U2

...very very behind in my concert postings...

Wednesday, September 14th

U2 was exactly as I expected - they put on a great live performance and they deserve to be called the greatest rock band in the world. Bono really knows how to work the crowd and despite his preachiness, I really enjoyed the show. U2's music has that unique sound that fits very well in a large venue and they proved it on Wednesday night.

I had reservations about going since I was not going with my concert gang and, even worse, I was going with my "scalper friend" Galen, concert virgin Dinesh, and their friend who is odd and who I don't like very much. I was even more put-off and insulted when he found out my age and said, "You're not a fan," referring to the fact that I was very young when U2's first few albums came out. I wanted to say, "Fuck you," but I didn't want to make things too awkward so I just said, "You don't know me, or specifically, me and my obsession with music." THEN this guy says that he was a musician and he actually played in a band before. I had a lot of trouble believing him, so I looked at Dinesh to see if there was any truth to that, and Dinesh kind of nodded his head. Well, whoop-dee. It doesn't mean that you know more about music than me and it definitely does not mean you can brush me off - especially since we both paid the $175 for our lower bowl seats. I've spent too long on this. Moving on...

The good thing about large concerts is that they usually start on time. Dashboard Confessional came on at 7:35 pm and put on a lively 45-minute set. I am not the biggest Dashboard fan but I really enjoy a few of their songs. Unfortunately, in such a large venue, all their songs started to sound the same. No matter. They closed the set with "Vindicated" and many humble thank-yous to U2 for allowing them to be the opening act.

After their set, I was enjoying some pretty good background music. During Radiohead's "Idioteque", Galen said, "I think U2 come out during this song," but then it didn't. Another song came on, still no U2. Then, Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" came on and I started singing. And Galen said, "No, for sure it was this song," and I knew he was right because they were blasting this song louder than all the other songs. I was like, "WTF, Janice is gonna flip!!!!!!" I was very excited because it was the perfect walk-on song. The lights dimmed. And all of a sudden, Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry were on stage and playing "Vertigo."

Snazzy snazzy production. It is a $50 million tour so I guess I do expect all the fancy lights and projections. There were actually these curtain-like vertically-moving screens that were made up of individual light bulbs stringed together. That was pretty awesome. And the catwalk was cool too because it allowed Bono to walk further out. In fact, everyone in the band walked out at once point during the concert on the catwalk.

I don't like too many songs from How to Dismantle, but I really like "City of Blinding Lights," "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," "Miracle Drug," and "Yahweh." They played all these songs, "Yahweh" during one of the two encores, and of course he dedicated "Sometimes" to his father. The highlights of the evening for me, though, were "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "One," my two favourite U2 songs. I think just before "One" (it was either before "one" or before some other song that I can't remember now), they had a video screen projection and a voice reading the Declaration of Human Rights that all the countries should follow. It was touching, and expected. After all, there were Amnesty International booths set up all around the ACC, and this was Bono, superstar ambassador of the world. I tend to get cynical whenever someone famous becomes the spokesperson for a charitable or human rights cause. But watching Bono and listening to him speak, it seems like he is honestly concerned and really passionate for his causes, and if people will listen to him (if only because he is a rock star), then let him preach a little during his concerts.

The double encore was great. They ended the show with a long rendition of "Bad," which kicked ass. That's also one of my favourites. I guess I like the oldies.

Would I go to a big stadium concert again (without complaining like I did for Coldplay)? Probably only for U2. Hopefully for the Montreal show...with AF as opening act. How mind-blowing would that be.