I say U, you say 2!
It's U2 day, boys and girls. Tonight, U2 brings their U2 - 360 World Tour to The Georgia Dome in Atlanta as the band continues to support its No Line On The Horizon album.
When I was a kid, I didn't like surprises. I wanted to know what I was getting for my birthday and Christmas and would actually go to great lengths to find out. My sister and I would snoop, dig, unwrap and re-wrap just to know what was going to be under that tree. There are some who would say I shortchanged my experience on Christmas morning. They're probably right. What they're not appreciating is how much fun it was to sneak around and try and figure it all out beforehand. I still had my day, I just had it early.
As I've gotten older, my fondness for surprises has changed. I still like knowing what I'm getting for Christmas before the big day, but I don't like having my entertainment experiences altered by spoilers and too much information going in. I don't want to know how the movie or the book ends before I read or watch it. I don't even want to know if you think it's good most of the time, although I'm willing to take on some recommendations from a knowledgeable source. I don't like knowing too much about a new album before it's released. I like to know that it's coming, but I don't want to know too much about it until I've experienced it myself, even if it's the artist who created the work doing the talking.
So what does all that have to do with tonight? Everything! This U2 360 show is the third in U2's history to not only be in stadiums but to bring a large visual element. There is so much eye candy associated with this tour, and I've done my best to know as little about it as possible, preserving the potential for wonder and awe. I know there's a massive 360 degree video screen. I know there's a giant claw involved but I'm not sure what it does. That's about it. Everything else is going to be a surprise. 11, once again my sidekick for this adventure, has provided some information about the set list and if I try really hard I could relay that to you, but I've even worked hard to forget about that.
Article comments
1 - Angelo
This show is amazing, enjoy it
2 - Chrissy
I saw their show in Raleigh over the weekend--AMAZING! My friends and I are still buzzing about it! Have an awesome time!
3 - R.P.M.
Yes it was. You all should have let me know you were going, you could have bought me a beer or two.
The thing is I saw them in Atlanta in I believe '92 with the Pixes and that was badass, in fact the Pixies might have been better that night - gasp - Omni - Dominique Wilkins 2 handed 360 off the one leg power dunk!
I then saw them in Atlanta with Public Enemy , which was a treat. Sadly, the rednecks at the show didn't like "rap" back then. And me standing and dancing and enjoying myself at age 17 only pissed off the guy behind me to the point he said he would kill me if I didn't sit.
I told him "radio edit" and that this was Public Enemy and who sits for Chuck D? He got ejected from the show for actually being serious about the whole kill thing, real bad to do on minors ;p.
So this show soooo many years later I mean the 2nd show I saw was Zoo TV tour, so you had all of Actung Baby, Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum etc...now the show was good, but a lot of these "humanitarian" tunes like when Bono was up to be head of the World Bank back in 2000 (yes I was working in DC back then and literally threw up a little in a my mouth when hearing that Bono might even be thought able to handle world bank when he couldn't control the Chaos Theory guys who made a joke out one of his songs and Kasey Kasem (that's interesting stuff look it up).
So I guess to rate this show it was good, great, but having seen them a few times prior and I guess just growing tired of some of the tunes they have put out b/c of their Livenation deal who I swear is satan and ruined the Tabernacle in Atlanta among about 100 other venues across the nation...I temper my joy and the fact that Run DMC, U2 and Beastie Boys were my first Cassette that got warped from listening when I was like 12...the show was solid, I mean how bad can the Edge or Adam Clayton suck? The Bono shout out to Obama's sister was strange. Mike Mills was cool. I wasn't so into the opening act either, Muse. Meh.
I guess they are getting older, so the sets are shorter, I mean I can't imagine a U2 show without Running to Stand Still or So Cruel or a lot of songs. I know they tried to appeal to us old 30 year range guys with the encore that had a lot of Joshua Tree and Actung Baby, but still.
So it was good, just not nearly the best for me. Sorry if this bums anyone out, shoulda bought me that beer :)