In the footsteps of musical giants

It was a night of good music, happy people and incessant rain for company when ‘Elevation – The U2 Experience’ performed at Catholic Club recently. Performing the popular ‘U2’ songs as well as some lesser known gems, they had the crowd moving to their groovy basslines and foot-thumping beats.

They started with ‘Even Better Than The Real Thing’, where vocalist Stuart jumped off the stage and went around giving high-fives to the audience, a stunt repeated on several occasions over the course of the night.

The other songs performed included ‘Out of Control’, ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’, ‘Vertigo’, ‘Stuck in the Moment’, ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’, ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’, ‘One’, ‘New Year’s Day’ and the much anticipated ‘With Or Without You’ among others.

What made their music stand out despite being a tribute band was the passion and creativity with which they played their renditions. This innovation was also
seen in songs like ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, where they put in the chorus of Bob Marley’s ‘Get Up Stand Up’ in the middle of the song.

Their set ended with ‘Beautiful Day’, to which the audience eagerly sang along. The encore was called for when people realised that the band still hadn’t played ‘Elevation’, the song that they chose to represent them — and one that they performed to perfection.

While it was obvious that not everyone present had heard the original band being paid a tribute to, the ‘U2’ fans did have a great time.

“‘U2’ is a hard act to follow and the songs are tough to sing. For someone like me who has grown up listening to all these songs, they were not bad at all,” said Shabari, an audience member. Comments like ‘I thought they were actually ‘U2’ were also heard floating around in the crowd.

When asked how the band felt about their first official gig in their India tour, Tony, who plays bass, replied ‘wet’. On a more serious note, he added, “It feels really good because initially, we had to really try and get the audience involved. But by the end of the show, they were singing the songs back to us. From the moment they decided to engage with us, it made all the difference. After all, every band feeds off the audience!”