Tuesday, October 25, 2005

What a blog entry that would be!












"...Where the streets have no name...we're still building and burning down love..."
Yep, it was an awesome concert. The first one I've stayed till the end in a long, long time. Of course, they ended with 40...and Larry Mullen was the last one to leave the stage...he just went to the edge of the stage and stood there in the light for a long time, as everyone was singing, "How long...to sing this song...How long...to sing this song...."

They had an amazing stage set. The most incredible one I'd ever seen. The stage was a circle, with concentric circles of lights set into the floor. And that main stage was set into the end of an ellipse-like runway that extended way out into the main floor, and back, in a large swoop. The fan club people were inside the ellipse--standing, of course. There were more concentric lights set into the runway. And they also had these beaded curtains made of fiber optics that acted as moving video screens, which raised and lowered depending on the song. Really cool.

Bono spent a lot of time on the elliptical runway, as you can imagine. And what prompted the title of this blog entry was what he did during the last song of the first encore.

The intro to With or Without You was playing, and he went down to the furthest part of the runway, reached into the crowd, and pulled up a woman from about three rows back onto the stage with him.

He hugged her, and she (of course) hugged him, and as he was holding her, as if they were embracing, her head on his shoulder, his head on hers...he sang. The whole song. While he was holding her.

I can only imagine what it must have been like to be her. She could feel the rumble in his chest as he sang, could feel his warmth, his smell, feel him every time he took a breath...OMG. Bono!

As my husband said, "It was Bono's way of dancing with every woman in the arena."

Yeah. I'd have fainted once I got back to the ground.

Another highlight was when, during Love and Peace or Else, the lights came up, and there was Larry Mullen, standing on the farthest part of the ellipse, with a single drum, just banging away. Probably the first tour he'd ever gotten that close to the fans while playing! And after that song ended, Larry dashed back to the main stage and Bono took over on the single drum there, pounding out the beginning to Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

That was awesome to see: Bono slashing the drums, his arms raising high, one after the other, slamming down on the drum, with his white "coexist" bandanna over his forehead. Very moving.

A friend of mine doesn't like to see U2 in concert, because he, as he puts it, "comes to see them perform, not preach about politics." Well, I have to disagree with his sentiment, because that's one of the things that I admire most about Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam. They aren't afraid to--and in fact, I believe they must feel the responsibility of--using their exposure and influence to speak out about inequalities in the world. And they do, and they did.

And I appreciate them all the more for it.

7 Comments:

Blogger c soliloquized...

just passing thru on your u2 post. sounds like you had an awesome time. i am in agreement with you 100%, especially on the politics. the fact that a lot of people don't want to hear it makes it even cooler that the band won't shut up about it.
peace

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 1:47:00 PM  
Blogger Colleen Gleason soliloquized...

Thanks for stopping by, C., and I think you are right.

Colleen

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 4:04:00 PM  
Blogger MJFredrick soliloquized...

YOU'RE KILLING ME!!!!!!!

Did I ever tell you I had a killer crush on Edge? Even used him and Bono in two stories that I never finished.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:46:00 PM  
Blogger Colleen Gleason soliloquized...

But Mary, I was just trying to make it like you were there with me! LOL.

Anyway, if I'd have thought to bring your phone number with me, I'd've called you and let you listen.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 7:10:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous soliloquized...

Sounds like a great time! I haven't been to anything other than a kid school concert in such a long time, I can't even remember the excitement and energy of it all. Hey, maybe all the parents should stand up in the aisles and start dancing at the next 7th grade band concert. Ha! We'd probably embarrass the kids so completely they'd never want to play in another concert again. Hmmm......

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 8:16:00 PM  
Blogger Trish Milburn soliloquized...

Sounds like a great time. It burns me up anytime people criticize performers of any type about using their position to further their political/social agendas. My response is, "What, just because they're famous, they can't have an opinion and voice it?"

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 9:25:00 PM  
Blogger Esri Rose soliloquized...

Wow. That sounds like an incredible concert. Thanks for the description of the set. I would love to see those fiberoptic curtains. Those sound cool.

I like the way Trish put their right to express their politics.

Friday, October 28, 2005 2:58:00 PM  

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