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| The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., Bono, and Adam Clayton, from left to right, perform at the first concert in Korea held at Gocheok Sky Dome, Sunday./ Courtesy of Live Nation Korea |
Band's message of peace finds resonance
By Jung Hae-myoung
Irish rock band U2 marked a poignant message at their concert in Korea as part of their "The Joshua Tree 2019" tour, held at Gocheok Sky Dome on Sunday. Around 28,000 people filled the venue.
Known for conveying powerful and philosophical messages through their music and concert, U2's message to Korea was "Herstory."
"Women of the world unite to rewrite history to herstory," Bono, the lead singer, said when he started the song "Ultraviolet (Light My way)." As he spoke, the word "History" on the screen changed to "Herstory."
Images of historic female figures were shown on the screen starting from Mary Wollstonecraft, Sojourner Truth, and various suffragettes that fought for women's rights.
The first Korean woman featured was Korea's first female lawyer Lee Tae-young, first female western painter Na Hye-seok, current first lady Kim Jung-sook, violinist Jung Kyung-hwa, and Haenyeo, female divers of Jeju Island. An image of Seo Ji-hyun, a female prosecutor who started the #MeToo movement in the judiciary also appeared on the screen.
"I don't know what to say because I've been out of the public eye," Seo said. "The world is changing and sometimes I feel like it is going backwards, but I will rest a bit more and gallantly come back."
When Sulli, who recently died in October, came up screen, it was hard for many to contain their emotions. She was controversial for her liberal actions when she was alive, and this also spread to the "corset-free movement" which made her a target for the numerous malicious comments that led to her suicide.
"No one is equal until everyone is equal," the message on the screen read in Korean.
The band also delivered a message for the peaceful unification of the Korean peninsula through comments in between the last set list, "One," and "Never Tear Us Apart," an original track by INXS, and said they send love to North Korea for "Love is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way." With a video clip between "One Tree Hill" and "Exit" showing a short satirical film criticizing U.S. President Trump.
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| U2 perform "Where the Streets Have No Name" at the live concert in Korea held at Gocheok Sky Dome, Sunday/ Courtesy of Live Nation Korea |
Bono communicated with the audience constantly saying "Thank You" in Korean.
"I was going to ask, people say that the Irish are like Koreans in the British Isles," Bono said. "Why might that be? That's because we have a lot of fun for a start."
The audience cheered and sang along with Bono, supported by finger-flying guitar work played by The Edge and Adam Clayton, and the powerful drumbeat played by Larry Mullen Jr. The crowd jumped up and down for nearly all of the songs, and sometimes lightened up the stage with their mobile phones swaying side to side.
"We have never met before, but it feels like we've been known for each other for a long, long time," Mullen said. The Edge also said they will come back to Korea soon again. "This morning I got up early and walked to the hills of the old road in Seoul to look up at the whole city. Two days is clearly not enough time to look around. We've got to come back her in real time soon," he said.
The band opened the stage with "Sunday Bloody Sunday," from 1983, which is one of their political songs, written about the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre, where British troops shot 28 unarmed civilians during a protest in Northern Island.
The band is famous for making social statements on different countries. In October 2018, the band paid tribute to the victims that were killed by the suicide bombing at Ariana Grande's concert in the Manchester Arena.
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| A Joshua Tree-shaped construction lights up during the gig. This was the biggest stage with LED and stage gears performed on by a musician from abroad./ Courtesy of Live Nation Korea |
Grammy award-winning album "The Joshua Tree" was their fifth album released in 1987 that made them an internationally popular rock group. After winning "Album of the Year" and "Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal," the band has won 22 Grammy Awards.
The Joshua Tree concert 2019 started in New Zealand and toured around Australia, Singapore, Japan. For Korea and Singapore this is the first time they are visiting the country.
The stage was also the most extravagant, using an LED screen 61 meters wide and 14 meters high and 8K resolution. The backdrop was a huge Joshua tree-shaped construction adorned with lights. The substage also in the shape of Joshua Tree. This is the biggest scale concert among all concerts by an international artist so far.
After the show, Bono visited the Blue House on Monday to meet President Moon Jae-in and deliver a message around peace.
"After the unification of Germany, Koreans also started to have a strong yearning for unification between the North and South," the president said.
"I know you are ensuring the prosperity is more inclusive and more transparent, and I want to thank you for that. I want to thank you also for your leadership and the peace process, and your dogged determination to go the distance in making peace a reality, not just a dream. And I am here to encourage that," Bono replied.
