"After 25 years of not being able to get to a front row of a U2 concert, my wife and I accomplished the unthinkable; front row, three consecutive shows"
Tell us something about yourself, who are you and what do you do for a living?
I‘m 41 years of age living in Edmonton AB, Canada, currently working in the medical supplies industry as the operational support prime for a family owned business.
How did you become a fan of U2, tell us how it happened?
I didn’t become a fan really…..”they” just became a part of my life. My history with U2 goes back to 1983, where as a 10 year old I was introduced to the bands music by a teenage neighbour who took care of me after school for a few hours each day; for an entire school year I was forced to listen to Boy, October and War. I didn’t really know what I was listening to at that age, however looking back on that time I now understand how the seeds of U2 were planted. Jumping ahead, my first show was in 1987 (14 years old) when an older friends brother ended up with last minute tickets (radio show contest winner, if memory serves me) to the JT show at the new BC Place stadium in Vancouver! 11/12/1987
From that night onward, my interest in, and my passion for the band has grown and as happens to most people during their teenage years, I found that “something” in their music that connected with me. That connection has grown and intensified over the years now exceeding 30+ years.
What do you think of Songs of Innocence? What's your favourite tune?
Start to Finish - Songs of Innocence is one of U2 best albums ever; and in my opinion SOI is probably their best complete work in the last 20 years. The tracks just seem to ‘fit’ together and the more I listen to the album, the more I just enjoy the artistry and complexity of each song on the album. (You know it’s like breaking in a new coat…) Since the first time I listened to the new album, Song For Someone struck a chord.
Did you ever have a special U2 experience like a live concert? Can you tell us something about it?
A couple of experiences
I’ve been very fortunate to have seen the boys 24 times in concert, since the first show in 1987, I’ve dreamed of seeing them from the ‘front row’. …. So for the 360 tour my wife and I decided to take a gamble, we each used our presale and obtained GA tickets to Salt Lake City, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Seattle (seats). (…. At this time, I ask fellow U2start members to pull up a road trip planner….)
Vancouver, BC to Salt Lake City, UT – we arrive the afternoon before the concert, ending up with GA numbers 121 & 122. A few days later Salt Lake City, UT to Winnipeg, MB, we end up with numbers 17&18 (…and I end up sleeping in a tent on a street corner, with the city of Winnipeg under a Tornado warning!). At 7am the morning after the Winnipeg show we drive 13 hours to Edmonton and attended the ‘REDmonton pre-party’ and after a few hours sleep I raced to the stadium and we end-up with numbers 5 & 6 (38 hours before the concert, again I did the overnight tenting thing)…final leg is to Seattle and then back to Vancouver… (…if you mapped it correctly… something close to 6,700km / 68 hours of driving in a two week period)
After 25 years of not being able to get to a front row of a U2 concert, my wife and I accomplished the unthinkable; front row, three consecutive shows! At various times during those three shows, I directly engaged with and received responses from all 4 members of the band. For brief seconds out of their lives and mine a common thread of communication and understandings was had; I even got Larry to smile and laugh!. I have always stated that I am a “fan” of the band, not a “fanatic”, but for those brief seconds things changed.
12/09/13 – after spending 5 hours driving on deserted highway #190, twisting and turning across state lines, passing Zabriskie Point, we arrive at our destination. Stepping out of the passenger side I was surrounded by a landscape that I’ve seen thousands of time in my mind; a brief walk into the desert and we arrived. There is something magical about that place, no descriptive words in any writings will never truly capture the beauty that existed that day; words between my wife and I didn’t need to be spoken, but tears of happiness were shared. After an hour with pictures taken, an appreciation had and with our message written in “the book” we began down the road back ~ another lifelong goal check-marked off the list of life~~
In your opinion, what has been U2's defining moment and why?
Really hard to identify a single defining moment however if your looking at singular events, Live Aid - 13/07/85 has to be considered a cornerstone moment for their performing history; IMO their 15min set cemented U2 as “the band” throughout Europe and was the point in time when U2 was introduced to the rest of the world through television / radio. Although to a different non-musical extent their appearance on the cover of Time Magazine - 04/27/87, solidified the band to the overall general public on a world wide scale. … 26/11/93…a night that almost changed the band forever. 16/11/2014 - when it almost all came to an end.
U2 enduring defining moment to me is that they are still a band; a brotherhood of friends.
So you're going to the opening night of the Innocence + Experience tour, that's amazing! What it easy to get tickets and what are your expectations for the show?
Very easy to get tickets, used my presale code and got 2 GA tickets within the first minute. My expectation (plan) is that I will at GM place a few days early to see what is going on. The Vancouver area is where I grew up so I have lots of friends / family in the area, I plan to visit the arena and start the GA line (probably with Joe and Chris). As for the show itself my expectations are wide ranging given the significant changes that must have taken place over the last few months due to Bono’s accident. Here we are 44 / 45 days away from the first show and things are generally quiet, no stage preview, no new songs and no second album! The back to back shows thing with each show possibility being a completely different ‘style’ of show is becoming more on an interest to me and the anticipation is building on how Live Nation and U2 are going to truly pull this off. I have seated tickets for the second show allowing me to take it all in…
Do you try to be spoiler free the days before the show (rehearsal rumours etc.)?
No, I ‘m kind of a spoiler guy, (sorry to all those out there). I want every U2 fan to have every awesome experience they can at every show, so I share information as much as possible. For the upcoming SOI tour, I’m **thinking** of trying something that I’ve always wanted to see done; a ‘live’ “boot-legging” video-broadcasting of a U2 in real time from a fans perspective. I don’t know if I can do this, but with recent technology changes and a twitter account, we’ll see if I make this happen! If this can be done!
Does anyone in your family or one of your friends like U2? If so, did they introduce you to U2, or did you "convert" them?
True story – December 8, 2006, early evening, (the night before the Hawaii show to end Vertigo tour) wife and I are sitting on a public bench just off the water of Waikiki beach watching a luau dance. Wife leans over and point out this strange looking man with a shaved head, sunglasses and an overgrow beard sitting about 10 feet away… Hey isn’t that your brother? I look directly at him “Mark” I yell, He turns and get a head nod, “Hey,” is I all get back, 5 min later, he yells back ‘you here for the show’? (this is the first time I had seen him since we ended up side by side in the red zone Vancouver show!)…we ended up sitting in the same section of the stadium….of all the gin joint in all the towns
I don’t think I’ve converted anyone except maybe my amazing girlfriend (now wife), she was the average radio fan, now we travel the world to see the band….. last tour NY/NJ & Boston - 4 shows in 5 nights, this tour Glasgow!
All my friends like U2…. if they didn’t they wouldn’t be friends...
How different is U2 compared to other artists that you like?
Other artists? Who is this that you speak of? There is nothing to compare U2 against, so why would I waste my time … I grew up in the 80’s so every type of music in enjoyed from ACDC to Killers, Springsteen, DM, Queen to Tecno/Dance/Rave… BUT I have 800+ digital concert recordings of U2, so there really isn’t time to do any comparison
What are your hobbies and interests away from U2, musical or otherwise?
I enjoy stock investing, travel, chess and watching / participating in most sports; current trying to understand cricket?! I have a smallish 800 piece (but growing) collection of music memorabilia from a rock group based out of Holland, does that count as a hobby?
Thanks for this interview sholbech22!
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