The Beatles, Johnny Cash and the Stones never had to deal with the backlash that a band of U2’s caliber is currently toe to toe in a death-match with. In this day and age, it’s hip to be a hater and the land of Facebook and Twitter is dominated by them. When U2 and Apple put together a brilliant (26 U2 titles shot on to the iTunes top 200 albums chart at once) and fan-friendly marketing strategy to give Innocence and Experience away for free, the naysayers swung with all their might and did so in droves.
The media jumped on the backlash and painted a negative image of an album that had nothing to do with the music. The “5th member of U2” Paul McGuinness left as the band’s manager, leaving them in unchartered territory.
Many feared that this could be the end of U2. Had they become irrelevant? Had Bono’s earnestness and political fighting's for Africa become an image-killer? Had manufactured music, boy bands and sex selling female vocalists completely taken over the landscape in 2015?
The first time this writer saw U2 live (1985 Unforgettable Fire Tour- Sports Arena, Los Angeles), Bono was able to scream out notes in full register and recklessly climb up speaker clusters, wrapped in an Irish flag to confront and demand the attention and respect of fans. Now, it is some 30 years later and the challenges of life have battered Paul Hewson’s 55-year old body. A serious and possibly life-threatening back injury delayed the 360 Tour in 2009 and Bono’s recent New York bicycle accident has left him with permanent arm/hand damage that has even stolen his ability to strum a guitar (Larry Mullen has also dealt with injury in the past and Adam Clayton has dealt with addiction and depression issues).
