by Willi

Been a while but the big impact for me about this show (had seen them before at an Amnesty show and the Lovetown tour) were the Brian Eno visuals.

It's neatly packaged now as the big "reinvention" but at the time it just felt like this big huge amazingly cool change. It's still tough to put into words but they crossed from being "bigger than life" to representing a "life that's bigger".

They obviosuly had the passion/integrity thing nailed (as did REM, Gabriel, Springsteen, Sting at the time) but now they had something really different. A healthy dose of cynicism. The aphorisms flashing on the video screens, the whole "mock it or milk it" attitude was just cool. It rocked. It was more mature and sophisticated. For those in the same "age cohort" of the band, it absolutely right. The band that got you through high school and college was now the band getting you through your first full time job with lousy pay and less than noble bosses.

So about the show...Pixies were good but it felt like a shark jumping moment for them. I remember a bunch of Pixie fans leaving right after their set laughing at the lightweight U2 fans. As time has proven, it's clear now which of the two bands has weight issues.

Anyhow, setwise...the show kept getting better with each song. It wasn't like today where One, With or Without You, Mysterious Ways and Zoo Station were givens on the set list, these were songs earning the right to "prempt" the existing canon...Sunday Bloody Sunday, Gloria, I Will Follow, 40 etc. And they all did. Nothing that night could have touched Wild Horses. Truly transcendent.

Then...after working their buts off to sell the new songs...they "kicked back" and road the Joshua tree home. Once band got to Streets, Still Haven't Found, Running to stand still(which was amazing) the vibe just couldn't get any better. Those songs were/are huge hits, and EVERYONE knew the words.

It was all good.

The flowers blossmed. The bison video accompanying One was truly a classic. Edge's wife (aka the belly dancer) was hot. The gold lame suit was funny. The mirror didn't crack. The cool T-shirts with the sunflowers on them cost less than $35.

a fun night to remember...thanks for getting this far if you're reading this

peas,
willi

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