U2 Treats Vancouver like the Chosen City
By JESSICA KEATLEY
VANCOUVER - For a tour that began on less than perfect footing with too little rehearsal time, personal problems and a stressed out feeling that they simply weren’t ready to go on the road, the Vertigo tour has evinced no signs of its namesake. The band got back to basics in GM Place on April 29 and after two months of rehearsals here for their stateside tour, Vancouver was made to feel every inch the chosen city.
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U2 LEAD SINGER BONO reaches out to some of the raptuous fans on the Vertigo tour. In Vancouver the crowd was on its feet from Bono’s initial offstage vocals.
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All donning black outfits, the band looked like a lot like themselves circa 1981 and set about rooting themselves firmly in their origins by featuring many songs from their debut album Boy. Opening with City of Blinding Lights, Elevation and Beautiful Day, the band proved their ability to read a crowd which was brought to its feet from Bono’s initial offstage vocals.
To follow were many tracks taken from their latest album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. One of them, Miracle Drug was dedicated to a secondary school friend of theirs – Christopher Nolan, a paraplegic author whose story was explained to the audience by Bono who followed up with a tribute to the “doctors and nurses out there who keep us alive.”
Showing none of the theatricality of the Popmart and Zoo tours of the 1990s, Vertigo settled for a show that was slickly rock n’ roll. The unprecedented lighting design consisted of a virtual “curtain” of lights behind the band, which throughout the evening evoked varying images through a tapestry like effect seeming to take on a life of its own.
The stage which wound around itself with several circular runways served to free Bono up to take sporadic leaves of absence from centre stage in reaching out to every section of the audience. Not one to shy away from interacting with his audience, Bono plucked digital cameras and cell phones at will, gracing fans with a gift of his self made image.
The stage was used to best effect with Bono, in mock battle attire replete with a peace bandana out at the farthest point singing to Larry who played on a singular floor tom. Sunday Bloody Sunday was like an adrenaline rush through the audience and U2 made a direct transition into another big arena anthem Bullet in the Blue Sky.
After choosing Vancouver as its base for rehearsals throughout February and March of this year, U2 gave something back to the fans and treated them to an open invitation to participate in the video for City of Blinding Lights which was shot earlier last week.
The city has been made to feel quite special, especially with Bono’s telling the audience that “you people are living Dr. King’s dream.” This VIP treatment all made for an electric atmosphere on Friday night, which had people singing One for world peace in a stadium lit with thousands of cell phone lights held high.
There were a few funny moments too – an enthusiastic female dancer who did her utmost to elicit the attention of the front-man, fell into the clutches of security only to be rescued up on stage by welcoming arms and treated to an intimate dance.
Politics weren’t left out of the arena but were handled with subtlety and humour, Bono remarked that he isn’t “just a wide eyed bxxxxx from Dublin,” but that there are plans in place and “we can do this” referring to the campaign to “Make Poverty History.
The former U.S. President Bush may have been missing his stadium call from Bono but Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin certainly wasn’t after his number was given out on overhead screens with the encouraging call from Bono to phone him.
Martin had made a trail-blazing promise to raise international aid monies to 0.7 percent of national profit, which until now remains unfulfilled. Bono took the opportunity to remind him about it.
Later in the night, the first seven articles from the UN Charter of Human Rights was evocatively transmitted to the audience through screens which streamed black and white video footage of a young Asian girl reading them out. It was particularly effective, drawing a huge applause from the crowd who were then treated to an emotional rendition of In the Name of Love.
The circular stage seemed strangely metaphorical with a set list of songs culled from the very beginning of the band’s career to the most recent. Love them or hate them, a band in their 29th year, with the ability to sell out in eight minutes and rest easy playing the majority of tracks of their latest album is virtually unheard of. U2 really have to be seen to be believed.
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Jessica Keatley is a freelance journalist from Dublin, specializing in features and entertainment writing. She is currently living in Vancouver.
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