Degree 3: Andrew and Molly up high

Editor's note: Andrew's original commentary was a two-and-a-half page Word document. I have pared it down

I’m not a big concert goer. I grew up in Hawaii, and not many performers include Hawaii in their touring schedule. So when U2, one of the biggest bands in the world, scheduled a concert not 20 minutes from where I live, I couldn’t pass it up. We got tickets for the nosebleed section, partly because they were the cheapest and partly because we didn’t want to do the whole cramming, standing, jumping, hollering, fist pumping, head-banging thing.

Despite leaving work a little early to get there in time, we hit traffic and were a little late. It wouldn’t have been that bad except I really wanted to see the opening band—Muse. In fact, Muse was the tipping point for me to buy tickets.

We didn’t arrive until about 7:30, but lucky for us, Muse didn’t start playing until around that time. As could be expected, the balance was not great. Regardless, I thought it was awesome! Molly, on the other hand, was unimpressed.

The whole night we were fascinated by the diverse crowd that U2 pulls in—from elementary school kids to grandparents and white trash to uppity socialites that looked like they got lost on their way to the Kennedy Center. Having older parents in front of proved to be ideal because they never stood up during the show, which meant that we could sit or stand as we pleased and still see everything.

Before I talk about the music, let me just say that the set was awesome! (and a little hard to describe, so bear with me). A large cylindrical screen was suspended over the stage and projected live footage, graphics and prepared montages, all overlaid with cool video effects. About halfway through the concert, the screen came apart in hexagon pieces and slowly descended around the stage, all the while projecting video and effects. It was awesome! Above and around the stage and screen was a massive, four-legged, green and orange claw. And of course, there was plenty of smoke, flashing colorful lights, and spotlights swirling around the stadium and shooting up into the sky. For all of this, I think being in the nosebleed section was better than being in the crowd on the floor. It offered us a commanding view of the entire, impressive scene. At times it was just as cool to watch the crowd, with the soft light illuminating their pumping fists and singing faces.

I didn’t recognize most of their newer songs, so my favorites were their older ones that I recognized, like “Stuck In A Moment,” “Mysterious Ways,” “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,” and “Beautiful Day.” If I had to pick a favorite, it would be “Stuck in Moment,” which Bono and The Edge did acoustically. Very cool. Even though we had seats, several songs brought us to our feet to dance and sing along. There was a couple in front of us (I think one of them was a kid of the older parents) who got really in to it.

One thing that’s cool about the concert experience is that songs take on a new depth of meaning. I’ve heard these songs many times before, but this time I think I experienced more of what the band meant to express when they composed them. Bono’s monologues between songs also added context and meaning to each song. He gave shout outs to various political figures and spoke to several social and political injustices.

We left before the encores. It wasn’t ideal, but Molly had hurt her back about a week before the concert, so she was lucky to be able to sit for as long as she did

At work the next day, it was cool to talk about the concert with my co-workers and be able to say, “Yeah, I went to the concert with my wife.” One of my co-workers who went got punched in the face by a drunk guy who was harassing his friend.

Overall, it was a very cool experience.