Waldbuhne, Berlin July 29th 2001
'Where is the moon? There is the moon...
You had to be there, on a wet but memorable night in Berlin,
as Bono introduced Kite in German:'Where is the moon? There's the
moon
And then switching to English, he continued: 'Here in Berlin
is where Achtung Baby was born and that is good - yes ?
'Welcome to the mayor of Berlin and also Michael Mittermeier
thanks so much for coming out.. 'I'm sorry for the rain and the
trouble that the rain may have brought some of you getting here
especially the Sohne Mannheims, I'm sorry for that but we're gonna
have an extraordinary night tonight·'
And so it proves to be at The Waldbuhne, an outdoor amphitheatre
in a forest on the city outskirts, despite the fact that support
act Sohne Mannheims had to pull out of the show late in the day
and the leading German comedian Michael Mittermeier - who was originally
just coming to see the show - stepped in do a half hour warm-up.
There is more praise for the city when Bono introduces New York
('Berlin is the new New York') and then the first single.
'Ring those bells Edge, make those bells ring, wrote a love song
on two strings, 10 years we walked down these streets with our melodies
and our beats, 10 years, the winter was cold, 10 years we made a
record that sold, our spirit will never grow old
Sunday Bloody Sunday has added poignancy tonight, with the show
coming not long before Irish and British politicians unveil new
political proposals to break the deadlock which has bogged down
the peace process in Northern Ireland. 'Today, tonight is a big
night for the people of Ireland because tomorrow in the north of
Ireland they will have to decide whether to go in peace or back
to violence, so tonight we make our song a prayer, a prayer·'
Again the song snatches Marley's Get Up Stand Up: ' Stand Up for
your rights, never ever take a life· no more, no more, no
war, no war we're so sick of it, we've had enough·' he sings,
closing the song with the request, 'Turn this song into a prayer·'
In My Life serves as introduction to Stuck In A Moment before
In A Little While. 'You alright? Amazing, amazing place, I just
want to show you somebody here, just check this..' And so saying
Bono lifts a young woman from the audience who is wearing a Ramones
t-shirt. 'You see this is a Ramones t-shirt, now the Ramones were
the reason why we started this band, we owe so very much to the
Ramones and I want you to know that Joey Ramone became a little
bit of a friend before he died a few months back and this next song
was the last song he heard in this world and actually he made it
a much better song, I don't know how. 'It was a song written about
a hangover and he made it into a gospel song and this is a cool
t-shirt and I love you·' And the fan and the singer embrace
as he opens the song and then puts her in it:'I've known her since
she was - five minutes ago - but it's been truly a little while·'
It is time for some introductions - and some ovations. 'Wearing
No 3, a card carrying genius this is the Edge.' 'The man who started
this band, Larry Mullen Jnr come on down.' 'The first manager of
U2 on the bass Adam Clayton.'
'Any punk rock bands, any hip hop, hard rock, pop, any one here
tonight starting out this is for you, a song about blind ambition,
it helps the blindness·' and as Larry's long-time drum-tec
Sam O'Sullivan walks up the catwalk with Larry's drum at end of
the song, Bono adds. 'This is Sam O'Sullivan, the legendary Sam
O Sullivan walking off with the drums, a big hand for Sam...
A big hand is promptly provided.
Stay brings back memories of the city they are in tonight. 'We
would be wrong not to mention that we had, ten years ago, a very
special time in Berlin, in Hansa Studios. 'This is a period when
our good friends the Americans reckon we got all weird on them.
This is true. But you know if you're four young men from the northside
of Dublin you need to get a little weird sometimes and we heard
the weird and extraordinary and uplifting records that were being
made in Hansa Studios and we thought we should go and become students
there so we came to your city to study your rather odd behaviour
- because Berliners are just not straight folk right ? - and we
like that. We like that very much.
'This is a song we started there it was inspired by a Wim Wenders
film Far Away So Close. 'Three O'clock in the morning, it's quiet
and only Anja's around,' he sings, referring to friend and photographer
Anja Grabert who is at the show tonight.
Berliners, needless to say, lap this up, loving U2 as much as
U2 love them. And so arrrives Bad, ('Addictions, addictions') and
Streets and Mysterious Ways ('Jump it up, I'm jumped up·')
and then Bono spots a fan dressed as MacPhisto and pulls him on
stage. 'You walk out into the Waldbuhne the lights go down and everything
changes, light and motion, you turn a light on emotion·'
'Beautiful, beautiful night, thank you,' says the singer at the
end of With Or Without You, as everyone asks, How long to sing this
song.'
'Thank you for giving us a great life, thank you for following
us down the Jubilee road, the drop the debt campaign, the richest
countries have squeezed enough out of the poorest countries... 'I
was in Genoa last week, it was a shock, it was a warzone, I was
ashamed to see politicians hiding behind a high wall... 'I am angry,
violence is never right whether it's the protestors or the police,
but we can be angry because the world shrinks and more and more
people are left with nothing.. malaria, we can cure malaria, it's
just money, that is violence·'
And it is One, followed by Wake Up Dead Man - just Bono and Edge
- and then Walk On, with its lyric of hope scattered far and wide.
Kilde : www.u2.com
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