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Bono & The Boys Radiate Pop Adulation As U2 Take Over GM Place
Vancouver
April 18, 2001
U2 @ General Motors Place
April 13th, 2001
There is a famous musical legend about The Beatles, and how during the height of their popularity, the would never play a note during their live shows. They were not, as one might assume, prima donnas, or lazy rock stars, but in fact, victims of their own success: So loud was the screaming and hysteria for the Fab four that they couldn't hear themselves think, nevermind play, so they ended up standing around like mannequins, basking in the adoration that the cult of personality afforded them. Thursday night with U2 at GM Place, the mood is eerily similar.
Strutting out onstage with full house lights up, U2 create the kind of mass hysteria normally reserved for Billy Graham Revivals. They launch right into Elevation, from 2000's All That You Cant Leave Behind and from there take the audience on a tour of their back catalogue. Bono is all, well, Bono-y, casting Jesus poses and stopping to allow the audience to enjoy him. During songs like New York and Desire, Bono shows his real ability, but mostly he just lets crowd scream.
However popular the be-sunglasssed one may be, the true talent of U2 has always been The Edge and in songs like Even Better Than The Real Thing, his guitar rings out with a sound all his own. The Edge's style is almost patented, a jangly, sparking sound that has brought U2 more hits that Bono's tight pants would admit. To quote Bono himself, The Edge is U2's ‘only card carrying genius'.
Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Junior, better known as ‘The Other Two', are competent as usual and they do a fine show of appearing invisible while the band trawl through their hit parade. Almost all their songs are here: One, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day… There is even a song written by Salman Rushdie, in case the audience forgot how hip-to-the-kids U2 are.
There are some moments that reveal cracks in U2's shiny facade. Bono, for example, doesn't hit the high notes like he used to, and he also appears to be limping. The band's studious avoidance of anything to do with Popmart or Zooropa may suggest a return to the basics, but it also suggests a band who may no longer be able to pull it off. The most glam moment of the night, when Bono lies coquettishly atop a pop up video screen, is also the most choreographed. We can see by the little masking tape ‘X' on the stage that it has all been planned, and that Bono's solo bid at spontaneity is in fact a carefully planned ‘event'.
There is no question that U2 have some good songs, but really, Bono and The Edge could bang pots and pans on their heads to the same adulation. U2 go far beyond their music, and in fact live in the realm of pop cultural phenomenon.
Like to offer us a second opinion, from a different perspective? We're always open to what you have to say. Send your version of events to info@citygigs.com. If it's meaningful ("They really, really rocked / sucked" doesn't cut it) we'll consider it for publication.
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