U2 360 Tour

U2--what a band! On Sunday, September 20th, Nick and I went to see U2 perform at the Gillette Stadium. First we spent a long time bonding with other U2 fans.

Tightly squeezed in between other lucky General Admission (GA) tickets holders, we waited for hours to be let into the stadium. However, it was all worth it, we ended up just a few yards away from the stage. We jumped and danced, clapped our hands and sang along with the songs, watching the band perform right in front of us. U2 delivered a great performance, and we had an incredible time.

Perhaps the set list was not particularly “unusual”, but just hearing Unforgettable Fire performed live was incredible enough. I will definitely have to go to more U2 concerts, because the band did not play Bad—one of my favorite songs ever. Bono did forget the lyrics on a couple of occasions, but for me that did not take away from the quality of the show.

This concert was my fourth U2 concert, but it was only the second time I got to watch the band standing no more than ten feet away from the stage. As awesome as this concert was, my first ever U2 concert, just over four year ago, still remains the absolute best rock concert experience ever. The concert back in 2005 was a completely new experience for me, and just like this time, Nick and I got to stand really close to the stage. It is hard to imagine that we almost did not go!

I was not a huge fan of U2. In fact I was completely oblivious until in 2001 Nick made me listen to two of their albums, Joshua Tree and Actung Baby. I loved the music, but knew nothing about the band. If they were really the punks I saw on the photos of the Achtung Baby album cover, then I did not want to know.

Then, in 2005 they were coming to Boston, and I decided that I wanted to see the band that wrote One and Love Is Blindness live. As I started reading more about the band and Bono’s philanthropy work, the punk image quickly dissolved. By the time we went to the concert on May 29, 2005, I was a fan, and I was in rock music heaven. I did not want to touch Bono, unlike many people in the GA line. I did, however, want to listen to U2 all the time. I learned the lyrics. I read more about the band.

At the risk of appearing incredibly immature, I now admit that the memorable U2 concert in May 2005 became a turning point for me. I was inspired. I was not sure what to do, but I wanted to volunteer and to do more charity work. When I came back from my first trip to Honduras in 2006, people asked me if the trip has changed my life. No, it did not. I went to Honduras exactly because my outlook on life has changed.