Three awesome things happened the year I turned 17: I graduated from high school, I got accepted to the college I'd been wanting to go to, and on that same day, I got tickets to see U2. Unfortunately, for reasons I won't go into, I never did make it to that show. In fact, I didn't end up getting to see U2 until several years later in the Tacoma Dome. It was the Elevation tour, with PJ Harvey...who I adore...and they were well worth the wait.
I love U2. I'm not a crazy stalker. I would probably never spend the night on the sidewalk to stand in the front row, but their music touches me, and moreover I'm always even more impressed by their philanthropy and how they've chosen to use their celebrity in service of social justice. So when one of best friends called me up and said she was doing it up big for her 30th birthday and had gotten me a ticket to see U2 on opening night for their first concert in the US on the 360 degrees tour, I promptly booked my ticket to Chicago.
I arrived around midnight the day before. Shoshana picked me up from the airport and we headed to our friend Chica's house. There was chocolate cake, candles and singing, lots of girl talk and laughter. It was the first time I had met Chica's husband and seen her new digs. And the whole thing had me feeling older...not in a bad way. Being back in the Midwest is always a marker of time. I can't help, but think; when's the last time I was in Chicago? Who was I then? What was I doing? Who am I now?
The weekend itself was a fun celebration. I got to reconnect with friends I hadn't seen in ages and then there was the concert. We arrived later than we had planned, but it was perfect. We breezed through light traffic, paid half the cost of a ticket to park beneath Soldier field, then walked down to the entrance where we knew the band would be coming in. It wasn't very crowded. There were other fans waiting to get a glimpse, but it wasn't a mob scene. Everyone was friendly. I sat on the grass writing silly messages on the dry erase sign we'd purchased at the Party Store. The Edge and Adam arrived, but they just drove through with a wave. Then after about 20 minutes, Bono showed up. He got out of the car, walked around and greeted everyone. Then we walked into Soldier Field...no lines, breezed through security, grabbed some dinner and found our friend who was holding a spot for us about 6 rows back from the outer walk way of the stage.
The stage itself was kind of like a space ship, round and with two bridges connecting it to a circular runway. The first 3,000 people to arrive, crowded into the ring between the stage and the outer circle...though it didn't seem like there were that many people. Suspended above the stage was this massive cylindrical screen that turned out to be lots of screens that expanded and contracted, sometimes reflecting the show, sometimes showing distorted images, and at one point displaying a message from Desmond Tutu.
And I could tell you more about seeing Snow Patrol,the opening act, or give you a play list of all the songs they played, but really what was interesting to me was being a part of something bigger. I stood in a stadium full of people and felt connected to them because of the music. And there was something important about it that I haven't quite figured out how to articulate.
When they played the song "One" which is so well known, even you don't know U2 by name, if you heard it you would probably intuitively know the words, and we all sang and it was so loud that I couldn't really hear my own voice, but rather just the collective I felt hopeful, optimistic that if we could do this one silly thing...sing a song together at Soldier field...that we might be able to do something important together.
Connecting seems to be the reoccurring theme of this fall for me. Connecting and finding purpose and meaning in everything I do...and also realizing that I can be or do whatever I want. I could wake up tomorrow and decide to start my own band and have millions of people make me into a rock star, or I can wake up and decide to be the best fourth and fifth grade Spanish teacher in the state of Washington....or whatever, the point is, I'm at a point in my life where I feel like I can wake up and choose. I am at choice and I believe that whatever I do, I will be supported. Getting to see U2 was just an added bonus to an already sweet revelation.
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