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U2 Space Station Lifts Off |
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Written by Tom D
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Thursday, 02 July 2009 |
U2 launched their European tour with a blazing new stage set to 'change concerts' forever. Portion of show captured on line.
Arriving on stage at Camp Nou, Barcelona, the band
played 22 songs over two hours and twenty minutes , eliciting an
extraordinary reception from passionate Spanish fans.(For video click )As well as seven songs from No Line on the Horizon, the band soared
through the catalogue returning to many classic tracks that have been
missing from the set on recent tours.
Check the set list.
The groundbreaking new stage production, designed by Willie Williams
and Mark Fisher, was the first thing to hit the audience as they
arrived at the venue - its four huge legs stretching across the
hallowed home of Barcelona FC and suspending a giant spherical screen
delivering crystal clear 360 vision throughout the huge stadium.
'This has been our neighbourhood for the last couple of weeks,'
explained Bono, taking a breath after four opening songs from No Line.
'This is where we wanted to build our space station...'
The space station soon made contact with another one, when began
speaking to Bono to the astronauts orbiting planet earth on the
International Space Station. They immediately appeared live on the
screens. 'Very nice to hear you,' said one astronaut as the microphone
floated around the cabin.
'Commander, can you see Barcelona?' asked Bono.
'Right now the most beautiful sight in our cosmos is the blue planet earth,' came the reply.
Larry, Adam and Edge joined in the conversations with the space
travellers, each of whom held out a sheet of paper, creating the phrase
'The Future Needs A Big Kiss' .
Larry wanted to know if the earth was really round. 'Actually, that's classified...' came the reply.
'Escape yourself and gravity' goes Unknown Caller, and considering this
was its live debut it sounded like a classic set to stay in the set for
years. Pretty cool hearing an entire stadium chanting, 'Restart and
re-boot yourself.' If it was a surprise to hear Unforgettable Fire,
title track of an album released in 1984, it sounded majestic - of the
22 tracks the band performed we counted selections from eight different
albums.
Another striking moment was when Bono dedicated 'Walk On' to Aung San
Suu Kyi, democratically elected leader of Burma in 1990 but under house
arrest for most of the years since. As the electronic screens weaved
lower and elongated spectacularly over the stage, huge images of Aung
San Suu Kyi appeared as dozens of people began walking slowly along the
external stage runway, each holding up her mask. 'Let her face be your
face.' said Bono, as people around the stadium began put out their own
masks.
Apart from a stumble during One, the band sounded looked pretty happy
to be back on stage and back amongst their audience - Adam and Edge
regularly crossed the elegant arched bridges spanning the inner stage
and outer runway, reaching out to different parts of the audience. It
feels as though the new production will do what it was commissioned to
and turn a stadium into a club.
As Larry puts it in the tour programme, 'U2 is most at home when we're playing live. This is the place where our songs live.'
Ok, we haven't mentioned Antoni Gaudi, Michael Jackson or Archbishop
Desmond Tutu - who made a spellbinding speech from the screens before
'Streets' - but there's another show on Thursday and that's all we've
got time to say for now about a great opening night. We'll be adding
more content in the coming hours - meantime, if you were at the show,
don't forget to post your photos and videos.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 02 July 2009 )
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