merry solstice! ... hey u2!

When I was in high school we used to sacrifice a virgin every Solstice. Instead of doing that today, I took a two-hour nap in the middle of the day. I guess it's sort of the same thing.

Early this morning I said goodbye for the second time this year to Charlotte, the love of my life. I probably should quit with the grandiose title, as we're not together anymore, but the girl will always have undeniably high marks. She went back home to Georgia after a brief vacation here to visit old friends -- some from Ireland.

On Saturday Charlotte and I as well as friends Laura, Maria, Ashlie and Jonathan went to the U2 concert. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not the biggest U2 fan in the world. They are severely over-rated. I was disgusted that we had to get tickets nine months in advance for such a standard-sounding band. For me, U2 is everyone's default favorite band which is why they're so popular. And I never really liked "Mysterious Ways," "With Or Without You," "Sunday Bloody Sunday" or even "One." Yes, I'm not the biggest fan, but I'm still a fan. They're still a band I like enough to need to see them live. They haven't been my favorite, but I've been really enjoying their music ever since I first heard "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" when I was seven years old. And since I've gotten into them, there are certain songs I absolutely adore. "Seconds," "Exit," "One Tree Hill," "In God's Country," "Red Hill Mining Town," "Running To Stand Still," "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses," "So Cruel," "Stay (Faraway So Close!)" and of course my very favorite "Until the End of the World." The worst part about going into the show was knowing that they probably wouldn't play any of the songs I adore.

Our seats were extremely humorous. Third row from the top and to the side of the stage (behind it a little). We actually looked down onto the speakers and lighting rig. It was like we were above the Delta Center. As a result, there was less poor-quality Delta Center sound to deal with. We could talk to each other pretty easily (something you're not supposed to be able to do at a concert). The bird's eye view of the stage was especially cool for the stage border lights. A set of lights went around the stage and another set of lights went around the catwalk that extended in a circle deep into the general admission seats. The stage lights often lit up in sequence like speed snakes in a circle. The real star of the show was the curtain lights. Curtains of giant pixels descended behind the band to display images. It was like a giant beaded curtain, so the images furled like flags.

Anyway, the band played long enough. They played every song they absolutely had to (i.e. the four songs I mentioned above that I don't particularly like), plus about five songs from the new CD. The middle section was way political. It got old after a while, but there was one stunt that I thought was pretty clever. Bono told the cell-phone waving audience that another thing they could be doing with their cell phones is to text their own name to a number the screen gave in support of ONE.org. Later in the show, the screens displayed all the names of the people who taxt in. I noticed one guy spelled his last name "Younng."

For the first song of their first encore they played "Until the End of the World." Thanks fellas. I owe you one.