Wide Awake n AZ
The Fly
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2017
- Messages
- 296
Hello! I have read this forum off and on for years but finally decided to participate in part from excitement over what seems to be the most debated topic on these forums…the Joshua Tree ’17 tour.
My U2 story…I was into 80’s hardcore and had that crossover acceptance of cool commercial stuff like the Police, Alarm, etc, but U2 didn’t catch for me, not even War. Not until a new friend in my little northern AZ haunt who I respected when it came to music sat me down, explained why I was missing the boat, then recorded War, Unforgettable Fire, October and Boy for me. Right about then, The Joshua Tree came out, and I was hooked…which is odd, considering how far off the U2 path JT was.
So I lived in Northern Arizona, which is not like the rest of Arizona in that it is 7000 ft elevation and snowy. My U2 friends were a couple of years older than I was, and had gone to the first JT show in Tempe, at the ASU Activity Center. Now, word of the $5 show at Sun Devil Stadium was filtering through to us, and we were pretty sure we could spare $10 + some service charges to see both shows. And we did. Now, watch the Tempe portion of Rattle and Hum, and notice something you don’t see often in that part of the country…visible breath. It was cold. Well, up in my neck of the woods, it snowed. A lot. And I was not of driving age, and not of age to make my own decision to go, and my parents were not cool with me jumping into the bald-tired Bug my friend drove…the same friend who was something like 3 for 4 in total accidents to snow storms driven. So I still have untorn $5 show stubs for the Tempe R&H shows. Which makes this tour important for me, even though I understand it will not be of the same quality as that SDS show, or the others on that tour.
I did finally get to see U2 on the Zoo TV tour in Tempe. The show that Public Enemy didn’t play because we were still sorting out our ridiculousness over the MLK holiday (they did play “By the Time I Get to Arizona”, which was cool. I would finally see PE live a couple of years ago on that bizarre bill they shared with The Cult). It was a spectacle that simply hasn’t been matched. I often say U2 live for me is church…the 2001 Elevation tour show in Phoenix was equally as emotional as Zoo TV, and I have never been disappointed by a show (the closest I came was the 360 Tour in Glendale, AZ, but that was the building as much as anything else).
My U2 story…I was into 80’s hardcore and had that crossover acceptance of cool commercial stuff like the Police, Alarm, etc, but U2 didn’t catch for me, not even War. Not until a new friend in my little northern AZ haunt who I respected when it came to music sat me down, explained why I was missing the boat, then recorded War, Unforgettable Fire, October and Boy for me. Right about then, The Joshua Tree came out, and I was hooked…which is odd, considering how far off the U2 path JT was.
So I lived in Northern Arizona, which is not like the rest of Arizona in that it is 7000 ft elevation and snowy. My U2 friends were a couple of years older than I was, and had gone to the first JT show in Tempe, at the ASU Activity Center. Now, word of the $5 show at Sun Devil Stadium was filtering through to us, and we were pretty sure we could spare $10 + some service charges to see both shows. And we did. Now, watch the Tempe portion of Rattle and Hum, and notice something you don’t see often in that part of the country…visible breath. It was cold. Well, up in my neck of the woods, it snowed. A lot. And I was not of driving age, and not of age to make my own decision to go, and my parents were not cool with me jumping into the bald-tired Bug my friend drove…the same friend who was something like 3 for 4 in total accidents to snow storms driven. So I still have untorn $5 show stubs for the Tempe R&H shows. Which makes this tour important for me, even though I understand it will not be of the same quality as that SDS show, or the others on that tour.
I did finally get to see U2 on the Zoo TV tour in Tempe. The show that Public Enemy didn’t play because we were still sorting out our ridiculousness over the MLK holiday (they did play “By the Time I Get to Arizona”, which was cool. I would finally see PE live a couple of years ago on that bizarre bill they shared with The Cult). It was a spectacle that simply hasn’t been matched. I often say U2 live for me is church…the 2001 Elevation tour show in Phoenix was equally as emotional as Zoo TV, and I have never been disappointed by a show (the closest I came was the 360 Tour in Glendale, AZ, but that was the building as much as anything else).
