Achtung Baby - U2

Twenty years ago today U2 released their new single 'The Fly' onto an unsuspecting public. It didn't make sense, was industrial, had a hard guitar sound and definitely was not the U2 everyone knew.
If 'The Fly' had been a surprise then the subsequent album would be a huge shock. A reboot. Yes there had been rumours leaking from the Hansa Studios in Berlin that a new sound was being crafted but no-one could have predicted the dark, edgy sound of 'Achtung Baby'.
The tour that was to follow was equally groundbreaking and one that I was privileged to witness. A group of us were picked up from outside 'Churchhill's' in Hartlepool and we travelled in a transit van to Roundhay Park in Leeds. The transit van was exactly that - no seats in the back and a bag of tools for company.
The scale of the show was breathtaking; huge TVs, Trabants, handycams and belly dancers. I'll never forget the entrance of Bono as The Fly- rising up on a platform, smoking and kicking to the opening fuzz of 'Zoo Station'.
We left the show and got back into the van tired but buzzing from what we'd just witnessed. Most of us fell asleep and woke several hours later.... still in the car park! The place was jammed.
In making this album U2 had reinvigorated themselves and produced a blueprint for others to follow. I would not last of course as they soon gave in to their earnest rock DNA. But for an brief moment in the early 90s U2 had captured the zeitgeist.