Where: Fed Ex Field (DC/MD/VA)
Set List: Breathe, Magnificent, Get on Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For/Stand By Me (snippet), Elevation, Your Blue Room, Beautiful Day/Blackbird (Beatles snippet), New Years Day, Stuck in A Moment, The Unforgettable Fire, Mofo (snippet)/City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Crazy Tonight/Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough (Michael Jackson snippet), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On
Encore 1:One/Amazing Grace snippet, Where The Streets Have No Name Encore 2: Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With or Without You, Moment of Surrender
Blue Claw in DC
I have to say that the crowd around you often sets the tone of a concert. So I’ll start with my biggest gripe and then move on. I like standing up at concerts, and really see no point to remaining a huddled mass when there is energizing music around me and we are being hit by a fairly chilly breeze. Anyway, just remember the next time you want to sit at a concert that asking nicely will get you a lot further then a sarcastic “I have a nice view of your back.”
Enough of that. Once again the show was a remarkable splendor of lights, sound and soul. While it took a little coaxing to get most of the stadium to go with his call and response , Bono and the band were in great form. There were a few songs that were not in the last show (Mysterious Ways for one), and two that I didn’t recognize at all (Your Blue Room, Mofo) . Other than that I got some really cool images seen here and a great live video of With or Without You.
There are a few things about Fed Ex that caused befuddlement.
1. Why aren’t camera’s allowed? (I mean clearly we were able to get in with ours but it was strange that the sign AND the security guards were stopping people from bringing them in.)
2. It has really terrible acoustics….so I suppose not really meant for a large rock concert. It was harder to hear what Bono was saying for most of the concert.
3. After being in existence for so long why do they have such a hard time with traffic patterns? I’ve heard about easy rides home, and hard rides home. The metro was a bit crazy but not tooooo insane for me……maybe its part and parcel of the DC driving experience. Who knows.
Orange Claw in DC
Good Things: Playing Top 5 with S.F. (see below), Running into people I haven’t seen in ages in the Bathroom (random), and of course that opening band which was pleasantly awesome. (Go Muse!)
I thought this time around I’d pick two or three songs and do a rundown about what was going on in the world when the Album came out. Sort of a U2 soundtrack for our lives.
New Year’s Day (War, 1983–this CD also has Sunday Bloody Sunday, 40): Michael Jackson does the Moonwalk, Congress releases a report about Japanese Internment, US invades Grenada, Hello World! Microsoft Word and the Nintendo Entertainment System (in Japan) are first released.
Unforgettable Fire (Unforgettable Fire, 1984–this CD also has Bad, Pride & MLK): Indian troops storm the Golden Temple at Amritsar, Indira Gandhi Assasinated, The first Macintosh, Ronald Reagan reelected.
Mysterious Ways (Achtung Baby, 1991-Even Better than the Real Thing, One, Until the End of the World): Also in music? Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Freddy Mercury of Queen dies. Operation Desert Storm, Germany formally regains complete independence after the US, France, Soviet Union and UK relinquish rights. Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi is assasinated, Boris Yeltsin elected. Soviet Union disolved.
Mofo (Pop, 1997-Discotheque, Staring at the Sun): Notorious B.I.G. killed, Clinton inaugurated for his second term, Timothy McVeigh convicted, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone first published, Hong Kong goes back to China, Princess Diana killed, Bill Berry leaves R.E.M….and of course Titanic comes to theaters.
Purple Claw in DC
Earlier I mentioned that I got to go to the concert with one of my music guru’s. S.F. is an old college roommate. She and I spent most of the lead up to the concert listing our top 5 (top five U2, Beatles, REM, Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi & The Decemberist songs). So tell me what your top five songs are (U2 or in general). Let’s get this party started.
My Top 5
U2: Sunday Bloody Sunday, Far Away So Close, Bad, Unforgettable Fire, One and I have a soft spot for Walk On though it often gets swapped out for other classics.
Beatles:Blackbird, Norwegian Wood, Obladi-Obladah, In My Life, Let it Be (But really is it possible to come up with a Top 5 for this band? There are soooo many songs)
R.E.M.:Losing My Religion, Walk Unafraid, Nightswimming, She Just Want’s To Be, Finest Worksong
The Decemberists: Red Right Ankle, Mariner’s Revenge, Sons & Daughters, Chimbly Sweep, O’ Valencia
Thoughts? Don’t forget to Check out the Picasa Album below and the video of With or Without You.
Though we were in Chicago for a little over 24 hours we ended up doing a whirlwind tour of places I have eaten at before. That’s right—they were all so good I couldn’t help but go back.
Thai Spiced Carrot Soup, crispy rice noodles: a nice amount of heat, and perfect for the slightly chillly evening
Chilled Sweet Corn Soup, breakfast radish, parsley: sweet, and tastes like what you would expect
Farro Risotto, lemon gremolada, zucchini, sweet peppers, mascarpone: the only dish I wasn’t huge on, the risotto was a little bland, but the veggies were really good.
Fresh Burrata Cheese, candied olive, lemon, fava beans, tempura squash blossom: A nice cheese, not too sharp, not too bland great texture and flavors (especially with the olives)
Honey Hazelnut S’more: How can I love thee…let me count the ways.
Five Spice Doughnuts: Doughnuts! Doughnuts! Doughnuts!
Chai French Toast at Orange
Brunch on Saturday was great following a six mile run (Army Ten-Miler in 3 weeks!)
Chai French Toast (It has ricotta cheese in the middle, just think about that).
Rosemary French Toast
Eggs Benedict
Fresh juices
…and an atmosphere is cute, cute, cute. Did I mention you can get orange flavored coffee for those who like inventive coffees.
Plantains at Frontera Grill
Now we’re coming to the best part. For those of you who know about food I’m sure you had heard about Rick Bayliss long before he won Top Chef Masters this summer. We should have thought about making reservations a long time ago but for reasons I can’t explain we didn’t. So my friend and I headed over to Frontera Grill and Topolobampo at about 4:50pm on Saturday only to discover that the line was out the door and around the corner.
We got in, put our names down for the 2-3 hour wait, then proceeded to stalk the bar tables. An hour later after having a four top stolen from right under our noses (we had recruited a couple from Baltimore to sit with us), we sat down next to a table of U2 concert-goers. They were having a nice sociable conversation with another group of four who were clearly stalking their table.
Then the drama began. The U2 goers departed, the new group sat down. Man 1 is on the phone, Man 2 is tried to get his lime in a bottle of Corona, lime juice sprays everywhere including inside Man 1’s eyes. Man 1 freaks-out talking about how he’s been attacked by juice (now its not angry freaking out, its over the top drama queen freaking out).
Then the waiter comes to get their order and Man 2 says this is what he wants:
Six hard taco shells with nothing but beef.
The poor waiter tried to explain the options for tacos, including that they don’t have hard taco’s. The guy then says–
All I want are six tacos. Three hard and three soft. The beef on the side.
So my question is—why come to a four star Mexican restaurant when you want Taco Bell level food?
Chicken Enchilada's at Frontera Grill
Anyway—This is what I got:
Chicken Enchiladas: Beautiful Mole sauce.
Fried Plantains: Sweet, and tasty.
While we had to eat pretty fast (the concert started at 7 and we decided to forgo seeing Snow Patrol) and it was 7 when we got our food, it was just delicious.
So when you’re in Chicago check out all these places and eat your heart out!
The first time I saw U2 was in June of 2001. They had just released All That You Can’t Leave Behind and it seemed like a good first concert. I somehow managed to miss going to any when I was younger, for some reason when everyone my age was going to HFStival I was standing in line for midnight movie showings. The main thing I remember about the concert is that while I knew the standards, the classics, there were clearly some I had never heard. There were the songs everyone wanted to hear (40, Bad, Unforgettable Fire) the songs which people seemed to lose themselves in, the songs that brought excited murmurs, gasps, and upraised arms.
And if the mountain should crumble,
Or disappear into the sea.
Not a tear, no not I stay in this time.
Stay tonight in a light.
Ever after, this love in time.
And if you save it all, save you love.
Dont push me too far tonight.
Then 9/11 happened.
I found myself nearly a month after that day driving up to Baltimore for my second U2 concert. We were late getting to the arena and found out that Garbage canceled because Shirley Manson had gotten sick. It didn’t matter, while it was the same music, the same band–everything felt different.
Not to seem over-dramatic, but only four weeks after the attack the mood in the country remained fervently patriotic, and we were all hurting—and to some extent still uncertain of what would come next; and while U2 is an Irish band they always seemed to have their own special connection to these United States. I’m not sure if it was just the music, or something Bono said, but I think that this is when I realized whenever Bono, the Edge, Adam and Larry came to town I would be there.
Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
2005, the band releases How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, a record which had more misses than hits for me. High up in the MCI Center, I stared at an enormous sign urging everyone to Coexist, grinning from ear to ear. It didn’t matter that people around me seemed underwhelmed, it didn’t matter to me that I was one of a few people standing up in my section. Things were good.
And I know it aches
And your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Fast-forward to 2009. I flew to Chicago and found myself high up in Soldier Field staring at an enormous claw (which I later learned is actually supposed to be a spaceship). Why Chicago? I wanted to do something different and decided to go for the first show of the North American tour (don’t worry I am seeing them again at FedEx field in two weeks). So after a six mile run along the lake, a lot of good food (I love Rick Bayliss, but more on that in the next post) we took a cab to my first ever football stadium (big, enormous, cavernous). They started the concert with a new tune, Breathe–which is where the title of the post comes from–and ended with a new tune, Moment of Surrender. In between we got a little Elvis Costello, Beatles, and the ever classic Stand By Me.
Then there was the moment when the amidst the band’s silence thousands of people broke out into song:
I have climbed the highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run, I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
I think the best part, however, was standing next to a little kid who decided that he wanted to be The Edge. Wailing on his air guitar and jumping up and down, up and down, with his oh-so-tall father (he must have been 7 feet tall at least) it was infectious. All the way through City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Crazy and Sunday, Bloody, Sunday he played and mimicked the passion and love for the music that was floating through the stadium. We were wowed by the lights and the large screens which twirled around to provide close ups of the band, extended to provide their own light show, and watched as bridges moved over the floor crowd’s head to allow for closer access to the rest of the stadium. While I suppose I can excuse certain lyrics about ATM Machines, it was, in the end, a very, very good show.
Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We’re one, but we’re not the same
We get to
Carry each other Carry each other
One
For more pictures visit my Picasa album.For the set list and a review go here. Click here to see my video of Stuck in a Moment.
Right across from Eastern State this place has a little fun with its location serving meals with names that fit right in with the criminal justice system. Things like Bonnie & Clyde or like my sandwich “The Scapegoat” which is local garlic herb goat cheese, with spinach, tomato, red onion and pesto on ciabatta. I love goat cheese.
Capogiro’s Really Really good Gelato. Enough said.
El Vez
A Stephen Starr restaurant this place has great ambiance. I ate here for New Years a few years ago and loved it. This weekend we had the black bean enchilada and the chicken taco’s and some tasty sangria. All good, and with a giant motorcycle rotating around the bar it was a great meal!
Tria
After El Vez we made are way over to Tria for some desert. The Lemon tart/cake had just the right amount of tartness combined with sweet delicious blueberry compote.
I had a delicious cabot clothbound chedder from Vermont and we tried a Tawny Port ( “10 YR. OLD,” RAMOS PINTO, NV) from Portugal and a Port “Ink Grade Vineyard” Heitz Cellars, NV from Napa. We both liked the second Port better than the first (a little less of an aftertaste).
I’m just going to list what we got. Visit the website and check out the pics here and on my picasa page. This is a great little place. Chic and really trendy.
We started out the meal with a orange and coconut palatte cleanser. I had the Corn and pepper omelet with Nutella toast. My friend had banana fritters (get these!) and a breakfast quesadilla.
So, next time you’re in Philly check some of these places out.
Let’s create a little atmosphere first, shall we? It’s a broad stony wall pitted with greenery and reminiscent of a medieval fortress. I’m sure if you pick a particular point you’ll realize that the wall is all you can see in either direction–despite the rows of restaurants in front of you. At night its a little creepy, with crevices and corners for shadows to conceal themselves in…..and its enough to make your skin crawl.
This weekend I went to Philadelphia to visit a friend from graduate school who works at Eastern State Penitentiary. Let me say from the outset that I had heard how amazing this place was–and the website does do a good job of setting the stage, but nothing prepared me for actually being there.
Eastern State was a working prison from the mid 19th century through to 1970. In 1994 it reopened as a museum and has been doing well ever since. It is best known for its annual Terror Behind the Walls haunted house which boasts all sorts of spectacular scary stuff.
While we were there my friend got to talking about the popularity of “Dark Tourism”, or tourism to epi-centers of grief and suffering. This means–Battlefields, Concentration Camps, Dungeons, and of course, Prisons. I’ll be the first to admit that I must have mentioned just how cool Eastern State was about 50 time during my 2 hour tour–and I’ve come to the conclusion that it has to do with the broader stories that are being told here. While partially about architecture and the attempt to build a prison where everyone could be seen from a central point, but it also revealed the beliefs of the architects toward reformation and the human condition.
Charles Dickens visited Eastern State at one point and walked away unimpressed–this is from chapter seven of his American Notes (quotation is from the six page history provided on the Eastern State website).
In its intention I am well convinced that it is kind, humane, and meant for reformation; but I am persuaded that those who designed this system of Prison Discipline, and those benevolent gentleman who carry it into execution, do not know what it is that they are doing….I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body; and because its ghastly signs and tokens are not so palpable to the eye,… and it extorts few cries that human ears can hear; therefore I the more denounce it, as a secret punishment in which slumbering humanity is not roused up to stay.
Of course visiting a place like Antietam is a little different from Eastern State–we travel to hallowed ground because those deaths are honorable, having occurred for a cause greater than themselves. At Eastern State it is a little different–Al Capone stayed here, and there were magnificent escape attempts and a very serious riot during the 1960s.
So go visit! My favorite area? The newly rehabilitated Synagogue–where the walls prior to rehab are cleverly hidden behind matching wooden panels.
Check out my Philadelphia Picassa Slideshow–later this week I’ll bring you a quick post my trip through Food.
Mostly be just musing on how things are valued differently, with a little bit of commentary on what just happened in Orange County regarding the building of a Walmart near/on (depending on who you ask) Wilderness Battlefield.
I think I was in a mood when I wrote this. All these icons were passing away and it made me think about how we would be remembered. Would it be things connected to popular cultlure like our obsession with reality television (ugh), or will it be the politicial reality we now live in. Which naturally led me to think about how this new media would be saved and documented for us to remember it.
This posting is from May 2009 during Asian Pacific American Month. What started as a search for information on the wave of Indian immigrants that came here in the 1960’s and 1970’s turned into a realization that our American story was not what I had expected.
The first time I saw U2 was in June of 2001. They had just released All That You Can’t Leave Behind and it seemed like a good first concert. I somehow managed to miss going to any when I was younger, for some reason when everyone my age was going to HFStival I was standing in line for midnight movie showings. The main thing I remember about the concert is that while I knew the standards, the classics, there were clearly some I had never heard. There were the songs everyone wanted to hear (40, Bad, Unforgettable Fire) the songs which people seemed to lose themselves in, the songs that brought excited murmurs, gasps, and upraised arms.
I found myself nearly a month after that day driving up to Baltimore for my second U2 concert. We were late getting to the arena and found out that Garbage canceled because Shirley Manson had gotten sick. It didn’t matter, while it was the same music, the same band–everything felt different.
2005, the band releases How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, a record which had more misses than hits for me. High up in the MCI Center, I stared at an enormous sign urging everyone to Coexist, grinning from ear to ear. It didn’t matter that people around me seemed underwhelmed, it didn’t matter to me that I was one of a few people standing up in my section. Things were good.
Too late
...this is what comes next 