SHARING THE SHOWS
So all I can say is that I’m glad I wrote a good portion of this blog posting before the show because I knew much of what I wanted to say before the show. Anyway, I took off for my first trip of five for the summer at 6 a.m. EST. After arriving in Chicago and hopping on the Blue Line form O’Hare International Airport mistakenly typing in 2400 West Congress Street instead of 24 East Congress Parkway, which was where my hostel was, and ending up in the type of area a tourist carrying a suitcase probably shouldn’t hang out (you could practically see the target on my back), I quickly realized my mistake and headed toward the right spot.
Since my hostel wouldn’t let me check in until 4, I dropped my luggage off and meandered around downtown for a bit. My first stop was at Lou Malnati’s for some deep dish pizza. After walking around Lake Michigan for a bit, I saw people eating ice cream and indulged in that. After finding a coffee shop and reading/writing for a bit, I checked in, took a nap, and met up with my new friend/bro Alan. The dinner of wings and a greasy Reuben sandwich with even greasier fries had me feeling my arteries, and by the time the show rolled around, I was in a food coma. My immediate association of a live U2 show was “Trash of the Titans,” that Simpsons episode where Homer runs for sanitation commissioner and he tries to get votes at their show, only to get dragged off stage and beaten up while U2 plays “(Pride) In the Name of Love.” My brother and I are such hardcore Simpsons obsessives (the 90s episodes anyway) that whenever that song comes on, we start making punching motions to re-enact that episode. When the song came on, I had to take video and text “punch, punch, punch” to him while trying not to crack up. He then sent me a GIF of Homer getting beaten up. Yep, we have a totally normal relationship, much of which consists of sending Simpsons quotes via text. Here’s the sequence involving the U2 show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5JAd8-qqNI I had the chance to see them in Tampa last year when I worked the Advanced Placement reading, and I didn’t go because I didn’t feel like paying $80something for tickets. Besides, Iron Maiden was playing that week too, and I saw it as an either-or option. And I was a big Maiden fan growing up, and, well, U2 ain’t Phish or Widespread Panic, so the choice seemed pretty obvious at the time. However, I’m glad I got to see them. Their performances of hits like “Vertigo,” “Desire,” and “I Will Follow,” had me dancing. And the video they had in the background was one of a kind, particularly in “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” Bono is known for his political leanings in his shows, which came out in the visual history of Bloody Sunday. Another nice thing was the upgrades. This was the second time I had tickets upgraded (the first was for a Chris Rock show in Richmond, VA, where my crew and I were seated in the nosebleeds and the kind folks at the Altria Theater gave us upgrades to the first floor. This time, this girl named Joselyn gave me and Alan tickets on the same level (300s) but facing the stage (we had an obstructed view previously. My friend Alan had some pretty interesting insights about the show. I tend to let the music get me into my own world (not hard to do), but Alan was more observant. He noticed a couple of Rolling Stones teases, including one sequence where the band is driving, they meet the devil, and and say “Pleased to meet you.” He also wondered why the band would encore with something mellow, when it’s usually best practice to close with something upbeat, a critique I can get on board with. There were a couple of sequences where the band’s 1995 hit “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” from the Batman Forever soundtrack (this song always brings back memories of high school) played over the speakers while they apparently were preparing for their next tune. Alan: “it’s like watching MTV.” I found that a strange artistic choice, but I guess when you make the money they do, you can afford to be experimental on occasion. Alan also pointed the Teleprompter off which Bono appeared to be singing the lyrics to “One,” which I didn’t notice until he mentioned it. It’s always cool to have some critical insights into the show that I might not get while in my zone.
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