It’s been nine years since stadium rockers U2 last visited the city of Perth and for WA’s fans of the Irish super group it’s been nine years too long. Always regarded for not doing things by halves, as well as visually stunning performances, the boys from Dublin have once again delivered, this time with Optus Stadium being dominated by the world record breaking 61m x 14m high-resolution screen, which dwarfed all who stood below it.
The evening kicked off with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds playing an eleven-song set comprising of tracks from 2017 album ‘Who Built the Moon’ as well as songs from his recent EP’s ‘This is the Place’ & ‘Black Star Dancing’. The new single ‘Wandering Star’, which was released earlier this month, was well received before Gallagher launched into a four-song Oasis-fest starting with one of my firm favourite’s ‘Little by Little’ from 2002 album ‘Heathen Chemistry’ which was soon followed by another from the same album in the form of ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’.
There would be a public lynching if Noel didn’t visit the jewel in Oasis’s crown, that being 1995’s ‘What’s The Story Moring Glory’ and we were rewarded with ‘Wonderwall’ & ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ before finishing the set with rousing rendition of The Beatles ‘All You Need is Love’.
Set List:
Holy Mountain, It’s a Beautiful World, This Is the Place, Rattling Rose, Black Star Dancing, Wandering Star, Little by Little (Oasis Cover), Stop Crying Your Heart Out (Oasis Cover), Wonderwall (Oasis Cover), Don’t Look Back in Anger (Oasis Cover), All You Need Is Love (Beatles Cover)
On a perfect Perth spring evening and with the big crowd nicely warmed up from the sing-a-long set from Noel Gallagher, the expectant crowd buzzed with the anticipation of U2 revisiting one of their most iconic albums to date, ‘The Joshua Tree’, which unbelievably is now 32 years old. As The Waterboy’s ‘Whole of the Moon’ faded out, all eyes were drawn to the smaller platform to the front of the main stage, as drummer Larry Mullen Jnr began the opening to ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ before being swarmed by the rest as the band, as Optus Stadium bounced & screamed along with Bono & the boys. I’ve not seen many tours when the nostalgic hits are brought out at the beginning of the night but U2 did just that as ‘I Will Follow’ & ‘New Year’s Day’ soon had the fans in a frenzy.
Bono took the opportunity to apologise for the band being away for nearly ten years and promised to deliver a show better than they had ever performed before, launching into an emotional version of ‘Bad’ with snippets of Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ as he plunged the stage & stadium into darkness and asked the crowd to raise their phone torches high in the air to show respect & gratitude for the firefighters of Australia, who are continually risking their lives during the current bush fire epidemic. The Perth choir didn’t need much of an invite to sing ‘Pride (In The Name of Love) and this ended this first ‘set’ as the band finally took to the main stage to perform ‘The Joshua Tree’ in its entirety.
As the giant screen sparked to life to reveal ‘The Joshua Tree’ towering over the band & fans alike, The Edge began one of the more memorable U2 riffs, that of ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ as the hi-def images encapsulated the audience while they bounced & bobbed in unison. ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ & ‘With or Without You’ prompted more vocal crowd participation before ‘Bullet the Blue Sky’ allowed us the first of the close-ups of the band, as Bono took control of a camera to project his eye view of his band mates, with crazy visual effects to mesmerise all those present. We got to have a well-earned breather as things are taken back a notch or two with the emotive ‘Running to Stand Still’, The Edge showing his keyboard skills as Bono accompanied with the harmonica, to a near silent Stadium. And with their feet off the gas they continued this with ‘Red Hill Mining Town’ before Bono asked how many of us believed the country we live is ‘In God’s Country’.
We got a brief glimpse of the chemistry that has helped forge this group for so many years, as Bono teased Mullen Jnr & The Edge about their pre-U2 country band The Drifting Cowboys, before allowing the pair to defend the charge and then launching in to ‘Trip Through Your Wires’ & ‘One Tree Hill’. The Joshua Tree drew to a close with ‘Exit’ & ‘Mothers of the Disappeared’ before the band strolled back down the ramp to the smaller stage to end the ‘set’ with ‘Angels of Harlem’, a song that we were informed by Bono was first performed live here in Perth many years ago. The band headed back up the main stage before disappearing into darkness.
With the main stage screen dripping in red, the four boys from Dublin strolled back on to deliver a mixed encore starting with a trailblazing version of ‘Elevation’ which fired the crowd up no end and continued to build with ‘Vertigo’. The hits kept coming with ‘Even Better Than the Real Thing’ before a top hat wearing Bono introduced us to the band that needs no real introduction. An acoustic version of ‘Every Breaking Wave’ from the 2014 album ‘Songs of Innocence’ once again encapsulated the crowd, as forty feet high images of Bono & The Edge filled the back drop with uncanny realism, such was the high definition of the screen.
‘Beautiful Day’ is another crowd pleaser with its punch chorus and Bono took this opportunity to have one of his fabled short talks about making the world a better place & equality before singing ‘Ultraviolet (Light My Way)’ with images of women who have left their mark on the world flashing before our eyes in colourful fashion. ‘Love is Bigger Than Anything’ was an odd choice as a penultimate closing song considering the enormous songbook U2 have amassed over the years but they more than made up for it by ending the night with ‘One’ – an anthemic giant which once again gave Bono the opportunity to dim the house lights and encouraged the crowd to hold their torches in the air.
The highlights were there for all to see tonight – Bono still has his incredible vocal range & power, Mullen Jnr & Adam Clayton are relentless, as they hold it all together extremely tightly with the rhythm section and The Edge always proves what a vastly underrated & solid guitar player he is & who has captured a unique sound which is timeless. Tonight was the end of the Australian Tour and Bono tells us they hope to return sooner rather than later – a visual spectacle that I wonder how will they top… but they will… they always do.
But there were also a few slight flaws – stadium concert sound sometimes isn’t always up to scratch and on occasion Bono’s vocals drifted away in the swirling breeze, the first set was played without the use of the visual screens so the band were hard to see for most of the opening five songs, even from where I was sat, so if you were high up or near the back they would have been almost non-existent and maybe the song selection nearing the end of the encore could have been stronger, with other big hits like ‘Desire’, ‘Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me’, ‘Discotheque’, ‘Mysterious Ways’, ‘The Fly’ & ‘Sweetest Thing’ all left out. Even with those minor indiscretions U2 are still a global music phenomena that need to be witnessed first-hand just for the experience alone – still an enjoyable night of nostalgia & breathtaking visuals.
Set List:
Sunday Bloody Sunday, I Will Follow, New Year’s Day, Bad (with ‘Heroes’), Pride (In The Name of Love), 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, Trip Through Your Wires, One Tree Hill, Exit, Mothers of the Disappeared, Angel of Harlem
Encore:
Elevation, Vertigo (with ‘It’s Only Rock n Roll), Even Better Than the Real Thing, Every Breaking Wave (Acoustic), Beautiful Day, Ultraviolet (Light My Way), Love is Bigger Than Anything, One
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Linda Dunjey Photography
U2
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
