All Because of You

I was a huge U2 fan as a teenager and into my 20's. My room was covered with posters and anything else I could find related to U2 (and the Dodgers) while I lived at home. The first concert I ever went to was U2 at the LA Coliseum with my brother, who was in college at UCLA at the time, and his friends. I'm pretty sure his girlfriend gave up her ticket and told him to take me. She was like the sister I never had and knew how much I loved U2 and worshipped my brother. I felt so cool because here I was a freshman in high school who just had her best friend since kindergarten dump her (she was the queen bee type so everyone went with her) and I got to miss school to go to a concert AND stay the night in the dorms at UCLA. After my one night stay at UCLA I was ready to be done with high school and couldn't wait to get to college and live in the dorms. I was a huge U2 fan before going to the concert, but seeing them live, even from the nose bleed seats, made me fall even more in love with them. I realize now how much this must have sucked for my brother, but he never let on at the time. I have always thought of U2 as the best band ever, especially live. It's an incredible show and it's amazing how Bono can command a stadium full of people. My devotion to them continued into my late 20's and I would go to their concerts as much as I could (I think 6 total). I even took my brother to a show to try to repay him for the one he took me to all those years ago. They came to DC about three months after we moved to Virginia and I didn't go to the show. I couldn't get face value tickets and the idea of going into DC in the middle of the week intimidated me back then so it was the first tour I missed. When their latest tour was announced I vowed there was no way I was going to miss it! I'm not a huge fan of their recent album, but I joined the fan club to make sure I could get access to tickets. Fifty dollars got me the opportunity to buy tickets before they went on sale to the general public and I ended up with pretty good seats. I knew the trip to the stadium was going to be a nightmare, but it ended up worse than we thought. The stadium is about 20 miles from here, but we took the beltway (a circle freeway that we had to go half way around) which made it 40 miles so that we wouldn't have to drive thru DC. C went with me because he has never seen U2 live before. C is a music lover and quite harsh on bands that he doesn't think are good musicians. We were so excited on our way to concert, playing CD's in the car and getting all amped...that ran out after about 2 hours though. Three hours! Yes, 3 hours to get to the stadium, then another hour to get to a parking spot and to our seats. So from the time we left home to when we were in our seats was 4 hours!!! We kept telling ourselves "never again" will we come to this stadium, no matter who is playing....but the show made us change our minds. U2 is still the best live band I've ever seen. C even agreed it was the best live show he's ever seen. They played a mix of old and new and Bono still has an amazing stage presence. The concert didn't have as much energy as some in the past, probably given the age of both the band AND the fans, but it was still a great show. The music sounded even better live than on the CD. Since this concert I have become devoted once again am constantly listening to them at home and in the car. They have turned me on to music again, not just theirs, but music in general which I had given up on for a while. Their music has brought me much joy throughout my life and I hope this wasn't their farewell tour. It was also nice to see them humble and grateful...at very end Bono told the crowd, "thank you for giving us a wonderful life".