November 8, 2005: Second Legendary Night

Oakland, CA
Oakland Arena

Two days, two concerts, two legends. Not two bad.

24 hours after seeing Paul McCartney, I'm on my way to Oakland to catch U2 for the second time this year. So very worth it. Since I was off work yesterday, I was designated to pick up some sandwiches for my friend Mary and me to have as dinner before the show. Of course, you can't eat on BART and, naturally, when we arrived at the Oakland Arena we couldn't bring food in. So we gobbled down our sandwiches sitting just outside the entrance before heading in to catch the opening act (one of the Marley kids, didn't catch the first name.) We made our way to our seats, but since the band was already on stage, it was pretty dark when we went in and we wound up sitting in the wrong seats! OOPS. Fortunately, we were just off by a few rows (too far back!) and when the openers finished, we wound our way down to the right seats. For those of you going tonight, the opening act was pretty good -- definitely more energetic than the openers in San Jose! Still, I'm not a huge reggae fan and the songs all kind of ran together for me until they played Bob Marley's "One World" which was the only thing I recognized (and could understand) of their whole set. I still haven't figured out why they had a guy waving a Jamaican flag for the entirety of their set. No singing, a little dancing, and waving that flag...

The openers ended about 8:15 and we sat and watched the stage change over. Unlike LAST time, Mary and I weren't with in spitting distance of the stage, but behind it. Close, but not close enough and we spent much of the night looking at the backs of Bono and Adam Clayton. (The Edge and Larry Mullen were mostly obscured by cabling for the lights and speakers... ah well.) The view this time, however, did allow us the ability to see the production and the whole stage which was pretty neat. It also gave us a slight advantage at the start of the show -- we could see the band walking to the stage from where we sat and as soon as everyone started hustling around back there, we were all on our feet. Still, even with this and knowing that Bono would appear at the far end of the ellipse and watching for it, I couldn't figure out just HOW he got there -- it was just too dark to tell. Oh well, kind of like knowing how a magician does his tricks I suppose. I'll just assume that Bono can appear out of thin air whenever he wishes to because, after all, he IS Bono...

They played much the same set list as they did earlier this year, though since I didn't take notes I can't be completely sure. I do think "Mysterious Ways" was played much later in the set the last time -- it was about the third or fourth song performed last night. The woman Bono pulled from the front of the stage to dance with him (okay, that's just cool) was from Kenya, and later in the show he handed her his microphone and told her to sing what I can only guess was the Kenyan National Anthem, which was a neat bit of spontaneous entertainment.

I'm not sure if it was due to the dramatic difference in my seating or just a difference in the crowd, but the crowd energy last night, while good, didn't feel quite as intense this time around. I mean, I KNOW that being front and center is a totally different vibe, but I just didn't quite get the same energy kick as before. The crowd did stay on their feet most of the night, sitting down only for two or three of the slower tunes. I will have to hurt the people who decided to leave during "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own"... totally disrupted the song for me, which was really annoying. They, and the two dudes who returned from their beer run RIGHT in the middle of "Pride" just need to learn how to be considerate of the OTHER people at the show who are trying to stay in the moment. (grumble mutter grumble.)

One of the other benefits of where we were sitting was that, if we'd had binoculars, we could see what the next song was AND the lyrics. Seems Bono's not infallible -- he has a teleprompter at his feet! GASP! From the front, you'd never know as it looks just like the monitors set up on stage, but from behind -- ha ha busted! I didn't catch him looking at it much, and, in fact, it was kind of funny to see lyrics scrolling by as he was walking out along the ellipse.

Throughout the show, I was thinking back to the previous night and that U2 are the ones who picked up the Beatles torch and ran with it. The majority of songs in both catalogs have a solid foundation in the concept of loving your neighbor -- the Beatles a little more hearts and flowers, U2 a little more activist, but essentially the theme is the same. I also wondered what kind of response U2 gets elsewhere in the US. You can't be a fan of the band and not know their political leanings. The Bay Area is obviously a very friendly place on those terms, but I wonder what the crowds are like in more conservative parts of the country. Do they get it?? When they played "Sunday Bloody Sunday" Bono said "this is your song now America" which is true and completely broke my heart. While Bono was encouraging the crowd chant of "no more," he handed his mic into the crowd again and gave it to a little girl sitting on her father's shoulders and she took up the chant -- just chills.

The show ended much too soon -- sometime just past 11:00 -- and it was off to battle the crowds for BART. Took forever for a train that went further than the Montgomery station to arrive, and when one finally did it was only a 4-car train. Fortunately we were able to get seats, but really... (Cheryl, fix that will ya!) Finally home around 1 a.m. and tired in that good way I crawled into bed with a weird mix of U2 and Beatles songs spinning in my head. A nice way to go to sleep.