The 2009 U2 tour is well underway, and the centrepiece of the tour is the massive stage set they have created. The biggest stage set ever!
This big construction is problematic for me in three ways. Firstly it cost tens of millions to build. As Bono rages (from the giant stage) about countries not giving enough to third world debt, maybe he should look around himself. I agree that the richer countries have a responsibility to help the poorer, but at least they have other things to worry about spending their money on. Maybe U2 should have donated the cost of the construction to the third world, they don’t need it and I doubt they would have sold any less tickets.
Secondly it seems a bit at odds with their socially conscious image. Dozens of trucks are required to move the set alone. It probably has the biggest carbon footprint of any tour yet. I’m sure the band is carbon offsetting, but it doesn’t really set a very good example.
Thirdly, and this is the most significant point of all, it demonstrates just how little musical ambition U2 has. I have a certain grudging respect for them as a band. After all they have managed to establish a reputation as a band capable of constantly reinventing themselves whilst recycling the same riffs for 30 years, pretty impressive. But so lacking in ideas are they that all they can think about is having the biggest stage set ever.
If I look back at the best gigs that I can remember, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at the Bowlie Weekender, Hefner at Brighton’s Pavilion Theatre or Josh Rouse at the Camden Dingwall’s, I can identify one common thread, the stage set was not part of the show. These gigs were made by great songs, good performances and stage presence. U2, it seems, don’t have these factors to fall back on, so they have to distract the audience with the sheer scale of it all.
It reminds me of the Jean Michelle Jarre concerts of the late 80s entitled “Destination Docklands”. the concerts featured so many lights, fireworks and lazers that they could be seen for miles around. All in all a fantastic distraction from the banal light-electronica of the French maestro.
The film Stop Making Sense captures a concert by Talking Heads that is as good as any performance that you will ever see. It has some stage tricks for sure, the band builds over the first few songs, lights and projections are used, and David Byrne wears a big suit. However, ll these things are pretty low key, and the concert is in a theatre not a stadium. The thing about the show is that even if these elements were taken away it would still be a sensational concert. The songs are great, the playing fantastic, and in David Byrne they had one of the great front man.
U2, in contrast, have Bono’s sunglasses and The Edge’s hat. Next year they’ll need an even bigger stage, if they can’t come up with some real ideas.
By Dorian Rogers, Aug 2009
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