If there was anything the 65,000 U2 fans at Seattle’s Qwest Field could have found fault with in the band’s show Saturday night, it might have been the choice of opening song. A magnificent night of music, on the best day of weather in nine months, might have kicked off with the one song in U2′s catalog that would have best summed up this outdoor concert: “Beautiful Day.”
As it was, “Beautiful Day” showed up 10 songs into the set, and Bono did acknowledge the weather: “The whole city looked like it had come out of a washing machine,” he said, standing in the middle of the “Claw,” the 90-foot-tall scaffolding that covered the stage.
The “Claw” was the most extravagant and creative staging ever used in any live performance. With 500,000 video pixels, it sometimes dominated the show and gave the proceedings an IMAX-in-the-making feel.
U2 has always been a band that loves a grand gesture, but they’ve also succeeded because their music conveys intimate emotion. That’s why the highlights were the smaller moments, such as an acoustic take on “Stay (Faraway, So Close!),” where Bono leaned on guitarist the Edge. Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton were also spot-on all night.
The 360 Degree tour is the single biggest moneymaking tour in rock history because the circuslike spectacle of it is without peer. But the tour also has drawn fans because U2 reworked many of their songs with fresh arrangements. Bono alluded to this: “If there is one idea that underpins our band, it’s the idea that you can start again.”
Full story here: The Seattle Times
Main Set: Even Better Than The Real Thing, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Elevation, It’s the End of the World as We Know It – Until the End of the World – Where Have All the Flowers Gone, All I Want Is You, Beautiful Day – Space Oddity, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I’ll Go Crazy (remix) – Discotheque – Life
During Wartime – Psycho Killer, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On – You’ll Never Walk Alone
Encore(s): One, Will You Love Me Tomorrow – Where the Streets Have No Name – All You Need is Love, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender
