Table 261: ZooStation live in Seattle

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Table 261: ZooStation live in Seattle

One of the fan-gatherings on this odyssey I’d been looking most forward to was in Seattle.  A very popular U2 Tribute band from San Francisco called ZooStation was playing at a small pub called the Owl & Thistle the night before the show (as well as immediately after the show).  I don’t know why more cities don’t have a tribute band in the nights surrounding U2 shows – it’s the best time to bring them in, and there certainly are quite a few of them around.  Through my memberships on U2 websites like Interference and @U2, as well as my followers on Twitter, I’d been looking forward to meeting quite a few fans that night as well.

 After a lot of Irish Courage (in the form of Guinness and very very generous shots of Jameson) I asked Bonalmost if I may introduce someone special to me, and he was a brave man to let me have the mic.  I introduced the room to my friend Cheryl, who is the stuff of legend, as she actually met my teenage idol – Joshua Tree Edge.  She is also in Rattle & Hum, if you look closely during “Pride”, you will see a girl just off front row centre with a white balloon.  That is her, and I was thrilled to spend more time with her that night after having first met her in Vancouver in 2009, we’d kept in touch ever since.  She is also the one I’d mentioned in my feed from Winnipeg when they started playing “Pride”.  Every time I hear them play it, I can’t help but think of her.  It’s exactly that sort of lasting friendship that makes this crazy “following U2″ thing that I do worthwhile.

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That moment during Streets…

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We’ve all felt the goosebumps – that inexplicable moment during Where The Streets Have No Name, where the U2 experience becomes transcendent, and you wish that every single person you’ve ever met in your life who “hates U2″ was there to witness.

The glorious flash of light, the mass arm waving and joyous response from a crowd of believers. It’s the closest I’ve come to seeing God, and I hope that I actually caught it on video in Seattle.  Enjoy.

Edge’s guitar rings particularly uniquely during this version – not sure if it’s something new or not, or it was just some magical quirk in his delay that night, but it was special.

Killing Bono – you bet there’s spoilers…

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Killing Bono – you bet there’s spoilers…

We arrived in Seattle on Thursday, June 2nd in time for the North American premiere of Killing Bono. I’d never been to a premiere, let alone a film festival, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The whole event was very low-key, I think I was expecting a bit more of a packed theatre, but it seemed like there were two corners… in this corner, the film festival people there for the “art”, and in this corner, the U2 fans – there for the music and the inside jokes.  I was hoping that they boys (or at least that one in particular who often goes to movie premieres) would make an appearance, but alas, they were actually in Canada (Vancouver) at the time – oh, the irony!

As for the movie, things were a bit surreal for me after just having travelled almost 2000 miles to see U2 twice in the last 96 hours. (And a couple of people with us had done Salt Lake City and Denver too!)  I’d been spoiled by already having seen the infamous “kitchen scene” (one of the best) but it still made me laugh out loud – Larry with his arse out the garden door and Baby Edge with the bird guitar that didn’t look entirely unlike Adam’s PopMart bass…

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A moving picture: videos from EDGEmonton

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Here are the videos I took in EDGEmonton, with a little story behind each of them.  They are by no means U2gigs caliber as I don’t have as steady a hand and quite frankly I just can’t spend my entire time filming, but I hope you’ll enjoy this little snippet of my time in Red Zone 1 – Edge’s Red Zone.

I always get excited when The Explorer comes out.  Far too excited to film an entire song, but I Will Follow‘s riff must be captured at least once for all time…

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EDGEmonton - June 1st, 2011

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EDGEmonton - June 1st, 2011

It seems like forever ago that I’d started making a typo when spelling out the name of the capital city of Alberta, Canada.  As I write so much about U2 online, I couldn’t get the extraneous GE to disappear after starting a word with ED, thus, EDGEmonton was born.

My friend Heather actually jokingly wrote a letter to her city councillor asking if the city would consider changing the name on June 1, 2011 to EDGEmonton instead – and she didn’t get a response.

As we arrived on the Monday before the show, it was clear that he should have considered her request – U2 mania was in full swing with the Edmonton media’s constant coverage of all things U2 for days leading up to the concert.  However, instead of the band being the story on May 30/31, the fans actually became the story.  I suppose when you can’t get an interview with Bono, you have to settle for us!


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