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The words “it's a beautiful day, don't let it get away” have been hitting radio airwaves for over two decades. U2's iconic hit “Beautiful Day” arguably saved their career on this day in 2000.
Prior to “Beautiful Day”
In the 1980s, U2 was “Rock's Hottest Ticket.” That was due to albums such as War, The Unforgettable Fire, and The Joshua Tree that spawned classics like “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Pride (In the Name of Love),” and “With or Without You.”
When the 90s came, U2 needed to reinvent their career. Bono gave his famous “dream it all up again” speech during the band's New Year's Eve show on their “Lovetown” tour in 1989. Rattle and Hum, the band's ambitious hybrid live/studio follow-up album to The Joshua Tree, received a mixed response.
U2 was lost. And then the 90s hit.
Achtung Baby — which the band is currently celebrating in Las Vegas at the Sphere — ushered in a new era for the band. Gone were the days of the straight-arrow quasi-worship band. A new U2, one with more edge (no pun intended) and a sexiness about them, was introduced with Achtung Baby and its “ZooTV” tour.
They would follow up Achtung Baby with another success, Zooropa. And then came Pop, an album equally underrated as it is overrated depending on the U2 fan you ask. The support tour, “PopMart,” didn't capitalize on “ZooTV” as much as U2 had hoped.
Once again, the band was lost. And “Beautiful Day” was where they were found.
“I was lost, I am found”
Three weeks before All That You Can't Leave Behind, U2's tenth studio album came out, “Beautiful Day” was released. After Pop, which attempted to use more drum machines and techno beats to mixed results, U2 went back to their roots.
The opening verse of “Beautiful Day” features Bono singing as a simple guitar and bass part follow. A synthesizer and a drum machine beat lay in the background. Then the chorus hits, and Bono croons “it's a beautiful day, sky falls you feel like, it's a beautiful day.” The Edge compliments this with power chords, all with a tone that U2 hadn't used in years. Even to this day, the song never fails as a workout jam that gets the blood pumping and your foot tapping.
An under-the-radar aspect of “Beautiful Day” and why it works is The Edge. Sure, as the guitarist of U2, a lot of attention is given to his harmonics, arpeggios, and power chords. But listen to his backing vocals in the choruses. It's his “day” refrains that make “Beautiful Day” the U2 anthem that it is.
For as much as Bono is credited for his vocals — and rightfully so — his songs wouldn't sound as good without The Edge. Think about “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “City of Blinding Lights,” “Desire,” or even their early songs like “Out of Control.” None of those song's choruses are the same without. The closest comparison for “Beautiful Day” in particular off-the-dome is “New Year's Day.” It's The Edge's backing belting that adds the missing piece to those choruses. He did it again tenfold with “Beautiful Day.”
A successful job application
Ahead of their “Elevation” tour in support of All That You Can't Leave Behind, Bono claimed U2 was re-applying for the job of the “best band in the world.” The “Elevation” tour toured North America and Europe, stripping the band of its elaborate sets and subliminal messages and back to its roots as a rock band.
“Beautiful Day's” lasting impact
U2 has since released five albums. None have had a single quite as monumental as “Beautiful Day.” It's a sound that they've tried to replicate or top — “Get Out of Your Own Way” is composed very similarly, and the band's tried different arrangements in live and studio settings. During their show at Abbey Road in 2017, they performed it with a choir, which was a nice addition to The Edge's backing vocals.
On Songs of Surrender, which reworked 40 of U2's songs, stripped down the song from its rock roots. They also sample the choir from the 2017 Abbey Road show in it. Nothing tops the original, though.
Per Setlist.fm, “Beautiful Day” is the eleventh most-played song by U2 in concert with 607 counts. Bear in mind, the songs that top it all predate the song, showing how much the band relies on it to get crowds moving. The top songs include “I Will Follow” (1,061 plays), a song from their first album, Boy, “Pride (In the Name of Love)” (1,025 plays), and “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (946 plays). Those are some of the band's biggest hits ever, and are all from the 80s.
“Beautiful Day” hasn't missed a tour since coming out 23 years ago. Sure, it's probably a bit overdone for the hardcore U2 fan. But even to this day, the song remains one of their best in a live setting — just ask Lady Gaga.
Currently, during U2's shows at the Sphere in Vegas, “Beautiful Day” closes the concert. As the song is played, hundreds of insects and animals are thrown up on the screen. The animals begin gaining their own colors as Bono sings the middle eight. And when the “after the flood all the colors came out” line, which leads into the final chorus, he says the line a couple of more times as sunlight begins breaking through.
It's an uplifting ending to the show. Even if U2 could have figured out a better, more anthemic ending such as “Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way” or “One,” “Beautiful Day” sends the casual fans home happy. Bono also samples Louis Armstrong's “What a Wonderful World” at the end of the song as fans depart the Sphere.
The reinvention desperately needed
Pop's failure was the kick in the pants the band needed. “Beautiful Day” made that change.
You could argue that “Beautiful Day” was U2's last mainstream hit — real ones will vouch for “Vertigo” or “City of Blinding Lights” just to make the band seem a little less irrelevant to the modern generation.
Even still, it speaks volumes when the song is one of the most recognizable to even those most oblivious to the existence of U2. On the surface, most likely think of “Beautiful Day” as the one U2 song they know, or the most overplayed of their songs. But for those who adore the band, they know just how much the song saved the career of the band.
Without “Beautiful Day,” where would U2 be? I can't answer that. But I do know that 23 years later, the band is going strong, opening high-tech revolutionary venues in Las Vegas, and still putting out quality music.
