U2 Concert - Cowboys Stadium

Arlington/Dallas - October 12, 2009

It seems like every Fall brings a weekend with a good concert and movie opening - this seemed to be it for me with a U2/Muse and the new Coen brothers movie arriving in Dallas the same weekend. Ah, the disappointment. The movie tanked (see below) and the U2 concert was, ultimately, a letdown. Opening band Muse, however, was great, and their odd mix of sounds (think Marilyn Manson, Filter, Depeche Mode and James all jumbled together) provided one of the best opening acts in recent memory. I can't wait to see them at their own show. U2 came on stage at 9:00 and quickly fumbled away that momentum with 2 weak songs (Breathe and Get on Your Boots) from their 'okay' recent album. Finally, the show kicked in with some stronger songs and the concert was great again.

Bono's voice was unbelievably strong and robust for a 50 year old man, and The Edge and Co. was tight and effortlessly perfect. It is hard to believe Bono's voice has stayed as strong as it has given the range of notes he has to hit in the band's catalogue. The band seemed engaged during the main part of the show, but Bono ruined it a little with all the celeb shout outs (Tony Romo, Tiger Woods, Jason Whitten) and Burmese political talk. My favorite song of the show was Until the End of The World - it played well in the massive stadium and the Edge played the searing guitar solo right in front of our vantage point on the bridge (more on that later). Other standouts were Sunday, Bloody Sunday (always perfect), Mysterious Ways and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.

The show was good until the second encore, when we got just hammered with the political stuff and a bizarre ending - it wasn't clear the show was over and they closed with Moment of Surrender, a fine song but maybe one of the worst closers in the whole catalogue. The show was just barely over 2 hours - also a disappointment as I figured 2.5 hours for sure. I'd do it all over again and the greatness of the middle of the concert was worth putting up with the weak bookends a great time.

Now for the Cowboys Stadium/Stage/Crowd commentary. Priest made the journey to Dallas and joined me and Bride on the trip to Arlington. Let's be clear: Arlington sucks. I used the Cowboys Maps page to chart our course and it was clear that the Arlingotn Convention and Visitors Bureau didn't select our route - it takes us from Hwy 161 along Abrams, which features lots of manufacturing facilities, strip clubs (named peep n toms and dreamgirs) and lots of other gritty sights. We left at 4:15 and were parked very close to the stadium ($30) by 5:20, not bad. Then we had to walk about a half mile to get in the back of a quarter mile long line to get in. The lined moved pretty quick and we were in by 6:15 and scurried down the labrynthian hallway to get to our floor 'seats'.

After dropping $24 for a hot dog, 2 Dr. Peppers and Nachos, we began our 5 hours of standing about 20 feet from the circle portion of the stage. As Dentist discussed in his review, the stage setup was a 'claw' over the band with a fantastic video screen (featuring great camerawork, by the way), surrounded by a circular stage. The band commuted to the circular stage via moving bridge walkways that allowed them to come close to a big portion of the floor crowd. All in all, we had a good view and decently tolerable surrounding concertgoers. For me, the sound in the stadium was great- I have heard complaints about the upper decks. We did enjoy mocking the 40 year old 'criss criss' that came with his new wife, his 2 kids (aged 8 and 13 - and about 2 feet too short to see anything) and decided to go with a super Ed Hardy button up shirt that had me staring at a large skeletal hand with rose petals all night, not to mention the two skulls featured on the butt pockets of his jeans. His one earring and overconfident manner just topped it off.

We got in our car at 11:20pm and got home at 1:07am. Wow. We didn't get out of the parking lot until 12:10. All in all, a great and memorable (and looong) night.