(no subject)
First of all -- congrads (har har) to Erika, who officially got her M.A. in literature today. I saw how hard you worked, babe -- you deserve it.
Secondly -- I had kind of a crap day at work today. Just the fact that I had to work instead of being able to go to E's graduation kind of sucked; I was unable to get the time off because two of my coworkers had already asked for that day off (in whole or in part) before I could. And then customers were rude and snappy all day, and they gave us hardly any tips. I'm serious, there was so little money in the tip jar that my boss had to put $10 in there just so that we could all get 5 bucks. Bastards. :-P Oh well, it's still not the worst day of work I've ever had.
I know that Bono has a lot of haters, but I just adore him. I do. I've been a U2 fan for over ten years now. (I know that makes me seem like a relatively new fan compared to those who've been following them forever, but consider that in 1997 I was barely 14.) Nearly all of their records hold a treasured place in my collection, but probably most especially their 1991 album Achtung Baby. "Zoo Station," "One," "Mysterious Ways," "The Fly"...these are all beautiful, amazing, and sexy songs, but my favorite track from that album is one that was never released as a single and, strangely, they've never performed live: "Acrobat." When I first heard it, I was going through those awkward, turmoil-filled teenage years, where I was really unsure of myself and completely lacked self-esteem and confidence. It had a message that I really needed to hear at that time:
and you can dream,
so dream out loud
and you can find your own way out
you can build
and I can will
and you can call
I can't wait until
you can stash and you can seize
in dreams begin responsibilities
and I can love
and I can love
you know that your time is coming 'round
so don't let the bastards grind you down
The song still means a lot to me, even though in many ways I'm very different from the person I was when I first heard it. It's one of those "this song must have been written just for me" numbers. It sounds cheesy as hell for me to say this, but it really did feel like Bono's beautiful, impassioned voice (he's still one of my favorite male vocalists and lyricists) was reaching out to me to tell me that I was stronger than I thought I was, that everything was going to be okay and I couldn't let others belittle me and trick me into thinking I was powerless. For awhile I even thought of getting some of the lyrics from this song tattooed on me, that's how much it meant.
I have to admit that their 2000 album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, sounded flat and unmoving to my ears in comparison to their previous stuff, so for awhile I stopped listening to them as much. It's weird because that's the album that won them a ton of Grammys and accolades, but to be honest, I prefer their 1997 album Pop to that one. (And a lot of fans really hate Pop. I think it's highly underrated.) I still counted them as one of my favorite bands, but while I was busy discovering Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Joanna Newsom, and Peter Gabriel (all my latest musical obsessions from the past 4 years or so), U2 was far from my mind.
But then last weekend my friend Katie and I went to see their concert film, U2 3D, at the IMAX theatre here in downtown Raleigh, and it completely renewed my love for U2 -- a love that had been dormant for a long time, but now it's back with a fierce passion. I've never seen the band live, and U2 3D is probably the closest I'll ever come to that experience. It's a compilation of footage from several different shows in Latin America from their latest tour, The Vertigo Tour. While watching it, I was amazed at how Bono and the rest of the boys really have still got it. Bono's voice is a bit hoarser than it used to be and he can't quite hit some of those really high notes in the old songs, but he doesn't sing with any less urgency or joy. His voice still practically makes me weep with how beautiful it can be. And he, The Edge, Larry, and Adam still put on a great show; it's like they're not at all tired of playing "Where The Streets Have No Name" and "With Or Without You" after all these years, that they still want to play those songs just as much as their audiences want to hear them. It was so incredibly moving for me to watch the way the thousands of people in the audience wove their hands in the air and sang (no, hollered) along to "One" -- love is a temple, love the higher law -- with tears in their eyes, as if those words meant more to them than anything else they'd ever heard. It made me really wish that I had been there, in front of that stage, along with them.
In many circles it isn't considered "cool" to like U2 anymore, and like I said, Bono has received a lot of criticism in recent years -- yet they're still a band that means so much to so many people. I know that even if they never release another album that I like as much as Achtung Baby, I'll still be a loyal fan because they've already written enough meaningful songs to last me the rest of my life. Bono is an awe-inspiring (as well as just plain old inspiring) musician and showman, and I respect him for all his various humanitarian efforts and his never-ending campaign to make the world better. Yeah, he's filthy rich and spends a lot of that money on luxuries for himself and his family, I won't deny that -- but at least he's also trying to do some good in the world, unlike people like Paris Hilton who are too busy buying $500 sweaters for their dogs to think about anyone else. The fact that he's been married to the same woman for over 25 years, and seems totally devoted/loyal to her and their 4 kids, makes me dig him a lot as well. You don't see that in very many other rock stars of his caliber.
Okay, so I didn't originally intend for this to become a super-long essay on the effect that U2 has had on my life, but there ya go. XD Um, I guess I'll finish this up by posting a few of my favorite U2 live clips from YouTube.
The band playing "The Fly" in Chicago on the Vertigo Tour. It's really weird for me to see Bono playing the guitar -- he's one of those musicians (like Nick Cave) who look kind of unnatural with it because it's not their main instrument. He does a pretty good job with it on this song, though, which is one of my all-time favorites. And Edge sings back-up! :D
This is one of the performances that made it onto the U2 3D film -- the boys playing "Bullet The Blue Sky" in Sao Paulo a couple of years ago. I love Bono's "COEXIST" blindfold, and the way this performance of the song includes snippets of "The Hands That Built America" (their track on the Gangs of New York soundtrack) and the old Civil War song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."
During ZooTV, the tour for Achtung Baby and their subsequent album Zooropa, Bono would perform as several different characters. My favorite of these is Mr. Macphisto, a somewhat foppish devil type. Bono-as-Macphisto would close just about every show with a real phone call to the U.S. President or the United Nations. (I think in most instances he didn't actually get through to the people he was trying to call, but I bet it was fun to watch him try.) In this clip, he comments sarcastically on a lot of issues that were prevalent in 1993 before calling a taxi "to take him home." I love the look on his face when the cab company hangs up on him -- I wonder how they'd react if they knew they'd just been crank called by Bono in the middle of one of U2's concerts?
Macphisto again, singing "Lemon." You can really hear what a great vocal range he has, or used to have -- his falsetto is one of the few I actually like listening to.
Secondly -- I had kind of a crap day at work today. Just the fact that I had to work instead of being able to go to E's graduation kind of sucked; I was unable to get the time off because two of my coworkers had already asked for that day off (in whole or in part) before I could. And then customers were rude and snappy all day, and they gave us hardly any tips. I'm serious, there was so little money in the tip jar that my boss had to put $10 in there just so that we could all get 5 bucks. Bastards. :-P Oh well, it's still not the worst day of work I've ever had.
I know that Bono has a lot of haters, but I just adore him. I do. I've been a U2 fan for over ten years now. (I know that makes me seem like a relatively new fan compared to those who've been following them forever, but consider that in 1997 I was barely 14.) Nearly all of their records hold a treasured place in my collection, but probably most especially their 1991 album Achtung Baby. "Zoo Station," "One," "Mysterious Ways," "The Fly"...these are all beautiful, amazing, and sexy songs, but my favorite track from that album is one that was never released as a single and, strangely, they've never performed live: "Acrobat." When I first heard it, I was going through those awkward, turmoil-filled teenage years, where I was really unsure of myself and completely lacked self-esteem and confidence. It had a message that I really needed to hear at that time:
and you can dream,
so dream out loud
and you can find your own way out
you can build
and I can will
and you can call
I can't wait until
you can stash and you can seize
in dreams begin responsibilities
and I can love
and I can love
you know that your time is coming 'round
so don't let the bastards grind you down
The song still means a lot to me, even though in many ways I'm very different from the person I was when I first heard it. It's one of those "this song must have been written just for me" numbers. It sounds cheesy as hell for me to say this, but it really did feel like Bono's beautiful, impassioned voice (he's still one of my favorite male vocalists and lyricists) was reaching out to me to tell me that I was stronger than I thought I was, that everything was going to be okay and I couldn't let others belittle me and trick me into thinking I was powerless. For awhile I even thought of getting some of the lyrics from this song tattooed on me, that's how much it meant.
I have to admit that their 2000 album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, sounded flat and unmoving to my ears in comparison to their previous stuff, so for awhile I stopped listening to them as much. It's weird because that's the album that won them a ton of Grammys and accolades, but to be honest, I prefer their 1997 album Pop to that one. (And a lot of fans really hate Pop. I think it's highly underrated.) I still counted them as one of my favorite bands, but while I was busy discovering Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Joanna Newsom, and Peter Gabriel (all my latest musical obsessions from the past 4 years or so), U2 was far from my mind.
But then last weekend my friend Katie and I went to see their concert film, U2 3D, at the IMAX theatre here in downtown Raleigh, and it completely renewed my love for U2 -- a love that had been dormant for a long time, but now it's back with a fierce passion. I've never seen the band live, and U2 3D is probably the closest I'll ever come to that experience. It's a compilation of footage from several different shows in Latin America from their latest tour, The Vertigo Tour. While watching it, I was amazed at how Bono and the rest of the boys really have still got it. Bono's voice is a bit hoarser than it used to be and he can't quite hit some of those really high notes in the old songs, but he doesn't sing with any less urgency or joy. His voice still practically makes me weep with how beautiful it can be. And he, The Edge, Larry, and Adam still put on a great show; it's like they're not at all tired of playing "Where The Streets Have No Name" and "With Or Without You" after all these years, that they still want to play those songs just as much as their audiences want to hear them. It was so incredibly moving for me to watch the way the thousands of people in the audience wove their hands in the air and sang (no, hollered) along to "One" -- love is a temple, love the higher law -- with tears in their eyes, as if those words meant more to them than anything else they'd ever heard. It made me really wish that I had been there, in front of that stage, along with them.
In many circles it isn't considered "cool" to like U2 anymore, and like I said, Bono has received a lot of criticism in recent years -- yet they're still a band that means so much to so many people. I know that even if they never release another album that I like as much as Achtung Baby, I'll still be a loyal fan because they've already written enough meaningful songs to last me the rest of my life. Bono is an awe-inspiring (as well as just plain old inspiring) musician and showman, and I respect him for all his various humanitarian efforts and his never-ending campaign to make the world better. Yeah, he's filthy rich and spends a lot of that money on luxuries for himself and his family, I won't deny that -- but at least he's also trying to do some good in the world, unlike people like Paris Hilton who are too busy buying $500 sweaters for their dogs to think about anyone else. The fact that he's been married to the same woman for over 25 years, and seems totally devoted/loyal to her and their 4 kids, makes me dig him a lot as well. You don't see that in very many other rock stars of his caliber.
Okay, so I didn't originally intend for this to become a super-long essay on the effect that U2 has had on my life, but there ya go. XD Um, I guess I'll finish this up by posting a few of my favorite U2 live clips from YouTube.
Click to viewThe band playing "The Fly" in Chicago on the Vertigo Tour. It's really weird for me to see Bono playing the guitar -- he's one of those musicians (like Nick Cave) who look kind of unnatural with it because it's not their main instrument. He does a pretty good job with it on this song, though, which is one of my all-time favorites. And Edge sings back-up! :D
This is one of the performances that made it onto the U2 3D film -- the boys playing "Bullet The Blue Sky" in Sao Paulo a couple of years ago. I love Bono's "COEXIST" blindfold, and the way this performance of the song includes snippets of "The Hands That Built America" (their track on the Gangs of New York soundtrack) and the old Civil War song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."
During ZooTV, the tour for Achtung Baby and their subsequent album Zooropa, Bono would perform as several different characters. My favorite of these is Mr. Macphisto, a somewhat foppish devil type. Bono-as-Macphisto would close just about every show with a real phone call to the U.S. President or the United Nations. (I think in most instances he didn't actually get through to the people he was trying to call, but I bet it was fun to watch him try.) In this clip, he comments sarcastically on a lot of issues that were prevalent in 1993 before calling a taxi "to take him home." I love the look on his face when the cab company hangs up on him -- I wonder how they'd react if they knew they'd just been crank called by Bono in the middle of one of U2's concerts?
Macphisto again, singing "Lemon." You can really hear what a great vocal range he has, or used to have -- his falsetto is one of the few I actually like listening to.