Yahweh Yahweh, e' gia' iniziato.


E' partito il Vertigo tour e io sono ancora qui.

Rock Icons Content to Do the Things They Do Best
By KELEFA SANNEH - The New York Times

SAN DIEGO, March 29 - "I don't know if I can take it/ I'm not easy on my knees," Bono sang, and in case an arena full of fans didn't believe him, he spent two hours proving it.

Over and over again, during Monday night's sold-out world-premiere concert here, he dropped to his knees to emphasize a point. Kneeling is Bono's way of reminding everyone that he contains multitudes: when he went down, he became a repentant sinner, an eager-to-please lover, an abused prisoner, even - if this isn't too much of a stretch - a grateful 44-year-old rock star, basking in his fans' adulation.

The concert, at a rather plain hockey rink with a rather unplain name (officially, it's the iPay One Center at the Sports Arena), was the first of the band's "Vertigo 2005" tour, celebrating the release of its strong new album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" (Interscope). U2 is not, to put it mildly, the kind of band that seems sheepish about its own popularity, and so tonight's concert didn't aim to surprise or confuse or tease the audience.

This was an intensely satisfying performance by a band that has figured out what it does best and seems content to do it. Some bands get swallowed up by big arenas, but U2 was built for them: the Edge's echoey guitar lines are only improved when they bounce off concrete walls, and Bono's lyrics are best when they're delivered by tens of thousands of fans.

If anyone loves U2 more than the fans, it is record executives. Nearly 30 years into its career, the band has evolved from selling lots of vinyl LP's to selling lots of branded iPods. The customers are loyal, and Bono's charity work has only strengthened the brand; he's idealistic and outspoken but not, for the most part, controversial. The band's new live show is sturdy but not flashy; the only special effect is a giant beaded curtain where the flashing beads do double duty as pixels in a huge video screen.

The tour is to continue through the end of the year, with a series of European dates this summer. The band is to play Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., on May 17 and 18, and Madison Square Garden on May 21 and again for five dates in October.

In 1997, when U2 released the ambitious, electronica-influenced album "Pop," the group didn't seem quite as bulletproof as it does now: you got the sense that, for better and for worse, its members were struggling to stay current.

But these days, current seems less current than ever. U2's old-fashioned earnestness and big, ringing guitars seem right at home in today's old-fashioned alternative-rock world. Not coincidentally, the band has booked old-fashioned young alternative-rock bands to open for them, including the Killers, Snow Patrol and Kings of Leon, who opened tonight's performance. And right before U2 took the stage, the sound system blasted "Wake Up," by the Arcade Fire - a sly way, perhaps, of asking whether the resounding guitar chords and pleading vocals sounded familiar.
(continua qui dove potete anche sentire un estratto da Vertigo)

Pubblicato: Mer - Marzo 30, 2005 ;    

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