Reviewed by John Cheek

This is an unexpected treat for U2 fans in autumn 2024 - a physical CD. The 30th anniversary celebrations of the landmark 'Achtung Baby' album, delayed because of the pandemic, were to find expression not in a repeat of the iconic Zoo TV tour - all multi-media sensory experience, as well as rock concert - but in a 40-night residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas. This was to be no ordinary rock show. The new Sphere arena is no ordinary venue. Even the seating interacts with the music and each night U2 played the whole of 'Achtung Baby' to audiences who were claiming to have out-of-body experiences at the same time. As part of these anniversary celebrations, the group later released this five-track EP and those who are U2 fanatics will know that it's five recordings from the Dublin show from the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday Weekend, 1993; a concert that was broadcast live on many radio stations around the world at the time. This release is a reminder of just how incredibly far-reaching the group were, sonically - as well as in other ways. As every live show on the tour did, this EP begins with "Zoo Station" and like most of the tracks from the album, has matured with age. "Mysterious Ways" is a song of worship to God, although it's unlike most other worship songs you've ever heard. The lovely "Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World" makes a welcome return and was perhaps unfairly overlooked at the time. Lines like, "He took an open-topped Beetle/Through the eye of a needle/He was trying to throw his arms around the world," contain lots of honest spiritual truths and you sense that Bono was singing them to himself, as much as anyone. "Stay (Faraway So Close)" then takes us from self-deprecation to profound concern for another, who could be a vampire, or could be a victim. The singer here is yearning for the scales to miraculously fall from the eyes of his subject: "Stay - with the demons you drown/Stay - with the Spirit I've found." These endearingly warm, fuzzy feelings are brought to an end by the final track though. Like with the live shows, "Love Is Blindness" ends things on a jarring note. Like the dark side of the Psalms, over three decades on, we're reminded of how visceral the lamentations of U2 were.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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