U2 - The Spectacle and the Thoughts

The Fray on screen

So we saw U2 last night.  I wouldn't call myself a diehard U2 fan, but I have always appreciated them and very much enjoy their music, so when I heard that they were coming, I asked Darryl if he wanted to go.  I'm not sure how much he did, but he got tickets.  And not just cheap seats, either.  These cost more than I would ever pay for something of the like.  There were several times when he asked if we should sell them to help pay for the wedding, but I balked at the suggestion.  Part of me agreed with him that this wasn't a fiscally responsible decision, but another, supposedly bigger part wanted to see what a U2 concert was like.  I figured it was bound to be spectacular.

"The Claw"

The Fray

Spectacular it was.  I wouldn't even know where to begin describing it all, and I'm sure that the journalists who have written it up for the local papers have done a better job than I could, so if you didn't go and are curious, go there.  There were a few thoughts that struck me over the course of the show, however, and I will share these.

Buzzed

Why bother with a light show in an outdoor concert during daylight hours?  The Fray played for the first hour with lights going the whole time.  There's no real effect, and think of the money/power you could save.

Between The Fray and U2, the jumbo (and I mean jumbo) screen was firing off statistics.  One had to do with barrels of oil.  Darryl commented, "I wonder if they'll say how many barrels it took to power all the semis that hauled the show here."  This hit a bit of a chord with me.  Here they are proclaiming the amount of oil we use and the number of days until (they think) the oil resources will be depleted, and they are using somewhere around 100 trucks (from what I heard) to haul all their equipment from one place to another.

Why do people spend obscene amounts of money on a ticket to watch a band, and then proceed to spend even more obscene amounts on beer to get so drunk they'll barely remember the show the next day?

Why don't people make sure their facts are straight, especially if they are going to put them up on a screen for thousands of people to see?  Winipeg?  Really?  (Maybe Whinipeg...)  The state of Manitoba?  At least Bono corrected the spelling error, joking that perhaps the person typing it in had too much wine last night.

Oops

Double oops!

Where do you look?  Anyone who has been at something like this understands the dilemma.  The lights, the screens, the crowd, the band.  So much to take in.  Honestly, I prefer the intimate setting where I can close my eyes and feel the music without thinking that I'm missing something, but that's not what we paid to see.  Wouldn't that be neat though?  To have U2 in Winnipeg for a few weeks, playing small cozy shows.  No huge crews.  No fancy light show.  No, not going to happen, but wow.  That would be incredible.

What draws people to the famous?  I have never been one to get caught up in celebrities.  I have always had the viewpoint that they are just people like everybody else.  Yet if Bono walked one direction, the entire pit crowd shuffled that way to get a better picture.  People clamoured for the flowers he threw out into the crowd, and they'll hold onto them just because he threw them out.  If he said, "Put your hands up!" the crowd obeyed.  I will not claim to have never gotten caught up in a crowd mentality.  I definitely have, and I know the feeling that comes along with it.  I get that.

There was something about last night that hit me, though.  50,000 people in the stadium, most of whom were almost completely mesmerized by the show.
People so star-struck that they would have given almost anything to be the person that got hauled up onto the stage by Bono (though I do admit, that would have been rather cool).

Yep, lights on the mic and jacket

The screen - it expanded down.  Crazy.

The cell phone light show

Was the show worth it?  As I said, it was spectacular.  The amount of money that they put into making it what it was likely necessitated the ticket price, so in that sense, absolutely.  Would I pay that kind of money to go again?  I can't say I would.  Do I regret going?  Not for a second.  I will likely never again see anything of that magnitude.  It truly was incredible.  The toast to Amnesty International was touching, and speaks to the heart of U2.  I appreciate that.  Besides, now I'll always be able to say I was there.

Goodbye!