Live review: U2's 360 Tour at the Rose Bowl | Pop & Hiss | Los Angeles Times

I usually don't link reviews or general U2 news, but I'll make an exception for this commentary on last night's performance at the Rose Bowl. Though marred by the contemporary civil-religion assumption that there is of necessity a conflict between the spiritual and the physical, the piece makes some excellent comments about the effect of the Claw. But I'm most intrigued by the reviewer's comment that U2's work is ultimately "a meditation on space: the majestic natural landscapes that the Edge's guitar playing often describes; the crowded dance floors or train platforms Clayton and Mullen's rhythms evoke; the inches between a whispering mouth and a lover's ear, or the infinite journey of a prayer hurled into the air." I would want to add there that in U2 the prayers can be as intimate as the whispers, and the words addressed to human lovers can be far more distant and alienated. But still, the image is a good one -- a meditation on space -- and I've never heard it put quite that way before.