U2 in Concert at NRG

Everything old is new again at powerful U2 concert, with an ending surprise

“How long must we sing this song?”

Bono and the members of U2 have been asking that question for a long time — since 1983 when “Sunday Bloody Sunday” debuted as the first song of the band’s third album, War.

In the wake of the terrorist attack at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester and a correspondingly beefed up security presence around NRG Stadium, the question seemed more relevant than ever. “We’re so sick of it,” Bono shouted over Larry Mullen, Jr’s propulsive drumming and The Edge’s soaring guitar.

But then, everything old is new again for the famous Irish foursome. Bono once said, “There’s no reverse gear on this tank,” but the band’s new tour celebrates the 30th anniversary of their iconic album The Joshua Tree. "New Year’s Day" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" quickly followed Sunday. Then the band began to play the album in sequence: every song from "Where the Streets Have No Name" to "Mothers of the Disappeared."

Highlights included The Edge’s thundering solos on “Bullet the Blue Sky” and “In God’s Country,” Bono’s self-described “shite harmonica play” on “I Trip Through Your Wires,” and Adam Clayton’s classic bass line on “With Or Without You.”

Just as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" feels more relevant than ever, so too do the songs written when conservative leaders in both America (Reagan then, Trump now) and the U.K. (Thatcher then, May now) have reignited debates about whether we should commit to “Carry each other / Carry each other” (yeah, I just album hopped).

While the days of the band dressing up like the Village People and emerging from a gigantic, lemon-shaped mirror ball are long behind — so are the songs from Boy, October, Rattle & Hum, Zooropa, Pop, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, No Line on the Horizon and their most recent work, Songs of Innocence — the stage setup still impresses with both its scale and its simplicity. No pyro, no fancy light shows: just a massive screen, 200 feet long and 45 feet tall, that displayed the band’s performance and a series of short films created by frequent U2 collaborator Anton Corbijn using new footage from places like Death Valley and Zabriskie Point.

The ultra-widescreen and 8k visuals provided a stunning backdrop for the band, at times displaying a dusty road for “Where the Streets Have No Name” or women holding candles during “Mothers of the Disappeared.” The screen also served as a backing band for “Red Hill Mining Town,” courtesy of a Salvation Army brass ensemble that played along with the song.

After U2 reached the end of The Joshua Tree, two songs from the '90s received fresh interpretations. “Miss Sarajevo” from the Passengers album has been renamed “Miss Syria (Sarajevo)” and featured footage filmed at the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan, where some 80,000 Syrian refugees currently live, according to information provided by the band. "Ultra Violet (Light My Way)", an Achtung Baby deep cut about the redemptive power of love, has been reinterpreted as a tribute to great feminists throughout history, including Texas icons Laura Bush and Ann Richards.

Speaking of the former first lady, Bono made sure to acknowledge both her and former President George W. Bush’s efforts to support the ONE campaign that made it possible for 18 million HIV/AIDS patients in Africa to receive life-saving medicine.

While it’s strange not to hear hits like “Mysterious Ways” and “Desire,” to say nothing of personal favorites like "Out of Control" and "Stay," the band played enough familiar tunes during the encore — "Bad," "Beautiful Day," "Elevation," and "One" — to ensure that no one left unsatisfied. As expected, the multi-generational crowd ranged from eight to 80 — Lynn Wyatt sat a few rows in front of me — and most people seemed to know all the words to all the songs.

But just in case anyone was feeling too nostalgic, Bono had a surprise. The band closed with a new song titled “The Little Things That Give You Away.”

Maybe they still have a few tricks up their sleeves after all.

Setlist:

Sunday Bloody Sunday
New Year’s Day
Pride (In the Name of Love)

The Joshua Tree
Where the Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
With or Without You
Bullet the Blue Sky
Running to Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
In God’s Country
I Trip Through Your Wires
One Tree Hill
Exit
Mothers of the Disappeared

Encore 1:
Miss Syria (Sarajevo)
Bad

Encore 2:
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
One
The Little Things That Give You Away

U2 brought The Joshua Tree to NRG Stadium.

U2 The Joshua Tree 30th anniversary tour

Photo by Danny North

U2 brought The Joshua Tree to NRG Stadium.

concerts

Movie Review

Fawning Michael Jackson biopic Michael ignores the singer's complexities

Photo by Glen Wilson

Jaafar Jackson in Michael.

Michael Jackson remains among the most complicated figures in pop culture history. On one hand, he’s responsible for some of the most enduring music of all time, thrilling generations with his voice and dance moves. But his later years were marred by accusations of child sexual abuse and erratic behavior, including his premature death at the age of 50.

So the new biopic Michael is a tough one to judge from a critical standpoint, not least because director Antoine Fuqua and writer John Logan have elided — perhaps temporarily — the thornier parts of Michael’s history. Instead, this film focuses on the 20-year period in which Michael (played as an adult by Michael’s nephew Jaafar Jackson) goes from the prepubescent lead singer of the Jackson 5 to one of the biggest music superstars of all time.

That choice puts an overly sympathetic tint to Michael’s story, as he spends most of that time under the thumb of his domineering father, Joseph (Colman Domingo). Joseph has a vision for Michael and his brothers, and he pushes them hard in a quest to become rich and famous. Even when they achieve that goal, though, Joseph refuses to let up, holding onto Michael even when it’s clear he should go out on his own.

As a reminder of the enormous impact Michael Jackson had on the music industry and world at large, the film is successful. Fuqua and Logan include plenty of music, naturally, but they seem to be most interested in depicting Michael as a human being. They lay it on thick, whether it’s showing him spending time among his family members away from the stage, hanging out with bodyguard Bill Bray (KeiLyn Durrel Jones), or visiting sick kids in hospitals. The message that Michael is a harmless, good person couldn’t be clearer.

The film hints at but doesn’t really explore Michael’s oddities. His obsession with kids literature and movies, especially Peter Pan, are seen as inoffensive quirks, as is his menagerie of animals, including a creepy CGI version of Bubbles the chimp. His arrested development seems to be partially blamed on his parents treating him like a child well into his adulthood, and the resulting fallout is not (yet) addressed.

Many viewers will be most interested in the music sequences, and — save for some repetitive shots of fans fainting at the mere presence of Michael — they are handled well. Whether it’s at home, in the studio, on the set of the “Thriller” video, or at live performances, the film manages to fully get across just what a phenomenon Michael was at his peak. The staging and editing of each scene is dynamic, complementing Michael’s other-worldly abilities well.

If there is one reason to see the film, it is the performance of Jaafar Jackson. Whether he’s capable of doing any other kind of role is undetermined, but his portrayal of his uncle is compelling, as he demonstrates singing, dancing, and acting skills in equal measure. He’s aided by an equally great performance by Domingo, who — with the help of facial prosthetics — overcomes the trope of the bad father. Nia Long and Larenz Tate are also good in smaller roles, but Miles Teller is an odd presence as Michael’s manager.

There are reports that legal complications prevented the filmmakers from using previously-shot scenes delving into accusations against Michael, and there are rumors that a second film will be made about the last 20 years of his life. But that speculation can’t absolve Michael of showing all the positive aspects of Michael Jackson’s life and not even touching any of the negative ones.

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Michael opens in theaters on April 24.

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