(12-11-2005) Red-Hot U2 Hits Charlotte -- Charlotte Observer*

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Red-Hot U2 Hits Charlotte

Shows by Bono and mates can be life-changing events, fans say

COURTNEY DEVORES

Special to the Observer


U2 may be the biggest band in the world right now. The recent Spin and Rolling Stone cover boys are Generation X's Beatles. Their Charlotte show Monday at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena sold out in less than an hour.

The Irish rock quartet has that affect on fans. They've remained on top of their game, reinventing themselves while maintaining their sound, to attract fans of all ages, races, and religions for 25 years. Their live shows have become a huge part of their appeal.

Rafik Betabdishoo, a 37-year-old, Charlotte-based IT project manager who began listening to them in the mid-'80s while in boarding school in Italy, used three computers and two phones when tickets went on sale.

"I was constantly refreshing the pages and it would not load," he said. "I had the home and cell phone trying to dial the 800 number and couldn't get through. They're such a hot commodity now."

Charlotte-area fans such as Betabdishoo left without tickets flocked to eBay.

"I had to go through eBay to get general admission tickets," said Matt Floyd, 31. "I paid $150, which is still cheaper than the most expensive seat in the house. But I saw them on the Zoo TV tour in Columbia in '92 and decided I'd pay any amount of money to see them again."

Right of passage

U2's magic was evident early on, according to accountant Steve Rehmet, 43, who saw the baby-faced lads perform at a Hudson River venue in 1982 for $6. "We thought we hit the jackpot," he said. "At the time this country was fixated on disco and stadium bands that wore fancy stage outfits and played endless solos. U2 wore regular street clothes and rocked the daylights out of the place for two hours."Like many fans, Floyd and Betabdishoo discovered U2 during their formative years when obsessions with bands was a right-of-passage.

"My senior year yearbook quote was a U2 quote," said Tina Cargill, 32. "I spent all of my disposable income on them. My room was covered with posters and screen-printed flags. My best friend Rita and I sent 400 postcards to a radio station to win a trip to see them in Dublin. We used to leave U2 quotes for each other on the blackboard (at school)."

Since then she's watched them from the first row and held Bono's hand in Chicago in 1997 during "With or Without You." For fans, their live shows can be life-changing.

"I saw them for the first time in 2002," said 25-year-old Ecuador-native Juan Marin, of Latin rock band La Rúa. "Without a doubt (it was) the most amazing show of my life."

Marin has plans for Monday's show.

"I'm (wanting) to come up on stage and do a song with them, as a guy did in Dallas," he said. "Or throw Bono the Ecuadorian flag with a La Rúa CD attached."

Evolved and intense

So what inspires such devotion?

"Having Bono, who has a very distinct vocal, as a frontman -- it couldn't have been anyone else," Betabdishoo said. "They are as popular as they are because of him."

Added Floyd: "The last two (albums) bring them closer to what they did in the late '80s and early '90s."

Unlike many aging bands that get stuck in a time warp, U2 has evolved but sustained the intensity of its early work, thus managing to cross age and cultural divides.

"They're such an Everyman band," Cargill said. "They know how to write a song so it hits like shotgun fire."

--Charlotte Observer
 
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