U2 Live On Tour

In der San Diego Sports Arena findet das Auftaktkonzert der Vertigo Tour statt. 'Electric Co.' wird zum ersten Mal seit 1987 gespielt. Die Songs 'An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart' aus dem Album Boy wurden seit 1984 nicht mehr gespielt. Larry spielt Keyboard während 'Yahweh.' Den Abschluß des Konzertes bildet ein Schlußsong aus den 80ern, '40' wird wieder gespielt, wo die Bandmitglieder der Reihe nach das Konzert verlassen, welches Larry mit einem Schlagzeugsolo beendet.

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Konzert Berichte

· Bulldozer & CElevate
· Presse: Steve Baltin (Rolling Stone)

· Presse: George Varga (San Diego Union-Tribune)
· Presse: Corey Moss (MTV.com)

· Presse: MS (Musikmarkt Online)
· Presse: Jane Stevenson (Toronto Sun)

Konzertbericht von George Varga (San Diego Union-Tribune)

U2 Again Looks to Reach New Heights, as 'Vertigo' Tour Opens

San Diego Union-Tribune, March 28, 2005
George Varga

You might expect U2's four members to feel pretty confident when they kick off their world concert tour at 7:30 tonight at the newly named ipayOne Center at the Sports Arena (formerly the San Diego Sports Arena). After all, the legendary Irish band won three Grammy Awards last month and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 14, while virtually every show on its Vertigo/2005 tour sold out in a matter of minutes.

Guess again.

"We are nervous, yeah," U2 bassist Adam Clayton said Wednesday from Vancouver, where the band was rehearsing.

"We're always nervous when we're starting a new tour. It's [been] four years since the last one and we know we've gotta come up with something just as good, if not better than, the Elevation tour [in 2001]. Were playing around with a lot of material, so -– as well as learning how to put across the new songs in a live situation -– we're also working on pulling out some old songs and some unexpected songs as well. So between now and Monday, there's a lot to straighten out before we get it right.

"So we're a bit nervous. We've set a high standard in the past, so maybe the first show will have a few kinks in it. But it will be 98 percent of what we want it to be."

Prior to its tour preparations in Vancouver, and before its Hall of Fame induction, U2 spent 10 days rehearsing near Rosarito Beach at the 20th Century Fox studio (where parts of the films Master and Commander and Titanic were shot).

However, contrary to widespread rumors and unsubstantiated San Diego radio and TV reports, U2 singer Bono did not hang out in an Irish bar in the Gaslamp Quarter on St. Patrick's Day or visit the Fashion Valley shopping mall to buy a pair of sunglasses. In fact, Clayton said, none of U2's members ventured north of Baja at all.

"No," he said. "We were staying down there. There were some accommodations about five minutes from the studio, so it made sense to stay there."

U2's move to Vancouver was prompted by the need to rehearse in a larger facility that could accommodate all of the band's extensive audio and video projection equipment, as well as the complete stage, which should look somewhat familiar to fans who attended the Elevation tour.

(The band was scheduled to perform a dress rehearsal Saturday night at the Los Angeles Sports Arena to work out the kinks, with some radio station contest winners in attendance.)

"What we kind of did this time is we stayed with the kind of stage we had last time, which was a very inclusive working space [with] that runway that went into the audience -– what we called the heart. We've hung onto it, so Bono will still be able to get out in the audience," Clayton said.

"But we've updated it, for us anyway, in that the Elevation tour was very much a back-to-basics, no-nonsense kind of production with not much in terms of gizmos or effects. This time around we've updated the staging and there's a lot more lighting and streamlined video content. But we're trying not to repeat what we've done in the past and to make the content very emotional so it doesn't overpower the band."

The band's oldest member at 45, Clayton doesn't do many interviews. But he spoke for more than an hour about his band and its music, as well as its worldwide success, the family illness that nearly led to this tour being canceled, and U2's early days as a cover band called the Hype. ("We were just atrocious," he recalled.)

He also sang the praises of U2's young opening act, Kings of Leon, and apologized for the computer snafu that left many frustrated U2 fans unable to buy advance tickets for the tour.

Clayton predicted that tonight's concert could feature as many as eight songs from the band's new album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, as well as old favorites and a few surprise selections.

"I don't know whether we'll do all eight in the show on Monday, but certainly we'll probably be adding or dropping some new songs after the first couple of shows," he said.

"We really do try very hard not to repeat ourselves and to deliver something different. But I think also that it's an emotive show, a show that requires people to be committed to be part of it. I think it's hard to come to a U2 show and just eat hot dogs and drink a soda, and not be moved by it. We really do want people to be a part of it and be involved.

"...when we first got together, you know, there were those kinds of dreams and ambitions that every young band of young men who come together have. We thought we might have a shot at getting some records out. But the idea that we'd still be putting out records and doing sold-out tours in 25 years' time -– other than on the Holiday Inn circuit -– is not something we thought would happen.

"...and it's not over by any means."