U2 Concert - Raleigh, NC - October 3, 2009

[Guest Review - Dentist] Carter-Finley Stadium, Raleigh, NC
Oct. 3, 2009

For all the talk of constantly re-inventing themselves, it’s not so much that U2 have accomplished that on their latest world tour, billed the 360◦ Tour, as much as they’ve created a quasi-Popmart v 2.0 setup. Take out the self-aggrandizing, over-the-top irony of Popmart, throw in a little more intimacy via a “circle in the round” type stage and you get the picture. U2’s most recent stop was in Raleigh, a city that the band surprisingly had never played, due to a last minute cancellation of a scheduled show on 5/29/97 on the PopMart tour because of a malfunction of the LED screen. Having seen the band a total of nine times over the last 12 years and four different tours, I can tell you that it was worth the wait. Click below for more:

I had a field ticket for this show, which meant I took the beating of a 5 + hour wait to secure my spot, but it also meant that I had a prime view of the stage, the “claw” and Bono and his mates. First off, the claw is better than advertised—a true visual beauty in enormity and simplicity, it is one of the coolest things you’ll ever see at a rock show. U2 entered the stage to David Bowie’s Space Oddity, an appropriate backdrop to the “spaceship-like” stage, and immediately launched into a blistering version of Breathe, a song that, like many, really takes shape in the live setting. Right from the start it was apparent that the band was really feeling it, Bono engaging the crowd of 60,000 with almost a child-like hysteria and excitement. It was one of those special nights where the stars seem to align and all is right with the world, if only for a couple of hours.

The new material REALLY sounds good live, in particular the title track and Magnificent. In a Little While was soundchecked earlier in the afternoon and made a welcomed appearance for only the second time on the tour. One of the coolest things of the night happened during Sunday Bloody Sunday when Bono grabbed a sign a fan was holding that said: “People Get Ready—C Am F”. Bono didn’t give him a guitar cameo, but rather tossed his mic to the fan to sing a verse of the song—very cool. My biggest surprise moment of the night was hearing the unbelievably good remix version of I’ll Go Crazy….Highlights also include: The Unforgettable Fire, Streets (always good) and Ultraviolet, my favorite from the evening (for the record, I would pay good money to hear U2 play Achtung Baby from start to finish). I’m still unsure about ending the show with Moment of Surrender, but it works okay I guess—would much rather have Bad or 40.

I feel like the older I get, I’m as much of a U2 apologist as I am enthusiast and at times, the band does little to help with my defense of them. However, in the live setting I will put U2 up against anybody else out there. Period. They still are able to connect with their fans in a way that is unrivaled. Do what you can to see them on this tour and experience what I’m talking about. You will not be disappointed and you’ll have a new benchmark to measure every show henceforth. Why did I ever doubt them?

FWIW: Those of you who will see Muse open the show are in for a real treat. Why are these guys not headlining somewhere?