If you’ve known Adriene for longer than about two minutes, you’ll know that U2 is Adriene’s favorite band, by far. I like ’em alright, too, so it wasn’t hard to talk me into going to see them in concert. When tickets went on sale, we went on a grand gamble and actually lucked into some floor seats for the show (without paying crazy scalper or e-bay costs!) U2 wasn’t coming to Atlanta, so we worked our connections and saw whose couch we could crash on.

Behold! The rocking weekend of fun in Chicago with Mark Smiley!

On top of the U2 concert, Mark was able to secure some Cubs tickets, also. That was very big of him given he’s a White Sox fan! On arriving in Chicago, Mark picked us up at the airport and immediately dropped us off at Wrigley Field.

The weather was forecast to be overcast and a pleasant 70 degrees. The upper deck was not so. The wind was blowing in off the lake and cut through us! Adriene and I shivered through about seven innings and stuck around for a rendition of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” (by Will Farrell and Mike Ditka, no less!) before giving up and heading out. From there, we headed out to Mark’s house by way of Chicago’s impressive elevated train and commuter train system (which puts Atlanta’s MARTA to shame.) Adriene and I spent the evening in the very nice downtown district of Naperville walking along the river while Mark was busy for the evening.

On Sunday, we went downtown and Mark and Penny showed us some of the parts of downtown. We walked out to Navy Pier and rode the ferris wheel on the pier. We ate lunch at Billy Goat’s Tavern (famous for John Belushi’s “Cheeseborger, Cheeseborger, Cheeseborger” routine and also the infamous “billy goat curse” that the owner put on the Chicago Cubs.) We then walked around some of the parks along the coast of the lake.

Following that, it was up to the top of the Sears Tower for a view of the city. We got to see all of Chicago from high up in the air.

We finished the night off with Chicago-style pizza at Lou Malnati’s which apparently ships pizzas to anywhere in the nation if I ever have a craving (and I just might! The pizza was incredible.) All in all, a completely Chicago day.

Finally, Monday night came along and it was time for the concert. Since we had general admission, we showed up early to wait in line to get a good location in the concert. We met all sorts of interesting people, including Brandon Heath and Matt Wertz, two musicians who are friends of some of my favorite artists in Nashville. Amazing the people you run into while in line for a concert!

Setlist:
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
The Cry / The Electric Co.
An Cat Dubh
Into The Heart
Beautiful Day
New Year’s Day
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore:
Zoo Station
The Fly
Mysterious Ways

Second encore:
All Because Of You
Yahweh
Party Girl
’40’

We were all of about seven to eight feet from the ellipse on the stage. When Bono would strut around the stage, he was almost within arm’s reach! We were so close that it almost felt like we were a part of the show. The crowd and heat was oppressive and we stood for good straight seven hours, but the atmosphere was almost electric on the floor. I don’t know if I’d want to get on the floor again (having a seat is nice), but it was a once in a lifetime experience.

Lots of memories from the show. The confetti falling from the stage during “City of Blinding Lights” Bono walking around the stage with a little girl during “Into The Heart.” The amazing old songs like Electric Co. brought back to life. The whole Achtung Baby encore. The girl that they brought on stage and played “Party Girl” with them. All the way to the crowd singing the chorus of “40” over and over as the band left the stage. All of it was amazing, even if I was delirious from standing all day, not eating, and swooning in the heat of the crowd.

We flew back today and I have to say that the entire trip was a great experience. I liked the city of Chicago a lot. I was struck by the differences between Chicago and my home in Atlanta. I kept thinking, “so this must like to live in a normal city with mostly normal people!” There’s something about my city that’s just a little, um, crazy, no doubt a product of crossing urban life with rural Southern life. Atlanta is kinda like your old Aunt Jane, you’re embarrassed by her, you talk about her, and when you’re around her, you’re just hoping she doesn’t have an outburst and do something that makes you cringe, and inevitably she does. But you love her anyway, because she’s family. That’s Atlanta to me.