by Joe Chavez

Anahiem, CA - 4/23/2001

And so begins my oddessey, 3 shows over 4 nights can the soul absorb that much U2?
The Willing will try for the greatest band on earth!

The overall experience is still reverberating in my skull, my brain still shocked by the sonic onslaught that is U2. Always for me a "live" band, U2 has a talent for "bringing" the song out in concert. I purposely avoided fan/media reviews and setlist so that I could experience first hand the twists and turns that of the "magical mystery tour" that a U2 concert is. If this is your first and you do not feel "wide awake" at the conclusion then I must say that your soul is dead. If this is not your first we all know why you came back, to be part of a room (in this case and arena) where U2 make you feel small yet part of a larger "something". The something of sharing in the emotion, singing in the moment as Adam, Larry, Edge and Bono exhale their soul for all to breathe in. From Bono apoligizing for making money (we did give it him afterall) to standing on the soap box for world poverty and injustice this is and will always be a classic U2 performance in my mind.

The setlist, what can you say, it was perfect...
Elevation
Beautiful Day
Until the End of the World
New Year's Day
Kite
New York
I Will Follow
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Stuck in a Moment
In a Little While
Stay
Desire
Bad/40
Where the Streets Have No Name
Mysterious Ways/Sexual Healing
The Fly
Bullet the Blue Sky
With or Without You
Pride
One
I Remember You
Walk On/Hallelujah

The ATYCLB material was flawless live, you get the feeling that U2 don't record songs for the studio but for the live performance. The opening with the lights up is the antithesis of PopMarts pomp and circumstance. Four men walk up to the stage pick up their instruments and start to play, instant Elevation! Elation! Don't stop to think because the overplayed/overcommercialized Beautiful Day turns into a anthem in the areana setting, the audience if not taken by Elevation is now "stuck" in the moment of U2. How does a band go from beauty to the end of the world without missing a beat? Larry would say it's all about the drums which is why it works so well. I remember listening to NYD for the first time on vinyl back 1993 and thinking Adam's bass is out of tune but the song still sounds great! As the saying goes things do get better with age. I can't help thinking of what's gone on in the world since New Year's Day 1993...

Kite... the songs stands out in a live setting, the chords and bass line slow dancing around the drums makes me want to day dream. New York, New York... U2's answer to Frank Sinatra. I love the subtle use of the drum loop on this song and then Larry crashing to give us some real drumming. The open verses of this song were a bit muddy, the only noticeable mistep of the evening. Bono's update of the lyrics on this song make it fresher than ever and sonically the song has been taken to new heights by the older and wiser U2. U2 gave Sunday Bloody Sunday on War and took it away during Edges solo performances of the PopMart tour, this tour they gave it back. Can't think of time it sounded better, except maybe during the Rattle and Hum days...

Micheal Hutchence a talented song writer and vocalist that got "Stuck in the moment" of rock and roll, we will miss him. As is customary U2 bring a sense of intimacy to a large arena and In a Little While and the reworked Stay were performed to perfection. Desire... performed with simplistic passion that can U2 can bring to a song and Bono bringing back the harmonica for the conclusion... awesome.

Bad is always good and the inclusion of 40 at the end... was this a message to the long time fans to retire the traditional rendition of the song at the end of the concert? This and the absence of songs from Pop may indeed be a message from the band. Can't say how many times I've seen (in person and on video) the opening to WTSHNN but it still gives the me the chills. This song always reminds me of the sparse beauty of the high desert in Souther California and it's intimate relation to the Joshua Tree era. I still remember the quote back in the War period of Bono stating that U2 wanted to be a band that wrote songs that people would dance to. The evolution Mysterious Ways is the culiminaion of the desire, the intro could have been longer on this one. The "intro" to the Fly was interesting but I don't think it came off well, but Bono assumed his "Fly" persona and I was taken back to ZooTV by the imagery.

Gun control? Good or bad? Definitely not a black and white issue. The fact is that both sides are not addressing the real problem. There are many guns in the U.S. and monitoring those who buy them goes against the foundation of the country, the Consitution. A free for all that the NRA advocates is not the answer either because "good" and "bad" people will always have access to guns. Addressing the problem of Gun related violence in the U.S. will not be addressed by special interest groups and legislation, every citizen must become responsible for the solution. Anyway, BTBS rocked!

WOWY with Bono singing a few octaves lower still sounds great. Pride, what can you say when you and 18,000 of your fellow U2 fans are singing along, it's almost a religious experience. One but not the same... still sounds good to me. In fact the whole encore song sequence including I Remeber You and Walk On/Hallelujah definitely send the message of love, joy and hope.

From the greatly reduced video wall to the 4 camera perspective to the imagery of The Fly and Bullet the Blue Sky this tour is...
part PopMart... greately reduce but still effective video wall...
part ZooTV... multimedia of The Fly and Bullet the Blue Sky...
part Rattle and Hum... the black and white 4 camera perspective of the band (more of this!)...
but definitely U2 at it's best musically and theatrically.

Can't wait until tonight...

-Joe Chavez

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