Monday, 6/30/97 U2 returns with passionate show MUSIC: ‘Popmart’
tour dazzles L.A. fans in exciting performance
By Mike Prevatt Daily Bruin Senior Staff U2 swept into the Los
Angeles Memorial Coliseum on June 21, thrilling fans and drowning
out the ludicrous media cynicism with a passionate and exciting
show. The "Popmart" stadium tour, which mocks commercialism and
dresses up spirituality with kitsch, has recently been hit with a
barrage of negative publicity. With shows that haven’t sold out,
high ticket prices and unfair comparisons of this tour to their
1992-93 "Zoo TV" megatour, many critics and music writers have
attacked U2’s commercial credibility, even dubbing the tour
"Flopmart." But for the real music fan paying attention to the
sights and sounds rather than been-and-gone precedents and
financial expectations, U2’s two-hour-plus concert was an uplifting
and dazzling affair, using high-tech visuals to make both their
newer and older material more powerful and uplifting. The massive
crowd, a few thousand short of capacity, responded loudly with
soul-stirring sing-alongs and plenty of applause. "Popmart,"
somewhat like "Zoo TV," is U2’s way of critiquing consumer culture
and rock music’s ridiculousness by celebrating it. It would be hard
to imagine many artists singing such gospel-like anthems as "I
Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For" under a flashy golden
arch, but U2 makes it work enough to move the 60,000-plus sea of
fans to stand on their seats and loudly sing along. Even for those
lost in "Popmart’s" glitzy aura, the campy stage appearance didn’t
take away from the sheer emotion put forth by vocalist Bono and
company. However, let’s not undermine the power of the eye-candy U2
has provided its loyal customers. Bright floodlights enhanced such
numbers as "Miami" and "Where the Streets Have No Name." Keith
Haring’s soulful artwork augmented the loving humanity of "One."
And, most strikingly, for "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me,"
screen images of legends like John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Jim
Morrison and Janis Joplin paralleled the song’s theme of
destructiveness and tragedy in rock ‘n’ roll (and cleverness with
an image of David Bowie’s fictitious pop superstar, Ziggy
Stardust). The band balanced their musical visions wonderfully
throughout the show. U2 gave the audience a glimpse into the future
of rock with such hyperactive electro-pop songs as "Discotheque"
and "Mofo," which pummeled the stadium with lights and beams. They
also sat down at the stage in the middle of the crowd for
beautiful, intimate acoustic numbers like "Staring at the Sun" and
the fan-favorite, "All I Want is You." U2 tested its audience in
multiple ways. The group sought crowd interaction with guitarist
Edge’s karaoke version of the Monkees’ "Daydream Believer,"
complete with a guest appearance from Monkee Davy Jones. They
subtly displayed their political edge with the sonically charged
"Bullet the Blue Sky" and the extremely passionate "Please." Bono’s
highly emotional vocals made the anti-war anthem seem like a
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" for the ’90s U2. And they introduced the
still-underground trip-hop-rock sound into the stadium rock
experience with a mesmerizing performance of "Miami," with Bono
prancing around a la Alex from "A Clockwork Orange" (they even
added an umbrella "Bullet the Blue Sky") and bassist Adam Clayton’s
spectacular grooves. Much to the crowd’s relief, the Irish quartet
dug into the bag of classics for poignant versions of "Pride (In
the Name of Love)" and "I Will Follow" early in the show. But
extended versions of their biggest hits, "With or Without You,"
"One," and especially "Where the Streets Have No Name," thrilled
the crowd and proved that U2 has retained a freshness and maturity
unparalleled to today’s pop music. Even more refreshing, ironically
enough, were the snippets of old classics Bono pegged on to the
endings of certain songs. The crowd screamed back the words to such
favorite U2 cover songs as "Unchained Melody" and "Stand By Me."
Bono even slyly threw in quick verses from West Side Story’s
"America" and a quick reference to The Doors’ "The End" ("The West
is the Best!"). Other highlights included "Until the End of the
World," where Bono and Edge faced off in a frantic pseudo-duel
between guitarist and singer, and the strobe light enhanced "Last
Night on Earth." While a remix of "Lemon" boomed in the background,
a transvestite danced on the screen above the stage (billed as the
world’s largest L.E.D. screen at 170 by 50 feet) and a 35-foot
mirrorball shaped as a lemon edged out toward the crowd. Minutes
later, the top rose and the band climbed down from the glittery
prop, in perfect "Spinal Tap" fashion. U2 seems caught in an
awkward position. They must find a way to bridge the gap between
powerful, intimate music performance and awesome, hi-tech visuals
that have ruled arena shows for the past 10 years. They look to
maintain their passionate spirituality and introspective awareness
and yet also desire to embrace the new electronic movement, which
until now has been devoid of emotion and depth. They aim to be both
serious and frivolous rock stars. And they must divide their time
between the new, more innovative sounds featured on their new
album, "Pop," and their classic, guitar-driven anthems that made
them rock and roll heroes in the first place. However, the media
and more conservative fans (and Internet users, to a degree, too)
have seemingly given up on them. But U2 hasn’t. As Bono introduced
"I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For," he said, "You made us
a big rock band … and we got kinda scared. We were afraid we were
going to be eaten by the big corporate monster. Well, we decided to
eat the monster before it ate us. This is where we live. This is
where we work. This is where we pray. This is our church built by
pieces of America." Amen. With the "Popmart" tour, U2 has been able
to fulfill and equalize their ambitions within the same show and
yet still maintain the high degree of intensity that has
characterized their live shows since their days playing clubs/bars
in Dublin in the late ’70s and early ’80s. With "Popmart," the
publicized emphasis has been the neon factor, not on the music.
People go into the stadium expecting the music to be undercut by
the colorful representation of pop culture sitting before them. Yet
the "Popmart" live experience has always been more about the audio
aspect of the show. In San Diego two months ago, U2 was still
working out a few minor bugs of a tour that was not fully
rehearsed. In the June 18 Oakland show, the band left out such
highlights as "All I Want is You" and "Unchained Melody," and
seemed slightly less emotional, compared to their Los Angeles’s
performance by one tiny notch, when they sang songs like "Please"
and "Gone." "Popmart’s" Los Angeles show seemed to signal the
tour’s refinement and maturity. However, U2 has yet to be
uninspiring or passionless in any of its California shows, all of
which were special and enchanting in their own little ways. In the
end, U2 and the audience win. Behind the special effects and
expensive props is a band still growing at a time when other
established acts have found their creative limit. U2 is not about
to succumb to traditions or conventions that have left most live
shows unable to step outside the confines of the rock concert
rulebook. Even with songs that are 15 to 20 years old, U2 takes
their music and ambitions to the future, possessing the guts to do
what few rock acts have dared (save Beck, the Smashing Pumpkins and
the over-hyped electronic dance bands from Britain). U2’s "Popmart"
show should be seen for what it is – a U2 live show. It makes no
difference that it isn’t as innovative as "Zoo TV." Their chart
position on the Billboard 200 and "lackluster" album sales have no
bearing on the show. And their reputation has nothing to do with
what you see on stage. What matters is the music, its visual
presentation and the effect it has on the spectator. With that in
mind, U2 has really given its audience a blockbuster that showcases
a musical mastery and potency incomparable to the vast majority of
live acts still treading in the shallow end. Island Records U2
brought flashy sets and emotional tunes to Los Angeles with their
"Popmart" tour. Previous Daily Bruin Story ‘Pop’ lives up to media
hype with new sounds, March 6, 1997