Live Performances
"Ultraviolet" is unusual in that the band has only ever played it in concert as part of an encore, usually preceding "With or Without You". It was first performed at Lakeland Arena in Lakeland, Florida on 29 February 1992 at the start of the Zoo TV Tour, and it remained a staple of the band's set lists for the first four legs of the tour, often preceded by a prank call by Bono as his alter-egos Mirror Ball Man or Mr. MacPhisto. The Edge played the song on his Gibson Explorer. It was staged with silver-and-mauve lights thrown against two glitter balls, causing light fragments to swirl around the audience, and with lasers flashing in quick rhythms. Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone characterised its essence as "desperately searching" and said that it helped transition the Zoo TV show towards an ambiguous, introspective conclusion. It became writer Beeaff's favourite live song on the tour, with Bono's intense, unrestrained singing producing a strong communal energy; she singled out the March 1992 Hampton Coliseum show as one in which Bono's fervent performance approached the point of emotional breakdown and generated "a transcendent and draining experience for everyone." Although acknowledging the song is an "epic ... with some gorgeous aspects", Edge has said the song is unwieldy to play live. During Zoo TV, almost all of the numbers from Achtung Baby (and the rest of the set list) were augmented by sequencers to fill out the sound; on "Ultraviolet", under-the-stage keyboard tech Des Broadberry playing a sampled guitar figure in the background during Edge's solo parts. Its last performance as part of the tour was on 28 August 1993 in Dublin, after which the song was retired and did not appear on any of U2's next three subsequent tours (PopMart, Elevation, and Vertigo).
The song was revived a decade and a half later with the launch of the U2 360° Tour on 30 June 2009 in Barcelona, where it was once again performed as part of the encore. It was introduced by a robotic voice reading excerpts from the poem "Funeral Blues" by W. H. Auden, followed by Bono's appearance wearing a laser-studded jacket on a darkened stage illuminated only by a glowing steering wheel-shaped microphone that hangs from above. During the performance, Bono would alternatively embrace or hang from the microphone, or twirl around it, or swing it overhead to emphasize the lyrics. The New York Times said its use as "a love song that can double as devotional" helped keep the show's music and messages in balance, while the Chicago Tribune said that Bono sang the song with fervor as part of an encore during which "the show's outsized ambitions produced a neon-lighted moment that nearly justified the costly enterprise." Rolling Stone called the song's performance "one of the show's highpoints." "Ultraviolet" continued to be performed during the encore throughout the first two legs of the tour, with minor changes such as the use of a different introduction.
The band also played the song during its television appearance on Saturday Night Live on 26 September 2009. In an appearance that avoided both their recent singles and best-known hits, "Ultraviolet" was played as the group's third number, in full 360° Tour staging style as the show's end credits ran by.
Read more about this topic: Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
Famous quotes containing the words live and/or performances:
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I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.”
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