Sudden loss of tour manager creates emotional U2 performance

To say that U2 has been going through a rough patch lately is an understatement.

When Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. released their latest album “Songs of Innocence” to all iTunes customers for free, there was a substantial backlash, forcing lead singer Bono to publicly apologize. Add to this his horrific bike accident in Central Park, and lead guitarist The Edge falling off the stage in their Innocence + Experience Tour opener, and one might wonder whether things could get any worse for the legendary Irish band.

Apparently it could – on Wednesday morning, news broke that Dennis Sheehan, the band’s tour manager for over 30 years, had passed away suddenly in his Los Angeles hotel room.

It is fair to say that it was an emotional U2 that took to the stage Wednesday night for their second of five concerts at The Forum. What followed was a poignant tribute to their friend and a show of solidarity in the face of all recent adversities.

As Bono ambled up the stage steps, his dyed golden hair glinting under a single spotlight, and his trademark purple-tinted glasses bowed in contemplation, the crowd roared with excitement as the band dived straight into “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)” from its new album.

The lack of a warm-up act was made irrelevant by its next song “Vertigo,” which whipped the crowd into a frenzy and transported me back to my 10-year-old self. I first stumbled across U2 through its 2004 album “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” and I remember always mouthing the song’s Spanish asides “Hola” and “Dónde estás?” to myself at home.

Last night, I was able to sing them aloud in unison with 17,000 others in the packed, yet intimate, Forum.

What immediately struck me about seeing U2 live was how Bono’s power to entertain has not burnt out despite his age. He commanded the stage and kept the crowd riveted with his childish antics and strident pacing. While in the middle of the mournful ballad “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” Bono began to tear up newspapers and hurl the pages around the stage, mirroring the song’s lyrics, “I can’t believe the news today / Oh, I can’t close my eyes / And make it go away.”

Before the performance began, a long rectangular cage was slowly lowered from the ceiling and remained suspended above the stage. At various points in the concert, Bono and his companions clambered into the cage, while holographic images were projected on either side. The screens created the effect that the band members were wandering through the places and memories described in their songs. For instance, during their rendition of “Cedarwood Road,” named after the road in Dublin where Bono grew up, the lead singer strode up and down a recreation of the street while landmarks from his life such as interviews and stadium concerts floated by. As the lyrics “Blossoms falling from a tree they cover you and cover me” rang out, Bono was pushed back by a sudden gust of wind that brought cherry blossoms swirling around his head.

The tunes from their “Songs of Innocence” album were not as well received as fan favorites such as “With or Without You” or “Where the Streets Have No Name.” However, the concert proved a triumphant declaration of messages of faith through “Beautiful Day,” tolerance through “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and remembrance through “Iris (Hold Me Close).”

Many of U2’s songs were written with lost loved ones in mind, and on a night where the band was mourning the loss of a close friend, the crowd responded by echoing the chorus of Sheehan’s favorite song “40” into the night. The lyrics “I will sing, sing a new song / How long to sing this song,” could be heard long after U2 had said its goodbyes and had left the stage one by one, glancing up at Sheehan’s image on the screens as they went.

– William Thorne