The Memorable Moments Of U2 Live At Red Rocks—By PJ
The Memorable Moments Of U2 Live At Red Rocks
PJ DeGenaro
In 1983, I was 17. I’d been told by my brothers that '60s and '70s rock was the pinnacle of pop culture, and I suppose I believed them. I was aware of punk and new wave, but not ready to commit my soul or my hairstyle to them. Then, on one blah suburban afternoon, a U2 song marched into my local radio station’s AOR playlist. It really did march! The drums sounded like an entire army. The guitars sounded like alley cats fleeing from the advancing troops. And why was the singer dragging the word ‘tonight’ out for fourteen syllables? Then I found out. They were Irish. Bogs, bombs, famine. War. I was intrigued, but not quite ready to change the course of my life—until I saw the Red Rocks videos on MTV.
It was hard for me to choose important “moments” from U2 Live at Red Rocks. If you’re reading this, you probably know why. There is just so much.The striking natural setting, the perfectly awful weather, and the audience—drenched and huddled like children of the apocalypse. Also intriguing is the technical glitch that makes you feel you’re watching through a scrim of blood vessels. But I tried, and here’s what I’ve got. (Note: I stuck to the original film for this piece™, even though the 2008 reissue opens with a bit more excitement.)
New Year’s Day
Not the first song in the show, but the first U2 song I truly loved. It still sounds refreshing after all the blues-based rock I grew up on, like a lemon sorbet after a heavy meal. Which is not to say it’s light, because it isn’t. The bass line demands attention and gets the crowd bouncing. The camera operator is wise to focus on Edge’s beautiful hands, bathed in blue light, as he adds an extra flourish to the piano melody. Even if you know nothing about Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement, anyone can sing, “I will be with you again” and really mean it. One of U2’s strengths is crafting songs that touch people on many levels.
Surrender
Knowing U2 as I do now, I suspect "Surrender," along with "Red Light," might have been an attempt to sound contemporary in a vaguely 2-Tone Records kind of way. (You’re U2, why bother?) Nevertheless, Edge’s lap steel guitar is impressive. His other guitar hangs around his neck at the ready, and he’s in complete control. By contrast, we have our first instance of Bono falling into the crowd. He seems to know it’s going to happen. Is he in fact surrendering to them? He’s already thanked these orphans of the storm for braving the weather and has encouraged them to gather close to the stage. It’s obvious that they adore him. I hope they still do.
Sunday Bloody Sunday
If we’re concerned with “moments,” "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is surely that—a song that always announces itself with authority. Larry, barely twenty, lays into those martial drums, while Bono insists to us that this is not a rebel song. (At the time, I only had the faintest idea what he meant.) But there he goes, marching through the twilight with the mist rising around him, like a figure from an allegory, carrying a flag of surrender, and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Looking back, you may swoon or you may cringe, but you can’t deny U2’s power. For many older fans, this is the moment we first knew.
The Cry / The Electric Co.
Here’s the moment that would give U2 the iconic cover image for Under a Blood Red Sky. Bono begins by singing, “somebody cried/‘cause somebody died.” This is his autobiography—everything you need to know—and he looks briefly vulnerable. What follows is a rousing barrage of sound and image. Steam pours from Adam’s mouth. Edge pounds the hell out of his strings while craning up to see where Bono has gone, for Bono has climbed the lighting rig with his white flag. He poses there, high above the stage and surrounded by wet electrical wires, while the film crew’s helicopter whirls around like a frantic bug. Edge has spoken about how much this scared him, and I’m convinced he looks a little bit angry for the rest of the film.
Please watch Edge playing this song. Watch and listen closely. His genius, universally acknowledged in the '80s and '90s, should not be dismissed in modern times just because “virtuosity” has become more important than daring, innovation, and soul.
I Threw A Brick Through A Window
Despite the legend of the sophomore curse, I think October is a great album. It’s a bit of a mess, but then so was I when I first heard it in 1985. I think it doesn’t quite believe in its own strength. “I Threw A Brick Through A Window" is a punk song. The disaffected young man throws a brick at his own reflection. He needs to get out of here. Larry bashes the drums like he means it. Bono shouts, “Anywhere is better than this! You get it!” Then he mimes throwing a brick. The crowd totally gets it.
Gloria
This song, right? It picks you up by the ankles and spins you around. It makes you feel like your blood has been replaced with fizzy soda. What band but U2 could get a bunch of teenagers to sing along in Latin? The camera scans the audience and lands briefly on a bug-eyed girl staring up at the stage as if hypnotized, and I think she speaks for many of us unto this very day. Then there’s Adam. Note to camera crews of the past and future: when a beautiful fuzz-haired young man—who will grow up to be the loveliest, kindest and most ridiculously underrated bassist on earth—is playing a solo? You keep the camera on him.
11 O’Clock Tick Tock
That riff is the original U2 riff; the wellspring of every U2 riff to come. I’m not a musician so I can’t explain exactly why, but when you hear "11 O’Clock Tick Tock," you know it’s U2, and that it can be no one else. The song is youthful, deceptively simple, and very dear to me. “I hear the children crying, take me home.” “Home” is a theme that U2 will return to again and again for decades. The snippet of “Drowning Man” is a sweet treat. Finally, a lucky young woman gets lifted to the stage and spun around in Bono’s arms, and I’m sure I’m not the only person whose heart broke a tiny bit just then. But that’s okay. I hope she’s having a great life. Bonus: Adam grinning at Larry like a madman.
I once annoyed a male high school friend by blathering about Bono’s cuteness while the Red Rocks version of Sunday Bloody Sunday played in the background. “Cute” was the best word I could summon back then. It had to stand in for a lot of other words, like brave, earnest, fey, lithe, awkward, generous, open-hearted, and brilliant. Anyway, last summer I got to see U2 a few times at close range, and each time, I thought, “Here he still is, the boy with the white flag on MTV.” I’m so grateful for him, Edge, Adam and Larry. They have no idea what a great life they’ve given me.