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Monday, 6/30/97 U2 returns with passionate show MUSIC: 'Popmart' tour dazzles L.A. fans in exciting performance

By Mike Prevatt Daily Bruin Senior Staff U2 swept into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on June 21, thrilling fans and drowning out the ludicrous media cynicism with a passionate and exciting show. The "Popmart" stadium tour, which mocks commercialism and dresses up spirituality with kitsch, has recently been hit with a barrage of negative publicity. With shows that haven't sold out, high ticket prices and unfair comparisons of this tour to their 1992-93 "Zoo TV" megatour, many critics and music writers have attacked U2's commercial credibility, even dubbing the tour "Flopmart." But for the real music fan paying attention to the sights and sounds rather than been-and-gone precedents and financial expectations, U2's two-hour-plus concert was an uplifting and dazzling affair, using high-tech visuals to make both their newer and older material more powerful and uplifting. The massive crowd, a few thousand short of capacity, responded loudly with soul-stirring sing-alongs and plenty of applause. "Popmart," somewhat like "Zoo TV," is U2's way of critiquing consumer culture and rock music's ridiculousness by celebrating it. It would be hard to imagine many artists singing such gospel-like anthems as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" under a flashy golden arch, but U2 makes it work enough to move the 60,000-plus sea of fans to stand on their seats and loudly sing along. Even for those lost in "Popmart's" glitzy aura, the campy stage appearance didn't take away from the sheer emotion put forth by vocalist Bono and company. However, let's not undermine the power of the eye-candy U2 has provided its loyal customers. Bright floodlights enhanced such numbers as "Miami" and "Where the Streets Have No Name." Keith Haring's soulful artwork augmented the loving humanity of "One." And, most strikingly, for "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me," screen images of legends like John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin paralleled the song's theme of destructiveness and tragedy in rock 'n' roll (and cleverness with an image of David Bowie's fictitious pop superstar, Ziggy Stardust). The band balanced their musical visions wonderfully throughout the show. U2 gave the audience a glimpse into the future of rock with such hyperactive electro-pop songs as "Discotheque" and "Mofo," which pummeled the stadium with lights and beams. They also sat down at the stage in the middle of the crowd for beautiful, intimate acoustic numbers like "Staring at the Sun" and the fan-favorite, "All I Want is You." U2 tested its audience in multiple ways. The group sought crowd interaction with guitarist Edge's karaoke version of the Monkees' "Daydream Believer," complete with a guest appearance from Monkee Davy Jones. They subtly displayed their political edge with the sonically charged "Bullet the Blue Sky" and the extremely passionate "Please." Bono's highly emotional vocals made the anti-war anthem seem like a "Sunday Bloody Sunday" for the '90s U2. And they introduced the still-underground trip-hop-rock sound into the stadium rock experience with a mesmerizing performance of "Miami," with Bono prancing around a la Alex from "A Clockwork Orange" (they even added an umbrella "Bullet the Blue Sky") and bassist Adam Clayton's spectacular grooves. Much to the crowd's relief, the Irish quartet dug into the bag of classics for poignant versions of "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and "I Will Follow" early in the show. But extended versions of their biggest hits, "With or Without You," "One," and especially "Where the Streets Have No Name," thrilled the crowd and proved that U2 has retained a freshness and maturity unparalleled to today's pop music. Even more refreshing, ironically enough, were the snippets of old classics Bono pegged on to the endings of certain songs. The crowd screamed back the words to such favorite U2 cover songs as "Unchained Melody" and "Stand By Me." Bono even slyly threw in quick verses from West Side Story's "America" and a quick reference to The Doors' "The End" ("The West is the Best!"). Other highlights included "Until the End of the World," where Bono and Edge faced off in a frantic pseudo-duel between guitarist and singer, and the strobe light enhanced "Last Night on Earth." While a remix of "Lemon" boomed in the background, a transvestite danced on the screen above the stage (billed as the world's largest L.E.D. screen at 170 by 50 feet) and a 35-foot mirrorball shaped as a lemon edged out toward the crowd. Minutes later, the top rose and the band climbed down from the glittery prop, in perfect "Spinal Tap" fashion. U2 seems caught in an awkward position. They must find a way to bridge the gap between powerful, intimate music performance and awesome, hi-tech visuals that have ruled arena shows for the past 10 years. They look to maintain their passionate spirituality and introspective awareness and yet also desire to embrace the new electronic movement, which until now has been devoid of emotion and depth. They aim to be both serious and frivolous rock stars. And they must divide their time between the new, more innovative sounds featured on their new album, "Pop," and their classic, guitar-driven anthems that made them rock and roll heroes in the first place. However, the media and more conservative fans (and Internet users, to a degree, too) have seemingly given up on them. But U2 hasn't. As Bono introduced "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," he said, "You made us a big rock band ... and we got kinda scared. We were afraid we were going to be eaten by the big corporate monster. Well, we decided to eat the monster before it ate us. This is where we live. This is where we work. This is where we pray. This is our church built by pieces of America." Amen. With the "Popmart" tour, U2 has been able to fulfill and equalize their ambitions within the same show and yet still maintain the high degree of intensity that has characterized their live shows since their days playing clubs/bars in Dublin in the late '70s and early '80s. With "Popmart," the publicized emphasis has been the neon factor, not on the music. People go into the stadium expecting the music to be undercut by the colorful representation of pop culture sitting before them. Yet the "Popmart" live experience has always been more about the audio aspect of the show. In San Diego two months ago, U2 was still working out a few minor bugs of a tour that was not fully rehearsed. In the June 18 Oakland show, the band left out such highlights as "All I Want is You" and "Unchained Melody," and seemed slightly less emotional, compared to their Los Angeles's performance by one tiny notch, when they sang songs like "Please" and "Gone." "Popmart's" Los Angeles show seemed to signal the tour's refinement and maturity. However, U2 has yet to be uninspiring or passionless in any of its California shows, all of which were special and enchanting in their own little ways. In the end, U2 and the audience win. Behind the special effects and expensive props is a band still growing at a time when other established acts have found their creative limit. U2 is not about to succumb to traditions or conventions that have left most live shows unable to step outside the confines of the rock concert rulebook. Even with songs that are 15 to 20 years old, U2 takes their music and ambitions to the future, possessing the guts to do what few rock acts have dared (save Beck, the Smashing Pumpkins and the over-hyped electronic dance bands from Britain). U2's "Popmart" show should be seen for what it is - a U2 live show. It makes no difference that it isn't as innovative as "Zoo TV." Their chart position on the Billboard 200 and "lackluster" album sales have no bearing on the show. And their reputation has nothing to do with what you see on stage. What matters is the music, its visual presentation and the effect it has on the spectator. With that in mind, U2 has really given its audience a blockbuster that showcases a musical mastery and potency incomparable to the vast majority of live acts still treading in the shallow end. Island Records U2 brought flashy sets and emotional tunes to Los Angeles with their "Popmart" tour. Previous Daily Bruin Story 'Pop' lives up to media hype with new sounds, March 6, 1997