(Note: This is the start - a mishmash of thoughts - for a larger, as of yet unwritten piece on the unconditional love that we have for a band that carries us through the ups and downs of love with people.)
Before iTunes, before Bono was a household name in the political sphere, before they were main-stream or before they were old, I have loved “my band” - U2!
I fell in love for the first time with them by my side. I re-learned how to love with them screaming in my ear. And I knew what love really, really meant when they spoke to me in deep words handed down from the poet gods.
I lost my virginity while they coaxed my girlfriend's clothes off. And later, I realized manhood - or the childish impressions of it - as they held our hands when she had an abortion. And later still, I understood the realities of life when I left her behind and went off to college - their songs making the trip while she didn't.
Such is the beginnings of a man's life, but only a start when it comes to the love affair he has with a band. I hate to admit it but there isn't a part of my life - a serious change in my life - where a U2 song isn't attached, in my brain. My first love: “All I Want Is You” and “With our Without You”. My first heartache: “Staring at the Sun” or the “Sweetest Thing”. My divorce: “Walk on”, a “Summer Rain” or “Please”. My life, in general: “Bad” - which isn't a 'bad' song, but maybe the best song ever performed...and I got to see it live, finally, after 20 years of begging. (“Bad” is about nothing or it is about everything. There is no sense to it. Its raw. Its music. Its life, and it speaks to my core. Never have I cried so much as when I heard this song played live!)
(...more later...)
