Last night another one of my life dreams came true when I got to see (and hear) Bono sing ‘With or Without You’ live. My entire being was covered in goosebumps and I just could not stop smiling / jumping / screaming / giggling with excitement. (Yes, I was THAT girl at the concert…)
My friend Rose had bought two tickets and invited me to come along. Seeing U2 in concert was, for me, even bigger than anything I could comprehend. I grew up listening to Bono and know most of the lyrics off by heart, so I didn’t even have to think about my answer before giving her a resounding ‘Yes!’. I’ve been counting the days until the arrival of the concert and headed straight to Penn Station after work to catch the train to Giant Stadium where 78,000 people gathered to enjoy the U2 phenomena. And they did not disappoint! The stage looked like a just-landed space shuttle, the sound was perfect and the lights…oh, the lights were just amazing.
- Bono’s in there somewhere!
The weirdest moment of the show was when Bono started singing ‘One’ and it was preceded by a film showing Desmond Tutu speaking about poverty and education in South Africa. The next minute, this girl next to me shouted ‘F**K YOU NELSON MANDELA’! I gasped before I turned right around, tapped her on the shoulder and said, ‘Excuse me! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?’. This girl tried to ignore me, but I would have none of that… “I am from South Africa. The man on that screen is Archbishop Desmond Tutu and he is a great man. Don’t you DARE say anything negative about Nelson Mandela. Ever.” Then I finished with a snarky line…”Get a passport, honey!”
How dare she? On later reflection I think she must have gotten Desmond Tutu confused with Robert Mugabe and called him Nelson Mandela (how??? no idea…), but it made me really feel so angry about being in this country where some people just don’t know anything beyond their own state borders!
My anger at this stupid girl didn’t last too long as I was again swept off my feet by the lovely Bono.
Really the only negative about this evening was the commute back from New Jersey into the city (the show ended at 11pm and I only got home at 2.30 this morning – very tired. But I would do it all again in a heartbeat.
That was amazing!