1. Every month we put an U2 fan in the spotlights, the fan of the month March 2011 is user bartajax. Aside from the fact that he is a soccer fan, for the Ajax team, he is also a very big U2 fan. Let's read along!


    Tell us something about yourself, who are you and what do you do for a living?
    I'm Bart, 18 years old and I live in a town called Schiedam, its next to Rotterdam, as you can see we in The Netherlands aren't really good in thinking names for our city's . I still live at home with my parents and my 4 years younger brother. I am thinking about moving out but I don't really know where to go and with who. But the best news of this week is that I finally got my driver's license, like you can imagine I'm very happy with that
    Currently I am at my second year of college in Rotterdam, the study I do is Commercial Economics. It's getting a bit boring every now and then but I really want to finish it. I work in a supermarket and that's where I get my money, it's not much but it's enough for me.

    Did you ever have a special U2 experience like a live concert? Can you tell us something about it?
    I have been to one concert that was during the Vertigo tour and I don't really remember a lot of it, the biggest memory I have of that concerts is that after the show we had to search for our car for about 2 hours . It was the first show in Amsterdam, and that concert really got me into U2. I thought it was really great and I had never seen anything like that.
    After the concert I started listening to the different albums that we have and especially the Elevation Live From Boston DVD. That DVD really made me a U2 fan and especially the Bad into Streets moment, every time I see or hear that I got goosebumps all over my body.

    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?
    My parents, and especially my dad got me into U2, that all started with Beautiful Day because they used to play that song every day. And when the Elevation Live From Boston DVD came out my dad watched it almost every week and told me and my brother how great it was and that this was "real music'', and I have to say he was right. But like I said before the moment I really became a U2 fan was after the concert I attended, because then I started to realize how great those 4 guys are.

    Not a lot of my friends like U2, they think its ok but they don't like them as much as I do. And at home I really tried to make my brother like U2, but the only music he listens' to is rap, and we just make fun over our music taste I call him a rapper and he calls me a christian . I think I just have to say that I am the biggest U2 fan in house here.

    Which U2 song do you feel the most "attached" to, or means the most for you?
    Definitely Bad, I really love the lyrics and the live versions of the song always are emotional and really fantastic. I think that if I didn't see/hear the Boston 2001 version I wouldn't be on this forum and that I wouldn't be a U2 fan at all. Also is has a very special place in my heart, because when my grandpa died a couple of years ago, the first song I heard was Bad from the Boston 2001 DVD and that really reminds me of him.

    If you could go back in time, which U2-era would you like to be in, and why?
    The beginning of the 90thies during the Zoo TV tour , I think U2 were at their best then. Achtung Baby and Zooropa are really good and special albums and the Zoo TV tour was just wonderful the world didn't see anything like that before, it really created a whole new way of giving a concert. I think the Zoo TV Tour is the best U2 tour, they really where great back then. The music was great, the stage was great and also the characters Bono played were fantastic. Mister Macphisto is just a strange, funny guy and the Mirrorball Man is also a funny guy I love him coming on stage and screaming: "Your fucking beautiful'' To me it seems they just had much more energy back then, although that isn't strange because they were almost 20 years younger then. I would love to go back there and visit one of those shows and to experience Achtung Baby and Zooropa.

    What is your favorite U2 bootleg, and why? Do you often listen to bootlegs?
    My favorite bootleg is the one from Milano 22-05-1992, the day I was born :p. I really love that whole show, a great crowd there, a good set list and great versions of The Fly, Ultraviolet, Desire, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and one of the best version of Bad. I really love Bad from that show especially when you hear the crowd sinning along with Bono and also the snippet of So Cruel is great. Go listen to that bootleg it's amazing!!!
    I don't really listen to a lot of bootlegs, but I always download the newest bootleg available and when I see a surprise in the set list I listen to that song, but I barely listen to whole shows. Although I recently listen to the Leeds Popmart show, also a great bootleg.

    If there would be only one U2 song you could hear the rest of your life, which one would it be?
    Pff, that is an extremely hard question, they really made to much great songs to choose one. But I will try to answer this question: I really love the single versions of songs like Streets, One, I Still Haven't Found and I could go on and on with this list but to answer the question I think I would take Acrobat, because it's just a sort of magic song to me and a lot of other U2 fans, the lyrics are great, the music is great and the voice of Bono is so fantastic I really think it's a shame they never played it live and I really hope they will play it live someday, although I don't see that happing.

    What is your favorite U2 videoclip, and why?
    Again a hard question because a lot of U2 clips are great. I think the Beautiful Day clip is funny, so is the Lemon clip when I first saw that video clip I thought that I was looking at some crazy guy with a painted face . Also the Vertigo clip is pretty cool also this morning I saw the Sweetest Thing clip again and I really had to laugh out loud, but I my favorite U2 clip is the Elevation clip, I think it's a cool clip and also I have to laugh when I see Edge with Angelina Jolie and it's the first U2 clip I remember seeing on television.

    In a house fire, which one of your U2 items would you save?
    I don't really have a lot of U2 items, I have 6 CD's; Best of 1980-1990, Achtung Baby, Pop, ATYCLB, HTDAAB and NLOTH. I have a book; U2 By U2 and 6 DVD's; Zoo TV Sydney, Popmart Mexico, Slane, Boston 2001, Chicago 2005 and the Rosebowl 2010. When my house was on fire I think I would take my DVD box with me.

    What are your hobbies and interests away from U2, musical or otherwise?
    There a lot of other artists I like, bands like The Killers, RHCP, Kings Of Leon, Radiohead, Oasis and Dire Straits. If you want we to see my other music you can always check my Last.fm profile. As you can see in my name, I'm a big fan of the Dutch football club Ajax. I go to about 20 games per season. I play soccer myself too in my home town at a club called Excelsior 20, I play in a friends team so it a lot of fun to play a game every week and to train together. One of my other interests is playing games on the PS3 or on my laptop, It'ss fun to play with friends or alone. I also love to go out and just hang out with my friends.
    I want to thank you all for making this website and forum into more than just a webpage, I think it's really great to be here and just talk about U2 and other stuff, I also want to say that it is great to be picked as fan of the month


    Thanks for this interview bartajax!

    Note: Our crew members randomly pick fans of the month, you can't sign up for it.
  2. Nice interview , though for some reason i never really made the connection with you username until now
  3. SO cool to be born on the same day as such a stellar show. Great interview!
  4. Great interview, Ajax!! Some years ago I used to like Bart, it was a great team in the 90's......


    PS. What a useless and surreal way to make my 17.777th post. Oh damn, wait, all my 17.777 are useless and/or surreal
  5. Nice interview Bart! Good read

    I remember the first post you made (well at least I think it was you). It was on a show day, can't remember which one, might have been Helsinki. Well, I remember saying "Welcome to the forums" to you. God, that seems like ages ago. Time flys by...
  6. Nice interview! Congrats on your driver's license.
  7. Nice interview. Welcome to the club
  8. i remembered you're born when i was at the ZooTv in Milan .. great day for both indeed
    nice guy even if you don't like how Inter plays but hey .. we're still the champions of the world
  9. Originally posted by LikeASong:Great interview, Ajax!! Some years ago I used to like Bart, it was a great team in the 90's......


    PS. What a useless and surreal way to make my 17.777th post. Oh damn, wait, all my 17.777 are useless and/or surreal


    I think you should change the positions of the words Bart and Ajax


    Thank you all for your reactions
  10. Got a nice reading here

    Congrats Bart
  11. Great read. i still need to verse u in fifa 11, Spurs V Ajax would make for an interesting game Ohh i can u share ur secrets for predicting the football outcomes, i'm only a couple behind the leader


  12. The Bart would be a very hard team to predict in the football prediction game LOL