U2
Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh
with Damien Marley
I didn't plan it this way. But I only see U2 once a decade. First in 1985, in Hartford, CT, on the Unforgettable Fire tour. Then, the indoor "Zoo TV" tour in 1992.
And now again, 13 years later.
post continues....
The stage set-up included a circular walkway which extended out into the crowd, allowing for the General Admission ticketholders who got in line early to be within the elliptical walkway. I was standing about 25 feet on the outside of the walkway (nearest to where The Edge's microphone was placed for "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of"), so it was a terrific view when bandmembers strolled out into the crowd.
Above the stage, the video monitors were broken up into four sections. For most of the show, each section featured isolated shots of each bandmember, which was a pretty good idea (although it was perhaps more attention than Larry and Adam were used to, as the Adam-cam caught him picking his nose during the slow fade-in to "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For").
Bono's commentary between songs was fascinating and grandiose as usual. After a killer (and unexpected) rendition of "The Electric Co." (complete with Bono's insertion of "Send in the Clowns" and the "see me, feel me" chant from The Who's "We're Not Gonna Take It"), Bono proclaimed "Thank you for coming out to see U2 play. Thank you for giving us a great life--we're living it as large as we can."
Prior to "Miracle Drug," Bono also told a whimsical story about The Edge being from the future (and from the future of a different universe, no less) and descending to earth in a spaceship to meet the other bandmembers. Perhaps that explains his distinctive approach to playing guitar. Bono explained the opening guitar notes to "Miracle Drug" as being the musical notes played by The Edge's spacecraft, Close Encounters-style.
Bono brought two young boys from the inner-ellipse crowd onto the stage during "Sunday Bloody Sunday" to help sing the "no more" part, and it was quite a subtle echo of the War cover art.
There was an unintended irony to using the video monitor to scroll the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the conclusion to "Miss Sarajevo" (which, by the way, featured Bono--desite fighting off a sore throat--taking the Luciano Pavorotti part; it was a stunner, and the one moment of the show when he really cut loose with his voice). Although there was no doubt that U2 are sincere about their support for human rights, but it unintentionally echoed the satire of vapid sloganeering employed to such great effect during the Zoo TV tour.
I'm not a big fan of video monitors of concerts--I'm there to see the band in person, not to watch them on TV--but I does come in handy sometimes to see, say, The Edge's fingerwork on his guitar. During "One" the monitors did feature a pretty nifty visual effect. Segmenting in thirds, the screen showed three identical shots of Bono. The center one slowly became more pixelated, and eventually the image zoomed into the blocky component pixels, revealing them to be individual images of audience members (although whether these were live audience shots, or canned, could not be determined). The process then repeated in reverse--zooming out from the audience images to reveal a pixelated Bono, finally morphing into the normal video shot of Bono singing. The effect was cool on a mere visual lvel, but combined with the lyrics of "One" it was truly inspired.
(write-up to be completed later)
setlist:
"City of Blinding Lights," "Vertigo," "Elevation," "I Will Follow," "The Electric Co.," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "Beautiful Day," "Miracle Drug," "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," "Love and Peace or Else," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Bullet the Blue Sky," "Miss Sarajevo," "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "Where the Streets Have No Name," "One," "Old Man River" [encore break] "The First Time," "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," "Party Girl," "With Or Without You" [2nd encore break] "All Beacuse of You," "Yahweh," "40"
with Damien Marley
I didn't plan it this way. But I only see U2 once a decade. First in 1985, in Hartford, CT, on the Unforgettable Fire tour. Then, the indoor "Zoo TV" tour in 1992.
And now again, 13 years later.
post continues....
The stage set-up included a circular walkway which extended out into the crowd, allowing for the General Admission ticketholders who got in line early to be within the elliptical walkway. I was standing about 25 feet on the outside of the walkway (nearest to where The Edge's microphone was placed for "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of"), so it was a terrific view when bandmembers strolled out into the crowd.
Above the stage, the video monitors were broken up into four sections. For most of the show, each section featured isolated shots of each bandmember, which was a pretty good idea (although it was perhaps more attention than Larry and Adam were used to, as the Adam-cam caught him picking his nose during the slow fade-in to "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For").
Bono's commentary between songs was fascinating and grandiose as usual. After a killer (and unexpected) rendition of "The Electric Co." (complete with Bono's insertion of "Send in the Clowns" and the "see me, feel me" chant from The Who's "We're Not Gonna Take It"), Bono proclaimed "Thank you for coming out to see U2 play. Thank you for giving us a great life--we're living it as large as we can."
Prior to "Miracle Drug," Bono also told a whimsical story about The Edge being from the future (and from the future of a different universe, no less) and descending to earth in a spaceship to meet the other bandmembers. Perhaps that explains his distinctive approach to playing guitar. Bono explained the opening guitar notes to "Miracle Drug" as being the musical notes played by The Edge's spacecraft, Close Encounters-style.
Bono brought two young boys from the inner-ellipse crowd onto the stage during "Sunday Bloody Sunday" to help sing the "no more" part, and it was quite a subtle echo of the War cover art.
There was an unintended irony to using the video monitor to scroll the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the conclusion to "Miss Sarajevo" (which, by the way, featured Bono--desite fighting off a sore throat--taking the Luciano Pavorotti part; it was a stunner, and the one moment of the show when he really cut loose with his voice). Although there was no doubt that U2 are sincere about their support for human rights, but it unintentionally echoed the satire of vapid sloganeering employed to such great effect during the Zoo TV tour.
I'm not a big fan of video monitors of concerts--I'm there to see the band in person, not to watch them on TV--but I does come in handy sometimes to see, say, The Edge's fingerwork on his guitar. During "One" the monitors did feature a pretty nifty visual effect. Segmenting in thirds, the screen showed three identical shots of Bono. The center one slowly became more pixelated, and eventually the image zoomed into the blocky component pixels, revealing them to be individual images of audience members (although whether these were live audience shots, or canned, could not be determined). The process then repeated in reverse--zooming out from the audience images to reveal a pixelated Bono, finally morphing into the normal video shot of Bono singing. The effect was cool on a mere visual lvel, but combined with the lyrics of "One" it was truly inspired.
(write-up to be completed later)
setlist:
"City of Blinding Lights," "Vertigo," "Elevation," "I Will Follow," "The Electric Co.," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "Beautiful Day," "Miracle Drug," "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," "Love and Peace or Else," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Bullet the Blue Sky," "Miss Sarajevo," "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "Where the Streets Have No Name," "One," "Old Man River" [encore break] "The First Time," "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," "Party Girl," "With Or Without You" [2nd encore break] "All Beacuse of You," "Yahweh," "40"
Labels: Mellon Arena, PA, Pittsburgh, U2
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