Rattle and Hum Memories 3: Three Chords and the Truth

So finally, we all made it -- me, Rob, Vonna, Jennie, Jay, Paul, Jay's roommate, and a white rat named Soren who had somehow come to live in my coat pocket (and would, one day very soon, come to live in my bedroom, but that's another story). These two nights were the conclusion of the Joshua Tree tour, which we had seen one of the first shows of, back in L.A. in March.

We drove across Southern California, into the SOnora Desert, passing fields of high-tech windmills standing like Wells's tripods across the low hills; as we began to approach Tempe the radio stations were totally abuzz with news of these concerts. We learned that people had come from all over the country for these shows - tickets were sold in New York, L.A., Seattle, Phoenix and Tempe, and a few other places. B.B. King, for some reason, would open the show, and they would indeed be full shows, and though the cameramen might get in the way sometimes, we would definitely see a whole show.

Sun Devil stadium was enormous -- I had never been in a sports arena quite that large, and somebody said it sat more than 60,000 people. The place was packed by showtime, and after B.B. King (who was outstanding, by the way -- but superfluous to me and my friends at the time) finished up, somebody from the movie crew came out on the long platform that began at the enormous stage and ran halfway out into the football field. He called out the various cities where tickets had been sold and each section cheered; we all seemed to be seated by locality.

The first night, we were at the back of the upper level, looking straight at the stage but from a footall field away. As they apparently had throughout the tour, the boys opened with the low hum of "Where The Streets Have No Name", and when Bono finally bounded to the front of the stage and bellowed "I wanna run..." Jay leaned over to me and said, "I will never get used to that voice." I knew what he meant--it made my skin break out in goosebumps. Bono Vox, the "good voice", lead singer of the most important rock and roll band in the history of the world (as far as we were concerned).

Next they ripped into "I Will Follow", which apparently was not on the set list and later we learned sent Phil Joanou's crew scrambling to keep up, and we were off. I dont remember every detail of that show, but I remember thinking it blew the L.A. show from months earlier away; Bono sang an a capella version of the Beatles' Help! to lead into some song; he did the skipping dance down the long raised platform with the Irish flag; it was classic '80's U2, and we were happy. He even told us all that the only thing you needed for rock and roll was a guitar, three chords, and the truth. Sounded good to us.



The second night, we were still on the upper deck, but closer to the stage. (That's where the picture with this article was taken -- hmmm, which one might be the Mole?) Instead of millimeters tall, the band seemed centimeters tall. Again, they were excellent; we had a better sense of the filming on stage. When they did "With or Without You" the camera and lighting guys were all on Bono so tight you couldnt see him -- that's the scene in the color section of the movie when Mr. B is standing on the metal grate and the light is shining up at him. Fireworks to kick off "Bullet the Blue Sky" and somewhere in there, I think, Bono held the spotlight on Edge that eventually made the CD cover and movie poster (though that might just be wishful thinking....)

Early in the show, somebody climbed to the top of the low mountain that jutted above the opposite side of the stadium and built an enormous bonfire, straight out of "Under A Blood Red Sky" a few years earlier; it was perfect -- that Unforgettable Fire that all of us had followed like a beacon to Arizona. Bono was triumphant abou the spirit that had removed Evan Meacham from the governor's chair in the state -- the same one Bono had reviled earlier in the year for refusing to honor Martin Luther King's birthday as a Federal holiday.

That night, the final night of the tour, Bono brought one of their stagehands out on stage and announced to 60,000 people that this man had become a father that morning -- nine months to the day after leaving Dublin for the tour. They were done with the juggernaut that had made them superstars, and when they walked off stage -- after a rendition of "Christmas, Baby Please Come Home" as recorded for the first "Very Special Christmas" album, they were gone.

We made our way out into the night, and the next day began the long drive home to the Pacific Northwest, to get home before Christmas ourselves. We made a promise that when the movie finally came out, we would all get back together and see it. That didnt happen - at least for me - but it was not the last time I would see Rob, Vonna, Jay, Paul, or Jennie.

It was the last time -- at least for me, almost 18 years down the line - that I would see U2 live.

Part One: http://motherbox.blogspot.com/2005/08/rattle-and-hum-memories-1-pin-stripe.html
Part Two: http://motherbox.blogspot.com/2005/08/rattle-and-hum-memories-2-this-is-not.html

Next: Mopping Up