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| 15 May - Los Angeles, CA, USA / The Forum |
The choice for best British band ever is pretty easy. Most will go with the Beatles. A few will argue for Led Zeppelin or Rolling Stones, but the Beatles are the consensus choice. However, best American band is a much harder debate. There are arguments for Aerosmith, Beach Boys, Grateful Dead, Velvet Underground (probably the most influential), the Ramones or some might make a case for Nirvana or Pearl Jam.
Here’s a thought, what if America’s greatest band of all time isn’t actually from America? What if it is four Irish guys who fell in love with America and have celebrated that ardor through songs for nearly four decades?
Watching U2’s masterful, nearly flawless two and a half hour performance at the first of two sold-out nights at Los Angeles’ Forum Tuesday, May 15 -- where they again paid tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, as has been the case for 34 years, during the spine-tingling, goose bump-inducing “Pride (In The Name Of Love),” where they invoked the spirit of L.A. icon Jim Morrison, throwing in a snippet of “Alabama Song (Last Whisky Bar)” during a dazzling “Until The End Of The World” -- one thing that came through repeatedly throughout the night is their passion and belief in America still burns as deeply as their fervor for music, both awe-inspiring after nearly 40 years.
Certainly you’d be hard pressed to find any band that has championed or believes in the spirit and culture of America more than U2. Their most successful album, The Joshua Tree, is named after a desert in California, they reference jazz giant John Coltrane in “Angel Of Harlem,” a song named after the New York city, they have a song called “Elvis Presley And America,” they were nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for the 2003 song “The Hands That Built America,” from Martin Scorese’s Gangs Of New York.
In the song, Bono sings, “Oh my love/It’s a long way we’ve come/From the freckled hills/To the steel and glass canyons/...These are the hands that built America.”
What is clear from their music and their show at the Forum, where Bono repeatedly reminded fans, “This is America,” they fell in love with the American dream as Irish kids and still, even in these times where many born here are jaded and divided, they feel it is true. At one point, he powerfully spoke of how it is easier to be divided than united while encouraging us to have open eyes and open minds, “even if not open arms,” to those that stand in our way.
Of course without the songs to backup their ideals it means nothing. And this tour finds U2 at their musical best, exploring deeper cuts like “Until The End Of The World,” a stunning rendition of “Acrobat,” and a sublime acoustic “Staring At The Sun,” from what Bono called “The band’s psychedelic phase in the ‘90s.” What was also remarkable was how vital and potent early, early U2 songs “I Will Follow” and “Gloria” were. “Gloria” was a definite high point on a night filled with many of them.
Of the more recent songs, 2014’s “Iris (Hold Me Close),” a song Bono detailed being about his mother, was especially poignant. And Songs Of Experience’s lead single, “You’re The Best Thing About Me” was gorgeous and sweet done acoustically. Other standouts included a spectacular “One,” which began with Bono encouraging “Women Of The World To Take Over,” via a snippet of the Jim O’Rourke song, “Cedarwood Road” and “Love Is All We Have Left.”
Also particularly powerful in the new songs was “American Soul,” in which Bono declares, “It’s not a place to me/This country is, to me, a thought/That offers grace/For every welcome that is sought.” That U2 still feel that is possible and believe that in their musical soul 40 years after they first came here is why U2 could easily be America’s greatest band ever.
In U2’s America, the America we should all still believe in, the one that is open and welcoming, an America built on immigrants, there is not a damn reason in the world why four Irishmen who came here and love this country and believe in it couldn't be the best band we have to offer. It makes perfect sense in their America.
Steve Baltin
https://www.forbes.com
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