U2

[Drunk Monk]

The tour kicks off in Vancouver next week. The San Jose show is next Tuesday.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Too true.

Which means I could have gone.

Which means my heart is now full of sadness.

[Drunk Monk]

meh

[Drunk Monk]

We just spent the weekend together so our verbal fencing has been back in action. But he resisted my invitation here, so kudos to him. I'll see him at lunch in a few minutes, where we shall surely discuss this show, so here's a more accurate review. In fact, this will be my IRE review. My wife is part Irish. Consequently, so is my daughter, only less so. And not only have I eaten countless potatoes (okay, they were french fries) with Greg, I have replaced my bloodstream with Guinness many times over. So I think I'm qualified.

S has been tepid about seeing U2. We recently put together a bucket list of major acts we wanted to see but had not yet seen, and I found her list to be sorely lacking with the absence of U2. I think I've seen U2 5 times now, but I haven't gone back to count. After our wonderful Joshua Tree journey, it seemed a perfect fit. But T's school changed schedule so she had finals the day after and we couldn't justify taking her, so we had two extras as mentioned earlier. So we took the father and brother of one of her classmates, who also happen to be Irish. In fact, the dad had torn his gastrocnemius doing some vigorous Celtic dancing in Dublin just a week or so earlier and was on crutches. None of them had seen U2. So there I was with three U2 nooBs.

The SAP ran out of Guinness early. They only had two cart stands that offered it - probably only a case all in all. I went to the first cart and the dude before me bought their last can, so I had to dash all the way around the arena to the other cart. There was a lot of Jameson. But I'll never forgive SAP for that lame oversight.

The show was amazing. It always is. U2 delivers. The new stage was one long glory ramp. Above it was the biggest TV screen ever and the bad could walk inside the screen and interact with what was projected. And the video was perfect. The sound system looked good with speakers hanging off the rigging for the lights and TV in every direction (so no front stage wall of speakers) but I felt it was compromised by the crappy acoustics of the SAP. The ceiling is all girders and metal, which gives that house a clangy, tinny sound. The intense volume, which is amplified even more when they play indoor shows, well, my head is still ringing (but then, it's been ringing for years now).

I found myself focusing on Clayton and Mullen for the first time. The Edge seemed a little subdued, perhaps after his fall off the 'edge' of the glory ramp at the first show in Vancouver last week. Bono, well, he's always front and center, and was very preachy this time, really plugging his One charity, and spitting a lot of water on the audience (doesn't he know about our drought?) I feel like his voice is losing its high end a little now. Mullen really led the charge with his almost military rudimentary drumming style - the marching orders come from him. And Clayton holds the other three together as a good bass player should. I wished they turned him up a little higher in the mix. Even though his lines are that complex, he can drop some bass bombs like any veteran rocker. It never ceases to amaze me that this four piece can put out such a sound. The staging was absolutely spectacular. They moved thematically, starting from their Irish roots (I thought our Irish guest on crutches was going to cry during a blistering Sunday Bloody Sunday but he just nodded at me, choking back the tears). Then they went to more global issues, with Stephen Hawking narration, and a kid with AIDS who got to walk the ramp as Bono sang to him. There was a really weird intermission with Johnny Cash song. I instagramed a lot of mini-vids, just because I'm getting into Instagram (there was a proposed Tiger Claw venture which has only succeed in addicting me to yet another social media ). My favorite moment was a video of Joshua Trees beaming rays into the universe - that really worked for both S and me. I'm sad that T and Greg couldn't join us, because that would have made it all super fun.

Now I'm really tired. After the weekend tournament and street fair, this, and then staying up for Letterman last night, I'm just running on caffeine. Tomorrow I leave for Cali Roots. I'll probably try to nap there a lot. :oops:

[Drunk Monk]

At Levi's again. Man I hate this venue.

Mumford & Sons is opening now. Levi's is empty because it's gridlocked all around the stadium. I'm stationed in the NW tunnel with a boorish team leader and a young 1st timer. But I can hear really well.

I gave a little eulogy for Steve at the meeting. It was lost here, but necessary. Steve would've despised Levi's, just like I do.

---

Holy cats! I just ran into Daniel Wu. Auspicious. Especially considering that there are 51K here.

---

M&S is okay. Kind of exactly what I'd expect. Enjoyable. I'm surprised that I've recognized every song so far.

I can't see a thing but the sound is really good.

The stage is a giant Joshua tree, but you probably guessed that.

[Drunk Monk]

Sunday Bloody Sunday opener

[Drunk Monk]

Great show. U2 delivers again. I got to watch the whole show from the floor and was at front of stage for a call when they launched into Joshua Tree. It all has so much more impact after Dublin. It was just the thing I needed.

Now to grab a few hours sleep before KFTC25 AF. I won't sleep in my bed again until Sunday.

[Drunk Monk]

For some odd reason, I was assigned to a field team, but I didn't really care as I was there to see the show and pick up the RM gear for KFTC25 AF.  RM likes to assign me to nooBs so I can regale them with tales of days gone by or some crap.  Whatev.  I'm happy just to tag along and let them to the heavy lifting.  Our team leader, Gregg, was an older guy, a gung ho EMT type that got into the trade to fill his empty nest after his kids went to college - RM 1.5 years.  The other member was a cute UC Berkeley gal, Lauren, Asian which made me wonder if the Field team leader was grouping us by race, and it was her first show.  I let them both have the radios because they were headsets that muffle the music, and they wanted it.  We missed several calls because neither of them could use them.  Gregg was chatty, and gave long lectures on how RM works to young Lauren, who was politely attentive.  He'd leave openings for me to chime in, very deferentially, and his take on what psych does was very amusing.  Our reputation has become so caricature in RM, but we perpetuate it.  We were stationed in NW tunnel for M&S, but worked our way onto the floor for U2.  

I saw the entire show from the floor.  It was a blessing.

They opened with a few tunes under minimal spotlights, and then lit up the biggest HDTV so far.  I was front of stage on a phantom call when they launched into Joshua Tree.  Images of Joshua Tree were projected with monochromatic images of the band, which doesn't sound like much, but it was dazzling and nostalgic after being there.  U2, as always, was on fire.  Bono's searing vocals, the Edge's blistering riffs and church-chime guitar work, Mullen's charging percussion, & Clayton's anchoring boom - all on point.  They play as live and fresh as ever, finding new meaning in every musical phrase.  Once again, they blew me away.  After Joshua Tree, they played some scenes from that Trump Wall Trackdown episode, and then went into their political stuff, a lot of Women Power and Middle East images, all very moving as I am partial to their politics.  There was an intriguing short video about the Middle East, showing the wreckage of the world, and at one point, a massive sheet image of a woman in Burka (might have been Malala) was passed along the perimeter of the 100s section (it covered the whole section) - that was cool. 

I got hugged by a lot of women.  Ran into some moms from Tara's middle school who were partying it up, as well as a Deadhead recently-divorced mom who I dated a few times like three decades ago, and then, of course, the Rock Med senior nurses, who also knew our dearly departed Steve.  Steve kept the circle of those who knew he was in hospice small, just me, Raz and John from RM, so when word went out via facebook yesterday, the veteran RMers were rocked.  All day I was checking my feed, getting condolences and such.  Those nurses knew I knew and like medics, wanted the ringdown.  Penny, the widow of our former Director Dr. Skip, said tearfully that now Skip, Bob (Steve's dad and one of the best talkdown artists I've ever worked with - a professional negotiator by trade) and Steve were surely attending a ballgame together now.  That made us all misty.  Okay, gotta stop now.  Getting misty again.  Back to work.  Mourn later.  

U2 = good medicine

[Greg]

I couldn't find the U2 thread which we should totally have. So, I'm posting this here.

It's pretty horrible for a U2 song. As far as songs for animated kid films goes, it's still pretty horrible. You'll probably hear it underneath the final credit roll.

[thatguy]

I couldn't find the U2 thread which we should totally have.

Um...these:

http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=1787
http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=4310

and
http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...hp?tid=487

--tg

[Greg]

See? Ask and you will receive.

I searched for U2 and these were probably down the list a bit.

[Greg]

What a pleasant way to start a Sunday. I found this while looking for live Fencing Bouts. The Youtube works in mysterious ways.

And like they say, U2 is a box of chocolates, you'll never know what you'll get. This was recorded at Abby Road Studios with a full orchestra so they do a lot of songs that make use of the Orchestra. Most of it is from the later catalogue, which worked for me because I really like Every Breaking Wave.

[Greg]

Still cool. U2 decided to do a little busking in Kyiv yesterday.

[thatguy]

A mole...deep inside a hole...excavation!

--tg

[Greg]

I am now waiting for Bono's book. My library does not know of it's existence so I might have to break down and buy it.

I've seen the little video on Rolling Stone that is a teaser for the book.