An invigorated U2 tore through anthems and new stuff under a reconstituted sight-and-sound show in San Jose on Tuesday. Enormous speakers from the ceiling spread out sound more evenly in the arena. Dazzling screens split the room in half. Bono yelled out, "What do you think? We're not afraid of tech. We like innovation," reports USA TODAY.

If the computing power in a simple smartphone far exceeds what NASA used to send men to the moon in the 1960s, one strains to describe the processing muscle needed to run the screens on this Innocence & Experience tour. Tech Company EMC is responsible for powering the visuals, anchored to use of its VNXe3200 hybrid-flash storage unit that allows U2's animators to play with huge uncompressed files for maximum resolution over an expansive screen.

Bono's ties to Silicon Valley date back to the band's early collaboration with Apple — the red U2 iPod of 2004 — which led to a deep friendship with Steve Jobs and by extension other tech titans.

Later in the performance, the report noted that Bono whispered, "Laurene, this is for you," and launched into the romantic song Every Breaking Wave. Laurene Powell Jobs is Steve Jobs' widow.

Bono then name-checked another tech world legend: Apple designer Jony Ive.

The photo above is from Vancouver Canada where U2's tour kicked off in North America. The band can be seen through the gigantic on-stage digital screens (front and back) from both sides of the arena. For more on this story, see the full USA TODAY reports here and here. More on the U2 Tour can be read at the Rolling Stone.

Last September Apple's CEO Tim Cook announced that every Apple fan with an iTunes account would receive a free gift of the new U2 album titled "Songs of Innocence," which stirred an unexpected controversy.

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