by Loren T

** Back to Basics DOES = Reverse Gears **

WARNING: Do not read this review if you have never seen U2 live in concert or if you have only been to 1 concert in your lifetime.

Instead of writing your typical fan review lavishing praise on the band and their performance, I'll offer my insights on what I considered to be the high points and the low points of Thursday night's concert. I will also comment on the songs that made the strongest impressions on me, whether good or bad.

First, the high points-

I was really impressed by the staging production values and the lighting and video design. Peter "Willie" Williams & Mark Fisher really deserve high marks for coming up with a heart shaped catwalk that connects the audience with the band while at the same time incorporating a high degree of safety and security for the benefit of the audience. The stage setup was simple, yet very effective, and it proves Bono's argument that going "back to basics" makes more of an impact than a 100' giant tv screen, and all those ridiculous stage props.

The lighting and video design portion of the show was also another highlight of the show because it was not overly excessive. The video screens and the lighting projectors were used with subtlety and restraint, again proving that "Less is More." I would also add that the best part about the lighting design was the use of the projectors located on opposite sides of the Front of House platform. The images projected onto the ceiling of the Tacoma Dome during New Years Day, Stuck In A Moment..., and Walk On were mesmerizing to say the least.

Another highlight of the show for me was the brand new, straight out of the box Clarion PA sound system. The sound reinforcement was crystal clear and in stereo. This was a really nice welcome change after the horrible mono sound of the PopMart tour.

I would like to add that I don't consider the ZOO TV tours to be failures. If anything, the 1992-93 Zoo TV world tour successfully & effectively proved that the music can be made stronger by all the high tech staging & video production. In contrast, I felt the '97-'98 PopMart tour was bloated and over-produced which ultimately caused the music to suffer.

Now the low points-

Bono's interaction with the audience was somewhat less than exciting. At times Bono's onstage banter seemed scripted & predictable, and his introduction of the band came across like a formulaic routine. His speech about Seattle & Dublin sharing a common bond in the amount of rainfall came across as dumbed down and not very insightful. I felt this was one of the worse speeches he ever gave in a concert performance, and it is especially disappointing considering that he gave a very graceful apology at-the-then Kingdome back on Dec. 12, 1997 during the PopMart tour. Even worse was the way he just lumped together Seattle & Tacoma geographically. Bono's introduction of the band members before "Desire" is a routine that he's been doing for the past 8 years, sometimes in different variations, but more or less the same things have been said before.

Since this new album and tour are about getting back to basics, U2 has also taken this approach to their music. While I really enjoyed the results this approach has produced for staging and production, the results with their music I would say are mixed at best. U2's reputation for being a live band was their ability to make subtle rearrangements to their songs making them more exciting in concert than on the album.

At times, the back to basics, stripped down re-arrangements of certain songs worked; at other times, this approach made some songs feel old and recycled or, just plain did not work. The songs that felt old and recycled sounded almost like they did when they were performed back in the 80's; the difference being that tonight's performances seemed to lack enery. A good example of this was "Bullet the Blue Sky." Even worse, on some songs, Edge's guitar did not sound very strong. There were times when it seemed like it was the weak link in a song, as though the song was missing the "bite" of Edge's guitar. Equally disappointing was the arrangement and execution of certain songs. What follows are my impressions of certain songs from the setlist:

-Until the End of the World / New Years Day: Although these 2 songs were performed separately, I felt they should have been performed as a medley just as they were on the Zoo TV tour. One of the best parts of the '92-'93 tour was the way Until the End... seamlessly segued into New Years Day without skipping a beat. The 2 second break between songs came across as sloppy and poorly executed.

-Even Better Than The Real Thing: This was the first song in the setlist that came across like an old clunker. In the past, this song had a piercing guitar sound that made it sound lively & exciting. The guitar sound for Thursday night's performance on this song sounded weak and uninspiring.

-Sunday Bloody Sunday: Even with the return of a back to basics full band performance, this song sounded almost as bad as Edge's slow ballad version from the 3rd & 4th legs of the PopMart Tour. The most disappointing aspect of the song was the way Bono tried to incorporate Bob Marley's Get Up, Stand Up in the middle of the song. Usually the band can pull off inserting a snippet of a cover version into a song, but this one sounded like Bono stuck it in as an afterthought. I've heard better cover attempts from a local Gig Harbor band that practically worships U2.

-In A Little While: This performance was a pleasant surprise for me because it actually sounds better live than it does on the album. This song was performed with restraint which is refreshing because it tends to sound bombastic & overproduced on the album.

-Desire: This sounded a little too-stripped down, as if it was missing something. Bono neglecting to play harmonica at the end didn't help matters either.

-Ground Beneath Her Feet: I was kind of disappointed because for such a beautiful song, especially this acoustic version, Bono didn't seem to convey a lot of passion into this one. For comparison, listen to his performance of the same song from Irving Plaza, NYC, Dec 5, 2000.

-Bad: This had to be the low point of the concert & the weakest song of the evening. Bono's ability to sing the high notes during the chorus "I'm Wide Awake..." has definitely waned and his onstage antics of trying to encourage the audience to sing along by waving the microphone into his mouth came across as silly and disingenuous.

-The Fly: I was hoping this version would be a live performance of their Lounge Mix version off of their 1991 single. Instead this is a completely reworked version of the song. For all intents & purposes, this could be a brand new song that just re-uses the same lyrics. This is a good example of where they stripped back all the original sonic effects in favor of making it a more straight forward rock song. Unfortunately, it really didn't do anything for me, and I felt that Edge's guitar was too distorted and muddy sounding making it sound very sloppy.

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My intent of this review is not to direct any negative feelings toward the band but to offer constructive criticism to encourage them to give better performances and possibly re-tool certain things that don't necessarily work. Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the highest), I would rate this concert a 7.

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