U2 at MSU

Sunday night I went up to Michigan State University, along with about 65,000 others, to see U2 on their 360 tour. This marked the third time I had seen them in concert, the first time being over 20 years ago . . . .and I'd gladly see them again. They are an incredible live band.

The first time I saw them was in 1987 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. This was the year they exploded in popularity with the Joshua Tree album. For this concert, I paid a whopping $5.00 for the ticket. No, I didn't get a big discount, that was face value for any ticket that night. You see, they were filming for the "Rattle and Hum" CD and movie, so to ensure a packed house, they had the huge discount. If you listen to "Bullet the Blue Sky" on the Rattle and Hum CD, that was recorded live the night I was there. They played all but one song that night from Joshua Tree, still their best CD ever.

The next time I saw them was in 1997 at Chicago Soldier Field for the "PopMart" Tour. A big stage and light extravanganza that sorta worked, sorta didn't at times. The CD was so-so. But still, a great live show overall. The Edge lead the crowd in a sing along of The Monkees' "Daydream Believer."

In 2001, I TRIED to see them again at Chicago's United Center. Myself and 2 other friends, the same ones at Michigan State this past Sunday, bought what turned out to be bogus tickets on the street (we had also bought tickets on the street for Popmart with no problem). As we entered the arena, and they scanned the tickets, we were told to go stand against the wall and they filled out a police report. So, somewhere in the Chicago police department archives, my name is on a report. We then looked at the Michael Jordan statue . . .and went home.

Sunday night at Spartan Stadium, we had actual tickets (which, by the way, were a gift from our friend Peter . . .yeah, quite a guy!). The crowd in 1987 in Arizona was all young, as U2 had just burst onto the scene. But this past Sunday night, it was mostly an older crowd like, uh, myself. This tour, the "360 tour" had a massive set with a huge screen. But as they perform, they are a rather unpretentious group. The Edge casually does his thing. I've seen bigger drum sets in a church worship band than what Larry Mullen has. Adam Clayton kinda struts around with a sly grin. Bono, of course, is the more bombastic one.

U2 took to the stage and did 3 songs in a row from "Achtung Baby" and for the rest of the night did a mix of the old and new. Yep, you had "Pride," "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," "I Will Follow" and many more. They sang for just over two hours. For the final encore, they did "With or Without You" and then one of their all-time greatest songs, "Where the Streets Have No Name" amped up in a live setting with The Edge and his awesome guitar. There was also a neat tribute to Gabby Giffords, with a taped segment from the International Space Station with her husband, Mark Kelly.

A great concert by a great band that 30 years later, isn't really showing their age. Not sure if I'll get a chance to see them again anytime soon, but over a 24 year span, I've seen three awesome concerts by the lads from Dublin.