Concert Review: U2 Goes Extravagant At TD Garden Show

BOSTON, MA — U2 isn’t done trying to convince you that Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience are worth your time. Whether they are or not is a discussion for a different time, but the band can still put on a decent show in support of the albums.

Bono and company rolled into Boston for shows at the TD Garden Thursday and Friday as part of the eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE Tour. With no opener the band took the stage just past 8:30 p.m. and didn’t stop until just before 11 p.m. For those looking for a collection of classic hits, you’ll be disappointed to know that about half of the set list came from Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence, so if you were looking to hear “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “With or Without You,” or anything else from the Joshua Tree album, you should have gone to their Gillette Stadium show last year.

The set and its use ranged from elaborate to excessive. In between a rectangular stage and a smaller circular secondary stage stood a ramp which could be hidden by a video screen. Both objects could be raised as pleased, with the ramp at one point moving like a seesaw.

The ramp within a video screen provided some effects, which were creative but overdone. The animated videos and comic book-type graphics that were shown during a break in the show? Well done. Having Bono literally pretend to walk through a neighborhood while singing "shing it.

There’s an argument to be made that perhaps U2 is relying too much on technology. At one point, Bono used what appeared to be a Snapchat video filer to appear with a demon face on the big screen, claiming to be the evil that was in Charlottesville and the one who put “I don’t care. Do u?” on Melania Trump’s jacket. It’s unlikely that anyone at the show was shocked at Bono injecting the issues of the day into the show, but that portion felt cartoony at best.

The show was the best when there was no, just a band from Ireland playing the hits. “I Will Follow” and “Beautiful Day” were well done from the primary stage with no gimmicks needed, although showing a war-torn Irish town during “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” emphasized the horrors described in the memorable tune.

As the songs were used to narrate the story of the band, the second part of the set on the secondary stage seemed to be the post-fame portion of the night as “Elevation” and “Vertigo” made way for “Desire.”

It was on this part of the set where a performance of “Staring at the Sun” with only Bono and the Edge on an acoustic guitar brought out the most uncomfortable moment of the night. As the Edge strung along and Bono went through the track, video of the Neo-Nazis, alt-right, and various other tiki torch-carry racists at the Charlottesville rally lit up the arena. But it was supposed to an uncomfortable reminder that such evil still exists. The fact that such people remain isn’t supposed to be delightful or something that can be brushed away.

The silver lining, however, came a few minutes later when “Pride (In the Name of Love)” began with footage of Rev. Martin Luther King that transitioned to modern-day footage of the so-called resistance fighting back against the previously seen gathering of hate. Again, it’s hard to feel bad for anyone who is bothered by this, you knew this is what you were signing up for and if you feel bad for the people in the first video, then there’s likely a Ted Nugent show you’ll feel most comfortable at.

Overall, did U2 lean too much on their last two albums although they are on a tour for said records? Probably. Did the tech get in the way of the show? At times. But the fact remains that the band has done this long enough that the shortcomings aren't enough to negate the overall product. Well done U2, but next time, maybe take the tech down a couple of notches and take a pass on the augmented reality app for the live show.

Cover image via U2 PR. Credit - Danny North.