I've been told that I'm sometimes unnecessarily mean, so I'll try to keep my review of Unforgettable Fire, the U2 cover band that headlined this weekend's Raleigh Downtown Live, fairly brief.In the interest of full disclosure, I've never been the World's Biggest U2 Fan. There are many songs of theirs that I enjoy, but the first actual U2 album I bought was 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, followed by the singles collection that was released last year.
But regardless, if you're going to be in a U2 cover band (or tribute band, whatever they call themselves), is it so hard to open with a freaking hit? Looking around the crowd during the first song, it seemed I wasn't the only one thinking "What the hell is this song?"
The band quickly corrected their error, playing "Vertigo," "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and "New Year's Day" before I got bored and went home.
To the group's credit, their lead singer looked, and sounded, a hell of a lot like Bono. And it wasn't just his shades and slicked-back hair. Some of the other members tried to look the part (the guitarist wore a black skull cap, for example), but it just ended up looking silly.
The overall sound, however, just wasn't good. I don't know if it was the band that sucked or the people running the soundboard (maybe both? who knows), but from the near constant feedback issues to weak drum parts...even for a free show, I expected more.
On a completely unrelated note, did any of you catch the preacher at the corner of Blount and Hargett? As I was entering the park he was having a pretty heated debate with a drunk guy inside the fenced area about what was worse, abortion or the Iraq war. Yeah, I'm not touching that one, let's just say that drunks and evangelicals don't mix.
3 comments:
I must post my rebuttal! I thought the show was amazing! To be fair I’m a huge U2 fan (I’ve seen the band five times in concert!) I thought it was a good investment of the Downtown Live Funds. They are a “TRIBUTE” band which means that they try to covey the look, sound, and feel of U2. I felt they did a great job of that! Tribute bands are going to play songs that the “fans” want to hear. Out of Control was the name of the song that they opened with, (you may not have recognized it because it was written before you were born…it was written before I was born), my point is the song is a high energy song that most U2 fans know!
I’m sure my review of an Oasis “Tribute” band would be much different from your review. I thoroughly enjoyed this free out door concert! It was probably the best night I have spent out in Raleigh in the last year that I have lived here!
To be clear, I don't dislike U2 one bit. I think they're a great band, they're just not in my top five of all time favorites.
To your point, I'd probably be more critical of an Oasis "tribute" band because they are one of my favorites. And much like an Oasis tribute band wouldn't open with most songs off of "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants," I wouldn't recommend a U2 tribute band to open with a song off "Boy" unless it was "I Will Follow" (which yes, they played later in the set).
But hey, to each her own!
found ya thru guitartown...
you left before the shout out to South Carolina? .... then constantly shout out Raliegh and NC to make up for it :)
I'd say they were mediocre at best, too....and i love live U2, UF's playing was off, didn't sound as tight as the clips on their website, and it's impossible to match Bono energy and message to the world.... i think they should be a cover band, but even so the cigar smoking weenie's finally drove me out and about.
true that, that preacher guy alright, he wasn't frank chu ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Chu ) but good to see some different energy once and awhile!
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