The performance that U2 gave in the DVD is my personal
all-time favourite live performance I have seen. To explain why I see things
that way, I’ll go through what the song Sunday Bloody Sunday represents to me
personally first.
To me the song is essentially a militaristic rallying call.
Although instead of call for arms, it’s a call to drop their weapons. If we see
in a military action movie where the hero makes a rousing inspirational speech
to their soldiers that inspires them before they march out to battle. Sunday
Bloody Sunday is a music representation of that phenomenon but with an opposite
message.
Songs that call for peace are fairly common in rock music
but what I feel is unique about Sunday Bloody Sunday is that it is taking the
anger, feelings of injustice that could have potentially inspired people to
take up arms and used that same emotions tho fuel peace. Essentially the same
emotions that could cause people to pick up weapons could also cause people to
drop it.
The way the song achieves this was done with my personal
favourite drumming moment in rock music, which is the military band drum intro.
Sure there’s nothing technically difficult and there’s nothing particularly
special about it in isolation but to me it’s the most emotionally resonant drum
beat in context of the song due to what it represents and how integral it is to
the message of the song. The idea of pacifist marching in the same discipline
unity as any soldier marching to battle is quite a powerful message. It’s much
as part of the DNA of the song as Edge guitar riff or a Bono vocal melody.
Due to the unique nature and message of the song, I don’t
believe a studio version can possibly be the definitive version of the song.
What is a rallying call without a crowd? Sure perhaps an individual could be
emotionally move listening to the song on headphones but the only way the
message of the song can be maximised if there is a large audience responding to
it because that is consistent with the artistic direction of the song.
Now the popular definitive live version of the song is
generally the Under The Blood Red Sky Red Rocks performance. It was considered
by Rolling Stones magazine as one of the “Moments that Changed the History of
Rock and Roll” particularly due to the iconic imagery of Bono marching with the
white flag . However as brilliant as that live version, I believe that the
Rattle and Hum version tops that.
What makes the Rattle and Hum version special and elevates
this above every other version of the song in my opinion is that there is a
character arc in this song due to it’s rearrangement. Using the “heroes
inspirational speech to the soldiers before marching to battle” analogy that I
mention before, instead of heading straight to the speech and then the march.
The songs starts with a preceding trigger that made the march necessary and
shows the steps that led to the marching to battle. It begin with Bono talking
about the Enniskillen massacre and when the song begins, it’s not with a
marching band but it’s a stripped down arrangement with just Edge on a guitar
and Bono singing on top of that. The meaning behind “I can’t believe the news today, I can’t
close my eyes and make it go away” with a marching band on top and one with a
strip down arrangement is completely different as the former is a display of
righteous indignation but the latter is someone with utter shock and sorrow
which is the natural reaction that everyone has to a tragedy like that. Of
course the band eventually did kick in and the righteous indignation came in
but having the sorrow preceding the indignation follows the reaction to a
terrorist attack in a more realistic manner. People mourn the dead first before
focusing on the perpetrator. Then what happens after the guitar solo is where
the song combines the symbolic rallying call of the music with a literal
rallying call. Bono goes on a passionate speech denouncing the terrorist attack.
What happens in the movie when a leader makes an inspiration speech to their
soldiers, well the soldier cheers. Well in this song when Bono shouted out
“Fuck the Revolution” the crowd cheers along with him. When Bono screams out
“No More” the crowd responds and shouts along with him buying into Bono
rallying call for peace. At the end the iconic drum intro that was absent at
the beginning returns symbolising that the crowd that Bono won over during the
speech is now marching along with him to the battle lines with discipline unity
in calling for peace. There’s now an arc to the song with the shock and sorrow
at the beginning that turned to righteous indignation that inspired the
protagonist of the song to make a rousing speech denouncing the attack that
inspired the crowd to march with him for peace. It’s a story with the
beginning, middle and end while the studio version really only focus on the
last part of the story.
Now there are two common complaints to this live version.
The first is the absence of the marching band drum intro at the beginning who
some people claim that the absence of the iconic drum lines at the beginning
defeat the purpose of the song and remove a lot of the power. However I will
argue that by delaying that intro and turning it into an outro, it makes the
drum line even more powerful. As in this arrangement it is the culmination of
every preceding event of the song. The second complaint is that people hate it
when Bono goes on a speech in the middle of the song which I can somewhat
sympathise with. However I will argue that in contrast to every other time Bono
goes on a speech, this time it compositionally fits. As I already explained,
the events naturally led up to that speech, the speech naturally led to the
conclusion and the speech is simply an extension of the call to arm atmosphere
of the music.
