North County Times from Oceanside, California • 69

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2001 North Col ntt Timi 20 CONCERT REVIEW U2 lightens tone, remains fully loaded MUSIC DAN BENNETT MAU- W'RiTbR Beautiful Day. The house lights dimmed and the stage lights grew bright, but lead singer Bono is acting much more the calm elder statesman of rock these days than the messianic commentator. Bono, who will be 41 next month, still has rock-star charisma, but channels it more smoothly now. By the fourth song, when the band provided a spirited rendition of one of its two early-years signature songs, New Years Day, it was like sharing with old friends. U2 dedicated Stuck in the Moment You Cant Get Out Of to friend Michael Hutchence, the late lead crowd Tuesday at the San Diego Sports Arena, U2 indeed looked and sounded as if they were eager to get back to where they had begun, nearly 25 years ago, and before they had sold more than 100 million albums.

Gone were the smirks and none-too-subtle satire of the Zooropa and Pop tours, both of which passed through Qualcomm Stadium. Instead, U2 left the statements to the songs themselves. Walking on stage with the house lights still on, the quartet received a thunderous ovation, as they opened with Elevation, from the new album, followed by a cutting version of the recent single Keep it simple this time. It's what Bono and his bandmates in U2 intended when setting out on their first tour since 1997 three months ago, the band's first arena tour since 1992. If playing stadiums eventually pushed the Irish band to the brink of breakdown, this tour, behind the critically admired new album All That You Cant Leave Behind, was intended as back-to-basics, a return to sanity and flushed with the sincerity of earlier efforts.

Playing before a sold-out singer of INXS, then launched into a no-frills, powerhouse take of The Real Thing, followed by a stripped down I Will Follow, the song Bono wTote many years ago in memory of his mother, who died w'hen he was a teen-ager. The band's other early signature song, Sunday Bloody Sunday, was performed with as much intensity as in shows from the old days, this song about violence amidst Northern Irelands troubles still a sharp plea for peace. After introducing the band guitarist The Edge, drummer Larry Mullen and bass plaver Adam Clayton Bono dedicated In A Little While to Joey Ramone, a hero the four of them admired when they started U2 as high school students. The lead singer of the massively influential punk band the Ramones died Sunday of lymphoma. Bono and the Edge shared the stage alone for Desire, and there was a slowed-down but still moody version of Mysterious Ways.

Using multimedia at the beginning of the first of three encores, U2 made an anti-gun statement with its blistering Bullet the Blue Sky, then made peace again with a wistful With Or Without You. VISTA T0WNSITE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP presents A--i kth' PRbvs Photo 112 lead singer Bono seen during a concert last week in Canada. A sizzling Pride was followed by a quiet One, then an emotional cover version of the Ramones gem Ill Remember You. Walk On, a song from the new album that fully describes the band's longtime comfort with combining images of life, art and deep spirituality, closed the show, a deceptively quiet show that roared with U2s storied bravado, and was also likably simple. yAe For all your North County arts happenings Dana Point to Catalina Island One Hour, 30 Minutes on Catalina Express! Usy 5.

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