PHOENIX – Arena rock got a high-tech makeover Friday night when U2, the seminal Irish rock band, brought its “Innocence + Experience” tour to US Airways Center here.
The band seamlessly married cutting edge technology and old school rock 'n roll in a two-hour-plus spectacle that had the soldout crowd of 17,000 on its feet for the duration. A giant cage suspended from the ceiling that stretched three-quarters of the arena floor served as a secondary stage and video display for such wonderful scenes including lead singer Bono walking along the platform in the middle of LED images of rainy streets of his native Dublin. In another scene, Bono strolled the raised platform while guitarist The Edge walked beneath him.
The full band – Bono, The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. – with instruments in tow performed several songs in the cage with LED images overlayed to create a surreal scene.
But the core of the concert was the music. The band opened with “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)” off its somewhat controversial 2014 album “Songs of Innocence” – U2 in partnership with Apple gave the album away to 500 million iTunes user free of charge, igniting a backlash from fans and fellow musicians – then segued deep into their past with a pair of songs off their 1980 debut.
The setlist criss-crossed the band’s history over the past four decades: "Beautiful Day,""Every Breaking Wave," “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Raised By Wolves,” "Bullet the Blue Sky," “I Will Follow,” “Pride (In the Name of Love)."
Bono and the band took the stage on the far end of the arena, at the end of the platform that cut into the audience packed on the arena floor and effectively divided the venue, for a pair of songs including bringing a trio of women on stage when they sang “Desire.” One of the women, using her cell phone, live tweeted the event, which was broadcast in real time. The comments from people following along ranged from “Lucky” to “Desireeee.”
Bono also plucked a guy from the audience and handed him a guitar to join the band for “God’s Country.” The man was so excited he went around the small stage and hugged the members of the band then bent down on one knee to kiss each of their hands at the end. Happily, he had some skills; his guitar added to the performance.
One of the evening’s emotional highlights was Bono’s moving tribute to his mother, Iris, who died when he was 14. His voice had an intimate and emotional warmth throughout “Iris (Hold Me Close),” and at times it felt like those wounds were still fresh and he was singing it in the bedroom of his childhood home.
U2 is back at US Airways Center Saturday night. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and there are some tickets still available.
