May 1985, Hollywood Sportatorium, Hollywood, Fla.
I can understand people’s disdain for U2, longevity will do that. It feels at times like the band, and Bono in particular, is the guest at the party who just won’t leave. Sometimes it’s enough already.
But every time I run into someone who says they don’t like U2, I always ask the same question: Have you seen the band play live? More often than not, the person who doesn’t care for Larry, Adam, David and Paul (yeah, I’ll use their real names) hasn’t seen what they can do on a stage. There’s no way to go to a U2 show and not feel invigorated.
I have seen U2 four times now, in three decades, and while each time was slightly different, it was always somewhat amazing. But this show, as the band toured on The Unforgettable Fire album, sticks close to my heart and remains one of my best concert memories.
The Unforgettable Fire is my favorite U2 album. Yes, Joshua Tree is a force of nature, as is Achtung Baby, but Fire is weird and beautiful, atmospheric and spiritual. It really had just one hit (“Pride”), but “Bad,” and “MLK,” and “Wire” (how I love “Wire”) are timeless, I never tire of them.
In May 1985 U2 was on the precipice of unparalleled international stardom. Sure, it was a band people knew about, but in two months it would appear at Live Aid and become a household name. When Joshua Tree came out, there was little doubt this was one of the all-time great bands, playing to 80,000 people at a time. But in 1985, it was a successful band, but one that still belonged in a crowded mass of alternative/popular bands which included INXS, R.E.M., XTC and other various bands with just capital letters in their names (but not you ABC). Man all those bands are great.
I went with several friends to this show, coming at the end of my junior year in high school. We had a convoy of eight (may have been more), and we listened to U2 songs while making the trip on the one-way road to the Sportatorium.
I saw the video of U2 at Red Rocks, and didn’t think the band could create that kind of atmosphere in the airplane hangar that was the Sportatorium. But U2 is so damn good live because it makes the audience an intricate part of the show, and leaves everyone feeling a certain way. There were three moments of “Did you see that?” on this night.
The band opened to “11 O’Clock Tick Tock,” Bono’s lyrics of “It’s cold outside, it gets so hot in here,” bringing a well of shouts from the crowd. He might be a total douche and the whole sunglasses thing all the time is annoying, but the man can sing a song. “Tick Tock” is a rollicking good one, and for it to meld into “I Will Follow” so early in the show was spectacular. But at this point, I had enveloped Unforgettable Fire so much, I wanted to hear those songs as much as any other, so when the title track started up, I was screaming as loud as anyone.
And then, a minute in, the song stopped. Bono grabs the mic angrily and looks down at the front of the stage.
“Nobody gets kicked in the face at a U2 concert,” he shouted at two boys in the front rows. “Nobody. Now you all behave yourselves.”
It was unbelievable, I’ve never seen or heard anything like that at a show. The crowd erupted in a spirited sound of disbelief. You’re damn right Bono, nobody should ever get their face kicked in at a U2 show.
The band did the things we’ve seen before — the waving of flags for “Sunday Bloody Sunday” — but enthralled us in the things we’ve never seen. Two of those instances involved bringing in people from the crowd, and hugging.
The first occurred during “Bad” (the best U2 song in my opinion), when Bono, imploring a young woman in the audience to “come on down,” stepped into the audience and embraced her with a full hug, an intimate moment surrounded by 10,000 people. I remember him doing this during Live Aid and was surprised it was a thing he did during shows. On this night it felt spontaneous and real, though learning it was part of the act didn’t make it less meaningful.
It was the second surprise that hit me in one of those “why could that not be me” moments. Bono talked of learning how to play guitar and how easy it was to do. All you need to know are G, D, C and A minor and you can play one of the all-time great songs, he said, then grabbed a guitar and Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” started up.
He stopped singing midway through the song and addressed the crowd: “Are there any guitarists here tonight?”
Wait, is he bringing someone up to play guitar?
Tons of people shot up their hands, and Bono settled on a young man, looked to be in his early 20s, who came up on stage and strapped on Bono’s guitar. After it was determined that, yes, he can play guitar, the song resumed, and the new member of U2 stood alone on the left speaker jutting out into the crowd. Dammit, that should be me. The man on stage was our proxy, and we were with him. When the song ended, the man slipped off the guitar and gave Bono a tremendous hug. I may have been crying. I play guitar now because of that night.
We sang for Martin Luther King in “Pride,” smiled when “Party Girl” took hold during the encore, yelled during “Gloria,” and kept singing “40” walking back to the car in the Sportatorium parking lot. How long to sing this song? On an unforgettable night in May 1985, as long as I live.
