Two Nights of Love and Light: Even Without Some of Their Best Songs, U2 Delivers a Wonderful Experience -- Chicago Concert Review

Concert Review

U2
Experience + Innocence Tour
May 22 & 23, 2018 (both shows seen)
United Center, Chicago
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Bono has been one of the world's most famous people for decades, arriving on the public stage with U2's debut album, Boy, when he was just 20.

Not long after that came rock stardom, superstardom, mega-stardom and--eventually--hobnobbing with world leaders.

U2 continues to sell-out stadiums worldwide, 42 years after the band's formation in Dublin, with the original members--Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.--still intact, so the singer's life has likely seemed quite enviable.

Success, acclaim, vast riches, philanthropy, social activism and his childhood friends forever alongside.

When people use the term "rock star" as a glorified acclimation, Bono--albeit with seemingly a single woman (his wife, Ali, whom he dated as a teen and married in 1982) and without known chemical excesses--is essentially the archetype.

But when he was just 14, Bono--then still known by his birth name of Paul Hewson--saw his mom die suddenly, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage while attending her father's funeral.

Various U2 songs over the years--including first single "I Will Follow"--have touched on this grim reality, but none more acutely than "Iris (Hold Me Close)" from 2014's Songs of Innocence album.

That song, and the same record's "Cedarwood Road"--about Bono's childhood residence--forged the emotional heart of the following year's technologically inventive Innocence + Experience tour.

And even after U2 put out the companion Songs of Experience album late last year--ostensibly chronicling the band's maturation--"Iris (Hold Me Close)" and "Cedarwood Road" are prominently reprised on the current Experience + Innocence tour, which I attended both Tuesday and Wednesday at Chicago's United Center.

Speaking prior to former song, Bono even called the evening(s), "a boy's search for his mother."

Candidly, those two songs, and the several SOI/SOE "love" and/or "light" tunes, seemingly about Bono's mom, healing himself and/or healing the world--the opening "Love Is All That We Have Left," "The Blackout" (with a "when the lights go out" refrain), "Lights of Home," "Love is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way" and the closing "13 (There Is a Light)"--are not the show's musical highlights.

But they aren't terrible, and Bono apparently needs to sing them, and given all the rock 'n roll therapy he and his band have provided me for 35 years, I'm happy to give him that.

And while the floor length screen that the quartet can play within, under and/or use for accompanying imagery isn't quite as ingeniously woven through the show as in 2015, the concerts were visually dazzling and demonstrably proved that as the members approach 60, they can still rock.

Sans any sidemen, touring musicians, background vocalists, etc., U2 blitzed through "I Will Follow,""Gloria" (Tuesday only) and "Beautiful Day" with the vigor of punks in a garage.

A stripped down "Sunday Bloody Sunday," with its opening couplet of  "I can't believe the news today / I can't close my eyes and make it go away" was particularly powerful on the heels of the Santa Fe, Texas high school shootings.

And especially given my Night 1 proximity to the "B-Stage," romps through "Elevation" and "Vertigo" were positively thrilling.

Much of the "news" about this tour comes in what U2 isn't playing.

After their 2017 stadium tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree, no songs from that bandmark album are showing up this year--i.e. no "Where the Streets Have No Name," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" or "With or Without You"--nor are live staples such as "New Year's Day" or "Bad."

As these were my 21st & 22nd U2 concerts, across 32 years, I didn't mind some of the tent poles being eschewed.

The Irishmen have always been good at amping up even their more mediocre material--in this case "The Blackout" and "American Soul"--while "You're the Best Thing About Me" and "Get Out of Your Own Way" are genuinely solid new songs.

So in the parlance of an evening's entertainment within the eroding rock music idiom by a band that has meant a whole lot to me for much of my life, I honestly feel that U2 did enough--musically, visually, emotionally--for me to call these shows fantastic.

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That said, as discussion among U2 acolytes, I feel the structure of these shows hews too closely to those of 2015.

Though it sounds great, "Until the End of the World" could probably be well replaced, and while meaning about what I said above about granting Bono leeway, as narrative the Iris/Cedarwood combo feels a bit "been there/done that."

Anything I was supposed to glean about U2--and all of us--gaining "experience" was largely lost on me, and I will take great songs over thematic ones any day.

"Pride (in the Name of Love)" was fantastic, but--particularly on Night 2--I could have left the building after it without missing much.

Of the 6 songs following it, only "One" is truly among U2's best, and the closing couplet of "Love is Bigger than Anything in Its Way" and "13 (There is a Light)" felt redundant and overly low-key to end the night(s).

While on one hand admiring the band for resisting "Where the Streets Have No Name," I thought the anthemic song--my U2 favorite--would've fit in rather naturally after "One" or at the very end.

Obviously, no one mandates my U2-fer repeat attendance, and even with only one setlist change on Wednesday--the new "Red Flag Day" for the old "Gloria"--I'm still glad to have gone to both shows.

Tuesday I saw the band up close, but given my vantage point, not the screen. Wednesday I got the full A/V effect, though not the thrilling intimacy. 

But one consistent complaint I have about U2 in concert is that they don't audible enough, or make each performance unique.

I know that unlike favorites such as Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam, who change things up considerably every show, the band--in part due to technical considerations--stays pretty locked into a structure and set list.

And as they should delight anyone attending any one show, this isn't a major deficiency.

But at this point, U2 has fans who follow them around, who see them at least twice per tour, who ravenously read the setlists and who seek out clips of rarities on YouTube.

Especially given what they're typically leaving out of this tour, why not trot out "New Year's Day" one night, or even "Walk On," "Exit," "Spanish Eyes" or something that would really elicit a "Wow!"

They did play "Desire"--complete with a return of Bono's MacPhisto devilish alter ego--"Acrobat" and "Staring at the Sun," which haven't been heard in years, and all sounded great. 

But Wednesday was the day before Bob Dylan turned 77, so why not surprise with their cover of "All Along the Watchtower" from Rattle & Hum, or even "Hawkmoon 269," which they wrote with him.

This may sound like a bit of whining, but though I doubt U2 will ever see this review, I really mean it constructively.

The band, and this show, are great, but would be even better if loosened up a tad.

While I really can't rue Bono ending each night with a plaintive ode to his long-lost mom, why not an ebullient rocker to follow the darkness?

Perhaps it might not have made perfect sense given the narrative thread, but I doubt anyone would've been unhappy to sing along with "Where the Streets Have No Name" before heading to their cars.

And this even includes Bono.

"I want to run, I want to hide, I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside."

Sure sounds like a song of experience to me.

Set Me Alight: Playing 'The Joshua Tree' and More in Chicago, U2 Provides Elevation...Repeatedly -- Chicago Concert Review

Concert Review

U2

w/ opening act The Lumineers

Soldier Field, Chicago

June 3 and 4
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In a simple, straightforward sense, I loved U2's concerts at Soldier Field over the weekend because one of my favorite musical artists sounded great in playing their best album, The Joshua Tree, in full--commemorating its 30th anniversary--and several other songs I cherish.

But the Irish band also served to resplendently, transcendentally, spiritually, psychologically, therapeutically, emotionally, majestically, ebulliently, etc., reiterate why music--and very much so, their music--means so much to me, and millions or billions of others.

Though I am a Chicago area resident whose travel was merely by subway, I devoted 20 hours getting to and from the shows on Saturday and Sunday, and a not inconsiderable amount of money--and I would happily do it again.

If you're a longtime U2 fan, and especially one of the 100,000 or so who attended the sold-out Chicago gigs, you understand my affinity for the Irish quartet--the same four guys since 1976, now perhaps the longest running active band without any lineup changes, or even additional touring musicians--and how good they sounded on two picture-perfect nights.

At least a dozen friends have corroborated my belief that the shows were fantastic, and I haven't seen any offering a differing opinion.

And if you're not a fan, or long ago soured on U2--perhaps due to their run of largely middling albums over the past two decades--I'm unlikely to override your skepticism and convince you that in their late 50s, Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. are still capable of delivering shows for the ages (and not, just, the aged).

Especially as across two nights at Soldier Field--with both shows being materially similar, though not exact--only the very last song played on Sunday was written any more recently than the year 2000. (This was the unreleased "The Little Things That Give You Away," which Bono said is the last song on their forthcoming album, ostensibly Songs of Experience following 2014's Songs of Innocence, scourge of iHaters everwhere.)

This is the first time U2 has launched a major tour without a new record that typically informs a good deal of the setlist, and despite the brilliance of The Joshua Tree--which I relished being explored anew, by band and audience alike--the 30th Anniversary Tour may not best convince newbies and cynics.

The album's first three songs--"Where the Streets Have No Name," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "With or Without You"--were its biggest hits, and preceding them to begin the concerts were two big songs each from War and The Unforgettable Fire, the 1983 and 1984 albums that came before The Joshua Tree. (These were actually U2's 3rd, 4th & 5th studio albums.)

So several of the songs--including "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)"--that are tent poles throughout or near the end of most U2 concerts were knocked out within the first 45 minutes, and this front-loading somewhat disjointed the sonic, emotional and anthemic arc the band typically, and thrillingly, creates.

But though more casual fans might not well-know Joshua Tree "Side 2" songs such as "Red Hill Mining Town" and "Trip Through Your Wires," despite their lacking the anthemic grandeur of the hits, I enjoyed hearing U2 dig deep into album tracks they haven't played for decades, if ever. (Bono, who remains in fine voice, seemed overtly pleased when these tunes were pulled off with aplomb.)

And for me, the ferocious "Exit" was a clear highlight of both nights.

While some may wonder why I needed to go twice, just the fact that I got to hear "Bad" on Saturday and "A Sort of Homecoming"--a favorite of mine never before witnessed--on Sunday, made it worthwhile, along U2's oldest hit ("I Will Follow") and newest known song ("The Little Things That Give You Away") variably ending the two concerts. (See U2's Chicago setlists for June 3 and June 4 on Setlist.fm).

But while realizing the parallels are imperfect, I would also argue that the reason for me seeing U2 on consecutive nights and numerous times (20 now)--as I've done with Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Smashing Pumpkins, the late David Bowie and other favorites--is akin to why people regularly attend religious services, or participate in therapy sessions, or frequent watering holes, or see the latest Star Wars film again and again.

None of which I happen to do, while understanding and respecting the appeal and value for others.

I don't want to get too deep into this, but for me art is salvation.

The Seth Saith blog attests rather prolifically to how much I love--and enjoy sharing my passions for--theater, fine art, other art forms and my favorite sports teams.

These--and most of all, rock music, particularly live & in-person--aren't just hobbies, diversions, entertainments or pastimes.

They are what nourish me, sustain me, enlighten me, inspire me and--rather holistically--delight me.

I am not being facetious, nor wishing to be disrespectful to anyone, when I say that rock is my religion.

And also my bartender, therapist and pharmacologist.

U2's concerts this weekend epitomized this in ways I can't wordily express. To an extent few other musical acts can match.

Still reeling from the tragedy in Manchester--which beyond the terrible sorrow for those lost and injured, struck at those of us who relish live events--I learned about the terrorist attacks in London on the way to Saturday's show.

So as the show began with drummer Larry Mullen Jr. walking alone to an auxiliary stage and pounding out the iconic intro to "Sunday Bloody Sunday," with the band soon following and Bono singing, "I can't believe the news today, I can't close my eyes and make it go away," I had a lump in my throat, tears in my eyes and a sense that I was in the exact spot I needed to be.

On Sunday, before leaving for the show, I watched the Manchester One Love benefit concert, headed by the courageous Ariana Grande. Seeing the huge crowd of Mancunians, including many of the singer's young fans who were at the terror-stricken show, resiliently sing along with her and other artists, was also incredibly moving.

It reminded that life can be as bad as it can possibly be, but it can also be astonishingly--and curatively--beautiful, with music possibly the world's most galvanizing force.

Sunday night's U2 show only furthered that feeling.

So while I simply could have said here that a great band played great songs with demonstrable greatness, on not just one "Beautiful Day" but two, it wouldn't have sufficiently explained why I found these concerts so wonderful.

Feel free to be dubious. Though always a U2 fan, I've never been a purely fawning one, and have been rather critical at many a juncture.

But they long ago established themselves as one of the best bands of all-time, and among my very favorites. 

In myriad ways that go beyond what they played, in which order or how well--though there wasn't a note I didn't actively enjoy, including the aptly uplifting "Elevation"--this past weekend in Chicago they resoundingly reiterated why.

Repeatedly.

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Opening both shows were The Lumineers, a folksy Denver-based band that have become arena headliners in their own right. U2 often features rather big opening acts, and the crowd was near capacity and appreciative during the Lumineers' 50-minute sets. I enjoyed them fine as an opener, but have seen bands just as good at $7 cover charge bars in Chicago. This only amplified U2's comparative magnitude and magnificence.