Between Me And U2...

You know what?

Fuck ''classic U2''. Fuck The Joshua Tree and Sunday Bloody Sunday. Not that Bloody Sunday isn't a good song, but it's played every Spring at every sugar shack, at every graduation, at every party - it's lost its meaning a thousand times over. And Joshua Tree might be the most over-rated record of all time (apart from all the records made by that Beatles act from Liverpool).

But yearning for ''old U2'' as many critics are doing now that the band is in town for its biggest concert in history (both for U2 and Montréal) is like saying Led Zeppelin was better than Robert Plant solo, like the thief-band is better than the inspired master...

That's forgetting the ground-breaking-ness of Achtung Baby, of Zooropa and - to a lesser extent - Pop, an amazing record if you forget the inclusion of its first single, Discothèque.

Instead of being complacent, wallowing in their past success, U2 made the gamble to keep evolving and push themselves, and it paid, until Vertigo and the free-fall that comes with a lack of inspiration mixed with a load of self-importance. When U2's message of world peace and Bono's attempt to purchase a Nobel Peace Prize became more important than the music, only then did U2, in my eyes, start to make terrible music. Because, honestly, between Where The Streets Have No Name and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, there isn't that much of a change in styles, sound, tempo, or anything else. Achtung is what saves U2 from becoming one of those faceless, nameless ''classic-rock'' bands like Kansas or Boston, and in the process makes the band an important part of rock history.

Just sayin'.