U2.
Beginnings.
Prior to their penultimate weekend at The Sphere in Las Vegas, I'd seen them three times, beginnings all:
- Tampa Stadium December 05, 1987 - The Joshua Tree tour
- Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum June 21, 1997 - an early date and first concert with the woman I would marry exactly one year later.
- Anaheim, CA - June 18, 2011 - U2 360 - with my previous ticketholder and our child - his first concert ever.
Ends.
Maybe not my most favorite band. Maybe ever. At any given time, there was probably some other band holding my top spot.
Kate Bush isn't a band.
Midnight Oil might be the winner of my 40-year Band Favorite Marathon over U2. I can't think of a third runner.
But Midnight Oil - perhaps more consistent social justices warriors (certainly less tender) - except for one song, never had the impact of U2.
If there can be only one for my generation - culturally - then it is U2.
In all of my prior shows, I was really far from the stage (football stadium, football stadium, baseball stadium cheap seats).
I don't remember much from those shows.
Some of the loss is the years. Some might be it's hard to remember details when you never could see the details. Some might be from being distracted by a new girl who could be The One.
In any case, U2 isn't getting any younger, nor are we. Who else will be able to fully leverage the creative opportunities The Sphere enables? Only huge bands with a long residency would be able to invest the time and money to optimize for the Sphere.
It has to be music you love - I bet Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Ms. Swift, and a host of country or hip-hop artists would put on a great show, but not for me. Green Day, maybe, eventually. Muse put on the best visual show I'd seen, we'd go see them, probably.
But an opportunity to see U2 with good seats, finally, maybe only...
Thirty-seven years ago (good god!), my college roommates and I made the drive from Gainesville, FL, to Tampa Stadium to see The Joshua Tree tour. We sat high up on the far 40-yard line. I remember Exit and little else from the show. I'd have to watch some videos to spark some memory. I absolutely remember how emotionally connected the band made us feel - in a stadium. And, yes, closing with 40, the whole stadium singing, after the band left, singing into the parking lot. They were HUGE and the future was theirs.
Twenty-seven years ago, I remember some Rage Against The Machine. I definitely remember dinner with Leigh and her Maid-of-Honor-level bestie [foreshadowing there :) ], Melinda, eating dinner at a fancy Mexican restaurant before the show. Margaritas on the deck.... I remember Leigh's short white lacy dress. I remember Leigh tripping in the Coliseum and hurting her elbow (things would bang against it for weeks afterwards). U2? They had a motorized Lemon or something? Don't remember the show, don't remember any feelings about the show itself.
Fourteen years ago was about the kid. Of course I wrote about it at the time: U2 - Dash, too - June 18, 2011. The three of us belting out "Elevation" was a blast. The show, the band? Not much remembered.
Maybe a final show, up close, will be an end that actually transforms those stick figures of the beginnings into actual people to remember.
I was saying after the show "There are two types of people in this world. Those who have been able to see The Edge's fingers on the strings, and those who haven't." I am now one of The Seers.
I'd joke that I'd often have to zoom in on the JumboTron to see facial expressions - or even just the faces. But now I could just use my (newly) bespectacled eyeballs. The biggest band in the world closer than most of the small obscure bands I frequent.
Adam struck me for the first time as ultra-cool. Grey punk hairdo. Imposing stance. Rock star. (on bass, even). Since Rattle and Hum, it's been impossible to underestimate The Edge. I noticed Saturday night he's got about the most fluid play-guitar/dance groove I've seen. Carried a lot of the showmanship burden. Meaning, it didn't have to be all Bono.
And, yes, I could watch the fingers on the frets. Thirty-seven years later.
When I see the video from The Sphere (Bono, said they were filming this concert (and probably other nights as well)), the should match up closely with what I saw from the floor eight people deep dead center. That should help it last in my mind.
After Pop, I stopped attending U2 Concerts - cost for good seats probably being the biggest deterrent. Also, I wasn't really liking their new music. Pop was the last of the Must Listen albums for me. I don't think I've actually ever listened to their last three.
But U2. Sphere.
Midnight Oil's Great Circle Tour in 2017 after over a decade of no new music or touring was welcome and enjoyed. Even by a twelve-year old kid dragged along. But there's something special about tours promoting a great album. Midnight Oil pulled of a rare feat with their last album, Resist: it was one of their best. Their final tour in 2022 was deeply comforting and emotionally inspiring on so many levels. The forty-plus years of message compassion, powered by a full album of top-tier material, transcended anything I've experienced in person, except maybe The Joshua Tree (which I barely remember).
I didn't expect that level of impact, and I didn't get it. U2 at The Sphere did bring my U2 Journey full circle (spherically circular). :) It validated the experience of the three previous shows. "Did you see U2?" "Sort of..." Now I can answer: "Definitely. Even the fingers!"
The Sphere was cool. Especially, just waiting around for the show. It reminded me of those hourglass-shaped power plant cooling towers. I've been inside one of those, and it definitely looked as real as being in one.
In the cooling tower: Me, The One, new Instant Besties Audra and Mark
"Where the Streets Have No Name"
I'm trying to think of an iconic song that better captures the gestalt of my musical life. Not just me, but my generation.
I can't.
And in this moment, I feel it and am glad to be feeling it.
A completion isn't an end.
Maybe U2 will rock the world with a new album as impactful as their best. Maybe I still have a few surprises in me.
While there's life there's hope.
Celebrate the moments you've had.
There are new moments to cherish. Choose to have them.