I’ve always been a U2 fan, dating back to when they were playing to a half full Salt Palace Exhibit Hall in Salt Lake City on the ‘Boy’ tour.  Now, I’m not all Johnny Drama on ‘Entourage’ about them–I don’t wave Irish flags at their shows or anything–but they’re a solid band.  Some have griped about their recent direction to more ‘pop’ oriented songs, but you can’t sing overwrought anthems about Irish politics when you’ve got a 9 figure ATM balance and are one of the biggest rock bands in the world.  I mean, you *can* technically, but it sounds disingenuous and all of that.  Personally, I’ve liked the way that U2 has morphed into serious rock stars without losing their ‘edge’ (no pun intended).

They’ve also remained one of the best live bands in the world.  And that’s what made their Superbowl halftime show so effective.  Sure, they worked the post 9/11 angle pretty hard but that’s what the times called for.  When you’re a kick ass live band you don’t need ‘Up With People’, 3-D or an Indiana Jones themed plot.  There’s been some other good halftime shows in recent years, but hard to argue with a great band in their prime nailing their live performance.  It’s money in the bank, and here’s the video to prove it:

Part 1:

Part II:

And as a special bonus, here’s the U2 performance from the aforementioned episode of ‘Entourage’ where Ari initially screws up getting Johnny Drama tickets to their show for his birthday but makes up for it at the end: