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"If you can break out of Dublin, you can break out of anywhere." -- Bono |
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"If you can break out of Dublin, you can break out of anywhere." -- Bono |
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Column: off the record... , vol. 11-462
@U2,
May 15, 2011
There are few certainties in life, but this I know to be true: I will never see U2 in Southern California. I lived in San Diego when they played the Rose Bowl in 2009, but for reasons I can barely fathom now didn't buy tickets to the show. Realizing too late the error of my ways, I ended up crossing the desert in my faithful Camry to see the band in Phoenix. That was an entirely enjoyable show in itself. Still, I'll never forgive myself for missing the Rose Bowl performance, and for missing my chance to be somewhere in the crowd on that excellent DVD. Fast forward to early 2010: I was sitting at my desk, my nervous little fingers hovering above the computer keyboard waiting for the presale for the June 6-7 Anaheim shows to begin. The moment arrived. I snagged a pair of tickets, and for the next couple of months looked forward to the event with a smug sort of satisfaction. But then: catastrophe! Bono injured his back, requiring emergency surgery and forcing U2 to reschedule the entire leg of the tour. The Anaheim shows will indeed go on, June 17-18 of this year. Of course, on the dates in question, I'll be here in upstate New York -- some 2,800 miles away. So there'll be no U2 in SoCal for me. C'est la vie en la vie de Gary. With or without me, U2 have now begun the final leg of the 360 tour. The band played the last of three Mexico City dates on Sunday night. By all accounts the shows were good ones. We saw a few surprises in the set lists, and the boys were clearly in fine form. After two years, the tour is rolling toward the finish line in style. Speaking of Mexico City … U2.com recently posted a photo of a certain orange-clad bassist and muscle-shirted singer standing beneath a certain golden arch and asked: "Remember when PopMart arrived in Mexico?" Silly U2.com; of course we do. Still, it's nice to see an official nod to the PopMart era. Indeed, more than just a nod. With the first-ever full performance of "Zooropa" in Sao Paulo, Adam's recent hints as to what to expect at Glastonbury ("We want to go back to our '90s work that plays into a certain kind of psychedelia and do something that's tailored around that, from Zoo TV to PopMart") and the apparent video shoot in Berlin, it's feeling like a '90s U2 love-fest these days. I, for one, couldn't be more excited about this. And I'm well-nigh giddy thinking about what it might mean. What if U2 are transitioning into -- and preparing us for -- a new era of experimentation? What if they've decided to throw away the playbook from the past decade and return to the riskier, more offbeat approach of the '90s? Hey, a guy can dream, right? Speaking of offbeat … U2 pal and fellow Lypton Village denizen Gavin Friday released his latest solo album last month — on Good Friday, naturally. I haven't yet heard it, but its release prompted me to revisit (or visit for the first time) Gavin's previous body of work, from The Virgin Prunes to Shag Tobacco, from his collaborations with Bono to his later soundtrack work and his contribution to the Rogue's Gallery collection of pirate ballads, sea songs and chanteys. I tell you, there's all kinds of good stuff there. Which reminds me: When will we see a release of the 2009 Carnegie Hall performance celebrating Gavin's 50th birthday? From the sounds of it, the show was an embarrassment of riches: a de facto Prunes reunion; Bono crooning "The Last Song I'll Ever Sing" with Maurice Seezer accompanying him; a noise improv by Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and John Zorn resolving into a take on "Sweet Jane" with Gavin, Bono, Edge and Larry, among others. My goodness, I would love to see/hear at least selections from the event. Can you get on it, Hal Willner? Please? And finally: Confused by the plot of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark? It could be worse. (Um, spoiler alert.)
See you soon! (c) @U2/Boas, 2011.
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