Has anyone else kind of had it with U2 being the go-to guys for uplift after calamaties? The argument could quite strongly be made that the band's resurgence wouldn't have been so full-force if 9/11 had never happened. I remember All That You Can't Leave Behind languishing at mid-level sales numbers, accompanied by middling praise, before the towers fell. But then songs from that album--"Walk On," "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," "Beautiful Day"--got grafted on to paradigm-shifted meanings. And all of the sudden Bono was a messiah (not that he hadn't thought of himself as such for a good while) who would lead us out of the toil and trouble.
So there U2 found themselves Monday night back in the Superdome, back on the scene where they'd performed the first post-9/11 Superbowl halftime show. And now their lyrics could be re-re-interpreted as post-Katrina rebirth. Especially when they (along with Green Day, yes, but let's try to block that image out) shifted into "Beautiful Day" with the line, "After the flood/All the colors came out." It's as if Boner intentionally writes lines so vaguely Hallmarkian that they'll be ready for combat use in the face of any emergency.
Not that I let it all bug me for too long. When on the fourth play from scrimmage the Saints blocked a Falcons punt to score a touchdown, setting the scene for any easy roll to victory, all annoyance was forgotten.
Am I blogging too much about the convergence of music and sports lately?