by Margaret

This was far more upbeat than yesterday's show. Part of it was due to problems Bono was having. First, the woman he pulled on stage during Until the End of the World was completely lame, screaming, and having to be pulled along. She was a dead weight while Bono was holding her hand, sparring with Edge on the heart. Then during New Year's Day, the crucial moment of grabbing a flag from the crowd arrived and no flag was to be found. Instead he had a sign from the audience passed to him. He held it so that all could read it. It read "Public Health Rules" and he stood there like, what the hell???

Next, during I Will Follow, Bono's guitar wasn't working. During the "your eyes make a circle" interlude Larry, Adam, and Edge kept the song going while Bono and his guitar tech were toward the back of the stage trying to fix the guitar. Actually, the truth is the guitar tech was trying to figure it out and Bono was yelling at him. Finally, Bono went up to the mike with non-working guitar and hummed a few bars and made up some lyrics "you've changed..." He went on for a few minutes, just making it up as he went along. Then they finished with the uptempo part of I Will Follow and Bono smashed his guitar against Larry's drum stand a few times (drum set and Larry uninjured).

Later Bono apologized to the guitar tech and bowed down before him, so all was put right. He even apologized to the audience saying "all you need is love".

It was a problem fraught first few songs, but I think it knocked the band off auto-pilot. Instead of doing the acoustic version of Wild Honey, Bono went over to Edge and they had a brief exchange. Bono announced that they were doing a song they haven't performed this tour and they launched into a beautiful rendition of Slow Dancing. Bono's voice has never sounded better. Yesterday in Oakland, his voice was a little missing and he apologized for it, but tonight it was so strong and clear.

Another spontaneous moment was when they pulled a man out of the audience to play the guitar. He started playing "A Sort of Homecoming" and Bono and Edge had to oblige, playing along, Bono trying to remember the words. The guest guitarist just followed Edge around, completely ignoring Bono as if it were his dream to simply play with Edge.

Bono was especially chatty, mentioning that they had four great performances in the Bay Area this year and that the band was considering that they should play here every Monday, except they'd get divorced and we'd be broke. It's almost too close to the truth. Hopefully I'll save up some $ for when they (cross your fingers everyone) tour in Europe in the Summer.

He also said that New York is great because even the oddest people seem to fit in and that he could think of one other city that was like that. He added "yeah, Dublin" and he smirked. What a slight to San Francisco! At least he wasn't doing some kind of phony ass kissing. And at least he knew to address the audience as the Bay Area instead of just Oakland like No Doubt did earlier.

Yeah, Bono was smug that night, but the unusual moments made it truly special... it was definitely the best show of the three I'd seen from the third leg of the tour, though not as good as 4/20 in San Jose.

As for No Doubt, they've really won me over. Gwen has a pretty cartoonish voice which isn't good for her What's Going On duet with Bono, but it totally fits No Doubt songs. Just a Girl was fantastic! Gwen's great at playing innocence and volcanic anger. Highlights were Hey Baby, Spiderwebs, Don't Speak, and Didn't Catch the Name of the Song, which totally sounds like Prince. No surprise because I think Prince produced it. I also like No Doubt because being sexy is not a big part of Gwen's persona. Instead they had the drummer objectify himself by performing in a glittery thong.

Another thing I realized is how choreographed No Doubt's performance is. Every one of their movements on the stage corresponds to a particular part of a song. In contrast U2's seems to have certain predictable events, but where Bono is at any point or what he says really varies. I suppose after so many years of performing, they trust that they can fly by the seat of their pants and everything will turn out OK.

Return to previous page | Post a Review of this show!