By Dave Miller

U2 has embraced the notion that “new” is part of rock music. It’s re-invented itself a number of times on albums and tours over its 35 years.

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By now, however, the novelty of its latest tour invention has worn off. It’s been close to two years since U2’s 360 Tour touched down in Soldier Field for two shows in September of 2009. Those concerts unveiled a huge stage that looked like a cross between a giant claw and a spaceship, and stretched 167 feet into the sky. At the time, it was mind-boggling to see because of its sheer size and its technology, which included moving bridges and a 360 video screen that stretched into what looked like a morphing beehive with a dazzling display of lights.

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U2 scheduled another show in Chicago for last July, but had to postpone it for a year after Bono required back surgery. The big question heading into Tuesday’s makeup: What would be different? For starters, the number of songs increased from the first two Chicago shows by two to 25. Nine appeared that weren’t played at either of those ’09 concerts. Beyond the numbers, this show was better when taken on its own. The energy was higher from the start thanks to a setlist highly tuned from the tour’s 100 previous performances.

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As stadium shows go, this was one of the best you’ll see from an entertainment perspective. Let’s face it, Bono was born to play on a big stage. The Edge covers an enormous amount of ground with his guitar soundscapes. Adam Clayton fills a big space with his fluid, thumping bass. Larry Mullen’s propelling drumming keeps the crew on course with drive and force. They achieved liftoff with a blast at the start and stayed in orbit throughout the night.

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Of course, U2 has a lot of powerful songs in its reserve to achieve that. They opened with four from 1991’s Achtung Baby – “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” “The Fly,” “Mysterious Ways” and “Until the End of the World.” The fifth, “Out of Control,” was pulled from its 1980 debut, Boy. It wasn’t until “Get on Your Boots” that something from their latest album, No Line on the Horizon, received an airing. By contrast, the two shows at the start of the tour opened with four new songs and seven overall. Only three No Line on the Horizon songs were played this time. I’m not sure many people cared about that, but as great and rocking as this show was, it started to play out as a greatest-hits show and the high began to dull. The heavy reliance on old material was curious especially in light of reports the band has been working on dozens of new songs throughout the tour.

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Each band member was engaged throughout the show and they played some rarities. “Miss Sarajevo” followed by “Zooropa” in the middle of the set was a highlight. A treat at any U2 show is seeing what cover snippets Bono tacks on to U2 songs. He sang a couple lines from Bruce Springsteen’s “The Promised Land” at the end of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” for recently departed E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons, which was made more poignant by the fact that “The Big Man” played in Soldier Field in a 1985 Born in the U.S.A. Tour show. Other snippets included David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You,” Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer,” The Shirelle’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and Frank Sinatra’s “My Kind of Town.”

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Bono became the latest in a long line of musicians to be confused by a mixed response upon mention of one of the town’s baseball teams, in this case the Sox when he mentioned that Mullen took in the Sox game against Kansas City on the Fourth of July. “Ah, a lot of people came here from Kansas,” Bono replied to the boos triggered by the Sox mention, not that he was fazed by them. “Speaking of underwear, Sox….Adam has been taking his clothes off on the beach.” He continued joking, saying Mayor Rahm Emanuel had declared it Independence “Week” and instructing concertgoers to call the mayor’s office if they get in trouble for taking off the rest of the week. Then he turned serious with the country’s birthday still on his mind. “America is not just a country, but an idea,” Bono said, “and a lot of us have a stake in the idea and we want to clam it, too, even through the difficulties. As the mayor said, ‘Don’t bet against America.’”

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“We’re a work in progress,” Bono joked at one point during the show. In a way, though, that rings true. “We just want to dance,” he said during “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight.” “We just want to dream.” The conflict between rock spectacle and social consciousness, which on this night featured such mentions as Aung San Suu Kyi, Amnesty International and Sargent Shriver, appeared to be in conflict, or at least fighting for time. U2 has no peer when it comes to incorporating both to such an extent. The band’s legion of fans and the connection it makes with them speak for themselves. Chicago, in particular, has embraced the Irish group. “We’ve had some noisy shows, but…thank you,” Bono said after “Without or Without You.” “From the very beginning something special happened between our band and your city.”

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Taken by itself, the show was a huge triumph on an entertainment level, and that’s a massive accomplishment in front of 67,000 people. Yet you wondered if the band played the rather safe setlist with a modest goal of satisfying expectations as it fulfills obligations while waiting to work on its next project. When the band closed the show with a beautifully played, impromptu rarity, “One Tree Hill,” it served as a refreshing reminder that U2 can be even greater when it takes new chances.

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Even Better Than the Real Thing

The Fly

Mysterious Ways

Until the End of the World

Out of Control

Get on Your Boots

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For/The Promised Land

Stay (Faraway, So Close!)

Beautiful Day/Space Oddity

Elevation

Pride (In The Name of Love)

Miss Sarajevo

Zooropa

City of Blinding Lights/My Kind of Town

Vertigo/Miss You

I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight/Discotheque/Psycho Killer/Life During Wartime

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Scarlet

Walk On

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One

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow/Where the Streets Have No Name

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Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

With or Without You

Moment of Surrender

One Tree Hill

 

Start: 8:55 p.m./Finish: 11:16 p.m.

Totals: 25 songs, two hours and 21 minutes

 

 

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U2

July 5, 2011 @ Soldier Field

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