u2's joshua tree tour - the 2017 experience

Thirty-three years ago, I fell in love with an Irish band named U2 when I heard the songs "Bad" (still one of my two favorite U2 songs to this day!) and "Pride (In the Name of Love)." 

Two years after that, "Pride" earned me extra credit it 10th grade Social Studies as I played the song for my classmates and we discussed the political relevance of U2 and this song, focused on Martin Luther King Jr's fight for equality. 

A year after that, I wasn't able to see U2 on their new "Joshua Tree" tour at The LA Sports Arena and I was very sad (about not seeing U2; NOT about not going to the suck-ass, now-finally demolished Sports Arena). I loved that album, especially "With or Without You" (duh), and "Running to Stand Still," and the trippy, harmonica-laden "Trip Through Your Wires." 

So in January, when it was announced U2 was going to tour in honor of the album's 30th anniversary AND would play the whole album in its entirety, I was in line online day one for the Rose Bowl show with my U2 Fan Club pre-sale code! 

(Sidenote: Being a U2.com member is, seriously, the best $50 a year you can spend as a U2 fan. Not only do you get first dibs at great concert seats [see my view from this show in photos and videos below, and see my view from the U2IE tour here, and my GA ticket access to be against the railing at the foot of one of the claws on the U2360 tour here] but you get awesome subscriber gifts... usually unreleased or exclusive recordings [Edge's Picks of the Top 22 Live performances from the 360 tour, The Joshua Tree singles on Vinyl] or gorgeous prints or photo books).   

Last night I finally got to use the ticket and hear the amazing Joshua Tree album live! 

Because of the amount of people in attendance, it was recommended we arrive early, and we did.. landing in our pre-paid parking spot at around 3:45pm. People in the lots were tail-gating and having an awesome time despite the 95-degree heat, cuz U2 fans are cool like that. 

Around 5:30 we decided to go inside the stadium. The lines in the front of the Rose Bowl were HUGE, so we went around the side to Gate B and got in the security line for "people with bags," which was going to take 15-20 minutes long from my guesstimate. But just as we were about to enter the windy part of the cue, an awesome HUGE security guard told me to drink my water (in a non-allowed cup size) quick and then ushered us into the "no-bags" security line. This was the equivalent of having TSA Pre-check at LAX on a summer Friday! We breezed through, swiped my credit card for the ticket verification and were inside the gates, in the land of cocktails and merchandise stands charging $45 for an almost plain white tee ;)  

At around 6:45, the Lumineers hit the stage. They were really excited to be there, noting this was the largest crowd they'd ever performed for.

They played all their hits you know, but don't know you know, until you hear them and sounded really good. (I like any band that has a cellist!)

Then as the sun went completely down, and the temperature dropped to like 80 degrees, the pre-recorded music got louder. "Black Hole Sun" from Soundgarden played and the audience lit up, in tribute to Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell who passed away earlier this week on May 17th in Detroit.

Then as The Pogues' "A Rainy Night in Soho" played, a hot drummer (that would be Larry Mullen Jr. for those of you who are blind) walked down the ramp to his drumset on the "B-Stage" (aka the stage at the end of the ramp leading down into the audience), and the show started with this...

This first mini-set consisted of four songs from the pre-Joshua Tree years.

I was really hoping that, like in Vancouver and Santa Clara, song #3 would be "Bad," but alas we got "A Sort of Homecoming" (which I still lovely, but is not "Bad.")

Then they all went up to the main stage for the main part of the show... The Joshua Tree, in its entirety.

The videos on the giant screen behind the band were beautiful, many similar to the photography from the album and its videos.

Then, after "Bullet the Blue Sky," Bono paid tribute to Chris Cornell, dedicating the beautiful and sad "Running to Stand Still" to him, and sending love and prayers to the Cornell family. 

After, that, he simply said "And now welcome to Side 2.." (Those of you not alive 30 years ago have no idea what that means. Le sigh..) and they moved onto "Red Hill Mining Town."

At the end of the album, a disco ball appeared at the top of the screen's giant joshua tree above the stage...

And then we were in the post-Joshua Tree era.... 

They played four songs, all eventually working their way back to the "B-Stage" right in front of my seats.

Then after they played "One," I thought that would be it. But they played "Miss Sarajevo" and then "BAD"!! I was so happy (even though the guido in front of me kept bopping his head [to "Bad." Yes, in case you're wondering, he was very drunk.] and raising his arm into my camera shot. I almost smacked his greasy head, but contained myself. ) They don't play this song a lot.. I think the last time I heard live was one of the "Elevation Tour" shows in 2001. Enjoy...

They then said goodnight... but played one more song after that. Don't leave until the lights come up people!

All in all, this show was worth both the 30 year wait, and the pretty penny I paid for those excellent fan club seats. The band sounded AMAZING!! And the production was beautiful -- both visually and audibly. 

Here's the Full Set List:

On Tape before band came out:

• Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden) — the audience lit up with camera flashes in tribute to Chris Cornell
• A Rainy Night in Soho (The Pogues)

B-Stage 

• Sunday Bloody Sunday
• New Year's Day
• A Sort of Homecoming
• Pride (In the Name of Love)

The Joshua Tree

• Where the Streets Have No Name
• I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
• With or Without You
• Bullet the Blue Sky
• Running to Stand Still (dedicated to Chris Cornell and his family)
• Red Hill Mining Town
• In God's Country
• Trip Through Your Wires
• One Tree Hill
• Exit
• Mothers of the Disappeared

Encore:

• Beautiful Day (with "City of Stars" vocal interlude)
• Elevation
• Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
• One

B-Stage

• Miss Sarajevo (Passengers cover)
• Bad
• I Will Follow ('The Little Things That Give…)

thoughts on songs of innocence

A little over a week ago, Apple held one of their big press conferences and announced they have new products you need to pay hundreds of dollars for that I will never buy because #iluvmydroid. Snooze. Yawn.

But then they introduced my favorite band (now that Bon Jovi is minus a Sambora) and announced that every iTunes user in the world was getting a gift in their account -- a free copy of the long-awaited new U2 album "Songs of Innocence."

That woke me up. I knew the album was almost ready. They'd been working on it for years. It was supposed to come out last year. Then it didn't. Then it was going to come out before the end of this year. But no date was announced. I kept waiting. Then I got distracted and all excited about the new Foos album coming out in November.

Never did I guess U2 would go from zero to a thousand and give it away to everyone (whether they wanted it or not) at the exact moment it was announced. I was so excited!

Then I got home to check my iTunes (since #ihaveadroid) and became perturbed. It wasn't easy to find. (Thanks to the peeps on the Apple message boards who also felt my pain and shared the secret of going to iTunes Preferences -> Store and checking the friggin' "Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases" box.)

I finally got it downloaded and started listening. My immediate favorite song was "Song for Someone"... a sweet, lyrical Bono love song with Edge singing harmony that builds up like a classic U2 hit a'la "With or Without You" or "Walk On."

Then the next day, Bono posted this.

Then I really started listening... trying to figure the "very, very personal" songs out, because one of the things I love and miss most about buying albums is reading the liner notes and analyzing the little poems put to music known as song lyrics.

I started loving "Every Breaking Wave." Then "Iris" .... classic Edge strum, strum, strum... Larry bang, bang, banging beat, building up, with the music traveling in circles as Bono tells a story over it.. this time about his mom, Iris, who died when he was 14. It reminds me of pre-Unforgettable Fire U2. And I can already see that song in concert with bright flashing lights traveling the stage as Bono runs around and Edge stands there strum, strum, strumming in one spot. It's very different from the song Bono wrote when his dad died, ("Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" from one of my favorite albums, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.") but he had a lot more history with his dad...

Then two days ago I read this on RollingStone.com. Thank you for not making me figure it all out anymore. For those that don't want to click, based on an interview with Bono, the songs chronicle their young, innocent, pre-super band days.

Today I was connecting with the haunting "The Troubles" and "Volcano" -- they fit my mood this week at work. Volcano is also very '80s to me, which is a good thing ;)

Overall, I think I will like and listen to this album a lot. It's definitely more on the Achtung Baby/All That You Can't Leave Behind side of the collection (where I love listening to the whole album, no skipping) than the Zooropa/Pop side (where I listen to "If God Will Send His Angels" and "Staring at the Sun" and ... that's about it).

It was definitely worth way more than I paid for it (ha) and I will probably be one of the suckers that actually buys the album when it's physically released on October 15 so I can get the book that comes with it (see liner notes comment above ;) and the acoustic versions of four songs... because I'm also a sucker for anything played unplugged.

What do you think of your free gift? (That Apple actually paid $100 million for... nice promotional budget!) And who wants to go to a U2 concert with me next year to hear it live? :)