About That Title: Innocence + Experience

About that title.

Innocence + Experience.

Or, as U2.com likes it, “iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE.” Which also has the abbreviation “i+e”.

So many little nuances built into that simple, yet complex, title.

I think of the top-level domain extension on the internet for Ireland: “.ie” is the country code on the web. Or, the Latin abbreviation “ie”, which in written compositions is used in a parenthetical comment to explain or clarify the previous statement. Both seem relevant to the current tour.

There's also the obvious connection to William Blake's masterpiece from 18th century. Tassoula Kokkoris dives into that one on the @U2 site.

Then there’s the stage design, which incorporates a main stage shaped like an “I”, and a b-stage shaped like an “e”.

But, while the band has certainly proven they can give us a storyline that moves from their own innocence to experience on this tour, the thing about the title that’s most intriguing to me is the little tiny symbol that's used.

“+”

It’s so small and unassuming. Maybe it should be bigger to give it more attention. But understatement is sometimes best. Misdirection allows for those with eyes to see.

And here is one of the most critical nuances: the “and” or “&” are never used. It’s always the “+”. With a normal band I might not care, but with U2, subtleties always matter.

In addition (pun intended), the title should not be limited to “Innocence ‘plus’ Experience.” No, there’s only one way I can see it anymore. That “+” is not an “and” or an ampersand or a plus sign. So what’s left?

It’s a cross.

“Innocence ‘cross’ Experience.”

Stop and think about it. Crosses abound in this show. Willie Williams admitted that those flickering fluorescent lights under the LED bridge during “Raised By Wolves,” are the same lights used later in the concert, some descending as horizontal light bars, and others as verticals. When combined, they create an optical illusion, so that no matter where you are standing in the arena, you’re likely to see crosses. What a profound idea. The grimy old lights of a seedy underpass are repurposed and redeemed into the holiest of symbols. Powerful.

Something else happens that only those in the stands are likely to notice. When the light bars come on, usually at the intro to “City Of Blinding Lights,” the entire stage is illuminated in the shape of a cruciform. It’s quite compelling. Stirring. Alarming even. The city of blinding lights that U2 sing about literally becomes tens of thousands of people gathered around a cross that minutes ago was the foundation of a dividing wall, but now unites all.

Mark Fisher, a longtime friend and stage designer for the band, passed away before the start of the tour, but during the planning phase, gave the team an insightful piece of advice. When Bono asked what the most important symbols of U2 had been over the years, Fisher, after listening to the ideas of others sitting around the table, bluttered out, “Why don’t you just do it, and put a fucking cross in the middle of the stadium?!”

Wow! That’s gotta be the best use of the f-bomb I’ve ever heard.

And so they did.

One final note about that cross sign. Have you ever noticed which key on an American computer keyboard must be pressed to type a “+”? It sits right above, and on the same button as the “=” sign. Anybody remember what alphanumeric symbol showed up in the logo along with U2’s name and on the wrapper of the deluxe edition of No Line On The Horizon? Does this look familiar...?

I can’t think of two symbols that better represent U2 in the last decade: the cross, and equality--both of them right there on the same computer key. Oh, yeah, one more thing. What action is necessary to move from equality to the cross on that computer key? Hint: it’ll take a “shift” in the way we think. Isn't that, also, what U2 have been trying to get us to do their whole career--to see things differently? Yup, shift happens.