No big deal, I was just standing around with U2

I can associate every major event or era in my life with a U2 album or song.  A fan since age 8, when my mom bought Achtung Baby on cassette, I have loved them from the first time I heard “Even Better Than The Real Thing.”  I used to sit in my room listening to Rattle and Hum on repeat, wishing that I could see this band live, up close and personal.  To say that U2 is my favorite band, or that I spent all of my adolescence absolutely in love with their music, is a vast understatement.  Just ask my parents, who got to hear all about my musical obsession.  Nonstop.  For at least ten years.

I saw U2 once from the nosebleed seats, back in 2001.  Even far away, I felt like the room was very small.  Bono is one of the few performers I’ve seen who lives up to the hype: he knows how to make the crowd feel included, no matter how far away they are.

But last night?  Last night blew that experience out of the water, because this was my view.

Bono chose to start singing Beautiful Day directly in front of me. I'm taking this as a sign that he wants to marry me and have my babies. Call me!

$40 of extra ticketbastard fees, 9 hours of waiting, 400 pages of reading, a mild sunburn, near total lack of food, aching back and legs from standing from 3pm to midnight, obnoxious drunkards nearly puking on us, the overwhelming stench of stale beer, ringing ears, sore throat, and a dead phone battery: so unbelievably worth it.

The Edge is also cordially invited to be mine.

If my 11-year-old self had known I would be four feet away from all four members of U2, her head would have exploded.  As it is, all I can do is sit back and think, I just stood right in front of U2.

I like boys named Adam, especially when they wear sparkles. What you can't see in this picture is that he is wearing a sparkly shirt (under the jacket) and sparkly pants with fringe. I die. I wonder if I can get MY Adam to wear sparkles. Something tells me that he will tell me no. Hmph.

I feel so lucky that everything worked out the way it did, from actually getting GA tickets, to excellent public transportation karma, to my friend’s good parking, to the most amazing view, to fantastic history nerd company, to OH MY LORD WE JUST SAW U2 RIGHT IN FRONT OF US IEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

This photo is blurry because my camera gave up trying to capture how dashing Larry is in person.

Now, let’s do it again!