U2 On "Late Show With David Letterman"

With the economic news just getting ever more bleak and everyone and his brother looking to cut spending, I’ve been trying to encourage people to get out and spend a little of that money they’ve been saving, and looking anywhere but in the headlines for anything that might drag a bit of hope into the picture.

It may not be the biggest potential cash infusion into the economy, but with a new U2 album out today, the oft-cited “biggest band in the world” is pulling a high-profile weeklong guest appearance on CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman.”

Letterman brought them into things early last night, ribbing them about their humility, getting them outside to shovel the sidewalk after yesterday’s heavy snowfall in New York. They didn’t seem to really put their backs into it, but they probably haven’t even schlepped their own gear in the last 30 years.

It’s interesting to see Letterman so excited about this particular event, and having these guys on his show. I haven’t seen every appearance they made on the show, but I do recall the time he had Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. on about 15 years ago, not long after Bono’s duet with Frank Sinatra, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” was released. Back then, Letterman asked his obligatory questions about the band’s new album and tour, but once he’d dispensed with that nonsense, he spent most of the rest of the interview grilling them about the Chairman of the Board, the time they spent at Frank’s house, whether or not they could keep up with Frank’s liver, etc.

What wasn’t surprising but was simply eye-rollingly irritating was the fact that a second guest had to be eliminated to accommodate the volume of commercial spots that were sold for this broadcast.

After a surprisingly entertaining and at-times ribald interview with Katie Couric, he brought on the big deal. Instead of hitting everyone with their tepidly received, hard-rocking first single, “Get On Your Boots” (which really falls short of being one of the band’s better songs), U2 wisely started the week with a fresher-sounding track, “Breathe,” which seems a little more likely to be a crowd-pleaser.

What do you think of the band’s latest effort?

Check out the clips here as the week progresses:

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Last night’s wasn’t too bad, was it? Maybe not the best of the new songs, but still better than the single they’ve been pushing up to now. Have a look:

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Less enamored of Wednesday’s tune — at least at first listen — but again, not bad, and a solid effort for a bunch of guys who, Bono excepted, probably are sick of being hyped up as much as they are. But the best part of last night’s U2 appearance was their participation in Letterman’s Top 10 — especially The Edge’s ad lib on number five.

Their performance of “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”:

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Wow — I hate to say it, as I like to see NEW music instead of rehashing the old, but last night was the best yet of U2’s appearances on “Letterman” this week. “Beautiful Day” is a few years old now, but it’s a powerful song — great guitar work, with lyrics and a general feeling that somehow comprehensively expresses everything they’ve done over the course of their career. Nice few tips o’ the hat to New York Bowery rockers the Ramones, as well. A class move.

Gear-Geek Corner: REALLY cool to see The Edge drag out the Gibson Explorer — yeah, they look dated, but they sound amazing. (Younger U2 fans take note: This is the guitar that Edge played in the late ’70s and on which he wrote their first album, and to which he periodically returns.)

So great was last night’s performance that I neglected to mention their amusing turn at the switchboard desk, performing “hold” music for “The Late Show”.

Yes, I know there’ll be at least a few of you who will manage to turn this into a WAV file and throw it in your iPods. Just remember that copyright infringement is either wrong or your best entertainment value … I’ll leave that up to you.

And the interview we all expected finally happened.

Great shout out to Dik, the Edge’s brother, whose career has been nearly as intriguing as U2’s, if a lot different. Beyond playing guitar for notorious art band Virgin Prunes (you can almost hear a family resemblance, as Dik supposedly taught his younger brother to play), Dik ended up working with radical avant garde ensembles like Nurse With Wound, Current 93 and others — and very likely has influenced some of U2’s more experimentalist tendencies.

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Last night for U2’s appearance on “Letterman,” and they indulged Dave with yet another fun segment, “Ask U2,” which should come in handy for anyone having trouble keeping warm for the remainder of this winter.

Finally finishing up with, as expected, their current single, “Get On Your Boots,” the band goes out with a bang, although we do get cheated of a last song they supposedly were going to deliver just for the studio audience and not for the cameras.

Who will it be next time? Springsteen? The reunited Mott the Hoople? The list of bands who could get away with this sort of thing is pretty short. Someone is bound to attempt it again soon, but it’ll take some doing to eclipse what U2 brought to Letterman this week.

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