iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE U2 live in Paris

Thank heavens for video technology because without it, we would have never had the chance to experience a U2 concert like iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE. Well, it is all fine if you have the means to catch the iconic rock band in one of their shows abroad. But for those hoping that U2 would drop by one of these days to do the Mall of Asia Arena or the Araneta Coliseum, dream on.

It is not that those guys might not want to come here, after all, they might find this a fitting place nowadays to call for the protection of human rights.  It is the fact that staging this concert in the Philippines is at the moment, impossible.

As per what the video release shot at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris last Dec. 7, 2015, iNNOCENCE+ eXPERIENCE shows, it requires a 100 foot square LED screen suspended above an 18 foot walkway that runs the length of the floor of the Arena. The screen does not only serve as a backdrop for the band’s performance. They interact with it as in entering the screen and performing inside.

Have you ever wondered what Bono’s childhood was like? You can watch him visit the streets of Dublin during the show through that screen. Oh and they also have this suspended, ear-shattering sound system.  Because of these every one of the nearly 20,000 people in the audience were guaranteed the best seats wherever they were. I am just being realistic when I say that I do not know of any place around town capable of housing something like this.

It is regrettable because iNNOCENCE+eXPERIENCE directed by Hamish Hamilton and shot with 30 cameras, is a total sight and sound spectacle. How long has U2 been around?  Bono on vocals and rhythm guitar; The Edge on lead guitar, keyboards and background vocals; Adam Clayton on bass; and Larry Mullen on drums, percussion and background vocals have been together for over 40 years. And they still hack it. A lot of younger bands around would be hard put to match the energy and the unstinting commitment to give the audience a powerful, incredible, totally mind-blowing show, or I should say experience, because that is what this video shows it is.

Of course, helping these guys along is the timeless U2 catalogue of songs. And this video has a lot of those, led by songs composed by the group ­— ranging from the recent Songs Of Innocence up to the classics, all of them with the meaningful lyrics written by Bono. 

I love the stripped-down intimate ballads, With Or Without You and Every Breaking Wave, which, thanks to the excellent sound, comes off beautifully.  But this is U2 and their anthemic rockers are definitely the stunning show pieces of this collection. Beautiful Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Until The End Of The World, Cedarwood, Song For Someone, I Will Follow, Pride, The Fly, Vertigo, Where The Streets Have No Name and many others.

iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE is also very emotional. It was the final gig in a successful tour that began in Vancouver in May 2015 and which had already taken U2 across 22 cities in Europe and North America and which had by then been seen by over 1.2 million people. It was originally supposed to be held in November but was deferred to December after the Paris bombings that killed 130 people. U2 was actually cautioned about pushing through with the show but there was no way those guys could be stopped. Because of this, what the video was also able to document was a bid to conquer fear and to challenge terrorism through the power of music.

This was in the defiant performance of Patty Smith’s People Have The Power with Eagles of Death Metal. This was the band playing at the Bataclan Hall in Paris when the bomb went off. It was in the way the audience linked arms and sang along to One. And it was in the way U2 quietly left the stage and left the Eagles of Death Metal to finish the set with I Love You All The Time.  What a gesture. But then, what did you expect, that was U2.