by Michael Gallaugher

Wow. That’s about all that can be said for any U2 concert. There was a lot of heart and soul, but beyond that a call to action. I loved the previous tour, Elevation, but Vertigo seemed to me to be more focused, more pertinent, and more timely. If Elevation was the tour for U2 to proclaim that they were back and to share the love, Vertigo is the tour encouraging people to get out of their comfort zones and make a difference.

I would say that the show was built around a crucial 7-song interchange in the middle of the set. The interchange starts with a trilogy of war-type songs which seemed to me to be especially timely in the world we live in today: Love and peace or else, Sunday bloody Sunday, and Bullet the blue sky. A lot of what was focused on was religious war Christians, Jews, and Muslims fighting for ‘religious’ reasons. Bono wore a “coexist” headband for the first 2 songs and even during “bloody Sunday” pointed to each symbol saying “Jesus, Jew, Mohammed…it’s true. All sons of Abraham”. During “Bullet” the headband was placed over his eyes as he enacted the part of a P.O.W. during Edge’s solo. This 3 song war trilogy segued into the hauntingly beautiful “Miss Sarajevo” which hadn’t been played until this tour; a song about a beauty pageant in war-torn Sarajevo – people trying to find a sense of normalcy in an abnormal world.

After “Miss Sarajevo” the declaration of Human Rights was displayed and some of it was read by an African woman onscreen. It turned out Saturday night was the 57th Anniversary of the Human Rights declaration which was written on December 10, 1948. This sequed into the trilogy of Human Rights songs: Pride (in the name of love), Where the streets have no name, and One. Most of these were not originally written as human rights songs (except Pride), but they took on new meanings as the focus shifted onto Africa. At the end of “Pride”, Bono made a speech that went something like this:

"Sing for Dr. King
Sing for Dr. King’s dream
It was a dream that everyone is equal under the eyes of God
It’s not just an American dream
It’s a European dream
An Irish dream
An Asian dream
An African dream!
From the swamplands of Louisiana
To the high hills of Kilamanjaro
To the bridge at Selma
From Marin Luther King’s America to Nelson Mandela’s Africa
The journey of equality moves on, on, ON!"

In the past, “Streets” has always been played with a red backdrop and red lights. This time there was a collage of African flags as the song took off. I have to say it was one of the most moving and beautiful things I have ever seen. I teared up then and I’m tearing up again now just writing about it. Next up came “One” with which Bono encouraged everyone to hold up their cell phones and make a Christmas tree (the sight of which was amazing). He spoke a little about the ONE campaign and encouraged people to sign up right then by text messaging their name. He gave statistics about how it is indeed working and the changes in aid and debt relief that were not even in place a year ago. My wife and I were proudly wearing our ONE campaign shirts the entire night.

The show was amazing. They played “Gloria” a rarity from the tour and something I really wanted to hear. The band seemed to be really enjoying themselves and seemed to be really big fans of Cleveland referencing the Rock & Roll hall of fame on several occasions. They also paid an extreme homage to John Lennon and the Beatles for the 25th anniversary of Lennon’s death. They played snippets of 4 Beatles songs which they threw in at the end of other songs (Sgt. Peppers lonely hearts club band, Norwegian wood, She loves you, Help) and 2 John Lennon songs: Happy Xmas (war is over) and Instant Karma was played in its entirety.

They ended the night with an acoustic version of “Yahweh” and closing out with “40”. To hear 20,000+ people singing "I will sing..sing a new song" was amazing, and a perfect end to the evening.

Any complaints? Of course I would have much preferred to be on the floor (hopefully next time). And I have a list of songs I would have loved to hear that weren’t played, many from the new album (Miracle drug, Fast cars, Crumbs from your table, & All because of you). But overall it was a great night and still worth only getting 3 hours of sleep.

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