Our long awaited return to the U2 360 tour, last night at Soldier Field. More to come...
I remember one concert that took place shortly following the events of September 11, 2001. There we all were, packed into the United Center, and Bono, like some kind of rock prophet, was up there, in his flag-lined jacket, singing Walk On, and telling us that everything was going to be okay. And we're all there, me and several thousand of my closest friends, in the dark, singing along, and being uplifted by this strangely profound shared experience. It was, and I am being totally serious here, like a religious experience. Every time a concert is announced, I am there, at the computer, finger on the button, poised to buy tickets as soon as Ticketmaster will let me. (I remember once I actually left work a little early so Heidi and I could go stand on line at a Ticketmaster outlet so we could get tickets right away. Those were the days!) So yeah, anyway, whenever they come to town, I go.
Solider Field is a massive, immense place. They packed 63,000 people into the stadium (and on the field) for the concert. How much would the Bears kill to get that kind of an audience into one of their Sunday suckfests? We were in section 332, if that means anything to anyone out there, not quite in the scary realm of section 407, that sort of hangs out into outer space. We were just sort of around the corner from the end zone. So good seats, with a good view of the stage.
We bought the requisite water bottles (because it was exactly 200 degrees and humid) without bottle caps (which I still don't really understand, but I was told that people had taken to lobbing full water bottles onto the field during Bears games - who could blame them? and that it hurts a little bit less if you throw a bottle without a cap. You probably drench your neighbors in the process, but whatever.) and went down a set of steep, cement steps to our seats, which were, of course, a row behind the requisite drunk, dancing morons. One of the guys was constantly draping himself on his wife/girlfriend/concubine. I don't know how she stood it. It was, as I mentioned, about a million degrees and sticky. If anyone draped themselves on me, I would have thrown them off so hard, they would have fallen over the side of our section, onto the field below. Hope you like to bodysurf, bub.
Anyway, whatever. Even the drunks and the hot weather could not dampen my spirits! We didn't have to wait too long before the guys hit the stage. This time, they pretty much ignored No Line on the Horizon, their most recent studio album (they only ended up playing three songs from it) and stuck to their better-known and beloved catalogue. We sang along to "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" and "One" and "Pride (in the Name of Love)" and all the rest. I don't know if this crowd was just better behaved, or if we were all old or hot or tired or what, but this is the first U2 show I've been to where the people in my section were mainly sitting down. The last show I was at, we were on our feet at the opening strains of "Ground Control to Major Tom" and we stayed there pretty much until it was over. This time, people stood up when the band was playing a really great song, and then they calmly sat back down. I have to say, that was okay with me.
I loved every last minute of it, but my particular favorites were "City of Blinding Lights" (where I sprang up out of my seat and cheered my face off. LOVE this song. LOVE it.) "Stay (faraway so close!)" and "Miss Sarajevo". I had originally heard that song because it was on the Diana, Princess of Wales tribute album. It blew my mind because the band were listed as "Passengers" and for years I was so confused because it sounded exactly like U2. Yes. This is because it was U2. Anyway, the song also includes a little, sort of strange, Italian interlude sung, naturally, by Luciano Pavarotti. They start the song, like you do, and it goes on for a bit and then this big, Italian tenor busts out with a verse, and then he stops and it picks back up again, like nothing strange has occurred. I have always loved that song. I had read that they were including it in the set list, and wondered vaguely how they were going to handle the Pavarotti bit. Well, Bono sang the Italian part himself. It sounded really good.
Other things - watching Bono made me melt into a big puddle of goo - and not just because I lurve him. It was mainly because he was running around the stage wearing a (possibly leather) jacket. Dude. I know it's kind of your thing, right, but I think we all would have been cool if you had decided to wear, like, a t-shirt or something. I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts and was pretty much just sitting still and drinking from my (capless) water bottle. I was roasting. I didn't even care when it started raining a little. Bono, on the other hand, was singing, strutting and working the stage. For about 2 and a half hours. He must have been ROASTING, but he never showed any sign of it. And he didn't pass out from the heat, or anything, so he must have been fine, but still. Sheesh. For the encores, he came out in what totally looked like leather pants. The Edge was also wearing his trademark knit cap. Which was still probably really hot, but I think if he'd gone without it, we'd all be like, hey! Where's the Edge?? He'd be unrecognizeable.
U2 shows are BIG, large scale productions. There's light, there's visuals, there's amazing, throbbing, pulsing music. They do this every time, and they do it well. I cannot wait for them to come back. Except next time, I'm buying TWO bottles of water (and smuggling in my own bottle caps! Yeah, I said it!)
