Among the half-dozen or so bands from the British Isles that have led a revival of droning psychedelic rock in the last two years, the Irish quartet, U2, is both the youngest and the most talented. Reducing the incantatory style of the Byrds and the Velvet Underground to a resounding two-chord minimalism, the group creates intense churchy sonorities driven at a headlong pace by the drummer, Larry Mullen. By combining a passionate, throaty delivery with thrashing energy and cherubic good looks, the lead singer, Bono Hewson, exudes a particularly winning charisma.
Since U2 played its first major United States club dates more than a year ago, the group has sharpened its sound and focused its mysticism. The group’s first songs combined an adolescent exuberance with a Jungian reflectiveness. But their more recent work is more explicitly religious, and to this listener even more stirring. Among the highlights of their set at the Ritz on Wednesday — the first of a two-night stand — were the chant-hymns “Gloria” and “Rejoice.” Their mixture of fervent mysticism and adolescent enthusiasm most effectively turned a droning style associated with dark emotions into a vehicle for pure celebration.
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