U2 fans get on their boots as band gears up for second gig

IT’S business as usual for U2 as they gear up for the second concert of their 360º World Tour at the Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona tonight.

Their first concert at the same venue on Tuesday night has already cemented their reputation as the greatest live band on the planet and it now seems certain their 360º set-up will keep them on the road for at least the next two years.

It helps that U2’s latest album, No Line on the Horizon, released last February, is their strongest since Achtung Baby in 1991. The band’s confidence in their new material is underlined by their decision to kick off Tuesday’s concert with songs from the album; Breathe, the title track, Get On Your Boots and Magnificent.

With 12 studio albums behind them, there was no shortage of other material for U2 to choose from, but they also played three other tracks from No Line on the Horizon in the course of their 22-song set; Unknown Caller, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight and Moment of Surrender — (“a gift from God”, as Bono called the latter). They could as easily have included a couple more, like Stand-up Comedy or Cedars of Lebanon.

It helps also that Bono is in fine voice. It has often been the case that Bono is the one weak link in the band’s live performances.

Witness their appearance at Wembley in 2005, when Bono’s duet with Paul McCartney on Sgt Pepper was little short of embarrassing, or U2’s unprecedented week-long run of appearances on Letterman as recently as March, when his vocals also seemed ragged.

Bono has clearly taken the time to massage his tonsils in the meantime.

His performance on Tuesday night put him back where he belongs, as U2’s irreplaceable frontman. Indeed, he seemed so caught up in singing he kept his between-song banter to a merciful minimum.

There was, of course, the “space chat” when Bono, along with the Edge and Adam Clayton, spoke with the crew of the international space station orbiting the earth.

Bono observed that one member of the crew, named Frank, was wearing a Barcelona FC jersey (the Nou Camp Stadium is home to the team) and promptly signed him up to his One charity campaign. “Is the earth really round?”, the Edge asked mischievously.

“That’s classified,” the commander deadpanned back.

U2’s link-up with the astronauts was entirely appropriate, as their new stage design is little short of otherworldly.

U2 are not the first act to perform in the round in outdoor stadiums, as they are doing on this tour.

Nor are they the first to use a cylindrical video screen above the stage; even Britney Spears has used a similar device on her Circus world tour.

But no-one in rock’n’roll has ever lavished such time and money as U2 have done on their new circular stage or the four-legged space monster “Claw” that rises above it. The band claim to have spent €90 million on their new tour, and it is easy to see how. The set-up is so complex it has taken their crew four weeks to put it together in Barcelona, and the only practical way to take it on tour is to have three separate set-ups on the go from city to city.

No-one has ever doubted U2’s ambition. Legend has it that when Bono approached the proprietor of one hostelry in Tralee for payment after a U2 gig back in the late 70s, he was put sweeping the floor. It hardly taught the man humility.

The 360º tour’s first outing on Tuesday night demonstrated what U2 have always known; you have to dream big, play big, and spend big to reap the rewards. In spite of all the talk of a recession, the 360º tour looks set to be U2’s most successful to date. It helps that they have a corporate sponsor on board for the first time, Blackberry. It helps also that they have the backing of the concert promoters Live Nation, with whom they signed a ground-breaking $100 million deal last year.

But no other band has a fan base as huge or as loyal as U2’s, one they have nurtured throughout the 33 years of their existence. A Dubliner in a cafe on the Ramblo in downtown Barcelona put it best on the afternoon of their concert on Tuesday. “Why go to one gig?” he said. “I’m going to 25. Sure you have to follow something.”

U2 play Croke Park, Dublin on July 24, 25 and 27.