Polly Thriller

POLLY HARVEY WAS in sparkling form last week when she joined U2 in Houston for the fifth date of their world tour.

Showing no signs of the ill health that forced her to pull out of the first leg, Harvey & Co. treated the capacity Compaq Center crowd to a set which was evenly split between old favourites, and material from their new Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea album.

“A blend of Ann and Nancy Wilson melodies and Patti Smith poetry,” was the Houston Chronicle verdict. “She’s a woman of history and conviction which made her a good fit to open for the Irish lads.”

The Chronicle were even more gushing about the headliners, who “are moving rock‘n’roll forward by exploring its past.

“All came to see what was promised to be a stripped-down affair compared with the exhausting Vegas stage shows of the ‘90s,” they continued. “U2 didn’t disappoint. After a decade of voice manipulations and synthesiser-assisted melodies, they’re back to where they were at their peak.”

Their Atlanta show two days earlier was equally as incendiary, with REM’s Mike Mills and Michael Stipe among those bopping down the front. U2 repaid the favour by inserting snatches of ‘Losing My Religion’ and ‘Everybody Hurts’ into ‘One’.

Asked afterwards what keeps him going musically, Mills said: “To make a better record than U2. I couldn’t be happier for those guys and proud of them.”

Back in dear old Erin, Johnny Moy has revealed that Bono and The Edge were “jumping around the place” when they heard the Romin remix of their current set opener, ‘Elevation’.

"Leo Pearson and myself did the remix," he tells hotpress. "Our version is pretty similar to the original, but it’s in a much heavier psychedelic rock style."

The group shot a video for the track last week in Los Angeles, which features Angelina Jolie in full-on Lara Croft mode.

"In a bizarre battle of the bands, U2 will duke it out with an evil version of themselves , but not before The Edge is kidnapped by the doppelgangers and then rescued by Angelina," an insider reveals."

According to director Joseph Kahn, the clip will blend U2 and the upcoming Tomb Raider movie into "one giant action piece."

"The U2 as you know them want to save the world," he continues. “But the evil U2 want to destroy it.”