U2 Mania
Hello Hello! I’m at a place called Brooklyn!
U2 gives us something we can feel
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Coolgrrrl Movie grrrl April and I have been rocking out to U2 for over 20 years now! SCARY when you add it up, but we listened to them from their first record when we were jailbait! So when April calls me the night before because she had heard about a secret U2 concert the next day, we were game once again!
We have a history of U2 shows. “Back in the day”, we underagers went to any bar or show that would let us in free. When U2 played the Ritz, our gang went to the Mudd Club to see the Bush Tetras. Smart move. So the story goes, in waltzes U2 and a very eloquent April proceeds to tell them that as much as we like their record, they will never have any commercial success in the states with a name like “U2″.
Fast forward to the Achtung Baby tour, which was the last time we got excited by U2, and April is eating her words, as there is NO CHANCE they are going to be hanging out with us at a bar after the show, and now we have to pay hundreds of dollars to get stage side seats! I think we saw U2 three times on that tour. That was the closest we were gonna get. Their DJ/Photographer BP Fallon even put a flyer for my band Starkist in a book about them, but again, the band was about as accessible as the pope at this point.
We find this link to a web site to get tickets. It says secret show, no mention of U2, just that it will be filmed for MTV. You sign up and wait to see if you get tickets. Monday morning – no tickets! The internet rumors run wild – the concert will be in Washington Square Park, it’s cancelled, all kinds of stuff. Then we heard that you have to be in MTV’s “target demographic” (read: teenager) to get tix. April re-registers, makes up a “Spice Age” for herself, and BOOM – instant tickets.
We make a plan to take a car out to this godforsaken location, Empire State Park – we can’t find it on a map. All we know is that it is between the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. We get there at about 1 pm and there is no big line…they cross our names off the list and we go through the gates by what looks like an abandoned warehouse. There is a HUGE line – they have two lines of hundreds of people. What are we waiting for? Where is the stage? We can’t see anything.
Then comes sound check about an hour later – we hear the opening chords for “Vertigo” along with the bass, and it gets us all pumped up! I downloaded that song from iTunes weeks ago! I LOVE it! I am so excited. After another hour, there is this mad rush and people start running ahead to this clearing! The little MTV interns they have doing “crowd control” are at a loss as to how to stop the stampede but somehow it hits a bottleneck and everyone stops. We are there for a while and they start letting people in – we see the stage and try to get up close – we were maybe 30 feet from the stage. I have been hiding my camera in my boot the whole time, as the tickets said no cameras. They announce that we can take pictures, just no flash.
After a while we hear cheering – there are choppers in the air and everyone looks over at the Manhattan Bridge – there is a flatbed truck driving about 5 miles an hour and U2 is playing on the back of it. The crowd goes WILD!! The crowd waves and cheers as Bono megaphones back, “We’ll be down there soon!”. By now, dusk is setting in, and we’ve been waiting almost four hours – standing in the mud in this park. We look around and there are thousands of people behind us, and in the park outside the gate, and on the pedestrian path of the Brooklyn Bridge.
U2 finally come out and open with Vertigo. I am jumping up and down – pogoing like a FREAK and singing. Trying to get photos from that far without flash was tough. It is just about dark now, and they are playing against the backdrop of the lights of the Manhattan Skyline. It is just about one of the most beautiful rock and roll moments ever. I am holding April’s hand! I can’t believe we are here!! I am the luckiest girl on earth and have the best friend EVER! And we’re at U2! AGAIN!!! Every time they sing, “Hello Hello” the crowd responds in unison, “Hola!!”
The other thing I notice is HOW HOT Larry Mullen is! Hello is right! My goodness. He is awesome and solid and I watch him most of the time. The Edge just RULES and makes that band. Without The Edge, they would not have that signature sound. He is also super cool on stage. The next song was “All Because Of You” – the video they were shooting in Manhattan with the flatbed .
Bono talked about Christopher Nolan, a man who was completely immobile and unable to communicate, who through medicine learned how to move his head, to write and type using a tool. Bono said religion and science are one and the same, they don’t have to be at odds, as they played “Miracle Drug”.
Bono talked about his father’s death in 2001 and how he was given a voice that is stronger than it has been in years, and dedicated “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” to him. They played new tracks of the unreleased record including “City Of Blinding Lights”, before which Bono talked about the first time he played in
New York City (memories of the Mudd club!) and how beautiful it was, and also “Original Of The Species”, during which, to Bono`s surprise, the crowd sang along. He said, “How do you know this?” and I screamed back, “THE INTERNET!!!!” Looking at the Edge, Bono jokes, “I think I know what happened to your CD”.
The band switches instruments as Bono played guitar and the Edge played keyboards for “Original Of The Species” and “She’s A Mystery Girl”. “Beautiful Day” had the impromptu “See the world in green and blue, Manhattan skyline right in front of you”. Crowd went mental again as Bono salutes Manhattan. “I Will Follow” is last and Bono tells the crowd, “See you in the springtime”.
They were only supposed to play for one half hour, but the crowd was going crazy so they came back out and played “Out Of Control” from their first album – and out of control it WAS!!! It sounded like they hadn’t played it in a while, but the crowd didn’t care – we were out of control, too!!!! Bono announces, “This one’s for us” and they rip into “Vertigo” again! I went crazy once more and was just dancing and singing and not worrying about taking photos!
As the band leaves the stage, Bono grabs the mike and sings, “Hello! Hello! It’s good to be back, It’s good to be back”! No one responds. I freak out and holler, TURBONEGRO!!!!!” I can’t believe Bono was singing a Turbonegro song into the mike. I’m not a member of the cult of Bono, but he just got WAY cooler in my estimation.
April and I go to a bar across the street and it is PACKED with fans and cute Irish boys. We have to go so one of the cute boys hitches a ride in our car, saying that the “crew” is supposed to be at the bar later. Of course, I am totally FUCKED because it’s the same night as Jesse Malin’s annual Thanksgiving party and the Black Halos are at CBGB! Oh well!!! Again, so close, yet so far.
You give me something I can feel. Indeed.
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