U2: A Band on the Cutting Edge

Marsha and I went to the U2 concert last night. Awesome show. I hadn't seen them since 1987 when Phil Joanou, a director who worked in my building at Disney and liked to hit on my secretary (and later hooked up with Uma Thurman), shot Rattle and Hum -- their live concert film. Membership has it's perks.

They played a lot of songs from the new album last night but also reached way, way back to the "Boy" days. It's amazing after 20 years that they still play like a bunch of punk teenagers from Ireland. At the same time, they use tools and stagings that are so cutting edge (no wonder Apple chose them to launch iPOD) but that do not draw away from the most important thing -- their music. I call this technological elegance, where the choice to use a certain tool is based upon how appropriate it is; not how new or hip it is.

Perhaps the most exciting example came late in the concert, when Bono mentioned his involvement in One and wanted to illustrate just how important each individual is to a sense of global unity. Remember the old days of concert lighter tributes (Freebird! Freebird!). Well, since smoking's a Laker no-no in Staples Center, he used the next best thing: cell phones.

All the lights in the arena went out and all you could see was a massive sea of moving green and blue lights. Some flashing on and off, like lights on distant sea oil platforms. It was one of those moments where you said "of course." Pure elegance, and some amazing music.