U2 Joshua Tree rock tour: a night to say thanks for the rain, and to pay tribute to a dearly missed Aussie mate
A sellout crowd was on hand as the Irish rockers turned the famous cricket ground into a cathedral of rock in Sydney.
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After the much-needed rain, comes the rock gods and some tears.
U2 opened their only two-night stand on the Joshua Tree tour of Australia at the hallowed SCG and quickly got down to the business of elevating it as a cathedral of rock.
“Thank you to the rain ... it’s a precursor to an epic night of rock’n’roll,” Bono said after a unifying three-song launch of Sunday Bloody Sunday, I Will Follow and New Year’s Day.
The frontman was clearly emotional as he, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr dedicated the triumphant Bad to their good mate Michael Hutchence to mark the 22nd anniversary of the death of the INXS frontman in Sydney.
“Can we have a moment in the dark to shine for Michael Hutchence,” he asked the crowd.
Encouraging fans to join the tribute mid-song, he segued into Never Tear Us Apart as the sold out SCG crowd shone their camera torches in tribute.
After the emotionally-charged moment witnessed by members of Hutchence’s family according to the frontman, U2 launched into the last song of the first act of the concert and Sydney swelled to full voice on Pride (in The Name of Love).
It was magic and the capacity crowd was now clearly caught in the throes of U2’s spell.
As the show entered its second act and U2 assumed their positions in front of the Biggest. Concert. Video. Wall. Ever. to reprise their Joshua Tree album, the communion between band, fans and awe-inspiring technology grew to triumphant heights.
Voices became louder and louder during the unrivalled sonic bliss and sensory assault of Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and With or Without You.
It’s best we don’t say too much about Bono’s cute attempt to inject Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head in that worshipped triumvirate of an album opener. When it had stopped raining.
“Edge please save me,” he joked, yet all was forgiven when they hit With or Without You and that SCG crowd turned into the biggest choirs I have heard at that venue in 30 years.
“Tonight sing your heart out,” Bono said, encouraging the 50,000 fans to let loose.
Joshua Tree may not have been recorded in a studio to be played in its entirety on a stadium stage yet 32 years after its release, not one of its 11 songs sound dated or irrelevant.
If anything, their meaning, fury and commentary resonates as powerfully in 2019 as it did in 1987, particularly the visceral Bullet The Blue Sky and Exit and the ode to dying ghost towns of communities with Red Hill Mining Town.
And as he introduced In God’s Country, he paid tribute to the Australian spirit demonstrated by those fighting the fury of the bushfires ravaging much of the nation this week.
U2 had an impromptu meeting of firefighters heading for NSW blazes at Melbourne Airport this week as the Joshua Tree plane was enroute to Adelaide.
The Joshua Tree’s third act fast forwarded to what came next, Rattle and Hum’s Angel of Harlem and the band’s post-millennial offerings – Elevation (punctuated by a bizarre stage invasion by a man in a gold body suit) into Vertigo and later Beautiful Day.
As Bono introduced the band ahead of Even The Better Than The Real Thing, he made reference to one of the band’s darkest moments when bassist Adam Clayton missed the opening Zoo TV concert in Sydney in 1993 because of a combination of addiction and a broken heart, paying tribute to the “second chapter of his life“ starting after that night.
The inclusion of Every Breaking Wave from their 2014 album Songs of Innocence – the free record some people bitched about getting from Apple – was a nod to its roots in Sydney where U2 first attempted to record it.
Ultraviolet again paid to tribute to inspring woman of the world with the additions of actors Cate Blanchett and Toni Colette, pop game changer Sia, indigenous activist, human rights lawyer Megan Davis and pioneering obstetrician Catherine Hamlin on their video wall.
They follow that with a truly tearjerking dedication to their friend Michael Hutchence with the song they recorded after his death Stuck In A Moment with beautiful images of that beloved Australian rock star projected on the screen.
They love him still.
The band closed with the adored One as they stood under the Southern Cross projected on the video wall.
“Thanks for giving us a great life,” Bono said.
U2 perform again at the SCG on Saturday and close out the Australian tour in Perth on Wednesday.
