The Edge in Cardiff Ecstatic fans give U2 performance

WITH a spectacular £20m stage for the biggest performance ever hosted by the Millennium Stadium, anticipation of U2 were high.
But for the thousands of fans from all over the world who packed into the home of Welsh rugby to see the Irish rockers on Saturday, the show did not fail to impress.
Some even hailed it as possibly the excellent concert in the stadium’s 10 year history.
As iconic front man Bono appeared clad in black and wearing his trademark dark glasses, the crowd erupted.
And what a crowd the almost capacity 70,000 conference made it a record breaking assembly for any performance at the stadium, outselling Take That’s 64,000 conference earlier this year.
After sets from The Hours and Glasvegas, U2 opened with the song Breathe from new album No Line On The Horizon before treating fans to a mix of their many hits from the past three decades and new songs from their latest CD.
Highlights added Beautiful Day, Mysterious Ways, Vertigo, Pride and One, as well as newer stand-out songs Get On Your Boots, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight and Magnificent.
Homage was paid to guitarist. The Edge’s Welsh roots, with Bono confessing to having once had singing lessons from the musician’s father Garvin Evans, who comes from Llanelli.
“He told me to look after the accordant and the vowels will look after themselves,” Bono told the crowd, who licked up his every word.
The Edge, whose family were in the conference, had manifestly requested that the band end their European tour in Cardiff because of his Welsh estate.
Addressing the adoring masses, the guitarist simply said “Cymru Am Byth” to delighted acclaim before he and his bandmates launched into I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.
Needing minimal comfort from Bono, the crowd led the vocals for the first verse, sounding like an enormous Welsh choir.
Of course, no U2 performance would be complete without a political message of freedom and equality, and this was no exception.
As well as dedicating the songs MLK and Walk On to imprisoned Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the band played a speciall recorded video message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu before launching into the anthemic One.
But while their songs were predictably great and the sound quality fantastic, the performance really stood out because of the enormous and impressive set, dubbed The Claw.
The 160ft high structure correspond the talons of a giant machine, supporting enormous video screens which towered above the band’s circular stage.
The Claw frequently changed colour and at one point became surrounded by an enormous mesh like structure, onto which capture of the band was projected.
Apparently the set aims to make stadium presentation more intimate. Whether it acquired that is up for argument, but it certainly created an impressive concert and an awesome setting for one of the world’s biggest bands to blow their fans away.
As well as the 70,000 inside the stadium, hundreds more were able to follow the action with WalesOnline's Dave Owens providing a running commentary and pictures of the performances.

About U2

U2 has been perhaps the biggest music act in the world since the late 1980s to the current day. They take prominent stands on human rights issues, expressed through their lyrics and other public statements and actions. The band's lead singer, Bono, has become quite prominent in charity movements and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The band consists of Bono, lead singer and songwriter; The Edge, lead guitar, keyboards, vocals; Adam Clayton, bass guitar; Larry Mullen Jr., drums. Their manager is Paul McGuinness. The band formed in Dublin, Ireland, in 1976. The three members who strongly identified themselves as Christians (all except Clayton) decided to pursue and promote the band's career in a manner that would be consistent with their religious beliefs, which are heavy on social action. Theology professor Eugene Peterson says the band has "little patience with media-driven aspects of the Christian religion and a church and culture that shows little concern for justice and poverty and sickness".
The band's popular 1983 song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" commemorated the slaughter of innocent civilians during the Irish troubles. It called for a renunciation of violence, a sentiment that resonated greatly with the people of Ireland. Throughout the 1980s the band used this song to campaign against the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) efforts to raise money to fuel continued armed conflict. The IRA sent a threat to U2 that if they continued their campaign they would be kidnapped. The band continued anyway.
The band's 1984 album "Unforgettable Fire" was named after paintings made by the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs. The album's songs "Pride" and "MLK" were both tributes to the modern-day leader they most admire, Martin Luther King. Another song, "Bad", was about heroin addiction, which was a serious problem in their home town of Dublin at that time.
U2 were major participants in the historic and seminal "Live Aid" concert of 1985, which raised funds for relief from a severe drought in Ethiopia. The band was seen by many of the 1.5 billion people who viewed the concert on live television, and Bono's unscripted leap into the crowd captured the imagination of all. The more than 75 performing groups raised some $250 million for the charity. In the months following the concert, U2's record sales skyrocketed and have never come back down. In 1986 the band headlined a promotional tour to support Amnesty International, and the effort reportedly tripled the organization's membership.
In the 1990s the band's music and concerts mocked the excesses of commercialism. Some critics failed to understand that Bono's exaggerated on-stage personas during the "Zoo TV" tour were parodies, and thus concluded that the band had given in to what they in fact were criticizing. In the early 2000s U2 shifted from stadium extravaganzas to performing in smaller arenas where they were closer to their audiences. In 2004 the band teamed up with iPod for an innovative promotional campaign.
U2 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. By that year they had won 22 Grammy awards, a historic record surpassed only by Stevie Wonder.

U2 Brief History

It all started back in 1976 when Larry Mullen Jr. posted a message on a highschool bulletin board asking for fellow musicians to form a band. Paul Hewson,David Evans, Adam Clayton and Dick Evans responded to the ad and it was atthis stage along with Larry Mullen Jr. that the band 'Feedback' was formed. Thename came about because of the poor quality of Adam's amplifier, they playedcovers of Beatles and The Stones. In 1977 the band changed their name to "TheHype", something they were hoping to create, it was the name of David Bowies'backing band. They were influenced by bands like The Clash, The Sex Pistolsand Bowie. Shortly afterward, Dick Evans left the band to form the 'VirginPrunes'. Following his departure the group changed their name once again, to thename that has become world famous, U2. U2's first big break arrived in 1978, when they won a talent contest sponsoredby Guinness; the band were in their final year of high school at the time. In theautumn of 1979, U2 released their debut EP U2:3. The tracks included: Out ofControl, Stories for Boys, and Boy/Girl. The EP was available only in Irelandand it topped the national charts a sure sign of things to come. It was from here on in that history was made with U2 gaining the loyalfollowing of many a fan from all over the world. The lyrics which U2 choose tosing, deliver meaningful and powerful messages about life, reality, war, poverty,religion and love. It is the musical genius of each and every member of the bandthat makes them the huge success that they are today.