Last night I caught U2 in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl. I’m glad to say that Bono’s oft-gravelly voice sounds great. Whatever therapy he did to get his voice in shape worked.
This was the second to last night of this leg of the Blackberry-sponsored 360 Tour, set to resume next June in Anaheim, California.
Bono at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA.
The much-discussed stage looked from above like a claw, with bridges on which Bono danced and sang into the floor-level audience. Veteran designer Willie Williams did the deed, said to be modeled on LAX’S emblematic Theme Restaurant building, The concert had some highlights indeed, among them U2 singing songs from their monster 2000 release “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” and an audience-only version of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” were tops.
Unfortunately, with the demise of popular radio and record stores, barely anyone in the crowd knew any of the new songs. Me and 90,000-plus others sat through them politely. “I Know I’ll Go Crazy, If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” was pretty good on first listen.
About halfway through the concert Mr. Hewson (Bono’s real name Is Paul Hewson), as with many an entertainer these days, got political. He did a riff on Islam and the people of Tehran before launching into “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” While he was clearly very earnest, I think the crowd would have rather he kept us dancing.
That’s the problem. Bono launched almost every song from that point forward with a political rant – er, statement. AIDS in Africa, Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma. Amnesty International’s One Campaign.
I get it Bono. You care about the world. However, it is hard to get preached to by a guy with a net worth of $300 million dollars while you are getting by as an internet entrepreneur and a sometimes paid lead singer of The Sugarmen. $250 for a ticket to a revival show with good music is a chunk of change. So far, the tour has not made a profit, but is projected to by its end. U2 management has put the tour’s cost at $750,000 a day, requiring 135 trucks. Now THAT’S a carbon footprint in need of offsets! Perhaps that is what the ranting is about.
The Aung San Suu Kyi speech stood out for me. Bono went on and on about her being under house arrest in Burma since 1990. Burma, now Myanmar, is more or less China without the factories to make trinkets and engines. During the Bono-ification, I couldn’t help thinking of Anita Dunn saying that “two people I turn to most” were Mother Teresa and Mao Tse-Tung and Obama’s Manufacturing Czar lamenting that “we kind of agree with Mao that political power largely comes from the barrel of a gun.” Hmm, perhaps Bono will be tackling this in one of his occasional op-ed pieces for the New York Times. Yes, he’s a stringer for them, since January, as a matter of fact. The last piece suggested Obama was our chance for “rebranding America.” Sure. As what?, we are all wondering.
During the encores, Bono fit in “Amazing Grace.” Not sure why he would choose that particular tune. Was he calling western nations slave holders of technology and wealth, and like the erstwhile slave boat Captain we need change our ways and set technology and wealth free for all to use? Okay, a little heavy and far-fetched I guess, but if that is the case, let’s start with your bank account, Bono. A video is shown toward the end of the concert with Desmond Tutu giving a speech. He mentions those that fought against “debt slavery” during the Jubilee 2000 project. Suddenly, being charged interest on a loan is a form of slavery?
At the end of the concert, Bono called for everyone in the house to pull out his or her cell phone and make the place “look like the Milky Way.” We as an audience readily complied and the place was beautiful! The band then launched into their final song (sadly for the audience, it was a song no one had ever heard), Bono making sure to thank Blackberry and Google beforehand.
Yes, Bono FIGHT RACISM, FREE TEHRAN, BUY A BLACKBERRY! Alleluia!
Afterward, my buddy Chris Noll and I sat in the parking lot drinking a couple of Sierra Nevadas we bummed off of a dude in a pick-up truck. We also helped some guy and his date get a jump start for their car battery. Later, as we made our way back up the hill leading away from the Rose Bowl to our car, we saw the same car broken down again. I thought of Bono and the idea of peaceful resistance and helping one another. It felt good to help that fellow get a jump start, but in the end did it really do any good? It got me thinking. Maybe that is Bono’s goal. Then again, my goal last night was to hear a great band, not listen to a sermon.
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John Romano is the publisher and editor of Yes, But However!, a musician, a former political correspondent for BBC Radio London, and a serial web entrepreneur. Follow him on twitter: twitter.com/yesbuthowever or John Romano on Google+John Romano article archive.
