Can a rock concert change the world?
My 5 year old son, Angel, was quite a sight with his yellow 3D glasses sitting in the IMAX theater completely overwhelmed at taking in the spectacle of a 50 foot tall Bono as he mesmerizes a sea of beautiful young Argentinians. It was powerful, emotional and extremely musical. I felt a swell of emotion several times throughout the concert movie and had to remind myself that I’m just watching a guy walk across a stage singing songs that I have heard a thousand times before. On the drive home I found out that my wife, Kim, sitting next to me was having the same experience. Von Behr, my 7 year old daughter, was sitting next to me, and although she says that she thought the concert was great, she asked more than a few times if we were on the last song.
SIGHTS
Technologically the experience was amazing. It was Oz. It was voodoo. The sound was perfect, the 3D effects were unreal, the detail was as sharp as I could possibly imagine. Von Behr and Angel kept reaching out to touch the images that appeared to be right in front of us. (I wanted to, but knew better). There were times that I believed I felt the mist of water on my face. The way they would cross-fade from one scene right in front of me to another scene that was 100 yards behind it … and I would have to refocus my eyes in the distance to see it … I have never seen anything like it.
SOUNDS
Musically it was as good as it could be. They have come a long way since 1980’s “Boy” album. They have all really grown as musicians. Rhythmically they are superb. No one in the band tends to rush ahead or lag behind. The Edge is playing better than ever, there were even some lead guitar improvisations … who would have thought? Larry has really good technique and never overplays, even though he can be quite innovative. Adam is solid and plays his minimalist bass parts like the world depends on it. Bono is the ringleader and knows how to bring it all together in a way that really does seem like the world depends on it. His voice is clear and strong, and he has been doing this long enough that he can extract the cheese from even the cheesiest stage moves. That’s quite a feat.
MESSAGE
At one point, maybe it’s the highest peak of the show, maybe it’s the lowest … Bono blinds himself with a headband that spells COEXIST using the symbols of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. He sings “Father Abraham speak to your sons, tell them NO MORE! MO MORE! MO MORE!” He gets the massive audience chanting with him, then they sing “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” a song about the religious wars of Ireland.
I hear what he is saying. God gave Abraham a promise that his children would be numbered as the stars in the sky and the sand on the beach. The Jews, the Muslims, and the Christians are all the descendants of Abraham. Bono is saying that we should stop fighting, that we are brothers.
These days European Christians tend to underline different parts of their Bibles than we do. Now, I can be just as creeped out by the neo-commie, blindly Utopian, naively pacifist agenda of the Coexist organization as anyone, but I was encouraged by Bono’s message. I don’t believe that wars will end between the sons of Abraham until Jesus puts an end to them, but it is telling that a Christian is the one calling for peace. It is telling that the biggest pop Christian in the world (50 foot tall by my estimation) is the one calling for peace between the sons of Abraham. The Christians are to be the peacemakers. AMEN
Since the concert Angel has declared that he wants to be a rock star like his dad and the guy with the sunglasses. Can a rock concert change the world? It might have changed the world of a five year old boy, and that’s a start.
February 16th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Welcome to the “blogiverse”
Great way to kick it off with your thoughts on the U23D extravaganza. One of my favorite things about the U2 experience (whether at the IMAX or live) is those “transcendent” moments. Just for a little bit, we get a sense that everything will be okay someday…there’s unity…there’s art…there’s beauty…there’s Divinity…all held together by some great rock n roll.
For me, it’s a sliver of a glimpse of the joy and unity we’ll experience in heaven that day….where the streets have no name.
Peace.
February 17th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I am not sure I understand U2 anymore.
Back in the day of Boy and the Joshua Tree albums they spoke to me but now it seems to me that they are getting just a little too much in love with themselves. I mean, “Father Abraham …….” That’s thousands of years of relgious seeking and theological thinking just overlooked as if there was no real truth or progress after Abraham. Come on Bono, you dont think that religious passion that was there in “Where the Steets Have no Name” and in “When Love comes to Town” was real?
February 19th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
yeah, that was as much of an experience as RATTLE AND HUM was back in the ’90s. U2 knows how to put a show together - all aspects. they can combine fierceness and sincerity (& a dash of self deprecation) in such a way that makes me a little jealous and more than a little humbled. i miss never having seen them “live”. there’s always the future, i suppose.