ALL I WANT….
One of the reasons I go to so few live concerts nowadays is that so many are just canned acts and lack any sense of spontaneity.
But last night’s show in Las Vegas with U2 at the Sphere featured a surprise performance by Lady Gaga who joined the Irish quartet on three songs. The renditions are imperfect and even a bit of a mess in some parts, but to me I have such admiration for bringing it live and taking chances and doing things that even the band isn’t sure how it’s going to turn out in front of a live audience.
I’ve seen U2 perform five times (including the very show in ’87 when they recorded “When Love Comes To Town” with BB King on the Rattle and Hum album where I was five rows deep) but none recently, and they’ve always been a give-it-all stellar band — even though I think their best performances are long behind them. Lady Gaga on the other hand is just a pistol of talent and a mesmerizing presence. As a rocker, it takes a lot to upstage a band like U2 to me, but Lady Gaga can do that to the very best. Ask Metallica, which was blown away by Lady Gaga joining them on stage a few years ago doing metal.
I really enjoyed this performance (here on video), despite its occasional dragging imperfections. One of the things that Las Vegas shows lack is these ballsy moments of disparate talents converging unrehearsed in the raw, almost like a reincarnate of Rat Pack history in the making. It’s great to see that spirit rekindled here on Las Vegas’s biggest stage, even if it was for an all-too-brief 15 minutes.
