I am trying to pinpoint the year Suzanne and I went to a BIG concert by ourselves. I am sure a simple google search could do it for me, but I'd rather remember. I vote the summer after senior year of high school or freshman year of college. We borrowed her father's car, so it was before we had wheels of our own (could it have been junior year?). Hmm. Regardless....U2 came to the Saratoga racetrack (way, way, way before the racino), and we went. U2!! In Saratoga!! We were SO excited!
I had been to a couple of concerts before that...I mostly remember Billy Joel. Billy was a great concert, don't get me wrong, but it is him, his piano, and a tight, back-up band. He is truly a singer-songwriter, and his shows reflect that. And I adore them. Now, U2.....U2 is a different story, and this was the year of "Achtung Baby." "Mysterious Ways." "One." Bono in his full, flashy Fly-regalia. This was a SHOW. A spectacle. An event. And it was amazing!
It must have been general admission, because we stood the whole time, in a "field," with a ton of other people. There were huge screens blowing up what we couldn't see. Drunk people, lighters, lots of screaming. What a blast!! I bought a t-shirt at some point during the show, and discovered that, folded, it fit perfectly in the front Velcro pocket of my windbreaker. When it was time to go, it was a mess getting out of there. Tons of people headed the same way, pushing, hitting, bumping - just an ugly, crowded, slow-moving mess. Then genius struck. If we folded that t-shirt a bit more and stuck it out, that front pocket of my windbreaker turned into....
"Coming through! Coming through! Lady with a baby," Suzanne yelled. The crowd parted. We walked through, me clutching my "stomach" every now and again for effect.
By the time we got to her dad's car (which we had parked in somone's yard for cheap), we were breathless with laughter. "Lady with a baby!" we would say, and dissolve into fits of laughter. (This would go on for years, and still give us the giggles every time!) Our laughter died down a bit upon discovering that some yahoo had ripped one of the windshield wipers off her dad's car. Gulp. Ripped it off - who does that? Thankfully, it didn't rain on our way home, and PapaBear took it pretty well.
To this day, "Achtung Baby" remains my favorite U2 album. I know all the songs by heart still. I don't skip a single one when they come on my iPod; in fact, I often blast them and sing loudly. If I close my eyes, especially during "Zoo Station" or "Mysterious Ways," I am back in that "field" with thousands of other fans, singing loudly with my best friend, screaming, basking in the bright lights of Bono, Larry, Adam, and the Edge, and clutching that t-shirt. Our golden ticket out. I still have it.
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