U2 w/ Beck at US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis (08 Sept 2017) (Updated)

Arguably, the world’s best live band, U2 brought their Joshua Tree 30^th Anniversary Tour to a crowded US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, carrying their almost forty-year old playbook, along with them. 

The two-year old football stadium, site of this season’s Super Bowl, has only hosted a small handful of concerts, with expectedly mixed results as the floor and some of the lower levels sound generally decent, while the higher levels and side of the venue with the glass walls (instead of concrete) are notoriously boomy and echo-filled. 

Curtains draped behind the stage and up top (as Coldplay did) do seem to help the overall acoustics, but a more consistent fix is needed, based on numerous social media comments.  Additionally, the entry process remains as or more challenging as a major airport, with long lines, sometimes confusing signing, and under-trained employee ambassadors.  That said, 50,000 of your friends and neighbors still made the trip in for a show that certainly had its nostalgic and transformative moments, though was not as memorable and in the end, redeeming as the band’s last visit in the rain in 2011. 

The evening began 15-20 min past the scheduled start time (thankfully to accommodate the masses still entering) with Beck, opening ahead of his long-awaited album, Colors (Capitol Records, due out Oct 13).  “It’s been a long time since we’ve been here” he said towards the set’s end, maybe not realizing that he and the seven-piece band (which includes Jellyfish members Roger Manning and Jason Falkner) had just played across the river in St. Paul, less than a month ago. 

As a result, his 47 min. set was mostly hit-filled and without any new album tracks, though started strongly with ‘Devil’s Haircut’ and ‘Black Tambourine’.  Breaking out his Sonny Terry-esque harmonica for ‘One Foot in the Grave’ was an early highlight, juxtaposed by the sullen, slower  ‘Lost Cause’ that would follow it, then breaking setlist for an acoustic ‘Raspberry Beret’ cover (“Can I just do something here?” he asked).  Stretching out ‘Where It’s At’ and getting the crowd to jump along to the chorus to end things, set the table perfectly for the headliner to come. 

As the scrolling American poetry on the screen (by the likes of Whitman, Sandburg, and Kate Hoyle) and intro music of The Waterboys faded, U2 took to the stage for their third show on the third leg of the current tour, marking their twelfth time in playing in the metro, dating back to a memorable 1981 first local show at Uncle Sam’s (now First Avenue).  Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. strode out alone to the jutted Joshua Tree-shaped second stage, with the rest of the band to follow, playing the first four songs like they did before all of the fame and technology, alone on a bare stage and close to the audience. 

The stage itself was massive, highlighted by a 7.6K resolution 45ft tall x 200ft wide curved screen, that wouldn’t be activated until the re-creation of the seminal album, with expansive visuals compliments of longtime video collaborator Anton Corbijn.  The band (Mullen, bassist Adam Clayton, guitarist The Edge) can be said to be playing better than ever, with Bono is mostly good voice, though is now speak-singing some lines in a lower register that saps some of the urgency of the original songs, while still retaining their overall effectiveness.

Beginning with radio favorites, ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, ‘New Year’s Day’, ‘Bad’, and ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’, this would be the only time ‘I Will Follow’ (which would have been an ideal fit) would not be played at a concert here.  Bono’s message of love and healing was preached from the beginning, “we hold on tightly to some things… and let go of others… I need to.” he said leading into ‘Bad’.

Each of the four then walked back to the main stage, its video backdrop activated with a red sky and tree silhouette and The Edge’s signature infinite guitar riff marking the beginning chords of their seminal 1987 album.  The Joshua Tree (Island Records) was re-released this year, with additional content and served as the band’s reason for going on the road, and served as a break as they finished the new album, Songs of Experience.

 ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ still impacts like a right cross and the crowd responded with added energy, which continued as the record’s front-loaded singles, one hit after another.  No extra verse unfortunately for ‘With or Without You’, though the crowd helped with the “whoahs” and ‘Bullet the Blue Sky’ remains as incendiary as ever. 

For the longtime fan (I’ve seen every U2 tour since 1985), the real reward was hearing the meat of the album- ‘Red Hill Mining Town’ played for the first time ever on this tour and backed by Corbijn’s stunning images of a Salvation Army backing band; ‘One Tree Hill’ which still soars and dedicated on this night to friend Gavin Friday’s mother Anne, who has recently passed; and a dark, poignant ‘Exit’ (with Bono stalking as The Shadow Man), prefaced by a 1950’s TV clip from the western Trackdown, showing a con man named Trump promising to build a wall and Bono reciting lines from author Flannery O’ Connor.

With no time for the album’s B-sides (‘Luminous Times’ and ‘Spanish Eyes’, please), the six-song encore began with the brightness of ‘Beautiful Day’ (and a fitting Prince snippet worked in) and the chugging drone of ‘Elevation’. “Anyone for some Spanish lessons?”,  Bono asked intro-ing ‘’Vertigo’ working in a stilted verse of Prince’s ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ to cap the song (Bono may have soul… but not as much funk). The brand new song the band debuted the night before on TV was hoped for as part of the encore, but wasn’t worked in, until the next shows in Indianapolis and Kansas City, so Bono grabbed a dancing Parisian from the crowd instead, for a swinging ‘Mysterious Ways’. 

Women were celebrated on-screen for ‘Ultraviolet’, with a visual ode to many famous names and even a few locals (ex-Mpls Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, Sharing and Caring Hands’ Mary Jo Copeland) were inserted in and ‘One’ brought everything full circle into togetherness, with Bono working ‘Purple Rain’ into the end chorus and dedicating “the evening to the memory eternal of Prince Rogers Nelson”.

The night ended with Bono circling back to his initial message, with the songs adapting themselves into what the country reflects today- that America is an idea, an idea that still holds its yet-untapped full potential and remains a light that leads in the dark.  U2 still strongly admires the landscape they discovered and were embraced by, over thirty years ago, and provides some hope in their timeless album, that darker days will soon be just a shadow in the forest.