Finally Found What I'm Looking For

When I was 10 years old, I heard a song.  I don't remember exactly which song I heard first... but I remember stopping dead in my tracks and thinking that I'd never heard anything quite like it. 

I had overheard my sibling playing U2's The Joshua Tree album.

That was it.  It was over.  I was hooked.  Line. And. Sinker.

I have never stopped listening to U2.  I've seen them in concert a half dozen times now since the early nineties - at the Palace in Auburn Hills, at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, and last night at Lincoln Financial Field in Philly.  Every show I've seen has been phenomenal in it's own way.  

But, about last night.  

With my best friend of over 20 years by my side, I finally saw the concert I'd always dreamed of seeing.  Raw. Simple. Powerful. Amazing.  It was all that U2 has always claimed to be.  And, all they've been to me - an Irish band with a strong love for an America that we all wish existed (and perhaps it does). With a dash of maturity, a humility that was brazenly absent during the ZOO TV and MacPhisto days, and a return to the pure sound of their beginnings, U2 commanded the 50,000 person stadium by playing the Joshua Tree cover to cover - along with some other amazing tunes thrown in for good measure.  

From the soft pleading of With or Without You to the cacophony of guitar and drums of Exit, I heard The Joshua Tree with fresh ears and a heart in desperate need of healing.  Individually and as an album, the songs spoke to me anew.  Bono's passion, The Edge's calculated precision, Adam's thundering bass lines, and Larry's simple ease were on full display.  

Last night, four Irish gents spent their Father's Day with 50,000 "kids" that they've helped raise.  They don't know us.  But, yet they know us.  And, we certainly know them.