U2

For those of you that care to know, I’ve spent the best part of 12 months immersed in the development of hotpress.com – yes we’re nearly finished, yes it will go live in a couple of weeks and yes it has taken a long time. However, it’ll be worth it.

Last week as I was leaving Dublin, I was briefly going through just some of the thousands of articles we have stored in the archive. Being aware of where I was heading, and of the history the magazine has with U2, it struck me as a perfect chance to explore what will be hotpress.com/archive. There it was, from April 26th, 1985: a live review of U2 in Madison Square Garden.

Re-reading it was amazing; the similarities between that performance, and this one were remarkable…

The packed Garden is a fantastic site, and just as in 1985 as soon as the crowd sense that U2 are about to arrive on stage… it’s ‘Elevation’ time! Of all the opening songs that U2 have ever had, it is hard to think of a more powerful one than this – when 20,000 people go “woo-hoo” in unison, you feel it! The pitch of the show has been set; it will be hard, it will be pulsating. As Bono stalks the heart-shaped perimeter of the stage, he seems intensely driven, he wants this, he needs it. U2 have been on this stage before, not just in 1985 but again two nights ago; they remember how high they took it and are going for a reprise.

The crowd, perpetually in awe, go even further into orbit as they identify the signature bass thump and piano line from ‘New Year’s Day’: U2’s mid-’80s classic still sounds marvellous. ‘Kite’ provides the night’s first mellow moments; it allows us

all to draw breath. However, as soon as the crowd figure out that the next song is ‘New York’ there is no chance of reining them back. Welcome to Bedlam!

Bono continually uses the perimeter of the stage which allows him to get closer to the crowd, often crossing the line into the audience. A carefully choreographed fight with Edge’s guitar leaves him sprawling on the floor. You get a continual sense from the entire band that they have rediscovered their love affair with live music.

While the performance is structured and well thought-out, there are two inspired moments that distinguish this particular show.

Bono dedicates one song to Joey Ramone, as well as to his mother and brother (who are both in the auditorium); it clearly touches all of the crowd. The second instalment is exceptional, as we witness the foursome clearly pay homage to Daniel Lanois, as he strides on-stage to play ‘Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of’: with his contribution to All That You Can’t Leave Behind, Lanois has brought the best out of U2 again, and this is their moment to say thanks, a very public appreciation.

As the show draws to a close (some two and a half-hours after it began), Bono’s voice has grown rougher still but he still has enough in the tank to deliver a pulsating ‘One’. ‘Walk On’ is the curtain closer and as the band depart together their mutual embraces and salutes to all 360° of the Garden leave the New Yorkers in no doubt that it was, as Bono earlier suggested, “Almost a hometown gig”.

Look forward to the real home town gig – or maybe to two of them if we get lucky.