U2
No Line On The Horizon

THE REVIEW

Not easy, guys, being U2.

Try to think about it... In the end, being cult figures or small musicians who make a living doing something else (like myself) isn't bad. You don't have to answer to anyone except your "4 listeners," who are all the more loyal and not at all demanding. Besides, it's known that the niche endears and the big stage makes you nervous, especially for those who hate the big stage beforehand (and often the wall of hate hides an unbearable blob of envy).

But, being U2... I mean...: try to think about it?

Waking up in the morning and seeing in the mirror not the usual clumsy, stinking, over-the-hill slob, but none other than Bono Vox?

I mean: it must be a thrill, right?

And thinking that you've already sold millions of records, and that you could spend the rest of your splendid life on a nice sunny beach doing nothing from morning to night, maybe spending energy becoming a great connoisseur of whisky, or of women. Or better yet, both.

And instead, no: you persist in writing songs, recording them, and deluding yourself that, somehow, music can also change the world for the better.

The musician friends are always the same, the producers too.

Why change then?

The way of writing, that is obviously always the same, but your songs, come what may, break through. They pass. They get into your head.

And you always fill the stadiums. Because you are Bono Vox. And the others are nothing. Even if you, who are Bono and good, probably don't think like the Marchese del Grillo.

And, as we were saying, you persist in picking up a pen, a sheet of paper, and a guitar, and to bring forth from nothing that little perfection, that little three-minute miracle that is the Song.

Whatever you do, now, for some it will be a masterpiece a priori, while for others it will be, just as a priori, nonsense. Just as at concerts for many you will always be the same, maybe even better, while for many others, inevitably, you will no longer be what you once were.

And so you launch, why not?, into a new album, perfectly crafted, well written and played, and into a world tour that will undoubtedly be splendid.

Because, whether you like it or not, U2's music is now classical music.

Or you'll make the usual album and the usual tour, because, undeniably, U2's music now is pure routine.

Cards on the table and out of the game: this album gives something and takes nothing away, indeed, one could afford some generosity even more. It is, being the latest (for now) work of a band with an undeniably thirty-year success, a record of clear honesty. A work of undeniable compositional-interpretative quality, all with a high standard yet without peaks of absolute perfection. But the album "spins" very well, it lets you listen and love it progressively. Everything is in the right place, thanks also to an absolutely perfect post-production direction, which nevertheless has the task of "playing" with material that is certainly not inferior.

And Bono has also recovered a lot of voice (with the difficult task of confirming it live).

In short: an important chapter, destined to please and displease a priori, according to the schemes (the cursed walls) that we all have in mind.

Album already sold everywhere, and tickets already sold out, for these guys who have always lived an enormous success, and, like it or not, greatly deserved.