Wednesday, November 4, 2009

U2 and Springsteen, Sept 27th and Oct 3, 2009, GIants Stadium, NJ

So I'm combining U2 with Springsteen which I hope isn't too disrespectful to either band. Nevertheless going to Giants Stadium twice in 10 days and seeing two iconic bands who hit their respective peaks at different points in the past century was somewhat redundant.

I've been to a number of shows this year and I've often made fun of how the crowd is often middle aged and well dressed. Likewise I've lamented the fact that the boisterous rock crowd from the past doesn't seem to attend concerts anymore. So as we set up out tailgate before U2 one of the other guys showed us a special cooler he had made specifically to hold six bottles of wine, I suddenly realized it was all about money! Even if U2 or Bruce were popular with the younger set there is no way they could afford to go. U2 general admission tickets on the floor were $250 face and they went for a lot more on StubHub. So can a high school kid with a brand new drivers license afford this? No. Can the seemingly unemployed sons of anarchy types I remember at Who concerts in the 80s afford this? Of course not! Instead tailgating turns into the same catered affair you find at a steeplechase. The only difference between the parking lot at Giants Stadium and the Gold Cup in Virginia, the Radnor Cup off the Main Line, or The Hunt in Essex Fells was the lack of grass beneath our feet. Same clothes, same pinot noir, same bruschetta and even a little of the same lockjaw. As much as I would like to separate myself from this crowd as a "real fan" I have to admit the petite syrah was perfectly aged and the gruyere was exquisite with sliced prosciutto. Thank God they had real wine glasses as the plastic ones really take all the context away.

This was my first U2 concert so I was quite excited and for the most part it was great. I saw U2 play three songs at Giants Stadium back at an Amnesty concert in 1986 and I remember being stunned how Bono had complete control of the entire stadium. Twenty three years later he still does. The band really knows how to work a Stadium show and as much I dislike stadium shows, the energy in the place from that many people was really cool. I loved the music they played before the took the stage. Over the PA they blasted Bowie's Major Tom and the crowd was singing along with the music by song's end. Inspiring choice (the set is supposed to be a spaceship).

Another highlight was working classic songs in their own music. They plugged the Stones Only Rock N Roll into Vertigo and Stand By Me into Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. The Edge might be the coolest guy in the world and his skull cap look is still bad ass even at his age.

Too much (5 songs) off the new album but I've been saying that at every show. I know they can't hit all the classics but how do you skip Pride? That's like Buffett skipping Margaritaville. Interesting to compare to Springsteen that it seemed people were much more fired up for Sunday Bloody Sunday than Springsteen fans were for Born to Run...

Being U2 they had to do something political and this time the put the imagine of Aung San Suu Kyi on the video screen. Now even though this is quite a well heeled crowd I don't think the audience was so erudite that they read the Economist cover to cover on a weekly basis. Aung San Suu Kyi is the detained leader of the democratic movement in Myanmar. Could 70% of the people here find Myanmar on a map? Let's face it, more people remember Seinfeld's J. Peterman talking about Myanmar and saying, "You may know it as Myanmar but it will always be Burma to me." That's when Elaine went to Myanmar to get his signature on an expense report for George's fur hat. Speaking of which, thank you Larry David for bringing everyone back to Curb Your Enthusiasm this year, even if only briefly.

As for Springsteen his show was great. I loved how he wrote a new song about Giants Stadium to open the show and put the lyrics on the big screen for all the fans. Too often a performer breaks out a new song and because of either a poor sound system or the singer's crippling dependency to prescription drugs, no one understands a word sung. Wrecking Ball was a fun, nostalgic song for all us Jersey folk so by being able to read the words we could get all the subtle jokes in the lyrics.

Highlight of the show was easy. I bought GA tickets off craigslist two days before the show at a discount as five Giants Stadium shows is more supply than demand. I was with my 11 year old, my brother and his wife down on the floor in the back hanging out during the second song when one of Bruce's people came up and asked if that was my son rocking out and would we like to move to the front. He slapped wrist bracelets on us and up the side we went and we were funneled 15 yards from the stage. Unbelievable.

After a few songs up there a different Bruce person called my son over and gave him a photocopy of the setlist for that night. Amazing. Bruce did the entire Born in the USA album that night and while I would have preferred the Darkness album he played the night before you have to be impressed that the band can do so many different songs. Every night he covered one of three specific albums along with a host of other songs. That's just something other bands can't pull off.

Interesting thing I learned about Giants Stadium as this was my first time on the floor after 25 years of Jets games and concerts: there are no bathrooms on the floor level. Never thought about it before as I was never there but the stadium wasn't built for concert goers on the field so there were never any facilities installed down there. Likewise, people on the floor can't move up to the other levels. Instead GA patrons have to walk all the way out the stadium and use port-o-sans out by the parking lot. That wasn't great but it was a small price to pay for being that close to an all time great saying farewell.

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