NOTE: I’d like to warn everyone that this memoir is super long and fairly detailed. I’ve broken it up into chapters to aid with navigation. Feel free to read as much or as little as you please. Or, if you prefer, just skim through and look at the pictures. I wrote this more for myself so … Continue reading U2
Personal
Interlude
THURSDAY 5/28 AND FRIDAY 5/29 The days between shows were a blur of social media updates, retweets, emails to photographers and rewatching the videos over and over. I was having a hard time eating, my system too jolted by all of the experiences to care for food or sleep or much of anything except U2. … Continue reading Interlude
Wednesday 5/27 – Night 2
I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t know Houston had been flooding. I woke up around 6:00am that morning in both a state of blissful delirium but also uncertain foreboding. I couldn’t sleep; a phenomenon that would reoccur mercilessly over the next several days as the needling pangs of excitement for what had happened and what … Continue reading Wednesday 5/27 – Night 2
Saturday 5/30 – Night 3
Saturday’s show was an anti-climax for me, not in terms of the performance, but because Wednesday was a tough act to follow. It also hurt that Nia couldn’t be there. I hadn’t been able to score a ticket for her and it being a weekend show, they were hard to come by. Also, after not-sleeping, … Continue reading Saturday 5/30 – Night 3
Sunday 5/31 – Night 4
By Sunday we had the drill down. We showed up early, got wristbands (high numbers but not too bad for our favorite spot in the back), went home to chill, then came back to get into the pen. We decided to slow our roll and not show up to the pen super early, instead giving … Continue reading Sunday 5/31 – Night 4
Interlude II
MONDAY 6/1 AND TUESDAY 6/2 We had expected Sunday to be our final show together, and I was even more bummed for a solo visit to the Wednesday show than I had been for the Saturday show. Something deep down inside us didn’t want to be separated, so we spent the lingering two days before … Continue reading Interlude II
Wednesday 6/3 – Night 5
By the night of the last show, there was nothing else we could hope for, nothing else we could want. Any and all of our desires had been answered and all we could feel was gratitude. We made new signs, for myself, another one that said “Thank You” and Nia drew a globe inside a … Continue reading Wednesday 6/3 – Night 5
Background
It started with a song. Or maybe a video. I seem to remember airplanes. Oriental rugs on a Charles de Gaulle runway. Four guys fresh from the 90's jamming to the coolest hit of the new millennium. For some reason, it’s a sound that I remember as much more visual than music would seem, but it … Continue reading Background
Tuesday 5/26 – Night 1
I was ready. I had spent the past several days reviewing the U2 canon — watching old tours and shows (PopMart Live from Mexico City 1997. Glastonbury 2011. Under a Blood Red Sky 1983), reviewing popular songs and their lyrics, skimming forums for set lists, and something new that completely blew my mind—watching live feeds and … Continue reading Tuesday 5/26 – Night 1
Mariel Calloway 