Bloody Sunday(Get Up Stand Up, In My Life) was particularly powerful. The requisite Irish flag was offered to Bono as he scampered about, and he reverently arranged it. It’s possible the song’s message of resolve in the face of institutionalized violence went over the audience’s head but the combination of these songs/medley hit me right in my Irish-American heart. Edge played his backside off here, using a "Gibson Flying V" at one point. Powerful stuff. Throughout the evening, the Edge was the one I watched closely. He had a rather large effects setup with four pedals to choose from. His guitar sounded huge without cutting through the others instruments/voices. His playing was superb. Never a straight-ahead guitarist, his atmospheric, elegant lines and striking fills were the meat of the music. He also contributed a fine falsetto at times to the backing vocals. Bono remains a front man with the charismatic power of a sleazy televangelist coupled with the earnestness of a first-term Congressman. He exhorted the crowd to support reform of third-world debt and other causes. He was in good voice and entertaining throughout, whether he was running sprints around the heart, drinking water offered from the crowd, or lying down and singing (ala the famous Perry Como sketch from SCTV). The concert left me happily tired and uncomfortably sweaty. I felt I had been to a church meeting with a loud, rocking choir. So maybe I’m saved after all. The Crowd The crowd was a mixture of even older stalwarts than myself and younger fans who weren’t even born during the band’s 1983-1988 explosive peak. U2’s still vibrant mix of politics, spiritual awareness, and self-worth anthems may have been lost on many of the TRL set, but approximately 19,000 people came to see them. It would be difficult to sell anyone here on the notion that U2 has joined the ranks of the fossilized rock acts on tour this summer. There’s talk that the group will return to the area in the fall though Bono said a decision hadn’t yet been made. If they do return I would certainly want to see them again, even at the steep ticket prices ($133.00-$48.00). The opportunity to spend a night with a band like U2 is not one you want to leave behind. [set list derived from memory and www.u2tours.com]  |
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