'This Is Our Last Chance': Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Live in D.C., 11.2.09

I could’ve gone home after “Jungleland” and been completely happy.

But the concert was only halfway over.

Bruce Springsteen and The Mighty E Street Band are in the stretch run of what is essentially a two-year globetrotting tour. While technically the Boss is promoting his latest album, January’s “Working on a Dream,” even the hardest working man in rock and roll realizes at this point that CD’s a clunker. Only two cuts appeared in the midst of a barnstorming, roof-shaking, foot-stomping, throat-searing, heart-stopping, joy-inducing set Monday night.

Instead, the “Working on a Dream” tour has morphed into an encore of the Reunion Tour from 1999-2000, when Bruce first put his legendary band back together after a decade apart. These last shows are a celebration of what this magnificent group has accomplished over the past three-plus decades, as each night Springsteen is playing one of his albums start to finish in the middle of the show.

Monday night it was “Born to Run,” and has a better pure rock and roll record ever been written? From the opening harmonica strains of “Thunder Road” to the final moan of “Jungleland,” it was impressed upon me once again that this album is just … perfection. “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” in particular, stood out, as it strutted and shimmied with a force not captured on the original recording. And then they finish “Backstreets” and I’m thinking, “How could you top that side?” Oh, well, flip the record over and you start with, hello, “Born to Run”—and, as always, the crowd explodes beneath the full house lights. “Born to Run” kills live, but it’s usually held back for a set-closer or an encore; played this early takes the show to an emotional level early that then never really goes away.

“She’s the One” has always been a personal fave, so I was thrilled to hear it in person. “Meeting Across the River” was long forgotten by Springsteen for years, but hearing it now made me wonder how that could possibly happen. Bruce has a trumpeter, Curt Ramm, out with him right now, which I guess is what makes this sparse track doable. Ramm was a virtuoso all night, taking spotlight moments on “Tenth Avenue,” “Rosalita,” and “Pink Cadillac,” among others. “Meeting” was mesmerizing.

I first started listening to Bruce Springsteen around the turn of the decade—summer 2000, as best I can recall, right as the Reunion Tour was wrapping up. For the better part of nine years I’ve been kicking myself for not getting on board just a year or two earlier, so I could have caught one of those legendary shows. I was left with the DVD as consolation, and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve watched it. One of the go-to tracks on those discs for me was “Jungleland,” and I figured I’d missed my chance, so oh well. When Monday night’s show was announced awhile back, I was on the fence about going—I was set to see Pearl Jam in Philly just two nights earlier; there’s the whole crappy-economy-and-$100-ticket-thing; and it’s a busy time of year for me.

On the other hand, I know the E Street Band isn’t going to be around forever. At the end of every leg for the past two years Springsteen fans speculate: “Is this it?” When the tour wraps in Buffalo in a few weeks, this could really be it. Bruce is now 60 years old, they’ve already lost Phantom Dan Federici, and the Big Man is toughing it out night in and night out. Though I’d seen Bruce three times prior, only one of those was with the band. This might have been my last shot. Nevertheless, I was conflicted. Right before the tickets went on sale, though, it was announced they would play “Born to Run” in its entirety. That meant one thing to me:

“Jungleland.”

I bought the ticket.

Though I don’t have anything to compare it to, I thought the rendition Monday night was spectacular. Clarence crushed his solo, and Bruce threw everything into it, which to play this song the way it should—or at all—I guess you have to for it not to become melodrama. It’s such a massive cut, so stirring, building and exploding and ebbing and flowing. Then after going out and back again, giving each member of the band a chance to shine, it comes back to Bruce and that series of wails. Those visceral howls don’t just summarize the song, but the entire album; it’s like hearing everything in sequence turned those final moments into something more than they would have been otherwise.

After “Jungleland” concluded, Bruce brought the band to the front of the stage for a bow, acknowledging the men who helped save his career with one of the pinnacle albums in rock history. And then … the show must go on. It was only 9:35, after all!

“Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” was like a splash of cold water coming out of “Born to Run.” I do not understand why he chooses this particular song to break the spell, but whatever. It’s just a bridge to the next big moment of the show: the requests. This phenomenon started during the “Magic” tour; fans in the pit bring song requests on signs, and Bruce wanders around and collects about two dozen, sifting through them on stage looking for a handful that strike his fancy. I’d read about this online, of course, and thought it sounded cool, but it's a whole different level of awesome in person.

The first sign he stood in front of the mic stand Monday night was “Stand on It,” a deep cut from the “Tracks” box set; the crowd didn’t seem to know it, but the swinging rocker didn’t take long to sink in. At the end of the song—with the band still playing, mind you—Bruce calls out a key change and they move seamlessly into “Seven Nights to Rock,” a little moment that was one of my favorite in the show. Bruce always says the band is playing better than it ever has, and that sounds like so much hyperbole until you see with your own eyes how they change gears instantly and with almost no warning, literally without missing a beat. The request section closed out wonderfully with two crowd favorites: a fantastic muscular version of “Growin’ Up,” and rattling rendition of “Pink Cadillac,” bathing the crowd in the appropriate color.

The main set ended with a trio of big rockers: “Lonesome Day” and “The Rising” followed by the always-welcome “Badlands,” which if you held a gun to my head I’d probably say is my favorite Springsteen song.

The encore builds in room to remember Springsteen’s folk turn earlier this decade, with full-band versions of “Hard Time” (written in 1855, Bruce said) and “American Land,” the rollicking twanger that closed the Seeger Sessions shows in 2006. Though seemingly an odd fit with the rest of the E Street-heavy show, they both went over quite well, “American Land,” especially.

Speaking of going over, uh, well (understatement), “No Surrender” and “Dancing in the Dark” were both incredible, and pointedly demonstrate how hard-rocking the songs on “Born in the U.S.A.” really are when you strip away the awful synthesizers.

And I guess feeling he hadn’t quite wrung every ounce of emotion out of the crowd Monday night, Springsteen closed the show with two of the most joyous concert experiences of my life: “Rosalita” and “Higher and Higher.” “Rosie,” of course, needs no introduction; this, along with “Jungleland,” was another of the songs I’d always wanted to experience in person but thought I never would. It did not disappoint.

Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” is a new addition to the set, brought back a couple weeks ago to close out Springsteen’s last Philadelphia Spectrum run. Prior to that, he hadn’t played it in more than 30 years, and after Monday I wonder what the heck took him so long. He’s played a bunch of covers on this tour, but I can’t imagine any being better than this. A true rock-and-roll revival, it left the crowd—me included—singing and smiling as we filed out of the arena.

Other notes:

• “Outlaw Pete” opened the show with an absolute thud. I hesitate to criticize since it was dedicated to Bruce’s cousin and tourmate who died last week, but, I’m sorry, this song sucks. The crowd greeted it with a collective “huh?” Not only that, but it’s so long, it steals stage time from TWO other potential choices. “Working on a Dream” isn’t much better, either. Like “Sunny Day,” my feeling is: If you have to encourage the crowd to sing along, Bruce, YOU shouldn’t be singing the song in the first place. See …

• “Hungry Heart” got the crowd going with the traditional first-verse singalong. Bruce continued a new tradition he started at Giants Stadium a few weeks ago where he walks the pit rail out toward the center of the arena floor, invoking his inner Bono. I was standing right under the main scoreboard, so he ended up about 15-20 feet from me, which was cool. He then crowd surfed back to the stage, and right before he got there he yelled “Big Man!” into the mic, signaling the sax solo. It was undeniably awesome.

• The band is doing this weird thing where they don’t actually leave the stage for an encore. After “Badlands” and “American Land,” they took their bows like they were going to exit, then just went back and picked up their instruments again and went at it.

• Springsteen was as active as ever. He worked the entire stage all night, making a giant sports arena feel like a little club. The guy works it like a man half his age. Amazing.

So, that’s it. If this tour really is IT for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, they'll leave the long and winding road in full command of their estimable powers.

And it feels right as you lock up the house

Turn out the lights and step out into the night …

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Verizon Center

Washington, D.C.

11.2.09

MAIN SET

Outlaw Pete

Prove It All Night

Hungry Heart

Working on a Dream

***

Thunder Road

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

Night

Backstreets

Born to Run

She’s the One

Meeting Across the River

Jungleland

***

Waitin’ on a Sunny Day

Stand on It

Seven Nights to Rock

Growin’ Up

Pink Cadillac

Lonesome Day

The Rising

Badlands

ENCORE

Hard Times

No Surrender

American Land

Dancing in the Dark

Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

(You’re Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher

Boss Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes

‘It Felt Good To Be Alive’: The Gaslight Anthem, Live at 9:30, 10.22.09

Heading into Thursday night’s sold-out Gaslight Anthem show at D.C.’s 9:30 Club, I wondered if the band’s amazing summer changed them at all.

This time last year they were openers for a punk tour and playing little places like Virginia Beach's Jewish Mother. But by this summer their latest album, “The ’59 Sound,” was blowing up and all of a sudden they were playing European festivals in front of thousands and Bruce Springsteen was joining them onstage.

Success of that sort—at that speed—could crush a band. How many times have we seen it happen? Thankfully, The Gaslight Anthem seem to have taken it in stride … and just gotten better. Thursday’s show was the best of the three I’ve seen this year (you can read about the others here and here).

The band displayed a new level of crispness that can only come from playing these songs a couple hundred times over the past year. And yet none of it felt forced or put on; they attacked their barnstorming set with the same ferocity as when there used to be only a couple hundred people in the audience. They had a few more lights roaming around the room, and a big banner draped along the back of the stage, but otherwise this was everything about the band I've come to know and love.

I think the 9:30 Club had a lot to do with the extra kick in Thursday's show. Frontman Brian Fallon acknowledged the history of the place and all the legendary musicians who’ve played there over the years; you could tell it meant something for him to be in a position in his life to sell the room out. And there’s a reason why bands love to play there: It’s a great venue for a concert (once you get inside, anyway). There’s not a bad view in the house (we were up in the balcony for the first time and will now ALWAYS be there from now on; awesome vantage point—especially of Benny Horowitz’s maniacal drumming), and the soundsystem is outstanding. The mix was absolutely perfect and crystal clear.

Gaslight’s been touring on “’59 Sound” for more than a year now, and the set stays basically the same—loaded with tracks from the new album, and then sprinkling in the rest of their catalog as time and space allows and the mood strikes. Thursday was no different, as we got all but one track from the new album, missing just “Meet Me By the River’s Edge” (more’s the pity). The biggest change for these fall shows is moving “High Lonesome” into the opening slot; the song’s avalanche of a drum roll is a fantastic way to kickstart a concert. I love “Great Expecations” as an opener, too, but such a great song deserves its own “moment” in the show, which now it has pushed back toward the end of the main set.

“The ’59 Sound” is a major highlight of any show. If there’s anyone still on the fence by the time this monster makes its arrival in the sixth slot, all doubts are erased. This song gets everyone in the room excited.

Every time, though, there’s a different section of the set that jumps out at me for some reason. Thursday night it was the hammering three-pack of “The Patient Ferris Wheel” (a song I always forget I like so much live until I hear it again), “Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?” (one of my Gaslight faves, which featured a slight, if charming, lyrical flub by Fallon), and “Drive.” Fallon introduced the latter as “the first song we ever wrote together”; it doesn’t get played every night, but it should—this song killed Thursday.

Fallon was certainly in good spirits (when is he not?), channeling the band’s perfect mix of upbeat intensity; somehow these guys have fun and stay focused at the same time. Prior to “Ferris Wheel” he told a rambling story about wandering around D.C. and buying Bob Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks” just because he couldn’t bear to see it lying discarded in a bargain bin; or how he had a tattoo artist come over to the club before the show to add some ink to his leg—not thinking that may not be the best idea a couple hours before playing a concert. His voice was without question in the best shape I’ve heard this year—he didn’t even need the customary two or three songs to get the frog out of his throat this time, and he consistently hit all the necessary high notes all night.

“Angry Johnny and the Radio” was back in the main set—The Clash's “Straight to Hell” bridge snippet included—but I much prefer it as a show closer. Pairing the rabble-rouser with “Expectations” was pretty awesome, though.

Thursday’s show was 10 minutes and a couple songs longer than Gaslight’s typical set, and one of the additions followed “Expectations” as Fallon audibled with “The Navesink Banks” from 2007’s “Sink or Swim.” He paired it with “Here’s Lookin’ at You, Kid” for “the slow section of the show.” “Backseats” closed out the main set with its usual thunder and lightning—may it never change!

Releasing a record as great as “The ’59 Sound” means Gaslight unfortunately plays less songs off their other great record, “Sink or Swim.” The fabulous “1930” opened the encore with an explosion; it’s amazing the band’s catalog is already so deep this masterpiece isn’t an every-night staple.

The Gaslight Anthem’s cover choices are superb. I continue to carry a torch for a personal viewing of Pearl Jam’s “State of Love and Trust,” but every cover I’ve heard them play—either in person or via bootleg—is outstanding. Thursday night they busted out a true-to-original version of Hot Water Music’s “Trusty Chords,” a fitting tribute to one of the band’s obvious predecessors and influences.

And then the show was over—all too quickly—with “Say I Won’t (Recognize),” this time featuring a snippet of The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun.” Fallon promised they’d be back next year, with—most exciting to this fan—a new record in tow.

This show was incredible. It’s left me buzzing for two days now. Hope it never stops.

The Gaslight Anthem

9:30 Club

Washington, D.C.

10.22.09

MAIN SET

High Lonesome

Casanova, Baby!

Old White Lincoln

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

We Came to Dance

The ’59 Sound

Film Noir

Miles Davis & the Cool

The Patient Ferris Wheel

Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?

Drive

Angry Johnny and the Radio/Straight to Hell (snippet)

Great Expectations

The Navesink Banks

Here’s Lookin’ at You, Kid

Backseats

ENCORE

1930

Blue Jeans and White T-Shirts

Trusty Chords (Hot Water Music cover)

Say I Won’t (Recognize)/House of the Rising Sun (snippet)

Show Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes

OPENERS: Murder by Death

The Gaslight Anthem have a tendency to bring some odd choices out with them on the road, such as last spring’s Heartless Bastards and this tour’s Murder by Death. These are not punk-show bands by any stretch of the imagination, but it shows how Gaslight are open to anything—as long as it’s good.

Murder by Death’s latest release, “Red of Tooth and Claw” is probably my favorite album of the year (even though it was released in 2008), and the band didn’t disappoint with their 40-minute set at the 9:30 Club. Frontman Adam Turla’s between-song banter was a bit annoying, but his musical performance was excellent—especially a solo cover of “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” And how often do you see a cellist at a rock show? Their modern-day cowboy songs translated exceptionally well to the live setting.

Be A Part of This 'Community'

NBC continues to take a lot of heat in the media for its ratings, but they deserve prime-time kudos for making Thursday nights Must-See TV again.

It takes guts on the network's part to offer the current two-hour comedy lineup on Thursdays featuring four high-concept shows that don't go for the cheap laugh and instead try and offer a higher level of comedy quality.

"The Office" anchors the whole thing, of course, and last week's wedding episode was about as well done as a "big" installment gets. I'm no fan of "30 Rock," but I understand why those who are love it so much. Also holding over from last year is "Parks and Recreation"; yes, it basically sucks, but at least it tries to be something more than a dumb sitcom.

New to the block is "Community," which is my favorite new show of the season (OK, so the only other new show I'm watching is "FlashForward," but still …). "Community" is the kind of show that may not make you belly laugh too many times in the moment, but you'll be chuckling to yourself and talking about it to your friends long after the credits roll. It's clever and smart and just all-around likable. "The Soup's" Joel McHale is a great leading man, but every cast member is perfectly chosen—especially a refreshingly mellow Chevy Chase—and the characters get funnier and deeper with every passing week. Each episode has been better than the last, but unfortunately the ratings-challenged show probably won't last long, so catch it while you can (8 p.m.).

These aren't laugh-track shows throwing out stupid one-liners all night long. They're a cut above, and NBC deserves credit where credit is due.

‘A Place That Has to Be Believed to Be Seen’: U2, Live at FedEx Field, 9.29.09

U2 has entered the building …

It’s always a big deal when U2 come to town, but when they come to town and play a stadium, it’s an event. News choppers and everything.

Yes, U2’s 360 Tour is a different animal from anything else you’ve ever seen—at least since the last time this band played stadiums, anyway. Everything’s bigger: The venue, the crowd, the stage. Oh … the stage.

FedEx Field is one of the largest stadiums in the country, with seated capacity of about 92,000 (not including the thousands standing on the field). And yet, The Claw made the place feel … well, if not small, then normal at least. The Claw is gigantic. I saw pictures on the Internet beforehand, of course, but it still can’t prepare you for being in its inimitable presence.

Just for reference: The Claw measures 160 feet tall and its footprint stretches from the end zone to about the 40-yard line. It features a 360-degree video screen looming above the main stage. Then there’s an outer runway (similar to the last two U2 tours), connected to the center stage by two bridges that move throughout the show based on where Bono & Co. need to be at a given moment. They built three of these monsters to move the tour around the world; while the band played underneath the one at FedEx Tuesday night, others were under construction in Charlottesville and Charlotte.

The Claw is amazing; Bono described it as a spaceship, and that just about does it.

U2 haven’t attempted a spectacle of this type since the 1990s, with their back-to-back tour extravaganzas known as ZooTV and PopMart. I didn’t attend those treks, but I’ve seen the videos; the difference between those and 360 is a stronger focus on the music. The Claw certainly plays into everything, but this tour still feels like a rock concert, not a Cirque show. Still, with something so big to work around, the 360 Tour certainly is quite scripted, with the bandmembers seemingly “hitting their marks” at specific points in the show.

What that means, though, is the setlist is crafted to darn near perfection. The songs flowed beautifully from one to another throughout the night, and the selections, on the whole, are right on.

“Breathe,” off the new album, is a killer opener, with Larry Mullen opening the show under a pale spotlight with his thundering drum solo before the rest of the band explodes into the song. Bono, in particular, deserves extra credit here; the rambling style of his lyrics on this track could be troublesome to pull off live, but he nails them.

“Magnificent,” on the other hand, is not quite as good in the live setting as I’d hoped, perhaps because it’s a bit subtler of a song than I thought; “Get on Your Boots,” on the other hand, works really well and packs a huge punch, despite Bono calling it a song “we can hardly play.” “Mysterious Ways” closed the opening salvo on a high, sounding perhaps stronger on this tour than it ever has. “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” meanwhile, seems on the surface like maybe too quiet a song to hold such a huge venue, but exactly the opposite occurred. I’ve heard “Still Haven’t Found” during each of the tours I’ve attended this decade, and this was the best version yet; the singalong is a little tougher to accomplish in such a place, but this song reached everyone from the people standing at Bono’s feet to those all the way up in the nosebleeds, filling the cavernous stadium’s every nook and cranny.

You start to feel the brilliant pacing of the show by this point. “Still Haven’t Found” took the foot off the gas just a touch, but ramped up the emotions. “Elevation” up next puts everything back on blast, but then they ease off again with the most difficult song of the night, “Your Blue Room.” This unearthed track from the all but unknown Passengers period of the mid-’90s was without question the “bathroom break” moment of the show, but I give U2 credit for doing it anyway. It was weird, gutsy, and, for me, totally worked, if for nothing else than it’s so unexpected in a venue of this size. As strange as it may seem, it really meshes well with the narrative of the show, which is all about “liftoff,” as in the background there were samples of astronauts speaking about viewing Earth from space. Much of the 360 show you kinda have to be there to understand, and this is one of those times.

Anybody who felt a little lost, though, found a touchstone immediately afterward as the band launched into “Beautiful Day,” which still holds up just fine nearly a decade after its debut. It was paired with another warhorse, “New Year’s Day,” which sounds as lively as ever with Edge venturing to the “back” of the stage for his piano/guitar two-step that is always mesmerizing. U2 can play this song at every show I ever attend, if they would like (though please don’t try and ruin it with any more Ted Kennedy dedications, Bono!). And you wouldn’t guess it just from looking at the setlist, but “Stuck in a Moment,” just Bono and Edge acoustic (as I definitely prefer the song), was a showstopper. Strip away all the lights and gizmos and whatever, and these two guys can still get it done all by themselves, no problem.

But those lights and gizmos sure are fun. The next section of the show was by far my favorite, because it made the most use of The Claw. Up until this point, the monster was basically just a backdrop, with some cool lighting and, again, those moving bridges. But leading into “The Unforgettable Fire,” the central video screen expanded, descending almost to the main stage to create a giant cone of light. Meanwhile, the rest of the structure showed off more of its tricks, too: During “City of Blinding Lights,” spotlights shot out of the top that you could probably see from Pennsylvania, much less Pennsylvania Avenue. A special shout-out to “Vertigo,” too, which holds up quite well and was the best rave-up song of the night.

So this brings us to my favorite moment of the entire show—who would have thought it would be “I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”? The band’s reworked the pop/rock track from “No Line On the Horizon” into a loopy house-mix beast, with disco lights aflutter all over the arena and Bono rapping Fly-style over the top of a club beat led by Larry strutting around the runway playing bongos (“Larry Mullen wants to go crazy,” Bono quipped, “Larry Mullen is crazy!”). It’s the closest this band has sounded to “Pop” in a decade (think “Discotheque”); you just gotta see it to believe how awesome it is.

It may seem impossible to move from the frivolity of “Crazy Tonight” to the gut-punch of “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” but Bono accomplished it effortlessly by repeating the key phrase of “Crazy”—“A change of heart comes slow”—and leading into a dedication of the band’s biggest and best protest song to the objectors in Iran, The Claw decked out in Iranian green to match. The final couplet of the main set, “MLK” leading into “Walk On,” was dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, an imprisoned Burmese activist whom the song was originally written for. During the song people from backstage came out on the runway holding up Kyi masks in front of their faces, but it didn’t come off too well—better to just let the song do its thing, I think.

You can’t really go wrong with the two choices for the first encore, “One” and “Where the Streets Have No Name,” but the former continues to be less and less meaningful as Bono uses it more as a campaign slogan than an actual song. This time around it featured a recorded video intro from Desmond Tutu (remember his shout out from “Rattle and Hum”?), and Bono thanked President Bush for his help in AIDS drugs for Africa (side note: Bush received no boos that I heard, but Nancy Pelosi certainly did earlier in the night).

"Streets"

I don’t exactly understand why, but U2 have a long history of closing their shows with mellow songs, and the 360 Tour is no exception. “Ultraviolet (Light My Way)” started things off on a high note, with Bono donning a jacket outfitted with red lights while he swings around on an awesome steering wheel-style microphone that drops from The Claw and lights up his face. “Ultraviolet” is a big, big highlight of this show.

Light my way …

“With or Without You,” up next, is one of those songs I never look forward to in a U2 show, but always get swept up in when it hits. It was no different here, as FedEx was bathed in sparkling light from The Claw. I’m still not sold on “Moment of Surrender” as a finale, meanwhile. It’s reminiscent of closing ZooTV with “Love Is Blindness.” That’s not to say it’s not an excellent song, though, because it is and certainly deserves a prominent spot in this tour. U2 obviously know what they’re doing, but I’d consider flipping “Surrender” and “With or Without You” to wrap the night.

On a technical level, the band sounded as good or better than I’ve ever heard them in person. They were sharp, crisp, and Bono’s voice has almost returned to its 1980s-era depth and glory. Unfortunately, in an open-air venue, wind played a definite factor in the sound quality; when a gust came up, it made the music warble. Certainly no complaints about the setlist, either, as it caters to both new and old, hardcore and casual fans. The U2 nuts get chestnuts like “Unforgettable Fire,” “Ultraviolet,” and “Your Blue Room,” while those who may have only bought a couple U2 CDs in the past 20 years still hear the Big Three from “The Joshua Tree” and, presumably, go home happy.

On an emotional level, though, 360 left me a bit cool. The show is more spectacle than spectacular. Though it’s not garish like ZooTV or PopMart, it’s still inevitably choreographed, and unless you waited all day for a good spot on the field, you’re gonna be way, way far away from the stage and end up watching the monitors more than the band members. I knew this going in, though; looking forward to the spectacle, I was not disappointed. I’m glad I was able to take the whole thing in because The Claw is a sight to behold—no matter where you are in the stadium, you'll think you have the coolest view.

I left the show ebullient but not emotionally moved, and I definitely don’t feel the need to go again right away the way I have on previous tours. Maybe if they come around again next summer I’ll take my chances on the grass.

U2

FedEx Field

Landover, Maryland

9.29.09

MAIN SET

Breathe

Magnificent

Get on Your Boots

Mysterious Ways

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

Elevation

Your Blue Room

Beautiful Day

New Year’s Day

Stuck in a Moment (Bono & Edge acoustic)

The Unforgettable Fire

City of Blinding Lights

Vertigo

Crazy Tonight

Sunday Bloody Sunday

MLK/Walk On

FIRST ENCORE

One

Where the Streets Have No Name

SECOND ENCORE

Ultraviolet (Light My Way)

With or Without You

Moment of Surrender

Show time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

‘No Line on the Horizon,’ U2

Author's note: I’ll be seeing U2 in a few hours. Before I do, however, I felt it necessary to finally write about the band’s current album, “No Line on the Horizon,” which arrived way back in March.

UPDATE (9.30.09): After last night's show I already need to amend a couple things in this review, and they both involve "Breathe." U2 opened with that song last night at FedEx Field, and it absolutely killed. "Breathe" now does, in fact, seem worthy of classic status in the band's catalog, and is now my favorite track off the album. Great show. You should see it if you can. More to come when I'm not dizzy with fatigue.

U2’s albums since 1991’s masterpiece “Achtung Baby” are fraught with peaks and valleys: for every “Beautiful Day” there’s a “Peace on Earth”; for every “Please” there’s a “Miami.” I don’t know that “No Line on the Horizon” climbs quite as high as those previous records, but it certainly doesn't slip as far. It’s actually shocking in its consistency, prompting me to call “No Line on the Horizon” their best work in nearly two decades. Here’s why:

‘No Line on the Horizon’

It wasn’t that big of a surprise to me that U2 pulled “Ultra Violet” out for this year’s tour, because that’s the first song I thought of when I heard this title track that opens the record.

This song works perfectly as the opener—it sets the tone so well as an introduction to the lyrical and musical themes to follow, it feels almost more like a prelude than an “official” song (kinda like AFI does with their albums—or "Zoo Station," for that matter). By reviving that rolling guitar riff/drumbeat so prevalent on “Achtung Baby,” the song recaptures the adventurous spirit that spurred U2 to epic artistic leaps in the 1990s.

The dominant theme of the album is the way Bono finds God through song (“let me in the sound …”), and he establishes all of that right from the start, using a woman as metaphor for music. The general idea is all there right in the title, though: there’s no objective, no endpoint the band’s striving to reach with this record. They’re just mates in the studio, “hatching some plot, scheming some scheme,” freeing themselves from expectations and destinations.

This song has grown on me a great deal over the past six months. I love the way it builds and builds, each verse and chorus revealing a little bit more of the band until the two-minute mark when Mullen really starts pounding the drums and Bono hits the “oooooohhhhhs.” It’s a nice hello from U2 after an absence that lasted way too long.

4.5 STARS

‘Magnificent’

If there’s a song on this album that could hold its own with U2 classics, this is it. “Magnificent” is an absolute monster, somehow managing to combine all the sounds the band’s experimented with over its career into 5 minutes and 24 seconds. There’s classic Edge guitar work mingling with modern, “Pop”-era Edge guitar effects (that staccato thing he does diving into every chorus is just sick). Meanwhile, Larry and Adam’s sinewy rhythm is straight out of the dance-track vibe of the 1990s, but takes breaks for ’80s-era muscle.

And Bono … wow. In a Rolling Stone article from earlier this year he said the goal was to create modern-day hymns, and that effort starts right here. After so long searching for and arguing with God, it seems Bono’s finally found some rest for his weary soul. This album finds him probably the most overtly spiritual (in a positive light, anyway), since “October.” Here the word “love” is used for “God,” as Bono praises the Almighty for his life’s many blessings, including his gift for music and his salvation. To try and pull a quote from this powerhouse of a track is impossible, because every line is equally important (just go read them here). This is the first step in a movement toward humility Bono addresses throughout this record.

“Magnificent” is aptly titled. It’s a song of pure joy on every level.

5 STARS

‘Moment of Surrender’

As uplifting as “Magnificent” is, that song probably wouldn’t exist without this one. Here the man who once cursed at God in song lies broken and submissive before Him. I don’t know if Bono had Johnny Cash’s “I Came to Believe” in mind when he wrote these lyrics, but the songs both speak of God cracking through a man’s stubbornness and capturing his soul. Consider this glorious section alone:

It’s not if I believe in love

But if love believes in me

Oh, believe in me

The song speaks more directly to Bono’s need for humility. Here one of the most recognizable men on the planet, who’s daily schedule I cannot even begin to comprehend, sings of letting go the trappings of his crazy life in favor of utter rapture with God. He sought “vision over visibility,” and was so caught up in his spiritual breakthrough that even the passers-by “didn’t notice me.”

You’d think a song stretching more than seven minutes long would grow a bit stale at some point, but that’s not the case here. It’s a quite simple track, really, where Clayton’s bass plays the lead role and The Edge is mostly nonexistent in his traditional form; when the lead guitar does make its first major appearance five minutes in, even that is a plain, straightforward, sparse blues solo.

“Moment of Surrender” is nonetheless a difficult song—arresting. This is not a track to just pass time with. It reminds me of “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own” (from 2004’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”) in that way. If you’re not in the mood for the punch it packs, then best skip ahead to the pop songs and come back later.

Producer Brian Eno calls “Moment of Surrender” a miracle in that, like “One,” the song came together almost entirely in just one take. “Surrender” isn’t as good as “One,” but it's in that vein.

4.5 STARS

‘Unknown Caller’

The producing duo of Eno and Danny Lanois receives writing credits on each of the first four tracks, but this is the first time their influence is palpable, with the dramatic transitions from verse to avant-garde chorus.

Musically, I love “Unknown Caller”; the Pink Floyd-esque grandeur of the choruses is one of my favorite elements of the record. But Bono frustrates me on this one: He puts some of his best lines right up against some of his worst, particularly the Mac-centric techy entries that distract from the furthering of the humility theme this song addresses. “Force quit and move to trash” is not a line written to last.

3.5 STARS

‘I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight’

“No Line on the Horizon” divides rather well into three distinct sections. This is the beginning of the album’s middle trio, where U2 says goodbye to Eno and Lanois for a little while and just does their pop/rock thing.

“Crazy Tonight” (as it should have been called—what is it with these unwieldy titles lately?) is exactly the type of song U2’s been writing since the beginning of this decade as part of their quest to reclaim their title as World’s Biggest Band. The big, clean Edge riffs, catchy rhythm, nice bass line, singalong chorus. They do this modern pop/rock thing probably better than anybody.

It’s also the first song on the record where Bono’s being Bono as we’ve come to know him this millennium. He sends out a call to “change the world” and implores nations to listen to the crazy ideas of its “little boys and girls,” who he encourages to strive for greatness. It’s kinda generic, but the song gets bonus points for some of the funniest lines of the record, such as “Every beauty needs to go out with an idiot,” and “The right to be ridiculous is something I hold dear.”

I like “Crazy Tonight.” It goes down smooth and easy, as it’s supposed to. I know U2 can seemingly write these songs in their sleep (see “Stand Up Comedy” in a minute …), but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good, and that they don’t do them with conviction. This track isn’t as awesome as “Beautiful Day,” but it's a big step up from “Miracle Drug.”

3.5 STARS

‘Get on Your Boots’

Where is it written U2 aren’t allowed to have a little fun?

“Get on Your Boots” completes a new-millennium trilogy of mean, dirty rave ups that started with “Elevation” in 2000 and continued with “Vertigo” in 2004, two songs reviled by the hardcore fanbase for, I don’t know, having a little fun or something—as if every song they write has to aspire to be “Where the Streets Have No Name.” (Seriously, they get crushed by critics for being self-righteous world-savers, and crushed by fans for not writing tear-inducing lyrics on every track. They can't win, even though they try to split the atom on this record. But I digress …)

I love this track. I love that it compels me to reach for the volume knob and twist to the right. I love how much swagger it takes for a group of nearly 50-somethings to even attempt—much less pull off—a song as in your face as this one. I love that it was nothing like what I was expecting from the first single. I love that it reminds me of “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.” And I LOVE that little throwaway line at the 1:39 mark where after Bono sings “I don’t want to talk about the wars between the nations” he yelps “NOT RIGHT NOW!” That’s one of my favorite single seconds on the entire record.

“Get on Your Boots” is flush with youthful exuberance and the devil-may-care spirit that created albums like “Zooropa” and “Passengers.” It’s brash, it’s polarizing, and it balls-out rocks.

4.5 STARS

‘Stand Up Comedy’

There’s a song like “Stand Up Comedy” on each of the preceding U2 albums this decade: A solid, groovy rocker with a catchy riff and hummable melody that still isn’t quite good enough to be worthy of playing live on tour. “Stand Up Comedy” is “When I Look at the World” from 2000; it’s “Crumbs from Your Table” in 2004.

So if an album should be judged by its supposed weakest track, then what does it say about “No Line on the Horizon” that “Stand Up Comedy” is pretty darn good? Larry beats the ever-lovin’ crap out of his skins on this track (he’s great all the way through this album, really, the most forceful he’s been in years). Bono’s delivery is passionate and varied, and he spits out one of the best self-deprecating couplets of his career with “Stand up to rock stars, Napolean is in high heels/Josephine be careful of small men with big ideas.” And I really like the little “hmm-hmms” that you can only hear well on a good pair of headphones.

So what’s the problem? It’s the name. Stupid, stupid name. No one is ever going to want to admit “Stand Up Comedy” is their favorite U2 song. Never gonna happen.

3.5 STARS

‘FEZ—Being Born’

This unfolds in movements, much like “Zooropa” from 1993. Though the lyrics are just snatches of images, their purpose is more to accentuate the mood of the lush music than anything else. U2 haven’t written a track this ambitious in forever; it probably will never be played live and certainly would never make it to an iPod commercial; it’s a decidedly album-oriented endeavor, with soaring guitar and vocal that transition away from the three-pack of pop/rock songs and into the dense latter third of “No Line on the Horizon.”

“FEZ—Being Born” isn’t a song composed by men trying to reclaim their title as World’s Biggest Band. It’s the type of song being the biggest band in the world allows you to write. There’s definitely a time and place for tracks like this, but this band hasn’t been in that space for a decade. It’s refreshing to have them back there once again.

This is my favorite track on the album (notice I didn’t say best).

4.5 STARS

‘White as Snow’

There’s a lot of different versions of U2 on this album, personas that crop up from their past, and “White as Snow” showcases yet another. This pastoral, contemplative, spiritual gem is a look-back to the band’s earnest work of the 1980s—songs like “MLK,” “40,” or “Tomorrow" come to mind.

“White as Snow” is a look-back lyrically, as well, with Bono as nakedly worshipful as he’s ever been. The song contains one of the best verses of the entire record:

Once I knew there was a love divine

Then came a time I thought it knew me not

Who can forgive forgiveness where forgiveness is not

Only the lamb as white as snow

And this is as good a place as any, I suppose, to mention the restoration of Bono’s vocal cords, which he considers a miracle. There was a time when it appeared his voice was on its way out for good (see: "Pop"), but it came back to him sometime after the death of his father. Bono was back in fine form by the time U2 recorded “Atomic Bomb,” but he sounds like a man half his age on this album, “White as Snow,” in particular.

4 STARS

‘Breathe’

Welcome to the second monster track of “No Line on the Horizon.” The song gathers its clouds like a brewing storm, Larry rumbling to life with drums of doom and leading to a scathing Edge riff, his best on an album full of them. Bono joins the fray in a totally new beatnik persona, his words stumbling over one another through the verses before exploding into anthemic choruses in the great U2 stadium-shaking tradition, like bursts of sunlight blasting away the rain.

I read this as yet another Bono spiritual, addressing in the first verse once more his conversion (“Three!” = The Holy Trinity). Buying God’s cockatoo then gives him the ability to face his fears and “walk out into the street … with a love you can’t defeat.”

The last third of “Breathe” is all heavenward praise. In the Rolling Stone article, Bono says, to him, all music is worship (a notion I wholeheartedly agree with, given certain parameters), and the conclusion of this song is Bono putting that idea to words and the band putting it to music. The last two verses just smash into you in waves:

We are people borne of sound

The songs are in our eyes

Gonna wear them like a crown

Walk out, into the sunburst street

Sing your heart out, sing my heart out

I’ve found grace inside a sound

I found grace, it’s all that I found

And I can breathe

Breathe now

To this fan, these are nine of the best lines Bono’s ever written, bringing conclusion to the “let me in the sound” quest that is the overriding theme of “No Line on the Horizon.” They explode at the crescendo of a simply massive track, and music and meaning come together to summarize all that I love about this band.

The final 1 minute, 30 seconds of “Breathe” is now one of my favorite passages of any U2 song. Ever.

5 STARS

‘Cedars of Lebanon’

Why U2 chose to include this song—much less END the album with it—I do not know. “Breathe” works as a the perfect album closer, both thematically and musically; “Lebanon” feels merely like some weird, jarring coda.

Here Bono does his best Lou Reed impersonation in a spoken-word performance we haven’t heard since 1997’s “If You Wear That Velvet Dress.” In an album that to this point is largely apolitical, it’s an odd choice to close with a first-person narrative of a war correspondent contemplating the horrors before him and the family he’s left behind. To say it’s depressing is an understatement. Plus, it includes the worst moment on the entire record: the single-line chorus “Return the call to home,” sung by (I think) Edge and Eno in ridiculous falsettos is just horrendous.

“No Line on the Horizon” is, in total, an uplifting, spiritual, personal album. This song is none of those things. On its own merit “Cedars of Lebanon” isn’t bad—compelling, even. But it’s far from a fitting finale for what is otherwise U2’s best album in nearly two decades.

2.5 STARS

FINAL THOUGHTS

Bono was asked years ago to judge “Atomic Bomb,” and he said it wasn’t as great as the sum of its parts. “No Line on the Horizon” is the opposite. While even the best tracks on this album may have trouble cracking the U2 canon, the record as a whole is the most consistent effort this band has recorded since 1991.

While it definitely isn’t a third masterpiece to accompany “The Joshua Tree” and “Achtung Baby,” it's the closest they've come in a while. I rank “No Line on the Horizon” certainly among the next tier of U2 albums alongside the likes of “Boy” and “Zooropa.” They dug deep for this one, took their time, and in so doing found new sources and combinations of sound, reinventing themselves once more without sacrificing the touchstones that make them who they are. A record like “No Line on the Horizon” is exactly why U2 is not just the biggest but one of best bands in the world—out there earning it, with new material that holds its own against the old. To deliver a work of this stature this far into their career is … magnificent.

Grade: A-

Author's note (again): Back in March I "live-blogged" my initial thoughts on the album. I did not go back and look at those when writing this piece, but they can be found here.