By Cathy Maestri
InstantPride.com

It felt more like the precursor to a football game as people pulled into Rose Bowl parking lots on Sunday morning, firing up the grill and the satellite to watch games on TV and laptops.

But when the sun went down and a record 96,000 piled into the stadium to see U2, the atmosphere was instantly electric.

Openers the Black Eyed Peas crackled in front of a hometown crowd. Things got even giddier, onstage and off, when Slash emerged with a guitar for a cover of the Guns N’ Roses classic “Sweet Child O Mine”; Fergie tore into a nicely rounded interpretation of Axl Rose’s squealing vocals.

When the lights went up, the crowd was primed for its closeup — the show was broadcast on YouTube as well as taped for a DVD. The excitement was especially impressive for solidly middle-aged fans in jaded Southern California, but maybe they sensed that the musical fragmentation of the Internet age means there won’t be many more bands capable of filling a stadium.

Those in the stands pulled off some of the biggest, loudest versions of the wave in decades, while those on the floor snapped pictures of celebrities making their way to the VIP platform in front of the soundboard (including Pierce Brosnan, Garbage’s Shirley Manson, Demi Moore, Colin Farrell, Stewart Copeland, Paris Hilton and Daniel Lanois, one of the band’s producers).

The spaceship qualities of the band’s giant claw stage were played up throughout the night, from the lights-down recording of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” to an astronaut cameo from the International Space Station to the return of the cute little alien from the band’s ZOO TV tour.

But really, the night was a surprisingly intimate romance between the crowd and Bono. He couldn’t have been more earnest — or more accurate — as he sang “Magnificent”: “I was born to sing for you, I didn’t have a choice but to lift you up and sing whatever song you wanted me to, I give you back my voice from the womb; My first cry, it was a joyful noise.”

It’s as though it’s still hard for him to believe that a loudmouthed kid from Dublin could pour his heart into songs that not only resonate with people, but that give him a voice to help fight poverty and AIDS.

And while it’s Bono who runs circles around the stage and literally reaches out to fans, it’s the soaring guitar of the Edge that gives the songs their lift. And the rhythm section — drummer Larry Mullen Jr., his brow furrowed, and bassist Adam Clayton, grinning like the Cheshire Cat — that keeps things grounded.

Song’s from the band’s latest album, “No Line on the Horizon,” were more appealing live; the title track’s buzzing guitars reverberated through the Rose Bowl, “Unknown Caller” turns inspirational as the crowd shouts out the lyrics rolling across the giant screen, “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” coalesces thanks to a tribal remix that had even the usually stoic Edge jumping around.

As part of U2’s nightly salute to imprisoned Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Bono almost sheepishly passed along best wishes from Barbra Streisand; he also likened band members to movie stars during the introductions, but other than a shout-out to retired Los Angeles Times music critic Robert Hilburn, it was all about the paying customers.

The crowd got its share of hits — “Mysterious Ways,” “Beautiful Day,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” a sludgy version of “Vertigo” and to end, the discoed-up “Ultra Violet (Light My Way) and a particularly solemn “With or Without You.”

The new “Moment of Surrender” was a lovely coda — spiritual pop with a holy sound, as the Rose Bowl sparkled with the lights of thousands of cell phones.

(Note: U2 will play Anaheim Stadium on June 6; tickets are expected to go on sale soon.)

Filed under Entertainment, News A3

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

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