U2 360 Tour v. House Concert 360

As fascinating a spectacle as was the U2 concert last Saturday night, and as amazing as the boys (can we still call them "boys"?) are as musicians and performers, I would rather have taken my $180 I spent for two tickets and and outrageous sum of $20 I spent for parking and put it in the pockets of the lesser known artists that visit our home for house concerts.  I'm not down on Bono and gang, as I enjoyed as much as anyone hearing the songs of my college days --- like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" or "New Years Day" or the more recent "Vertigo."  But I guess I'm spoiled.  I like hearing artists in the 360 degrees of my den, interacting with them and other friends.  At one point Bono said something to the effect that "As amazing as it may seem, we created this spaceship [stage] so we could be closer you," presumably, for community or, as he desribed it, "intimacy on a grand scale."  I had to smile inside.  Those days are long gone for this band.  I was well aware, helped along by the size of the crowd and technological wizardry of sound, lights, and video, that this band is far away from my life.  Like any public persona their images are what really exist for practically all of us, not their person.  I'm well aware that Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry are, theoretically at least, men just like me.  But nothing about this spectacle assists me in confirming that theory.

But wait a minute, you say?  Wasn't there in some sense a community feeling?  Well, the best community I saw was in the parking lot, with tailgate gatherings and picnics, and yet that is something you can find at a football game.  As Bono looked out at me, I was keenly aware that I did not know him, nor he me, nor would he really know any of us.  I had no opportunity to ask a question about his various social and political causes, for dialogue, so everything he wanted me to think is left unchallenged.  The crowd has no megaphone, no screaming video displays, no ability to broadcast our views like he can as the celebrity he is.  It is, after all, his show.  All we can do is watch, or not.

That's quite a bit different than hearing an artist in a house concert.  It's obvious (even painfully obvious at times) that they are human, not so different than me.  They are who they are, not some image of themselves.  If they say something seemingly definitive, I can ask a question or challenge them on it later.  I may be in the audience, but it's not simply their show; it's my show too, and I can influence how it goes.  When you're not surrounded by technology and a massive crew that helps you look your best, you are kept humble.  If you fail, all will see. And all can forgive.

But I know I'm being too hard on U2.  I mean, what can they really do?  The days of appearing in the local pubs are long over. Intimacy is not possible.  My point is simply that music on that grand a scale has significant drawbacks.  The many artists that come to very local venues and house concerts deserve our support, and such venues offer rewards that we'll never find at a U2 concert --- in 360 degrees.

So, if you haven't registered for the upcoming Greg and Rebecca Sparks concert this Saturday at 7:30, do so now.  It's intimacy on a small scale.  It's an oportunity to support two people who have been making music in their small and humble way for longer than Bono and gang.  Who's to say has had the greater impact?

Comments

[Andy O]

Steve - good article. You had to write it, and thanks for following through.

A couple points -
First, U2's persona, their stage presence, their albums, their musicianship, their business sense - it's art. Whether art is on a wall, or machined, or whether art is built around us, art stands apart by definition from the artist. I can pour my soul into my work and pray through every line and notation, but at a point it becomes tangible property and it is built with someone else's hands. That is what U2 has done - they have offered their work and you paid $180 to own it. (I paid less, but I also got a T-Shirt!)

I certainly agree that a $15 theater-in-the-round of your livingroom is money well spent, but it is purchase and not benevolence. By opening your home, you, Steve and Julianna, make a generous offering to the artist, but I don't. I buy a ticket, and I get a bargain.

As to community, 55,000 people investing in the same thing at the same time is a connection. It's like buying stocks in a local company or paying for insurance. Our $180 is our voice, and we make it together.

And, we could have a voice in the show. Bono handed the mic to a fan with a simple sign. Bono invited us to join the One campaign, or to spend through the (Red) program, and he urged us to pray for an imprisoned activist. Again, this show gave us more opportunity for voice than most, but we are a timid and introverted town, and we tend to hold our tongue.

In your house, community is sweeter as we mingle around cookies and tea, that's true. Saturday night, if we didn't mingle with those seated around us, or in line at the barbeque stand or the t-shirt table, that's our fault, not the band's. In your house, community happens when we applaud or when we laugh at the performer's jokes. In a stadium, we cheer together at the top of our lungs, we sing the songs we've all known for 20 years. It's similar.

Intimacy is one on one, husband and wife, friend to friend. Bono walked on stage with a child; the band built a circle through the crowd. They knew the names of the Triangle towns. The Edge ordered BBQ from Coopers and had it personally delivered. They made the most amazing stage the world has ever seen and brought it to my town at great cost. Those are intimate acts. For me, U2 has been so expressive through the generations of their albums, through faith-loss-anger-redemption, that I'm satisfied with our level of intimacy. Their music reached me. It's intimate, and it's enough. If they asked for my own stories, I would share them, but through the music I believe we've already shared. I'm satisfied being one of many, because I know I am one with many.

You had to make the comparison. I'm glad you did. I wonder if you could find more differences, or if you would find out you're doing the same thing. You've already got a start on the lighting. We'll watch for Stephen to build a Hoberman Screen.

[Steve West]

Andy, that's great, my friend, and well said. Very true --- for what it is, it is as intimate as they come and U2 does better than most. (Although I felt pretty darn connected at a Yes concert when Jon Anderson left the stage and walked through the audience with little to screen him from people around him.) The sad thing for me is that they can never again have the intimacy of a club or a house. They can't help that but simply can do the best they can with what they have.

I don't like political and social messages in the context of concerts, regardless of whether I agree or not. Many African economists have argued that Bono and other well-meaning celebrities, like Bob Geldorf, have actually harmed the cause of Africa by perpetuating a cycle of dependency and corruption by their efforts to promote debt relief and more government to government aid. It makes him (as it does most celebrity activists) less credible as activists, even as he is a very credible musician and entertainer. But that's another story.

I enjoyed it, mostly. I'm both put off by and enamored with the technological spectacle. I had to do it, and if I end my viewing of arena rock shows here, I will have seen one of the best of that kind.

[Larry Leake]

Great insights, all. Personally, I thought the show was fantastic spectacle, but I think Bono lost the crowd with the political and social messages - it just fell flat and felt contrived. As for intimacy, the band missed that mark - yes they did put the show in people's faces with spectacle, technology and a bazillion watts of sound, light and video, but that's not intimacy or community. That's the person with the most money and loudest voice shouting at those who will pay to listen.

I left having enjoyed the show, but with a bad aftertaste, wondering too if that was my last arena rock show....