Bono the Lyricist

Bono the Lyricist

November 10, 2005

U2 left little doubt who deserves the title ``greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world'' of the three contenders visiting the Bay Area this week.

On Tuesday at Oakland's Arena, the Irish quartet gave the show of a lifetime. It easily trounced Paul McCartney's Monday show in San Jose and set the bar so high for the Rolling Stones that they will have to play as well as they did in 1969 to top it.

How do you measure a show like this? One way is audience response. No one in this 15,000-plus crowd sat for 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Every one of the 24 songs was delivered with the intensity of McCartney's two encore sets. Each song -- from opener ``City of Blinding Lights'' to closer ``40'' -- sounded like a greatest hit, even the six new songs.

The biggest surprise? The set list was almost identical to April's show in San Jose, but the songs have aged like fine wine. Once a droning sleeper, ``Miracle Drug'' was recast as a tightly focused hard rocker. ``Elevation'' was softer now with a throb of the electronica.

A lot of the songs were quieter this time, letting Bono's poetry stand out. The fervor of lines like ``If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel'' comes from that same church of rock 'n' roll that Bruce Springsteen talks about. Bono may not get enough credit as a lyricist, but lines like ``I tried to drown my sorrows, but my sorrows, they learned to swim,'' rank up there with the greatest.

At the show's end, the audience sang ``How long to sing this song?'' accompanied only by drummer Larry Mullen Jr. It was one of the most powerful moments I've seen.

U2 has found a perfect way to connect with its most ardent fans. It plays on a stage surrounded by a circular runway. The cheaper tickets are on the floor. The band fed off their passion, and it gave a club feel to the big show.

More than ever, Bono connected with his audience. There were no egotistical rants, and many of the messages were as subtle as the retooled songs. A U.S. flag from the audience was draped over an amplifier during ``Bullet the Blue Sky,'' which he dedicated to the U.S. troops.

He covered most of what he had to say with a simple speech: ``Thanks for coming out. Thanks for all the trouble you went through to get here. And thanks for giving us a great life.''

The stocky, charismatic frontman had a way of reaching out to the entire audience. His dramatic pretensions may be over the top at times, but it made for great theater.

Then there were moments that made this feel more like a religious crusade than a rock show. During ``Sunday Bloody Sunday,'' the singer spotted a woman near the front with no hands. She grabbed the microphone in the crook of her arm and led the crowd in the refrain ``No more.'' When Bono took it back to sing ``Wipe those tears away,'' many in the audience were doing just that.

Mick Jagger may sing that it's only rock 'n' roll, but on this night, it was much more.