They Played My Song!

I publish this knowing the considerable risk of being called a fanboy or groupie...

I was lucky enough to go see a concert in Chicago last weekend. I've been saving up and hoping my work schedule didn't prevent it for months now.
Well, as of Wednesday night, I was able to clear all little conflicts and pull the proverbial trigger.

We flew all day, landed in the Windy City just in time to change our shoes and head on over to the gig.
We hung out outside the gate, watching the band arrive:


And a little thing it was. 200 tons of lighting, audio, video and effects equipment dangling over an 80 foot round stage.

So as we wander the floor, my lovely wife hooks us up with passes for the center section. WOOHOO!



This was our view of Snow Patrol. It was cool. I got to stand behind all the Snow Patrol audio and stage crew off the side of the stage, watching them do all the stuff that I (sometimes) do at work. Approx. 4 songs into Snow Patrol's set, I decide that the whole trip is already worth it. I don't know how things could get any better.... Unless perhaps U2 play my song....

A little backstory: I have been a U2 fan for over 25 years now... I've been waiting most of that time to hear my favorite U2 song live (the song is called 'Bad') I saw the Vertigo tour shows several years ago more than once. In fact, I saw it 4 times in 4 states. Hoping. Nope. Although in Denver I would have seen/heard it if I had stayed for the second night. Grrrrrrr.

We are pretty close, but not in the crush of being down front. We get numerous (I mean 20+ close encounters with the band (the Mrs is particularly happy to have made eye contact with Mr. The Edge more than once.)



So the concert is going along, and I'm having a great time, not expecting much, but I see one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen:


Show cruising along, I'm still hoping to hear it. Things start winding down. Certain things happen that almost preclude the playing of the song I'm here to hear. I give up, decide to walk to the back to take a few pictures. As we walk up the stairs..... I squeal like a rusty hinge and head back into the pit. This is the vantage point I was able to secure:



So then.... The show ended. Things were good.

I should sometime tell you about night #2....