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U2 Show
Chronicles twenty-five years of U2's live performances with hundreds of photographs, interviews with the band's closest associates, and commentary on how the band has influenced the history and artistic development of live rock shows.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published October 14, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 17, 2021
A thorough education on the world of U2 live, and live music in general. The third section (interviews) is painfully long, but the geek in me loved the random details and stories from people across the U2 family.
July 7, 2009
U2 is pretty much my favorite band of all time and I was delighted to receive this beautiful book from Talia for my last birthday. The pictures are huge and gorgeous, and really encompass the spirit of spectacle that is U2. The fact that U2's tour managers, agents, photographers, sound engineers, and friends would come together and compile their reminiscences of what it was like to put on U2's shows over the years really vouches for their character as a band.
Here are some quotes that I wanted to cut out and keep from this book:
"U2's music has many different elements. If someone comes along to a concert and is inspired to join Amnesty that's one part of it, but someone else may feel emotionally overwhelmed by the music, and someone else again may just come along to jump up and down and bop. They're all relevant; they're all important. They're intertwined, and to put emphasis on one element is wrong."
-- Larry Mullen Jr.
"The spirit that we found that was always in our music is stronger now. It's exciting for a rock and roll band to strip itself right down, to take off all recognizable signs and just bash away and say, 'This is still us.'"
-- Bono
"In the spring of 1991, having just got home from U2's self-imposed exile in Berlin, Bono telephoned asking me to join him in Tenerife where he and the band were going to explore the carnival. He told me they were making the most exciting album of their career and that it would demand a live show unlike any they had done before. He had a phrase in his head, 'Zoo TV,' which he felt was a key to something, and he had an absurd pair of oversized sunglasses, which he felt were important too."
-- Willie Williams
"For quite a while, we sort of defined ourselves in contrast to all those early eighties Britsh groups who only had irony, who hid behind a wink. That whole thing of clever-clever lyrics at the expense of the soul. I've always preferred Van Morrison or Bob Marley, to be quite honest. But, in retrospect, I think we followed that idea through to the end, and now it's time for a new attitude. I guess the big difference is now we've discovered that irony is not necessarily the enemy of the soul."
-- The Edge
"There is a lot of soul -- I think it shines even brighter amidst the trash and the junk. Sam Shepard said, 'Right in the centre of contradiction, that's the place to be.' And rock and roll has more contradictions than any art form. U2 spent the eighties trying to resolve some of them. Now we've started the nineties celebrating them. Rock and roll is ridiculous. It's absurd. In the past U2 was trying to duck that. Now we're wrapping our arms around it and giving it a great big kiss. It's like I say onstage: 'Some of this bullshit is pretty cool.'"
-- Bono
"The media has rock and roll by the balls. They draw cartoons, and it's indelible ink. It's an attempt to reduce you, your humanity, your sense of humour. The only way to deal with it is to create a cartoon even bigger. Which is where this show comes in."
-- Bono
"Humour and laughter, to me, are the proof of the presence of freedom. The Berlin Dadaists, for example, were powerful in their time because they had the ability to unzip the pants of the starched trousers of these fascists and mock them. And they were outlawed because of that. And I really feel there is a lot to be learned from that. I've certainly learned a lot from that, philosophically and in terms of expressing myself through our art. The potential for subversion in humour is something new to U2."
-- Bono
"I think Achtung Baby is some of U2's very best work to date. It marked a change in the way they related to the audience. It moved away from the earnest, self-revelatory thing, to the shades, the whole Fly thing, Bono with the glasses. People were really bothered by the glasses. Gone was the forthright persona, and in its place was irony, the last thing their audience expected from U2. The audience perceived a change in their accessibility and some resented it. I also think it marked a change in Bono. Probably it was just self-preservation, a decision to not give quite so much of himself away. Of course, it was partly parodying the whole celebrity thing, but I think it was also his way of acknowledging that he needed some cover."
-- Ellen Darst
Here are some quotes that I wanted to cut out and keep from this book:
"U2's music has many different elements. If someone comes along to a concert and is inspired to join Amnesty that's one part of it, but someone else may feel emotionally overwhelmed by the music, and someone else again may just come along to jump up and down and bop. They're all relevant; they're all important. They're intertwined, and to put emphasis on one element is wrong."
-- Larry Mullen Jr.
"The spirit that we found that was always in our music is stronger now. It's exciting for a rock and roll band to strip itself right down, to take off all recognizable signs and just bash away and say, 'This is still us.'"
-- Bono
"In the spring of 1991, having just got home from U2's self-imposed exile in Berlin, Bono telephoned asking me to join him in Tenerife where he and the band were going to explore the carnival. He told me they were making the most exciting album of their career and that it would demand a live show unlike any they had done before. He had a phrase in his head, 'Zoo TV,' which he felt was a key to something, and he had an absurd pair of oversized sunglasses, which he felt were important too."
-- Willie Williams
"For quite a while, we sort of defined ourselves in contrast to all those early eighties Britsh groups who only had irony, who hid behind a wink. That whole thing of clever-clever lyrics at the expense of the soul. I've always preferred Van Morrison or Bob Marley, to be quite honest. But, in retrospect, I think we followed that idea through to the end, and now it's time for a new attitude. I guess the big difference is now we've discovered that irony is not necessarily the enemy of the soul."
-- The Edge
"There is a lot of soul -- I think it shines even brighter amidst the trash and the junk. Sam Shepard said, 'Right in the centre of contradiction, that's the place to be.' And rock and roll has more contradictions than any art form. U2 spent the eighties trying to resolve some of them. Now we've started the nineties celebrating them. Rock and roll is ridiculous. It's absurd. In the past U2 was trying to duck that. Now we're wrapping our arms around it and giving it a great big kiss. It's like I say onstage: 'Some of this bullshit is pretty cool.'"
-- Bono
"The media has rock and roll by the balls. They draw cartoons, and it's indelible ink. It's an attempt to reduce you, your humanity, your sense of humour. The only way to deal with it is to create a cartoon even bigger. Which is where this show comes in."
-- Bono
"Humour and laughter, to me, are the proof of the presence of freedom. The Berlin Dadaists, for example, were powerful in their time because they had the ability to unzip the pants of the starched trousers of these fascists and mock them. And they were outlawed because of that. And I really feel there is a lot to be learned from that. I've certainly learned a lot from that, philosophically and in terms of expressing myself through our art. The potential for subversion in humour is something new to U2."
-- Bono
"I think Achtung Baby is some of U2's very best work to date. It marked a change in the way they related to the audience. It moved away from the earnest, self-revelatory thing, to the shades, the whole Fly thing, Bono with the glasses. People were really bothered by the glasses. Gone was the forthright persona, and in its place was irony, the last thing their audience expected from U2. The audience perceived a change in their accessibility and some resented it. I also think it marked a change in Bono. Probably it was just self-preservation, a decision to not give quite so much of himself away. Of course, it was partly parodying the whole celebrity thing, but I think it was also his way of acknowledging that he needed some cover."
-- Ellen Darst
March 14, 2011
I have mixed feelings about this book. I'd give it 3.5 stars if they had such a rating. It is coffee table book that is 2/3 wonderful photographs, many from shows I was at, so that's always nice. Then it has shorts essays written by practically everyone who has or is currently working with them. Many of these are written by people you rarely hear from and some are very interesting. Many, however, end up saying the same thing over and over and many are disjointedly written. So this is a mixed bag.
April 25, 2020
Good coffee table read! Lots of fun pictures of one of my all time favorite bands. Some fun reads in the back of the book from all the most influential people surrounding the band. Hard to carry around to read though, not really meant for read through like I did it.
February 23, 2024
This represents "U2 The Complete Lyrics Vol 1, 1979-1988" which I just read. It was a great book with some nice new material from the band and producers on their first six albums and those eras.
Incidentally, I did get this book U2 Show for Christmas and look forward to looking through it more.
Incidentally, I did get this book U2 Show for Christmas and look forward to looking through it more.
March 31, 2025
Great book for those of us that have followed U2 their entire career. Getting to know the characters behind the scenes and how things come to life was awesome. If not a U2 fan very little benefit to reading book.
March 27, 2008
As a self-professed U2 fanatic who has seen them 60+ times (and who shares a May 10 birthday with Bono), I must confess a bias while reviewing this book.
Be that as it may, this coffee table tome would be of interest to anyone who is curious about how a large-scale rock concert/tour is conceived and executed -- it's a far more collaborative effort than most people realize, going far beyond the four members of U2 to include hundreds of designers and production staff.
For U2 fans, this book has a wealth of live performance photos taken from every stage of the band's career, from the late 1970's (before "Boy" was released) through the Elevation tour of the 2001-02.
Be that as it may, this coffee table tome would be of interest to anyone who is curious about how a large-scale rock concert/tour is conceived and executed -- it's a far more collaborative effort than most people realize, going far beyond the four members of U2 to include hundreds of designers and production staff.
For U2 fans, this book has a wealth of live performance photos taken from every stage of the band's career, from the late 1970's (before "Boy" was released) through the Elevation tour of the 2001-02.
May 27, 2009
The best live band I've ever seen in glorious, glossy photos.
February 25, 2015
kool.....
February 20, 2019
I love anything and everything that has to do with behind the scenes operations...
May 19, 2015
Skimmed, but not as interested as I used to be.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews