Live review - U2, Brisbane 2010

U2
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Thursday, 9 December 2010

What have we here? Four 50ish-year-old men who evidently take care of their health, performing songs in a stadium that feels dwarfed by the high-tech monstrosity that's been nailed to the floor. All in the name of U2. This is impressive, in every sense of the word. This is the world's biggest band, doing their best to shine a light into every corner of Suncorp Stadium, so that even those high up in the bleachers feel like they've got their money's worth. Interestingly, the top tier of seating is unoccupied but for a small section at the very back, directly in line with the stage. If the entire upper tier was available for Wednesday night's show, it appears that demand among Brisbane U2 fans is not quite enough to sell out two 50,000-capacity shows. Still, the arena is very much full of life, as the band (bar stationary drummer Larry Mullen Jr) constantly traverse the boundaries of their custom-built stage, complete with swinging drawbridges and an immense, 360-degree LCD screen - hence the tour name - which, late in the set, lowers and separates into hundreds of smaller shards. Hell, it's worth the price of entry just to watch that piece of tech unfold flawlessly before our eyes, like a wasp's nest being split into its individual cells.

Let's not get too carried away by the band's impeccable stage design, though. The reason we're here is the songs. No other band of the current generation does arena-rock anthems better than these four. There is a reason why U2 are the biggest band in the world. It can be intuited by moving to the back of the standing section when they play songs like 'Where The Streets Have No Name', 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' and 'With Or Without You', and observing how wholeheartedly the audience throws themselves into the moment. These songs have long since ceased to belong to U2. Instead, they are gifts given to the public, and accepted as a kind of catharsis. Witnessing the love and admiration that people - many of them, no doubt, casual music fans who'll only attend a handful of big shows each year, like this one - have for these songs is nothing short of humbling. For two mostly hit-filled hours, you can forget your petty anxieties, fears, doubts, and concerns, and allow yourself to be caught up in the blinding spectacle of it all.

A great many criticisms can - and should - be made against U2. There are numerous moments throughout tonight's set that are cringeworthy; most notably, the mortifying lameness of their recent singles, like 'Get On Your Boots', which is utterly detestable. A large part of me wishes that they would stop writing new music, because their strike-rate of late has been wholly disappointing. [Actually the rest of No Line on the Horizon was OK, but unfortunately the fact the single was so absolutely appalling kinda overshadowed everything else - Old U2 Fan Ed.] Their role, should they choose to accept it, is to take songs like the aforementioned - and, of course, the 'day' trio of 'Beautiful Day', 'New Year's Day', and 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' - to people all over the world. To shine lights into their lives, if only for a couple of blissful hours. There would be no shame in accepting that role. They could, like The Rolling Stones and AC/DC, commit to a nomadic lifestyle afforded to so few acts: stadium to stadium, hotel to hotel, country to country, until their bodies collapse. But U2 do not accept that role, and there is something admirable in that, too. A couple of new creations are aired tonight, including the instrumental opener, 'Return Of The Stingray Guitar', which don't sound terrible. So there is some hope.

The best moment tonight is more human than musical. During 'In A Little While', Bono picks a young girl out of the audience, and leads her on a little tour of the stage while singing. As the image of the couple arm-in-arm is displayed on the big screen, you can just tell that this moment has shot to the top of her life highlights list. When he kisses her hand, she visibly swoons. And then he's waving her goodbye while segueing into 'Miss Sarajevo' - in which he handles Luciano Pavarotti's emotive Italian verse with ease. This entire manoeuvre is executed with impeccable grace. There is a reason why U2 are the biggest band in the world.

Andrew McMillen