U2 is a great band. They should be named band of the century. Their spirit and energy cannot be channeled into a better cause of creating music that is politically and socially conscious. The U2 concert that took place Nov.2 was truly a memorable event. The night was beautiful and when the weather is peaceful and warm like it was that night, I feel already rewarded just by getting able to sit and chat with a friend on the trunk of my car.
My best friend Kelly and I attended the concert together at the First Union Spectrum. We went all out in all ways possible to make the night especially fun. We wore tie-dye shirts, which made us look like huge Grateful Dead fans, but it certainly added a specialty to the night. I made Kelly a sign to wear on poster board and she bargained with a boy for his American flag bandana, which she placed in her straw hat. We crayoned our faces with different colors to spell out U2. After a long amount of time in the parking lot we went inside. We were just in time for the opening of the concert. U2 came out and all the lights were still on. The band played its first song in the bright-lit arena, which is something I have never seen or have heard of before.
Our seats were in the 200-level and after the first song I knew that I could not remain so far away from the band for the whole concert. I believed that we needed to be lower and closer to the band. I took Kelly by the hand and told her we were going to sit down in the100-level not matter what.
There was no retaliation on her part. Then again she was wearing a huge poster board sign donning her favorite song, “Where the Streets Have No Name.”
Our first attempt to sneak down to the lower level was short lived. A security guard found us and asked to see our tickets. We had to run away. This inconvenience did not stop us from trying again. The entrance of the next section was unguarded. We took off through the doorway and down the stairs to the third row. This time we ducked in tightly within the row and did not stand on the steps. Here, we remained for the rest of the concert. The magical event and band grew larger with our new seats.
I refer to the band and the night as magically because saying talented or passionate is too obvious. U2 is an amazing band. Every concert never fails to cover the past and present hits. Seeing the band perform is like magic to a person’s night. People that have never cried at a concert before cried at this one. For the duration of two of the ending songs a monitor scrolled the names of victims who had died in the Sept. 11 flights.
U2 is awesome because of the respect and the concern it has had for human society since the day it was created. During the song “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” normally Bono is found running around the stage waving the American flag proudly and energetically. At this concert, when the time came for the flag to make its way up to the stage from the crowd, Bono took the flag and instead of running around he stood there and embraced it. I don’t mean he just hugged it either; he embraced it with every cell of his body. He stood silent and still but his reverent action was heard loudly.
After the concert Kelly and I sat on my car’s trunk. We chatted and had one of those deep conversations that everyone wishes to have at some point with the people they view as special in their lives. Life has to be full of more than just deadlines and hours spent at work. The moments when you sit and really get to know someone is what the day is measured by. You need to be here and there and everywhere. Life is to be lived, not watched, loved, not suffered, and cherished, not wasted.
