“We’d be mad not to”
That’s how U2 advertised their residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas, NV when they first dropped that ad during the superbowl. Or at least that’s the bit that stuck with me.
The promise of something never done before. Something so big, so buoyant, so extravagant that it would move mountains, airplanes, even damn spaceships but more than anything else, call for all the pilgrims around the world to join them in the big ball of light and get a taste of that ride or die kinda love.
A love that floors you, a love that leaves your senses grazed, a love that makes you question if any of it is even real but for that feeling crawling under your raw skin. For what is music but love?
Come all you stars fall out of the sky
Come all you angels forgetting to fly
Come all who feel we’re not on our own
All UFOs come on your way home
An atomic love and everyone is welcomed. At your own risks.
They gave us a fair warning though, we can’t blame them on that – achtung y’all. Everything you know is probably wrong.
Well I’m sorry to state the obvious (again) lads but we’re fans. We don’t listen to the warnings – we just go head first and jump in the deep end without a thought – and you know this too well. Crazy Zootopians.
So what do you reply to the band of your life saying “We’d be mad not to” ?
Well. We’d be mad not to either.
And we cross the world for them. Some of us literally.
But why do we do it? Apart from the fact we’re all a bit mad, we already sorted that bit out.
Why do we always end up going?
I guess we all have our reasons. Some go for the memories and its time traveling power, for feeling once more like they have before. Some go for the physical and spiritual wonders they promised, some go for the friendships made along the way, some go because missing a tour would look bad on their resume, some go for the sake of going… An infinity of reasons.
My main one is the never-ending chase of that feeling. That one feeling only your favorite band can provide. That particular hit of joy that somehow you can’t find anywhere else, and not for lack of trying.
The truth is, most go for all of the reasons above – but on some level, it all goes down to just one – that love.
It was the first time I went that far to reach the flame. In time and space. The furthest I’ve ever traveled, the longest gap in between shows – we’d be mad not to or are we just mad? You know me, both are valid. I did some mad things for this band but this time the anticipation leading to it all felt different – like an actual zoo baby tumbling in its space capsule caught in the mad swirl of the driven force that can be a new tour. Except a baby doesn’t suffer from crippling anxiety.
Should I really go? Will it be worth it? Will I find that feeling again? How am I even gonna justify those costs? How do I leave the kids behind? I can’t even fly for that long? What if it doesn’t work out? I don’t need them so much anymore, will my love be enough? Am I missing out? “It doesn’t feel like a real U2 show Jo don’t bother”? “it’s mind blowing you have to do it”? What if I dreamt too loud this time? What if it’s the best show of my life? What if it all goes wrong? What if it all goes right? What if? WHAT IF?
STOP.
And if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough
Ha.
There it is. That voice that grounded me for so many years. Maybe it will work. Maybe I just need to go for it. And as that Irish dude made it very clear last time our paths crossed, surrender to it.
It was a different kind of surrender this time. Like a forbidden drug we’re all too afraid to lose ourselves into. One we can only enjoy responsibly in our day to day life. There’s no coming back from that surrender to… the extravaganza.
The absolute extravaganza that is this show and everything in between.
At what point a leap of faith turns into a fall into madness?
Unless you’ve got the right support to teach you how to fly just in time.
And guess what? Ha.
You get it.
I didn’t even need to wait for the music to start this time to cast away the shadows of my doubts. The simple feel of that wristband slapped across my skin was enough to know – I’m where I belong.
I walked into that concrete bunker with all my senses already in overdrive. How is that even real? Or rather unreal? If you don’t walk inside the Sphere and don’t have your mind absolutely blown away, your life is probably a lot more exciting than mine, congrats. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen, or for that matter ever imagined. Reaching to the limit of the human mind to comprehend what you’re even looking at.
Is it all a dream? No, it’s not. That’s just the damn jetlag talking. You refocus and you hear it, you see it, you feel it – The joyful chatter, the electricity in the air, the screams of friends spotting each other. Like a caged animal back to its natural habitat.
Ha.
Honey. I’m home.
I’m finally home.
I got lucky to attend two of those shows, which gave me the opportunity to switch perspectives and embrace that masterpiece of art they worked on to revive the AB. One from the front, one from the back. I didn’t come all this way to watch TV but it would have been an absolute shame to miss those visuals. It’s more often than not the case with this band but what can I say, the magnetism of Bono’s arms sometimes compels you to make foolish decisions. Not this time hot pants. I’m here for another show.
And what a show.
It’s hard to find the words to describe it all, and even harder to find words to share those feelings you all probably already know.
If you’re still to see the boys in the big ball of light, get ready for a sensory overload like you’ve never experienced before. The whole ZooTv 2.0 segment will rattle your aging wet soaked bones like in the good ol’ days – I’m guessing, I wasn’t born.
Yet it did, and it felt amazing. Apart from my voice immediately tearing apart from the irresistible urge to scream at everything all at once.
Them.
This.
The moment.
The urge to be louder than life itself – or Bram’s heavy drumming -, loud enough to let love and amazement pour through every shout (for joy) and give them the undeniable confirmation that in that instant, right there, right then, they are and always will be THE BEST FUCKING BAND IN THE WORLD.
The visuals were obviously mind blowing and I am not too sure our tiny human brains can actually process half of it correctly. It’s a lot. A lot lot. it’s too much, but never enough right?
That’s dangerous tech they’ve got there. If used badly, they definitely have the ability to overpower you, and hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a real possibility of black out – your brain, not the song. But luckily for us, U2 has a team who are definitely the unsung geniuses of the band – you’ll feel dizzy, blurry, numb-y but never to the point where it doesn’t feel ‘safe’. They somehow managed a very neat trick – you become part of it. You become part of that art, completely immersed in that warm and safe bubble of whatever is even happening.
You turn into a bad reception ol’ TV. You run off from the embers falling. You feel the heat of a burning flag – or maybe that’s just the GA full of hot people effect. Special mention to Even Better Than The Real Thing that might snap you out of it – it is definitely aptly named on that tour. Pure madness, pure ecstasy, and will 100% make you feel sick to your stomach. That’s okay. Have a peek and let the music take you to higher ground – by closing your eyes.
Because eventually you’ll feel the sunlight on your face – literally. Streets will come and cleanse every last overpowering emotion allowing you to breathe deeper than before in the show. And if that’s not enough, WOWY will take care of that. Probably my favorite visual of all – bringing the light in so many ways. It felt like salvation itself.
From your warm bubble to finally seeing the light at the end of a majestic tunnel with or without them – oh lord. Were we born again or something? Or did we just die and went to rock’n’roll heaven?
Who knows.
As I said, it was a lot. But it did feel like living multiple lives in a couple of hours. Would make sense there was some dying and some rebirth in between.
Ha.
And then, there were these 4 men.
They looked amazing, and they sounded even better.
Bono’s voice unafraid to soar to the edge – the other one – of that venue and break apart the roof, a concrete one too. Maybe it was just time tricking my ears but it felt like he hadn’t sounded that good in a while. And lordy, I’m not sure how the congregation of bon-hoes survived this round because yer man is fit as fuck. And ALSO actually looking down at the audience and not over people’s heads? I don’t know who you are or if you finally caved for therapy B but please keep up whatever you’re doing. A real pleasure to see you having the confidence you oh-so-deserve. I love seeing my rockstars feeling good.
Edge was Edge. Is it really a surprise if he surprises us every time by being the most surgically precise musician in the world? Ha. You get the #1 spot this time my man, Larry wasn’t there.
If I may, stop gatekeeping your talent and just play more solos – I’m not sure I’ll ever recover from the tear Love Is Blindness opened in my soul. Just magnificent. On a level that didn’t just make the angels cry but all the deities around too. If there was ever a doubt you’d make it in the pantheon of the rock n roll gods, that seat is definitely reserved now.
I was frontrow to Adam – 2nd row actually but that’s irrelevant, the man is tall – and I’m not sure I had ever seen him so focused on nailing those bass lines. Perfect score Jazzman, and what an absolute pleasure to see your interactions with Bram. I’m glad he was there to find you when you must have been feeling so lost without your grumpy one. And as always, you’ve earned the sexy bitch title of the band Mr Adam Slayton. Thanks for the smiles, thanks for the laughs, thanks for doing your best – as for that shadow behind your eyes I send you all my love. Keep in mind how many of us you brought back to the light – you know how to do it. You’ve got this, and we’ve got you always.
Wham, Bam, Thank you Bram. You get a special shoutout Dutch man.
I never had any doubts about you being the right choice to keep Larry’s seat warm for the time being and I got confirmation of that 100% during these two shows.
So yeah, thank you Bram for saving their arses, and collectively all of ours in the process too – we know too well we couldn’t have had our band back so soon if it wasn’t for you. So thank you not only for the music that you absolutely nail, but also for giving us the chance to reconnect with our chosen family and those emotions only the band of our life can provide.
Love the thunder you bring on those drums – there’s only one jamjar but you did him justice big time – for that sweetness in your eyes, and the real joy in your laughs. It was an absolute pleasure to see you play and I’m so glad you were there to help get the lads through the madness that is that show.
Wishing you all the best. You did really great. You’ll always have a special place in U2 fans’ hearts. Much love from this one x
Right. Enough of sentimentality – as if.
On to the rest… or not. I could go on and on and on for as long as eternity would allow me.
From the absolute release of all the pandemic emotions I had somehow locked on hearing the intro of Streets again and the most cathartic cry that it spurred. To the guttural screams at hearing The Fly live for the first time ever, or the loudest singalong I ever did on WOWY that made me feel like my lungs were on fire for a few hours afterwards.
And that last meltdown on Beautiful Day – it’s always that damn song for fuck’s sake – that moment of surrender, that moment of clarity of where you are, who you’re with, what you’re doing – coming to terms in a split second of the spiraling emotions to be in that moment.
That feeling I chase for. A true blessing.
An extravagant one this time for sure, but all worth it. Will I come back from it? That’s a big irrelevant question after all, because do I even want to come back from it? Ha.
Here’s one last thought I had post gig. Through the rollercoaster of emotions, and that unreal screen imprinted on my retina – probably forever.
It’s funny how Bono often says is still trying to impress Ali even though they’ve been married for 40+ years, and in a way it feels like he’s also still trying to impress us. Which makes sense, it’s show business after all. That’s the deal – you pay ridiculous amounts of money and you get memories for a lifetime.
But funnily enough, for that little tribe that we are, the die-hards, the Zootopians, the ones who have so much love for those guys we avoid bringing it up in therapy for fear of it being deemed unhealthy, here’s a thought.
At the end of the day, even though they always deliver a special kind of magic in their shows. Do we still need to be impressed when we are oh-so-permanently amazed?
Or do we just need… Them?
On stage.
Playing the soundtrack of their lives that they kindly let us be a part of.
Just a thought, maybe a mad one but – no matter where you take us, or what planet we end up on – we’ll always have your keys B, at least the ones to our hearts.
For you are and always will be our joy bringers, our light bearers, our hope enablers – life is but a dream & a very loud one when it comes to you.
This was the adventure of a lifetime, through tears and shouts, hugs and jumps .
And love, love and even more love on this never-ending musical journey.
We’re a bit mad alright. Mad about you.
Thank you U2.
And for those who couldn’t make it, I truly hope they’ll release that one but in the meantime here’s all of #U2UVSPHERE (or close) in 90 seconds by this nerd.
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