After having my perception of U2’s career shattered by the absolute bombshell that is Achtung Baby, I cast a suspicious glance at Zooropa. The only person I had ever heard speak positively about it said it was the only U2 album they liked, because it sounded nothing like U2. Other than that, it was used as a shorthand for how far the Irish post-punkers-turned-arena-heroes had gone off the rails. And coming online to U2’s existence around the time of All That You Can’t Leave Behind, even the band seemed to treat this record (and their 90s period in general) as an embarrassing and misguided detour.
So you can imagine my surprise when I found out it actually rules pretty hard.
I have always freely admitted that I have some glaring blind spots in my musical knowledge. And some of them are embarrassing. It’s not unusual for me to miss important artists in scenes that I follow closely—sometimes that have even toured with my favorite bands (see: Manchester Orchestra, Touché Amoré).
For all of their innovation in the studio, it is impossible to fully grasp U2’s body of work without considering their live show. They are the posterboys for arena rock, which is less a genre than it is a touring designation, and a cursory look at any of their live shows will show you why. Even if you don’t consider their inventive use of multimedia elements (see: ZooTV, US 360º Tour, their recent residency at The Sphere), the electricity of the four Irishmen is often enough to captivate crowds in the tens of thousands.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled (er, irregularly, rather—sorry) blog schedule to go on an unscheduled, but essential deep dive.