Hey, everybody! Reader here, and I hope you’re having a great St. Patrick’s Day!
I assume most of the revelry, with the green beer, et cetera, was enjoyed on Friday and Saturday nights, with today being spent in rest and recovery mode.
I made sure I wore some green to work on Friday, just to get in the spirit of the day a little early, and I made sure I threw some on today, to avoid any pinches while I was out and about running errands.
With St. Patrick’s Day being today, we couldn’t really celebrate at work. But, on Friday, Eddie and I played “That’s My Jam,” and in the spirit of the holiday, I though I’d play some clips of Irish artists for Eddie. How’d it go? Have a listen:
Yeah, I couldn’t resist… I decided to pull a fast one on Eddie, and play three very different U2 clips!
I know he’ll get me back at some point, though!
But this got me thinking about one of the greatest concerts I’ve ever seen – U2’s “360” Tour, at Edmonton’s Commonweath Stadium, on June 1, 2011.
The show, featuring openers The Fray (the “How to Save a Life” guys), was originally set for June 23, 2010, but Bono ended up hurting his back and requiring surgery and rehab, so the show was put off for a year, and it was worth the wait!
The stage was unreal – basically a spaceship landed in the middle of a football field, with HD screens, insane lights and effects.
But ultimately, it all came down to the music.
The “No Line on the Horizon” album had just come out and it was represented by “Get on Your Boots,” “Magnificent” (my favourite track off the album,” and in the encore, “Moment of Surrender,” in which all the lights were turned out, and Bono asked everyone to get out their phones, and use the lights to make the place look like the Milky Way. Which, in a stadium filled with 66,835 people, was pretty spectacular!
2011 also marked the 20th anniversary of their landmark “Achtung Baby,” and “One,” “Mysterious Ways” and “Until the End of the World” all played, along with “Even Better than the Real Thing,” which opened the show.
Other huge hits filled the show,” from “Elevation,” “All I Want is You,” “Vertigo,” and “Where the Streets Have No Name,” to “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Beautiful Day,” “With of Without You,” “Pride (In the Name of Love),” and even “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me,” from the soundtrack to “Batman Forever!”
I’m sure there were some songs that fans were disappointed that they didn’t get to hear, but a band like U2 has so many huge hits, that it’s impossible to fit them all into the setlist.
Perhaps my favourite moment was when the stripped things down, and Bono and the Edge performed a fantastic acoustic “Stay (Faraway, So Close!” from “Zooropa.”
It sounded so good, and I was so glad to find a great version of that very performance on YouTube, which features Bono strumming a little Neil Young, as well!
Say what you want about Bono (and people do, whether they love him or loathe him), but the man knows how to work a stage, and has one of the more powerful voices Rock ‘n’ Roll has ever seen.
To get to see The Edge at work, in person, and work his guitar magic was something else. There’s no one else quite like him… often imitated, never duplicated.
And the rhythm section of Adam Clayton on bass and Larry Mullen, Jr. on drums was as rock solid as ever, providing the bed that Bono and Edge lie on.
It’s truly amazing that they’ve managed to keep the band together, from their humble beginnings in Dublin, Ireland, in 1976, right up to to the present day.
Sure, they’ve had their challenging moments, but ultimately, they find their way together, and keep making great music.
Without a doubt, they’re the biggest band Ireland has ever produced, selling more than 150 million albums, winning a truckload of awards along the way, including 22 Grammys, and earning induction into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
The spectacle continues, but without the music, and they way they reach the hearts and minds of their millions of fans, it just wouldn’t matter so much.
I’ve only been able to see them in concert once, and I hope I can do it again before they call it a day.
They’re one of the best to ever do it.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
