U1
The Fly
So I’m sitting here, my whole body and mind sucked in the show. Bono starts to sing ‘Bullet the blue sky’, one of my favourites. The old man who invited me here seems to enjoy it, he claps his hand like crazy to the beat of Bullet. He reminds me of the man the song describes, you know, ‘his face red like a thorn bush’. He’s like this big businessman, kinda bald, kinda funny. The beat stops in a gunshot : ‘we run into the arms…’.
The audience cheers, the man applauds : ‘This is a great song, huh ?’. ‘Sure is’. ‘D’you know the story of that song ?’. ‘No, not really.’ I’ve heard something about Nicaragua or something once. The man starts his explanation, too fast for me, I don’t follow. Another song begins, I can’t hear him anymore but he goes on anyway. I’m staring at the stage. From where I am I can see what’s on the side of the stage, people moving like ants except this one man standing up straight.
The different lights cast a weird shade on this face, he looks like the devil, changing face all the time. But I recognize him. That’s him.
I wish I was backstage just next to him. ‘Whatcha lookin at ?’. ‘I wish I could go backstage’.
‘During the show ? You won’t hear a damn thing !’. ‘Oh, yeah.’ I sit back in my chair with a sad frustrated look. ‘Anyway, take this and go everywhere you want’. The man hands me a pass with a large grin. I get up so fast I forget to tell him thanks. I bump into the security guy : ‘Where you goin ? Backstage this way’. ‘I don’t care, look what I’ve got’ showing my all access card.
I run in the halls, I’m like a twelve-year-old. I can’t find the entry, every door I see is to regular seats, I wanna go backstage. I have an idea, I can go outside the stadium and then behind the stage area, I’ll find the entry and show them my badge. I run and run like I’ve never run before, no one everywhere, it seems like the whole Paris is inside the stadium and they’re making a hell of a noise. Man, what am I doing ? I’m missing it. I’ve got to run faster and when I get there, it would be worth this race.
I stop to walk past the security with my badge in the hand. The men step backward to let me in. I’m the king and I’m going backstage of U2 show so don’t f… with me ! But there’s a lot of people in there, it’s not that easy to come close to the band. It’s very dark, I bump into everyone trying to apologize the best I can. Talk about acting like you belong where you are! I suddenly see a brighter light where there’s even more people. Passing through, passing through… And I eventually get there, where I’ve always wanted to be, less than ten meters away from the four members of my favourite band.
And they’re playing, I mean, they’re playing the song : God part II. Believe it or not. I can see Bono like in the video of that song, running everywhere. I’ve never been able to catch that video, but what the hell ! I’m having it right in front my eyes, live. ‘I … I believe in love’.
I can see Larry hitting it hard, Edge and Adam twirling around and Bono singing as if he was twenty : they’re all on fire.
The mystery man is right across the stage, standing still. I was sure he was on my side of the stage before. I can’t follow him right now, I’m staying put. He’s not moving anyway.
The band is taking a break, Bono’s coming right at me. He’s reaching out for something, for a short moment, I thought it was my hand ( who do I think I am ? ), but it was just a bottle of water and a towel. He’s standing right next to me, I can almost touch him, what can I do ? You can try to touch a rockstar surrounded by a whole crowd that worships him and it won’t be weird but he’s right here, there’s two men between us, they would kick me out of here. He’s sweaty and restless. His presence fills the place up but it seems like he’s somewhere else.
Suddenly Adam appears on the stage alone. The sound of the bass is beyond imagination, my ears are about to explode, I can’t believe it, that’s Mofo. Bono is back on the stage to do his little dance during the beginning of the song like he did in Popmart tour. ‘Lookin for to save my, save my soul.’
I’ve never heard a playlist like this before. Even the mystery man is slightly moving his feet…
The audience cheers, the man applauds : ‘This is a great song, huh ?’. ‘Sure is’. ‘D’you know the story of that song ?’. ‘No, not really.’ I’ve heard something about Nicaragua or something once. The man starts his explanation, too fast for me, I don’t follow. Another song begins, I can’t hear him anymore but he goes on anyway. I’m staring at the stage. From where I am I can see what’s on the side of the stage, people moving like ants except this one man standing up straight.
The different lights cast a weird shade on this face, he looks like the devil, changing face all the time. But I recognize him. That’s him.
I wish I was backstage just next to him. ‘Whatcha lookin at ?’. ‘I wish I could go backstage’.
‘During the show ? You won’t hear a damn thing !’. ‘Oh, yeah.’ I sit back in my chair with a sad frustrated look. ‘Anyway, take this and go everywhere you want’. The man hands me a pass with a large grin. I get up so fast I forget to tell him thanks. I bump into the security guy : ‘Where you goin ? Backstage this way’. ‘I don’t care, look what I’ve got’ showing my all access card.
I run in the halls, I’m like a twelve-year-old. I can’t find the entry, every door I see is to regular seats, I wanna go backstage. I have an idea, I can go outside the stadium and then behind the stage area, I’ll find the entry and show them my badge. I run and run like I’ve never run before, no one everywhere, it seems like the whole Paris is inside the stadium and they’re making a hell of a noise. Man, what am I doing ? I’m missing it. I’ve got to run faster and when I get there, it would be worth this race.
I stop to walk past the security with my badge in the hand. The men step backward to let me in. I’m the king and I’m going backstage of U2 show so don’t f… with me ! But there’s a lot of people in there, it’s not that easy to come close to the band. It’s very dark, I bump into everyone trying to apologize the best I can. Talk about acting like you belong where you are! I suddenly see a brighter light where there’s even more people. Passing through, passing through… And I eventually get there, where I’ve always wanted to be, less than ten meters away from the four members of my favourite band.
And they’re playing, I mean, they’re playing the song : God part II. Believe it or not. I can see Bono like in the video of that song, running everywhere. I’ve never been able to catch that video, but what the hell ! I’m having it right in front my eyes, live. ‘I … I believe in love’.
I can see Larry hitting it hard, Edge and Adam twirling around and Bono singing as if he was twenty : they’re all on fire.
The mystery man is right across the stage, standing still. I was sure he was on my side of the stage before. I can’t follow him right now, I’m staying put. He’s not moving anyway.
The band is taking a break, Bono’s coming right at me. He’s reaching out for something, for a short moment, I thought it was my hand ( who do I think I am ? ), but it was just a bottle of water and a towel. He’s standing right next to me, I can almost touch him, what can I do ? You can try to touch a rockstar surrounded by a whole crowd that worships him and it won’t be weird but he’s right here, there’s two men between us, they would kick me out of here. He’s sweaty and restless. His presence fills the place up but it seems like he’s somewhere else.
Suddenly Adam appears on the stage alone. The sound of the bass is beyond imagination, my ears are about to explode, I can’t believe it, that’s Mofo. Bono is back on the stage to do his little dance during the beginning of the song like he did in Popmart tour. ‘Lookin for to save my, save my soul.’
I’ve never heard a playlist like this before. Even the mystery man is slightly moving his feet…
