U2

You can all see from a photo posted earlier in December that I am a big U2 fan. But, when I try to list "U2" in my favourites list of music on the blogspot profile, no matter how I try to list it, it just seems to refuse to go up there. So, I am instead going to put up this direct link to U2.com right in the text here.

I do not really need to elaborate about U2, but, what the heck. U2 are a great band. The Joshua Tree (1987) is an extremely influential album, produced by Canadian Daniel Lanois, and winner of multiple Grammy awards. Huge singles from this influential album, such as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "With or Without You" were playing ad nauseum on every AM radio station that our car picked up as we drove across the Trans Canada highway moving from Prince George, B.C. to Ottawa in late July and early August of 1987. Something about those songs, while watching great Canadian landscapes go by through a car window, really etched those songs and that album into my psyche. I went on to develop an appreciation for U2's back catalogue and pretty much everything they have done since then. I have seen them perform three times: in 1997 I saw the PopMart tour from the floor of Wembley Stadium, London, UK; in 2001, I saw the Elevation Tour from the upper deck of the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton; and, most recently, I was right in the front row of general admission to see the Vertigo tour as it rolled into Ottawa. I actually came home to Ottawa from Calgary just for that. Had to. It was probably the biggest concert event in Ottawa since about 1985, when U2 played the Civic Centre. Or at least since the Rolling Stones played at the football stadium this past summer. The other thing I admire about U2 is their, primarily Bono's, sense of political activism and responsibility in the world. In 2005, Bono was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and he was recently named one Time Magazine's persons of the year alongside Bill and Melinda Gates. That is an impressive achievement to me. I know that the old joke used to be "How many members of U2 does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" Answer: "One. Bono holds the lightbulb and the world revolves around him." But what differentiates him many years later is the maturity, vigour, and intelligence of his approach. For him, it is not a little hobby and a bit of PR. It is a real mission. I can only follow his example in the smallest of ways, but I am quite proud to do so. Coming back to music, what I love about U2: they rock. They put out relevant material, album after album, that is on such a better level than so much of the corporate product rock/rap/hip hop/bubble pop we are plagued with today. And, they have grown older, but remain so relevant. Rock on, U2!