by Summer

This is coming REALLY late, but here it is:

For those who know me, they already know I want to be a writer. For those who don't know me...I want to be a writer. Music Journalism. I suppose one of the most important rules of Journalism, is to maintain the integrity of the story by being unbiased and totally impartial. Well you show me a Journalist who is 100% impartial and I'll show you a perfect world. With that said, U2 rocks my world. I can’t be bent, bought, or brainwashed into thinking otherwise. They have convinced millions of others and myself, that they are the world’s greatest Rock and Roll band.

No essence of Pop influence, or sign of selling out. They are what represent the lost integrity of Rock and Roll lost long ago. In the decadent 80’s Pop-Hair Culture, the meaning of Rock and Roll was lost in egos of David Lee Roth’s tight spandex pants and Jon Bon Jovi’s big hair. But Rock and Roll was to experience a revival: Four kids from Dublin came with a mission of breathing life back into the Rock and Roll experience, and they succeeded ten fold. With the release of albums such as Boy, War, and Joshua Tree, U2 not only brought life back to Rock and Roll, they brought thought provoking music to the masses. At their shows they would perform heart raising renditions of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and haunting renditions of “Bullet the Blue Sky”. Audiences were enthralled, saddened, angered, encouraged, and overjoyed in a two-hour timeslot.

It was like going to church.

Twenty years later church is still in session. U2 rose above the hair band 80’s and claimed the decade for themselves. They survived their turbulence of the 90’s, bringing out such thought provoking albums as “Achtung Baby” and “Pop”, poking fun at the pop lifestyle. Now in a new millennium, they bring “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” and their 2001 Elevation Tour. But they have left behind the decadence of their 90’s tours, and have brought a refreshed stage with new set lists and a new mission: To Elevate your Soul.

Wednesday November 7th started out like any other day. I got up, showered dressed, and left the house by 7:00 am. Except this time the destination was different. I took 2 days off in the middle of the week for this special occasion. I went to pick up Casey at her house, and we went off to the grocery store to buy food and drinks to last the day. We stuffed as much as we could into the little beer cooler, and we were on our way. With a quickie stop at McDonalds for breakfast, we made our way to the Pepsi Center through the early morning traffic by about 8:30. By the time we had parked and made our way to the front entrance, a large campsite had already been set up. A line of tents, sleeping bags, blankets, lawn chairs, and coolers lined up outside the venue as well as over a hundred fans in high spirits, ready to be Elevated if not for the first time, than all over again.

Casey and I set up our own little campsite, and were promptly handed a marker and clipboard to sign our names and add a number to our hands, to ensure the fairness of the GA procedure. Casey and I were 150 and 151. Not too much later in the day, a 450-pound man named Bubba dashed the hopes of a fair numbering system. However, the moral of the line was not crumbled. We knew we were already in. Bubba, Tim, or Big Al could not discourage our spirits.

So we settled on our blanket and snacked away on our goodies. It’s a dilemma trying to figure out what to do with 10 hours before being let into a venue. Especially when you’ve forgotten playing cards and books to read. But we passed the time away by making friends with our neighbors. A couple from Oklahoma City sat in front of us in line. They had to travel because U2 never comes to Oklahoma. A guy from Portland sat behind us, Daniel, who traveled to meet with his ex-girlfriend to see the show. Another gentlemen, Ben from Kansas traveled to Denver for a job interview as well as the concert. We spent the day discussing our jobs, music, and playing cards. We formed new friendships with 2 people we had one great thing in comment with: a love for U2.

The day went by at a medium pace. Between chatting, eating, napping, snapping photo’s with Danno the Bono look-a-like, and trips to the Port-O-Potty, the first 7 hours went by without a hitch. The last 3 hours however, were the most god-awful, teeth grinding hours of my life. We were instructed to return our things to our cars, and gather back into the line, in which follows the handing out of bracelets and the gathering up to the venue door, in which we’ll spend the last 3 hours in light rain, trying to maintain our sanity. Casey and I spent the time by conversing with our fellow gatherers, and playing the “Blinking Game”. Finally, after what seemed an eternity of waiting, Bubba redeemed himself by informing us that it’s time to go in, and that we the “Chosen Ones” have our guaranteed spot in the Heart. As all 350 screamed and cheered in unison, the doors swung open, and in a very cattle like manner, we herded inside.

After being searched and having our tickets scanned (Casey ran into a bit of trouble for carrying a bottle of perfume), we dashed inside the arena and quickly assumed our positions on the left outer side of the Heart. We felt like geniuses because we knew we had the best spots in the house. So we spent the time gearing up our cameras and chatting with the rapidly increasing surrounding crowd, and our friendly security guard {I say friendly with caution, he actually gave me the creeps. On the upside, he did let me get away with taking many flash photos.}.

When No Doubt took the stage, I had already planned on a bombastic high-energy performance on their behalf, but I didn’t plan on going deaf. Though their set was quite incredible, I was distracted by the enormous amount of feedback blaring out of one of the left speakers. Though I have to say, I enjoyed No Doubt on this leg of the tour so much more than the melancholy and droll PJ Harvey. They had the audience primed and pumping for U2 by the end of their set, and this time I was filled with energy and accelerated anxiety by the time their set ended instead of in need for a wake up call.

After No Doubt wrapped, following was the longest ½ hour of my life. As the crowd sang along to Stevie Wonder and the Beatles blaring over the speakers, my anxiety grew. Finally, after a cheerful rendition of “All You Need Is Love”, the intro music to “Elevation” began to play. And I along with thousands of other tired awaiting fans began to scream my head off as Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry took stage. As I was about to snap a photo of their entry, I noticed that my hands were hurting because I was gripping onto my camera so tightly, my knuckles were turning white.

As the band kicked into high gear with “Elevation”, the entire arena began to pulsate. It was as if everyone was moving in unison to the feeling that this music purveys.

Though Bono seemed tired, and his voice sounded rather high pitched from the altitude (although that happens to almost every artist that comes to the Mile High City), the band was in high spirits and ready to rock.

Though the set list did have a lot of the same songs from the first leg of the tour, it came with a different message: A message of hope, peace, and tolerance. With songs like “Please” and “Out Of Control” added in, the set list went through a very refreshing revival.

We also saw what could not otherwise be described as an adorable acoustic rendition of “Wild Honey” with Bono and The Edge singing into one microphone at the tip of the Heart. And what followed would be a fans dream come true.

A young man by the name of Shawn was inside the tip of the Heart holding a sign that read, “U2+ME=ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER”. Naturally, the sign caught Bono’s eye, and as he grabbed it, he said, “In America, it pays to Advertise!” Much to Shawn’s delight, Bono pulled Shawn onto the catwalk and Edge handed him his acoustic guitar. It was there right in front of me, where they tuned their guitars, and the look on this young mans face was indescribable. What a joy to perform with a band that brings so much happiness into your life. After collecting the albums, bootlegs, ticketstubs, videos, books and whatnot for so many years, what payback. So many U2 fans were standing onstage with him in spirit that night.

The song itself was amazing. After listening to it on the Rattle and Hum album for so long, it was an honor to hear it live. At the end of the song, Shawn gave one of his picks to The Edge, and the arena screamed with gratefulness to the new celebrity.

During “Where the Streets Have No Name”, Bono read his summation of Psalm 116:

What can I give back to God for the blessings he’s poured out on me
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation, a toast to God
I’ll pray in the name of God
I’ll complete what I promised God I’ll do
And I’ll do it together with his people

Church indeed.

With that, Bono proceeded to dash around the heart and launched the band into a high octane rendition of “…Streets…”.

Along with the rest of the audience, Casey and I were high energy, screaming our heads off with the rest. Suddenly, halfway through the song, she stopped. I looked over at Casey, and she seemed to quietly be enjoying the show. I must point out, that is highly unorthodox. She looked at me and said she wasn’t feeling well, and she really didn’t look well either. I assumed she was tired from the exuberance of the show, so I told her to take it easy.

After “…Streets…” Bono returned to the stage, and they started to sing “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. About halfway through the song, Casey really started to get sick. I won’t go into detail, but she had to be escorted to the Medical Center. I grabbed our things along with her and dashed up the stairs so she could recover. Sadly, we missed “Pride”, “Bullet The Blue Sky” and “What’s Going On”.

In the Medical Center we spoke to the girl there, who apparently had no experience in Medical Treatment whatsoever. But I digress; we gave her our life stories, and listened to the music coming from the arena while Casey sipped some water. Just when I thought the evening was going to draw to a disappointing end, Casey began to feel a bit better just as we heard “New York” through the door of the Medical Center. She checked ourselves out and grabbed our jackets and purses and snuck into a back entrance to the arena to catch the end of “New York”. We were shocked to see Bono was dancing right where we were once standing outside the Heart. Bygones.

As the band began to play “One”, I was overcome with emotion. In this day and age of war, fear, and racial profiling, it’s become all the more relevant. “We’re one, but we’re not the same…” All I could do was stand there and silently weep as the band played on.

Finally the band wrapped up an eventful evening with “Walk On”, as they projected the names of the September 11 Airline Passenger victims across the walls and an awe inspired audience.

The evening drew to a close and we wandered back outside into an all out storm. The snow was coming down from the skies and it felt so fantastic considering the heat of the arena. We left feeling exhausted, but our spirits were still high.

20 years later, almost as long as I’ve lived, U2 still manages to elevate their fans.

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