The Best Concerts Ever

I'm sitting in my office this past Friday, when one of the "kids" that I work with called and asked if I wanted a t-shirt from the concert she was going to. "What concert," I asked? "U2," she said.

After I overcame the aggravation of not being able to attend the concert myself, I was transported back through time.

November 23rd & 24th of 1987.

Those were the two days that I witnessed what has to be the greatest live performances of music in the history of mankind...when U2 played two consecutive nights at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, TX.

The process of actually getting tickets to the concert was half the thrill of the concert. I was a senior in high school, and a group of friends devised a plan to camp out for tickets...but the tough part was going to be finding parents who would allow their children to camp out in Downtown Fort Worth for three nights. UNBELIEVABLY...my parents fell into this category...along with 7 other sets of parents.

So for three nights 8 of us set up a rotation of camping out for tickets that were to go on sale on a Saturday morning. This consisted of missing day(s) of school, although priority was given to things such as football and basketball practice.

It also meant sharing a room with some interesting characters. Naturally, we made friends with every female that felt the need to take on the same quest we had all embarked on. But more interesting than that were the "outdoor residents" of Downtown Fort Worth. The homeless population was fascinated by the fact that a bunch of 17-year olds actually WANTED to sleep out under the stars on a hard sidewalk. We shared our food and drinks with them...and they shared their stories with us.

Of all the homeless we met was a man named Maurice. Maurice was an African American man who was between 35-40...but his liver was probably 100! His diet consisted of a steady flow of Boone's Farm and Old English. Maurice LOVED hanging out with us. He would sing, recite poetry, and spend time philosophizing with us about religion, race relations, and rap music. He was also fond of reciting "Maurice's Ten Commandments." While I don't remember each commandment, I do remember a couple of them. For instance: "Never drink with a man that's holding something sharp" and "Cops can't reload faster than you can run." Those were just some of the enlightening comments Maurice had for us teenagers.

There are a slew of experiences that I could share similar to these...but I won't bore both of you with my adolescent adventures. Suffice to say: we had a tent; we lived on fast food; we got tickets!

Fortunately...we had enough folks in line that each of us got enough tickets for BOTH nights of the concert. Night #1 was magical...and it introduced me to another of my favorite bands: The BoDeans. I can still hear The Edge's guitar screeching the eerie intro of "Helter Skelter," and watching Bono bobbing up and down to his tribute to The Beatles. Tears well up in my eyes when I think back to hearing "Bad" (one of my top ten all-time favorites -- next Blog) live for the first time. "MLK" brought the entire crowd to a hush, as their short tribute to the great civil rights leader echoed throughout the coliseum. Their final encore ended with "40"...and one by one Bono, Adam Clayton, and The Edge disappeared into the night. Only Larry Mullen, Jr., remained, lightly playing the hi-hat as the crowd sang in unison...and just as he stood to leave, he quickly sat back down and played a gut-wrenching 30-second farewell for the crowd.

Night #2 introduced me to the great B.B. King. I could've listened to him for days. Much of the set of the second night was the same...though there were some changes...AND some surprises. Most notably was the first encore, when B.B. King and U2 played "When Love Comes To Town" together. It's also after "Gloria" and right before "Bullet The Blue Sky" that Bono actually spoke to one of my pals. Luis Weinstein was sitting(standing) in the 4th row wearing a cowboy hat. Bono said simply, "Nice hat!" Luis removed the hat and threw it on-stage. It's the same hat that you see Bono wearing on the cover of "Rattle & Hum" and throughout much of the concert footage on video.

So yes...jealousy set in as I sadly told the young lady I didn't think I could afford the t-shirt (the last concert I went to they were sellling t-shirts for $25+!!!). But getting to briefly relive that small span of time in my life was priceless!