Bullet the blue -- but this time it's not "sky"

U2’s recent European leg kicked off this last week with two shows in Turin. Many of us had wondered, would Bono keep a variety of American themes alive from the first leg? 

• “I got my hands up. I surrender. Don’t shoot. I can’t breathe.” (References to racial violence in Ferguson, Baltimore, Charleston and New York.)
• “Everywhere is becoming America,” and running “into the arms of America” at the end of “Bullet The Blue Sky.”
• “America is not just a country. It’s an idea” along with a salute to MLK during “Pride (In The Name Of Love).”

These sentiments didn’t seem to fit with the European agenda, so, I was guessing that the economic crisis of the Euro, combined with heavy unrest due to the austerity measures in Greece, would make a relevant topic in place of all the ideological language about the United States.

But then the world became aware of something we weren’t paying attention to. Hundreds of thousands of people had been fleeing into Europe from unsettled and war-torn areas of Afghanistan, Syria and North Africa. And when 2000 travelers became trapped in a Budapest train station with no place to go, the media took note and began documenting the worst refugee crisis since WWII.

Throughout the crisis, and specifically within the last few months, there have been countless casualties as people make their way to the safety of central Europe. But time and time again, the voyage across the Mediterranean, a common and direct route to Greece, Italy and Spain, has ended in horrific death. An overcrowded fishing boat packed with 800 people was swamped in April, killing almost everyone aboard. The story is unconscionable and far too common now. Bodies continue washing up on Europe’s shores, victims of a wild sea, unscrupulous smugglers and failed governments. The picture of little Aylan lying alone on a Turkish beach is undeletable from my mind’s hard drive.

With determined passion, U2 has picked up the issue, focusing global attention on the crisis, and calling European leaders to collaborate in an effort of aid. This is seen most profoundly as the band once again reinvents not one, or two, but three of its most well know songs. Masters of reappropriation, U2 have often taken old songs and given them new meaning through careful reflection on contemporary issues. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” has consistently been reinterpreted over its three-decade course.

But on this leg, the new adaptation of “Bullet The Blue Sky,” “Zooropa” and “Where The Streets Have No Name” is nothing short of breath-taking (though “gut-wrenching” might be a more accurate term). As Bono closes “Bullet,” he abandons the bit about America, and, instead, speaks as a refugee. “I run, I run, into your arms, into your arms. I’m not dangerous. I’m in danger,” he pleads with the European Union. Then, as the music seamlessly transitions to an electronic drone, Edge’s ethereal guitar calling down from another dimension, Bono sings in the voice of a weary traveler, “And I have no compass and I have no map, and I have no reasons, no reasons to get back.” In doing so, the 20-year-old “Zooropa” becomes an alarming and poignant commentary on the crisis. "What do you want?" he asks rhetorically. "A place called home," is the response. The refugee’s voice continues with an even older tune, singing, “I want to run, I want to hide, I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside.” “Streets,” a song that foreshadows a coming world, also recalls the desperation of another refugee crisis in the mid-80s, when Bono and his wife witnessed waves of famine victims in Ethiopia. In an oddly surreal way, the song finds an appropriate home again on this tour.

As a viewer and listener of this new leg, my response has been very different than that of the first. “Streets” isn’t the blissful romp it was a month ago. Now it’s a solemn reminder of a humanitarian disaster that I can’t ignore. This trilogy of lament (“Bullet,” “Zooropa” and “Streets”) reminds me that evil still inhabits an imperfect world, and that my active presence is required through a peace-filled response. So, I tweet #refugeeswelcome, I sign petitions and I give to my favorite organizations that are intentionally seeking the wholeness of refuges and are lobyying governments on their behalf. I cannot not do something. My great-grandparents were refugees. My wife’s grandparents were refugees. We were all refugees at one time.

Though the trilogy works well, there’s one even smaller scene from the opening shows in Turin that will haunt me for a long time to come. It’s just 10 seconds, the perfect mashup of music, art and emotion. A video of the moment was tough to track down because most videographers are so busy filming the band, they miss the main act—the giant screen suspended in the middle of the arena. Here’s the best clip I’ve found. The scene I'm referring to comes in the middle of “Bullet,” so watch for it right at the 1:10 mark…

 

Did you see it? Several things are happening here. The image is attributed to Banksy, a British artist, displaying the flag of the European Union. But these aren’t ordinary stars. Look closely and you’ll see that each is a graphic representation of a human body floating lifelessly on the Mediterranean Sea, a poor, generic soul who just wanted work and freedom for his or her family. As Bono yells, “Bullet the blue… Bullet the blue!” (originally intended to reflect gunfire in Central America), the reference is now directed not at the sky, but at the violence and death of the Mediterranean’s deep and wild blue waters. I was chatting on Periscope with some U2 fans after the first Turin show when I realized the magnitude of the image. It stopped me cold. A real Joey Ramone moment from hell.

In the bridge following, Bono hums Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, “Ode To Joy,” and ironic contrast to the scene of death, but also a clear nod to Germany, one of the only countries in Europe providing exemplary help for refugees. Many countries have turned their backs and tightened their borders, but not Germany. It’s also a self-referential moment from the opening of the Zoo TV tour, when Bono goose stepped to the Ninth, stars falling from the EU flag (thanks for that one, Angela).

“Bullet” isn’t just a song about Central American peasants ducking and running for cover. It’s now about the last breath of an exhausted refugee who deserves more than the violence of a desperate homeland, and the empty promises of a human trafficker assuring safe passage. These images, these songs, these reinterpretations—they all stain me.

U2—like Psalms—isn’t a band that always leaves me feeling happy and clappy. And that’s okay. The Hebrew prophet usually told people things they didn’t want to hear but needed to know (also, by the way, using images and stories). For that, I offer my thanks to U2 and company. I need to be challenged and reminded about things that make me uncomfortable.

I get so many things I don’t deserve.

 

Comments

[Geoff]

Tim:

Three shows in now, counting the first night in Amsterdam, and I'm hearing things I didn't hear before--whether or not I missed them in the North American shows, or whether they're new things, I'm not certain.

From the Amsterdam feed alone, I heard two very Biblical things--one of which has been there since nearly the beginning of the tour. Psalm 23 really started to stand out (just before UTEOTW) with the "Comfort Me!" refrain after Dennis Sheehan's death in late May. But tonight I heard an extra word that adds a completely different context to the passage. Maybe I'm wrong, but for the life of me it sounded as if Bono said, "Thy rod and thy staff, they *should* comfort me." Is this Bono's angst over the inability to find solace where he knows it should be in the face of such a horrible human tragedy? Is he channeling the author of Psalm 73? ("As for me, my feet had almost slipped...") Is there a way out of the current crisis that doesn't destroy the soul in the process?

Perhaps he answered that seemingly unanswerable question as "Streets" wrapped up, paraphrasing Matthew 25: "I was naked and you clothed me, I was a stranger and you took me in [a line co-opted for Miracle Drug], I was a prisoner and you visited me." (Just after 7:35 in this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYxLhrzYc5I) The appropriate response, as you mentioned in your post, is a call to action. It doesn't matter who the people are, where they come from, or what they've been in the past. Jesus called them "the least of my brothers and sisters," and warned that our treatment of them says equally as much about us as individuals and as societies as does our treatment of the greatest.

In some senses, the wheel has been reinvented, the gauntlet thrown. And yet, the answer to the question of how to handle this crisis--and any crisis, really--is still the same. I Will Follow: "a song about unconditional love." Two Hearts: the only "love song" on the War album. Streets: building and burning down love. One love.

How punk rock is that?

[U2roeli]

Hi Tim,

Not only might it be a nod to Germany.
Ode to joy ("Alle menschen werden brüder") is actually also used as the European anthem...

And in this instance it is hummed pretty sarcastic, adding to the gut wrenching effect. Confronting people with the fact we (the EU, european people) actually don't do as much as we can at the moment, except arguing amongst each other...

Thnx!
U2Roeli

[Tim]

Geoff, an excellent connection to Psalm 73 and Matthew 25. I think you're right on! Thank you so much. -Tim

[Tim]

U2Roeli, I've now heard that from a few Europeans, and I've been persuaded. Thanks for adding this viewpoint here. As is always the case with U2, there's always more to be said. I'm grateful for readers like you who say it! -Tim
PS. I've always thought it interesting the love that Bono has for this melody from the 9th/Ode/Alle Menschen. Especially when he used it for the intro to "Get On Your Boots"!

[U2TRiSH]

Unbelievable/unthinkable, isn't it, that some people still listen to U2 as 'just' music?

The images of the floating bodies as the EU flag and the reqorking of Zooropa ... dear Lord.

[Tim]

I'm with you, U2Trish. But, fortunately, I know the band appreciates fans at all levels of understanding! -Tim

[Scott]

Just discovered your blog while working on a post for Facebook about the "October/Bullet the Blue Sky/Zooropa/Where the Streets Have No Name" sequence from the 2015-11-11 HBO show.

I did not have the opportunity to see U2 live this tour, but when I saw that sequence, I was moved to tears. So powerful. So hopeful. So much more than mere music, as U2Trish points out.

Thanks for your insights.

[Tim]

Hi, Scott. Thanks for leaving such a thoughtful comment. And I think you're right about the sequence--it's one of the most powerful U2 have ever done. Thanks again.-Tim