Patience pays off for U2 fans in Melbourne
U2 has found a way to do album anniversary tours without feeling like they’re going backwards and their Melbourne fans were not disappointed at Marvel Stadium when they finally got the U2 tour they wanted.
Entertainment
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You know you’re at a U2 stadium concert when they have managed to secure the world’s most overqualified opening act: Noel Gallagher.
Gallagher is here with his band High Flying Birds who, like U2, haven’t been content to just sit on musical autopilot.
New song Black Star Dancing is Bowie gone disco, while Wandering Star is a retro-tinged delight.
Gallagher wisely ended his short set with back to back songs from his first band — Oasis.
And if Don’t Look Back In Anger and Wonderwall weren’t quite anthemic enough, Gallagher united all ages with a pristine cover of All You Need is Love.
It’s been 32 years that Australian U2 fans have been waiting to see the band showcase The Joshua Tree album.
The original 1987 tour bypassed our shores.
Then the 30th anniversary tour in 2017 missed us.
The band’s next tour — last year’s Songs of Experience also didn’t come our way.
After some social media badgering and even a petition, Australia finally got the U2 tour it wanted.
The Joshua Tree tour has the band playing the album in full, track by track, just as the fans remember it.
The album sold more than 25 million copies and spawned classics With Or Without You, Where the Streets Have No Name and I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.
But for the diehards, it wasn’t those songs — which are played on every tour — they were there for.
It was album cuts like Exit, One Tree Hill and Mothers of the Disappeared which have barely been heard live since 1987.
But before all that U2 went futher back.
Sunday Bloody Sunday was an astonishingly good way to start a concert. The band stood on a catwalk without special effects — just the biggest pub band in the world playing to 60,000 people.
That was followed by I Will Follow (a new addition for the tour) and New Year’s Day.
Last night’s Melbourne shout out came in when Bono sang Bad; and added some of hometown hero Nick Cave’s Into My Arms.
He also asked fans to “think about the firefighters”.
Pride (In the Name of Love) closed act one before the signature opening riff to Where the Streets Have No Name signaled Joshua Tree time — and it was time for the immense screen to turn on and blow minds.
U2 always has bigger and better stadium toys on each tour, but the technology never overpowers the impact of the songs.
It was particularly emotional watching people enjoy one of their favorite albums, played start to finish — this time not in their bedroom but as a communal experience with thousands of strangers. That is the power of music right there.
And even when a slight downpour started (prompting Bono to break into Singin’ in the Rain) the stadium was able to show off its own party trick and close the roof — which also seems to improve the sound inside the venue.
The final leg of the tour dips more recent material, just to stave off the dreaded claims it was a night of total nostalgia.
“That was the Joshua Tree, this is what happened next,” Bono said before dedicating Angel of Harlem to anyone at U2’s Lovetown shows 30 years ago.
Elevation, Vertigo (with a quick nod to INXS’s Devil Inside) and Even Better Than The Real Thing, Beautiful Day and One sat with relative newbies Love is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way and Every Breaking Wave.
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Ultraviolet features a video roll call of influential women — with Moira Kelly, Magda Szubanski, Hannah Gadsby and Cathy Freeman up on the screen.
Wrapping a whole album as an Easter egg inside a show is new for U2, but as ever it’s a privilege to watch them at work. It’s no accident they’ve been at the top of their game for so long.
And now U2 have found a way to do album anniversary tours without feeling they’re going backwards, 2021 is the 30th anniversary of Achtung Baby. Or we’re happy to wait for the 40th anniversary of Unforgettable Fire in 2024.