U2 sells us a product we can’t even pretend to not like

Bono captivates audiences by singing into a steering wheel on a $15 million stage. What’s not to like?

Bringing new meaning to the word “showstopper,” the stage set-up for U2’s 360 Tour resembles something akin to a colossal robotic tarantula—complete with fog machines and a slew of multi-colored lights (not to mention the world’s first interlocking-expanding screen). It was a 21st century marvel. There really are no words to descriptively do it justice—except for perhaps “intimidating.” “The Claw,” as it’s been dubbed, rings up at around $15 million per stage, and is just the sort of thing that might be found in the wildest fantasies of an A/V work-study student.

You read right, the cost is fifteen-million dollars per stage, and there are three of these things. In order to keep the extravagance smooth, U2 enlisted a triad of teams, one to run the current show, another to stay behind and break set, and a third to begin constructing the stage ahead of time for the band’s subsequent about-to-be-conquered city. Suffice it to say, these things are both the most innovative and the most gargantuan set-ups in the history of live-music. Somehow, they were able to fit one of them inside Atlanta’s Georgia Dome for a show last Tuesday—all 390 tons of it.

We’re not done yet. The 360 Tour is officially sponsored by Blackberry, who for some reason decided that a song with the title “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” would be great for making people want to buy a Blackberry. One mega-sponsorship isn’t enough though, the tour was also been put on by Live Nation, a dominating Hollywood promoter with whom the band signed a 12-year contract last year. And thanks to the mammoth seating capacity of American football stadiums, U2 was able to draft more than 70,000 eager fans, many of them drawn to the affordable tune of $30 a ticket. Nevertheless, this rings “cha-ching!”

A U2 concert isn’t really a “concert” anymore, is it? It’s a full-fledged product and maybe even an industry. And yet, it’s a pretty darn good one.

“Intimacy—that’s what we’re about,” said Bono, a few songs into the show, shamelessly strutting the runway, inducing a deafening, football stadium-worthy roar of approval. Responding in kind, The Edge churned out the opening chords to “No Line On The Horizon,” the loud and grungy title track off the band’s most recent album. Cue more thunderous approval all the way to the rafters, where beams of light shooting off of The Claw’s disco ball illuminated the torsos of thousands of fans, moving and waving their hands, an end-zone away. It cannot be denied that there is something special going on when the songs of four musicians are reaching the furthest seats of a super-arena.

U2 dug a little deeper into their bag of hits, but not too deep. It didn’t really matter though. By flawlessly placing their better-known live staple “Until the End of the World” next to a lesser-known gem for loyal fans, “The Unforgettable Fire,” the band was able to please fans both seasoned and new. And in a tastefully self-conscious move, the band transformed the aforementioned dud “Crazy” into a head-spinning techno remix, complete with hitman Larry Mullen feeding the rave on a djembe.

The spectacle progressed and as fervent enthusiasm for songs like “Walk On” and “Where the Streets Have No Name” increased, the intimidation of The Claw and its grandeur seemed to disappear. Perhaps it was a dreamy hallucination, but by show’s end it seemed as if the stage had actually become smaller.

Despite their regrettable approach to marketing themselves, there is no band which can ascend to the level of live music at which U2 is most comfortable. And though it may terrify a small child, the innovative 360 Tour stage design has re-written the book for what a concert can be like in terms of production and presentation. Right now it is the ultimate standard, more than fitting for the globe’s biggest band.