Live Report: U2's Love Affair With Rome

For two nights in a row, U2 inflamed the Stadio Olimpico in an inferno of emotional intensity. The band were celebrating not just the 30th anniversary of their 1987 masterpiece, The Joshua Tree, but also a ‘love' story with Italy – and in particular with their Roman audience.
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hose were there over the course of two nights had the pleasure of witnessing an unprecedented, mass love story between a band and a country. It felt like U2 were entirely at home in the eternal city, enjoying time spent with an extended family – all waiting to celebrate their mutual history together.

“The greatest night ever,” Bono proclaimed on Saturday, revelling in the warm breeze of a Roman evening. It was indeed the greatest night for many Italians, who had travelled the length and breadth of the country to see the shows.

“You guys are great, you're a family,” the singer intoned. Bono expressed his love for Italy several times during the show. “I was in love with Italy even before I knew Italy existed. My father used to listen to Opera, Tosca, Traviata…" And he went on: “U2 is not a rock n roll band, it is actually an opera band… (smiling at The Edge)... metallic opera!”

The gig started sober and minimal: four men on a platform in the middle of the lawn, playing pure rock and roll, just the way it was before they rose to fame. The stage behind was turned off for those first four tracks. Only white lights, a bass, a guitar, drums – and great passion.

The set is clearly divided into three parts: a powerful intro with some of their better known tunes that characterised their sound in the early days (Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride… ); the integral version of The Joshua Three played as it was on the album; then a sequence of selected tracks that will make you jump for joy (Vertigo, Elevation..).

Bono was in great form throughout both shows and interacted with the audience and with his bandmates in equal measure. He namechecked some of the more picturesque part of Rome and recalled his visit to Keats’ grave -his beloved poet and hero. And just before kicking off the whole Joshua Tree section with 'Where the Street Have No Name', he appealed for peace and compassion.

The audience complied with ready enthusiasm and even prepared a surprise for the band. During 'With Or without You', thousands of coloured leaves creating the numerals 30 appeared together with the silhouette of The Joshua Tree, the Californian desert tree which gave its name to the album.

The giant screen behind the band is very simple compared to the epic grandeur of their previous tours. However, this iteration is more visually impactful and emotionally dense than any U2 show to date. The band are telling their story here; revisiting The Joshua Tree musically and visually. They celebrate hope, friendship and unity.

Powerful images accompany the songs and also highlight the contradictions embodied by the idea of America (quoting Bono on stage,“It is kinda fucked right now”). The result is of heartbreaking beauty. Their strength does not lie in nostalgia, though. It lies in revisiting that content and adapting it to the here and now. In many ways, the songs are more alive now than they ever were. They take different colours, and a more powerful meaning, and thus open a path into the future.

Some songs sounded better than ever, including the long awaited – and most obscure U2 track – 'Exit', which had not been played live since Rattle & Hum. Bono wears a hat during it, as if attempting to be someone else while singing it, becoming a fictional character to establish a distance from its darkness. It is the one and only track on the album that is enveloped in darkness. No redemption: just pure, dark rock and roll.

'Ultraviolet' is included in the third part of the show and it is dedicated to all the women out there who made a difference in history, from Anne Frank to Patti Smith. 'Miss Sarajevo' is also a protagonist in the last part of the show, renamed Miss Syria for the occasion.

To conclude the first night, the audience had a preview of 'The Little Things That Give You Away', a new gem that will be included on the upcoming Songs of Experience. The decision to end the show with this is an important statement from a band that does not want to be held a prisoner of the past and is looking forward, always forward.

The historic stadium in Rome was filled with joy and delirium for a whole weekend. Streets were closed, traffic re-directed and hotels packed. People queued for hours in the heat, flew from all over Europe and invaded Piazza del Popolo, just to get a glimpse of them. No one had a negative word to say! Not bad for an Irish band to cause such enjoyable havoc in one of Europe's great capital cities!

What a magnificent celebration it turned out to be. Do not miss the Dublin show!