When I was first told U2 was coming to town, I wasn’t that excited. I have never known much about rock music and don’t feel as though I have really any knowledge about bands, especially bands pre-Ace of Base (which is why I am in this class). But I agreed to go, but was not overly thrilled. Admittedly, I was even crabby about the prospect of seeing “old men” dance around on stage. Part of the comedy of my preconceived notions is that I had U2 completely mixed with Aerosmith who did a Super Bowl performance that I felt fell short. Finally, the night before the concert I had it all straight; Bono sang in U2, Bon Jovi was completely different, and Aerosmith was also a separate entity. Needless to say I had no to low expectations.
The minute I beheld the massive claw shaped stage, I knew this wasn’t going to be boring at the very minimum. It turned out that watching U2 in their massive stage and overwhelming audience under the stars at Scott Stadium made the perfect first impression. Not only was the structure itself a masterpiece, the number of yellow shirted people working the concert was amazing. The audience was controlled like well organized machine and the time and ingenuity it took to pull off such an event made me awestruck.
The fans in my section of seating left something to be desired but spoke to the massive audience is able to reach. I was in the “old people” section (see a trend?) so the stands were full of children, families, and even grandparents. Most were white but the age, gender and class make-up of the audience was expansive. There were men in navy sport coats and khaki pants with their plastic bejeweled wives as well as students from a wide breadth of schools, representing a good portion of cultural make-up of the white classes in and around Charlottesville.
After a mass amount of people watching, while waiting for U2 to grace the stage, the band made their entrance. The music was what I’d classify as very rock and therefore very masculine. The band members had a gritty, ragged look and tended to position their guitars to indicate the instruments as an extension of the male anatomy. There were large instrumental sections that focused around the guitar. One of the highlights was the drummer solo. The art, skill and ease the drummer used to bang out his powerful solo was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Bono’s singing was passionate and very performance based visible through his exaggerated facial expressions.
The stage moving and blinking in tandem with the loud (and familiar) songs created an almost alien effect. It felt as though U2 was beamed down from their large claw-stage and was transporting the audience, creating a fusion of the rock and the technological world. The stage was used to emphasize the message and feeling of the song. A slower, more serious song had slower more “blue” images rolling over the screen in contrast to more upbeat songs that had vibrant frantic colors racing around the screens. U2 was able to use the stage to signal tonal shifts and provide structure for the concert.
Toward the last quarter of the concert, U2 combine the music movement with political and social struggles. They told of a story of a captured woman and had a powerful live art display of fifty plus kids holding masks up to their faces and walking the perimeter of the stage. Poetry, music, visual art and politics combined to create an all encompassing sensation for the senses. U2 used their stardom to reach millions of their audience members for a cause beyond entertainment. The whole effect was very powerful.
One complaint is that the advertised 360 tour was presented as a concert that could be appreciated from every angle, however there were definitely expensive seats that did not get nearly as much face time with Bono mostly due to the lopsided orientation of the stage. Had I been sitting and watching the back of the band for all but 10 minutes of the 2 or so hours, I would’ve been disappointed and had a different experience.
I am glad I took the time and made the effort to see U2. I will never get them confused with Bon Jovi or Aerosmith ever again and have morphed from an indifferent follower to fan.
Showing posts with label U2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U2. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
U2: What a Beautiful Night
Not an avid U2 fan, I had my doubts going into the show. Would I enjoy the performance of a band with which I was not familiar? Would I recognize any of the songs? What exactly did a 360° tour entail? Bono and U2 eliminated all these doubts with an incredible performance that gave tangible evidence to their reputation of a Hall-of-Fame group.
As U2 made its entrance, the crowd stood to its feet, welcoming the band in its first visit to Charlottesville. The stage was quite the scene. Walking into Scott Stadium, I was taken aback by the monstrous “Claw” (see picture below). I surely thought that this Transformers-like structure would obstruct our view of the stage and the band. A large circular megatron was the centerpiece of this massive set-up, and as I soon discovered, it gave meaning behind the naming of the “360°” tour.
No matter where you were sitting in the stadium, you felt the band was performing right in front of you. The screen flashed shots of the band from all angles throughout the performance. At one point, the megatron extended into a beehive-like shape where colors filled every corner of the stadium (see pictures below).
Aside from the visual aspects, I was impressed by the band’s vocals and instrumentals. U2 is an example of the typical rock band. The male-dominated group consisted of Bono as the lead singer and guitarist, The Edge as guitarist and keyboardist, Adam Mullen as the bassist, and Larry Mullen as the drummer. I noticed that they held their guitars the “cool” way; they had longer straps, and their guitars were positioned lower on their bodies. Male bonding was evident through the interactions of the band members. They rocked out with each other for every song, and it seemed as though they were just a group of friends doing what they love best. Though Bono is seen as the leading group member, there was a sense of mutual respect among all the members. This was shown during a humbling moment towards the end of the concert when Bono thanked his bandmates for “letting me be in your band.”
Though I couldn’t name most of the set list, I did recognize more songs than I had originally thought, including “Beautiful Day” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” I could definitely tell I wasn’t alone in my unfamiliarity with a majority of the set list. I overheard an older gentleman comment, “ Were these kids even alive when these songs came out?” I noticed, however, that whenever a song that I knew came on, the crowd was in full gear with both college-aged and older fans swaying and singing along. This may be an instance of crossing over. There were certain songs that have seemed to more readily cross over from the rock charts to the pop charts, such as “Stuck in a Moment,” and consequently reached across a wider range of demographics.
Another major aspect of the show was its political messages. Bono and U2 have been known for their active involvement in addressing issues of poverty and social injustice. During their song “Walk On,” images of Burma’s opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi were shown on the screen and members of Amnesty International marched onto the stage (see pictures below). There was a very strong sense of purpose behind their music by the way in which they use their songs as a means of voicing the world’s injustices and advocating human rights.
From the mesmerizing visual effects to the goosebump-inducing vocals and instrumentals, U2 performed a spectacular show. Whether you were a diehard fan or not, when the show came to an end, you just wanted more. And thankfully, U2 responded to the crowd’s call for an encore through the illumination of the dark Stadium by the thousands of cell phones (see picture below). A fitting end to a beautiful night.
As U2 made its entrance, the crowd stood to its feet, welcoming the band in its first visit to Charlottesville. The stage was quite the scene. Walking into Scott Stadium, I was taken aback by the monstrous “Claw” (see picture below). I surely thought that this Transformers-like structure would obstruct our view of the stage and the band. A large circular megatron was the centerpiece of this massive set-up, and as I soon discovered, it gave meaning behind the naming of the “360°” tour.
No matter where you were sitting in the stadium, you felt the band was performing right in front of you. The screen flashed shots of the band from all angles throughout the performance. At one point, the megatron extended into a beehive-like shape where colors filled every corner of the stadium (see pictures below).
Aside from the visual aspects, I was impressed by the band’s vocals and instrumentals. U2 is an example of the typical rock band. The male-dominated group consisted of Bono as the lead singer and guitarist, The Edge as guitarist and keyboardist, Adam Mullen as the bassist, and Larry Mullen as the drummer. I noticed that they held their guitars the “cool” way; they had longer straps, and their guitars were positioned lower on their bodies. Male bonding was evident through the interactions of the band members. They rocked out with each other for every song, and it seemed as though they were just a group of friends doing what they love best. Though Bono is seen as the leading group member, there was a sense of mutual respect among all the members. This was shown during a humbling moment towards the end of the concert when Bono thanked his bandmates for “letting me be in your band.”
Though I couldn’t name most of the set list, I did recognize more songs than I had originally thought, including “Beautiful Day” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” I could definitely tell I wasn’t alone in my unfamiliarity with a majority of the set list. I overheard an older gentleman comment, “ Were these kids even alive when these songs came out?” I noticed, however, that whenever a song that I knew came on, the crowd was in full gear with both college-aged and older fans swaying and singing along. This may be an instance of crossing over. There were certain songs that have seemed to more readily cross over from the rock charts to the pop charts, such as “Stuck in a Moment,” and consequently reached across a wider range of demographics.
Another major aspect of the show was its political messages. Bono and U2 have been known for their active involvement in addressing issues of poverty and social injustice. During their song “Walk On,” images of Burma’s opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi were shown on the screen and members of Amnesty International marched onto the stage (see pictures below). There was a very strong sense of purpose behind their music by the way in which they use their songs as a means of voicing the world’s injustices and advocating human rights.
From the mesmerizing visual effects to the goosebump-inducing vocals and instrumentals, U2 performed a spectacular show. Whether you were a diehard fan or not, when the show came to an end, you just wanted more. And thankfully, U2 responded to the crowd’s call for an encore through the illumination of the dark Stadium by the thousands of cell phones (see picture below). A fitting end to a beautiful night.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Me Too: A Student at U2's 360° Tour
Opening show Muse came onstage with a burst of light and the loud crashing of chords. Band members of the alternative, “space age rock” group Matthew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme, and Dominic Howard seemed to rely on reverberations and electronics more than technical skill. Muse favored scale-like melodies and a background of power chords that lead’s singer Bellamy’s voice could not quite conquer (he specialized in Radiohead-like wailing with more articulation). The light-show special effects were on the megatron were a little off-putting; it was as if the band had no merit without zooming green grids and color manipulation.
When U2 finally came on stage, the entire crowd leapt to its feet. Even non-U2 supporters can admit the sheer energy of their fans. Guitar and keyboard player The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton, and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr all made dramatic entrances to much fanfare, but Bono made his debut to the most yelling of all.
However, the initial screaming and excitement was followed by some awkward and obligatory head-bobbing when U2 launched immediately into their new songs. The older songs actually initiated some reaction. When “Elevation” was finally played, there came the sweet sound of fifty-five thousand people singing a note out of their range. At the opening strains of “Vertigo,” the crowd thrashed around wildly, and at “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” everyone shrieked (both before, during, and after singing the first two verses). But when “Stuck in a Moment” came on, the entire stadium got lost in the sad peacefulness of nostalgia, and I actually saw one woman press her hands to her heart after the line, “Don’t say that later will be better.” When set to the simple scrambling of three notes, that line was like kryptonite to otherwise stoic listeners.
Unlike Muse, U2 didn’t feel the need for the lightshow, but they did use their claw-like structure to its full capacity. It transformed into a tye-dyed spider, ritzy Las Vegas opulence, and a ghostly pearly white, among many, many more—but what was most shocking was that the megatron expanded slowly downward. Honeycomb-esque holes formed so that the megatron was a longer, trellis-like incarnation of its earlier self.
Politics, it seemed, was a major theme for U2. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” yelled Bono at one point, and that we hope for “an America that is big enough to fit the whole world.” He repeated “a non-violent revolution” several times in a softer voice. The crowd quieted down when Amnesty International members fanned out onstage; the stadium full of people was at a loss as to whether it should cheer or not. Whenever Bono slipped in references to Charlottesville or Virginia or Wahoos, the crowd knew to cheer, but U2’s emphasis on politics took away some of the comfortability that the crowd had previously taken pleasure in.
The crowd fought for its two encores with the waving of cell phones (the stadium looked like a glowing plant swaying underwater) and more screaming. Three people wrapped in the Irish flag hiked it up and waved it ecstatically until at long last U2 came back on. These two encores consisted of one U2 favorite each: “Where the Streets Have No Name” and “With or Without You.”
After the second encore, the crowd filtered out of the stadium in droves, many still chattering about the megatron, some commenting on the evolution of Bono’s voice into a tired echo. It was the chorus of the crowd favorite “Beautiful Day” that three blonde girls were humming as they negotiated the exit, “sky falls, you feel like it’s a beautiful day.” The stadium was still a-glow behind me as the crowd left, still singing.
-Gillian Douple
When U2 finally came on stage, the entire crowd leapt to its feet. Even non-U2 supporters can admit the sheer energy of their fans. Guitar and keyboard player The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton, and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr all made dramatic entrances to much fanfare, but Bono made his debut to the most yelling of all.
However, the initial screaming and excitement was followed by some awkward and obligatory head-bobbing when U2 launched immediately into their new songs. The older songs actually initiated some reaction. When “Elevation” was finally played, there came the sweet sound of fifty-five thousand people singing a note out of their range. At the opening strains of “Vertigo,” the crowd thrashed around wildly, and at “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” everyone shrieked (both before, during, and after singing the first two verses). But when “Stuck in a Moment” came on, the entire stadium got lost in the sad peacefulness of nostalgia, and I actually saw one woman press her hands to her heart after the line, “Don’t say that later will be better.” When set to the simple scrambling of three notes, that line was like kryptonite to otherwise stoic listeners.
Unlike Muse, U2 didn’t feel the need for the lightshow, but they did use their claw-like structure to its full capacity. It transformed into a tye-dyed spider, ritzy Las Vegas opulence, and a ghostly pearly white, among many, many more—but what was most shocking was that the megatron expanded slowly downward. Honeycomb-esque holes formed so that the megatron was a longer, trellis-like incarnation of its earlier self.
Politics, it seemed, was a major theme for U2. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” yelled Bono at one point, and that we hope for “an America that is big enough to fit the whole world.” He repeated “a non-violent revolution” several times in a softer voice. The crowd quieted down when Amnesty International members fanned out onstage; the stadium full of people was at a loss as to whether it should cheer or not. Whenever Bono slipped in references to Charlottesville or Virginia or Wahoos, the crowd knew to cheer, but U2’s emphasis on politics took away some of the comfortability that the crowd had previously taken pleasure in.
The crowd fought for its two encores with the waving of cell phones (the stadium looked like a glowing plant swaying underwater) and more screaming. Three people wrapped in the Irish flag hiked it up and waved it ecstatically until at long last U2 came back on. These two encores consisted of one U2 favorite each: “Where the Streets Have No Name” and “With or Without You.”
After the second encore, the crowd filtered out of the stadium in droves, many still chattering about the megatron, some commenting on the evolution of Bono’s voice into a tired echo. It was the chorus of the crowd favorite “Beautiful Day” that three blonde girls were humming as they negotiated the exit, “sky falls, you feel like it’s a beautiful day.” The stadium was still a-glow behind me as the crowd left, still singing.
-Gillian Douple
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