viernes, abril 01, 2005

U2 de gira

U2 se embarca en Vertigo 2005 su gira mundial de promoción al How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. El primer concierto fué el 28 de Marzo en San Diego, y el NYT aprovecha esto para publicar una nota donde reflexiona un poco sobre la carrera del grupo y su actitud actual de dejar de lado la experimentación y mantenerse en su característico sonido.

U2 is not, to put it mildly, the kind of band that seems sheepish about its own popularity, and so tonight's concert didn't aim to surprise or confuse or tease the audience. This was an intensely satisfying performance by a band that has figured out what it does best and seems content to do it. Some bands get swallowed up by big arenas, but U2 was built for them: the Edge's echoey guitar lines are only improved when they bounce off concrete walls, and Bono's lyrics are best when they're delivered by tens of thousands of fans.

In 1997, when U2 released the ambitious, electronica-influenced album "Pop," the group didn't seem quite as bulletproof as it does now: you got the sense that, for better and for worse, its members were struggling to stay current. But these days, current seems less current than ever. U2's old-fashioned earnestness and big, ringing guitars seem right at home in today's old-fashioned alternative-rock world. Not coincidentally, the band has booked old-fashioned young alternative-rock bands to open for them, including the Killers, Snow Patrol and Kings of Leon, who opened tonight's performance.

One of the night's final songs was "Yahweh," which sounds faintly ridiculous when it appears at the end of "Atomic Bomb": "Yahweh, Yahweh/ Always pain before a child is born," Bono cries out, and you might wish he were delivering nonsense syllables instead. But when the band played an acoustic-guitar version near the end of the concert, it was transformed into something powerful. Yet again, Bono tilted his head back and asked the fans to join him - an audacious gesture, but not a misguided one. As Bono knows better than anyone, it's hard to smirk when you're singing at the top of your lungs.


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2 comentarios:

Anónimo dijo...

Hola! Llegué a aquí vía Technorati y me sorprendí al ver que escribes desde Perú. Soy súper fan de la banda más grande del mundo!

Ojalá pudieras darte una vuelta por U2mexico.com, y por ahí platicar de lo que gustes relativo a este grupo, claro, sólo en caso de que seas fan porque tu post no lo dice abiertamente. =)

Saludos desde México.

Juan Arellano dijo...

Hola y gracias por el dato de la página sobre U2, está muy buena.