deciBlog//2005.08.31//U2//Nice

I’ve fallen off the radar screen this summer due to the good fortune of spending a month in the South of France. Since our return I have been working practically non-stop to catch up on my hours (since I don’t get paid vacation) & thus have had little time to blog. Jean, the kids & I joined Jean’s folks from 7/18-8/12 in a village called Mougins, which sits in the hills above Cannes overlooking the Mediterranean. Jean’s parents are real Francophiles & waited for our kids to be at a travelable age to do this. My French is minimal (since I took Spanish in college & German in high school), but I can get by – I do know how to order a beer, ask for the check & inquire of the WC’s location (all the basics for survival). Great food, excellent cheese (they don’t kill the fromage there, they say, like we do in the US), & of course, tip-top wine at rock bottom prices (& the bier pression hit the spot as well). Fantastic weather – low to mid 80’s w/ low humidity & 3 days of rain total. Some great day trips to the likes of Monaco & St. Tropez to name a few.



One highlight day trip – getting back to the subject at hand – was U2 (how timely!) in Nice on 8/5 at Stade Charles Ehrmann, a soccer stadium. Alex McDonald, age 7.5, the McDonald household’s biggest U2 fan under the age of 40, got to go to his 1st concert to see his favorite band. We went into Nice at 2:00 pm to park & the lots were already near capacity. Trying to find the bus stop we ran into a girl from Montreal (who “hates” U2, but visiting w/ friends who are fans) & catch a bus into the city for a few hours. Walk into old town for drinks/glace. Pick up sandwiches & walk a bit waywardly towards the special events bus stop back to the stadium. Friendly stranger spontaneously (triggered by our U2 shirts) directs us 2 blocks to the right bus stop. We arrive at the stadium near 7pm. We felt lucky to have some of the 3000 reserved seats, while 50,000 other fans are SRO. (Thanks to my successful fan club pre-sale purchase at 4:00 am in February navigating a French ticket site). The stadium had one concrete tired section on one side of the field & the stage was set-up on the other w/bleachers in the end zones. Opening act, the Zutons (7:15-7:45), were an ok Zydeco-like band. Act 2 was Keane (8:15-9:00), who were quite good, but a bit homogenized after a while. Immediately prior to U2 (9:45-12:00) there’s a big commotion 1 section over & down from our seats & lots of turning heads from the field below. It was Elton John. I could just see the top of his strawberry toupee/weave...

Then U2 is out & cranks! I’ve always felt sound suffered in stadiums compared to indoor shows, but these guys have it all figured out – it was clean & crisp. It was surprisingly louder than I expected & was glad I brought the ear plugs. This was my chance to enjoy the spectacle of the light show (GA/floor in Chicago was better for the band view). It was all totally excellent. Michael Stipe & Quincy Jones (“You’re one sexy MF,” to quote B) were mentioned as being there. Bono’s voice is as solid as it ever was. (Rumor is he’s smoking less – he’s down to 1 cig only after 2 night stands). They’d just started performing “Miss Sarajevo” recently in the tour. This song is on the “Passengers” CD (which was an Eno/U2 collaboration that was almost released as a U2 album). Bono sang Pavarotti’s operatic part of this song beautifully. (He’s taken on a little opera as a dedication to his late father, who loved to sing opera). This crowd was really into the show. Tons of very loud sing alongs (like the, “oh,oh,oh.....uh, oh,oh,oh” in Pride)...and the beers were cold. Tres bien!
Main Set: Vertigo, I Will Follow, The Electric Co., Elevation, New Year's Day, Beautiful Day - Sgt. Pepper's - Here Comes the Sun, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, City of Blinding Lights, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Love and Peace or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet the Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, One - Everybody Hurts
Encore(s): Zoo Station, The Fly, With or Without You, All Because of You, Yahweh, Vertigo
BTW, Alex’s wardrobe now, when clean, is either a U2 or Tar Heels tee shirt. Rock on.

Back in the US, it’s off to the RBC to see Green Day last Wed night. Yes, lots of youngsters with their parents. Some parents without their youngsters. They even offered a parent’s “quiet room.” Two advantages to the average age being 20: beer lines are short; turnaround time at the urinals is quick!
Opening act, Jimmy Eat World, were tight & played 45 minutes. Their hits, Bleed American & The Middle, were great. The stuff on their new album shows signs of slump unfortunately. Green Day came out at 8:40 & played 2 hours...well, er, uh..performed for 2 hours. The songs sounded great. They just had too much stage antics/filler for my tastes. Probably 90 minutes of music out of 2 hours – that’s good for 10 more 3-minute songs, eh? One of their tricks is to bring kids up 1 by 1 to play their instruments for 1 song, which is quite the gimmick/crowd pleaser. They like to use those hot flash (pot-flashers?) devices where you could feel the heat from our seats (mid court/ring, 12 rows up). Overall, worth the trip.

Next, it’s my first live viewing of Coldplay, 9/10 at Walnut Creek in Raleighwood. Looking forward to that one as their live video from 2003 is killer.
Then, it’s Bob Mould at the Cat’s Cradle 9/22. He put his guitar down in 1998 reportedly for the last time saying he was getting too old for loud rock & roll. He then went on some electronica/DJ kick in DC for several years. I read an interview where he said last year he saw his axe sitting in the corner & he hadn’t picked it up in a long time. Once he did he couldn’t believe how much he missed playing. He now has a pretty solid new CD that’s like a cross of all of his old styles: Sugar/Husker Dü/Workbook-like/ hint of electronic modulation. I guess he got through his mid-life crisis.

This is indeed the year of live music. The remaining fall O-tour looks like this: Stones(65 point favorites)@Dook on 10/8, U2 at MCI Center in DC (10/19-20), U2 at Phillips Arena in Atlanta (11/18-19), and, last but not least, guess who, U2 in Charlotte (12/12). I haven’t seen this many concerts in 1 year since I lived in Chicago. “Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued.”
Indeed.