like a fish needs a bicycle...

blinding lights

oh my goodness, still reeling from my recent excursion into the "city of blinding lights." i saw U2 in concert last night--for the third time. ummmm, wow. i'm really too lucky. soooo glad i got to see them in chicago! thank you, greg... talk about a fantastic valentine's day gift. :)

so, needless to say, it was an amazing show. delara and i were so psyched to go, and we were not disappointed. it's always nice to see my boys again... they've held a special place in my heart since i was 15, and i'll just never stop loving them.

as usual, the concert was at once an amazing musical journey, a stunning visual spectacle, an expression of social conscience, a profoundly unified display of love and loyalty from thousands of elated people, and above all, a soulful experience...

i never cease to be impressed. not only did they have excellent stage production--talk about "city of blinding lights," dazzling and in full effect--but the band itself gets mad props for playing a truly exceptional set. sometimes, bands don't do justice to their full range of musical beauty and diversity because they make some strange and poor choices of songs to play in concert. such was not the case last night...

first of all, they rocked the house with 2 encores. 2 encores! i've never experienced that at any concert i've been to, and it was awesome! the first encore was entirely from achtung baby and it was amazing! they came out with "zoo station" (sweet early '90s throwback), went into "the fly" (so much fun), and ended with "mysterious ways" (i'm so in love with this song, and, of course, i couldn't stop dancing). during "mysterious ways," bono pulled a girl up on stage to dance with him (i soooo wanted to be her... oh well.)

the second encore was mostly from the new album, and it was high-energy and a good way to end the night. of course, in looking at their set lists from the 2 previous nights in chicago, i was saddened to find that, during their last encore, they played "40" on both previous nights, but they didn't play it on the third night, when i was there. "40" is one of my favorites. fortunately, though, they also didn't play "yahweh," as they had the previous 2 nights ("yahweh" is definitely not one of my favorites). so maybe it's trade-off. oh! and, during the second encore, the crowd sang a spontaneous and sweet "happy birthday" to bono! sooo cute!

also, while it's not included in the set list, they did play "party girl" during the last encore. that was awesome, since they pulled a girl up from the audience and had her play the song. she was standing in the front row of the floor section, holding up a poster that said "party girl" (so i'm assuming she'd practiced and was ready for this). they pulled her up on stage and gave her an acoustic guitar to play alongside adam and edge while bono sang. how cool is that?! i love their spontaneity! and, in general, being treated to 2 encores, i was so awed by how much youthful energy they still pour onto the stage, even after 25 years of doing this. see why i love my boys?

they played a fair amount from their new album, "how to dismantle and atomic bomb" (also see here). my previous entry about this indicates that although i wasn't thrilled about this album, i liked it ok. after hearing it live, i like it much more. so that's good. they opened the show with "city of blinding lights," which was really gorgeous. i think that one might be my favorite track off the new album.

meanwhile, they were definitely still on top of their game with the old standards. "pride," "where the streets have no name," "sunday bloody sunday..." they all had the crowd on its feet and chanting in unison. meanwhile, they did an amazing rendition of "new year's day." seeing edge play the keyboard with his guitar on, then go straight into one of the most amazing guitar riffs in rock'n'roll was really just too much for me to handle... i think i'd really like to bear his children, just for the sake of having my own kids be born with that much musical genius.

there were also some refreshing surprises. they played "electric co." and then went into "an cat dubh." didn't think those songs lived outside of under a blood redy sky, so that was cool. they also played "running to stand still" in honor of all the U.S. service men and women overseas. and finally, there was the requisite sermon on humanity... they displayed the universal declaration of human rights on large projection screens, bono spoke on the need for african aid, encouraged everyone to text president bush about it (this doesn't work of course, when 20,000 people in one stadium are tying up the networks trying to do so), and then went into a very heartfelt rendition of "one." it was pretty amazing.

in general, all the songs were stellar, though i would've appreciated a little more of the classics. for instance, if they'd played "in god's country," i might have screamed. if they'd played "with or without you" or "all i want is you," especially during one of the encores, delara probably would've had to pick me up off the floor when it was time to exit the premises. so yeah, i really would've loved to hear some of that, especially since i don't think the joshua tree got enough representation. also, pop got no love whatsoever. but that's ok--i love hearing the good stuff, no matter which album it comes from (for instance, "beautiful day" and "elevation" were awesome).

so i think i'll have to quit now. this post is approaching the length of many scary government documents. so i'll stop. suffice it to say that i'll be feeling the elation of last night's experience for some time. i mean, having beer spilled on me 3 times and still enjoying it that much... that's really testament to the caliber of the concert. i just can't help loving them...

really, U2 is the most amazing rock band out there. i can't express my profound respect for them as musicians and as agents of social consciouness, and i don't think i'll ever lose that child-like wonder i feel everytime i hear one of those truly unique songs that harmonizes my insides ands puts me at peace. can't believe i got to experience it live for the third time. like i always say, truly a blessed life.

Posted by naseem at May 11, 2005 03:24 PM