OK, first things first: U2 put on a great show in FedEx Field in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, September 29, 2009.
This was a relief, because the previous Saturday they had turned in a dismal, oddly disjointed performance on “Saturday Night Live.” But three days later the boys were back in fighting shape; it was, in fact, one of the hardest rocking shows I’ve ever seen them give — and I have seen my share of U2 shows (my lifetime total is now somewhere in the double digits).
The show opened with several numbers from the woefully under-appreciated new album No Line On The Horizon; the thrilling and unique “Breathe,” segued into “Magnificent,” a tune which doesn’t quite soar as as high as it wants to, but comes closer live than on record. The lackluster “Get On Your Boots” was followed by Zoo-era favorite “Mysterious Ways,” bringing the stadium down and prompting Bono to remark, “Well, it’s a warm night after all!” He then gave a preview of the rest of the set: “We have old songs; we have new songs; we have songs we can barely play!”
Next was, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” which they can definitely play, and with verve and passion, even after what must be hundreds of performances. The end of the song dissolves into “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King. As Bono sings the lyrics, “…and the moon is the only light we’ll see,” he motions upwards to the gorgeous, engorging gibbous moon suspended overhead; it was the kind of beautiful, unscripted moment that makes it still worth going to live shows.
Other highlights: “Vertigo” pummeled the audience with it’s rusty razor riff, sped up and compressed to the point of insanity. A retooled, club-trippy, “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight,” featuring drummer Larry Muller on bongos and a giddy The Edge jumping up and down in delight at the marvelous noise swirling around him. A stripped down, acoustic “Stuck In A Moment.” And rarely played gems like “The Unforgettable Fire” and “Your Blue Room.”
Things dragged towards the end of the main set during the (inevitable) political segment. “New Year’s Day” was head-scratchingly dedicated to Ted Kennedy; “Walk On” to Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi. Still, the political set was — thankfully– far shorter than similar segments have been in previous U2 shows. And it was not one sided: Bono, to his great credit, actually uttered the words: “God bless George Bush,” in acknowledgment of the former president’s criminally under-reported efforts at AIDS relief in Africa, which, Bono graciously reminds the packed stadium, have saved countless lives.
Still, the political rally portion was the anti-climatic low-point of the show- – people actually sitting down during the closing songs is most assuredly not what you want.
Thankfully, redemption comes with the encore, starting with “Ultraviolet Light,” a deep album cut from their 90’s masterpiece, Achtung Baby!, featuring Bono singing into a glowing red microphone with red laser beams shooting out from his body (don’t ask me how). “With Or Without You” followed, always a joy to hear live, not least because they often change up the arrangement. For “With Or Without You,” Bono asks the house lights to be shut off and for everyone to hold up their cell phones. “Let’s turn this place into the Milky Way!” he intones, and sure enough, thousands of little points of light flicker into life throughout the black bowl of the stadium, now looking for all the world like a miniature galaxy. For all of the millions of dollars the band must have spent on their state-of-the-art light show, this low tech moment was by far the most affecting.
“Moment of Surrender” from the new album closed the show. It is possibly their best song, and fit perfectly with the rest of the encore. The packed house gave them rapturous, well deserved applause as the band took their bows.
It was a deeply gratifying, heartening night. For all of Bono’s politicking, for the long three decades they have been together, these four men from Dublin have neither lost the need, nor the talent, for the one thing that initially brought them together, and which brought thousands of us to FedEx Field that night:
Rock and Roll. Thank God.
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