on december 9, 2006 i saw one of the greatest concert performances of my life. in fact, i’ve been thinking about it all week and i have to say it was number two: right behind pink floyd, of course….

the day started, honestly, shortly after i woke up from a previous night’s birthday celebration. after a quick jaunt to the airport, i met up with liann, kevin, kellee, and another friend of theirs (who’s name, i’m embarassed to say, i have forgotten). we left the house with a cooler full of goodies (beer which we weren’t allowed to drink) and headed out to meet friends of kevin who were also concert goers that day. we spent a few hours ‘tail-gating,’ which is slang for hanging out in a partking lot, before meeting 45,000 others at aloha statium for the show.

our tickets had been purchased way back in february or march for the show (which was originally scheduled for april). i had gotten a ticket sitting in the stands with some of kevin’s friends, which the rest were going to be one the field. to be honest, i wasn’t particularly thrilled with that arrangement, but i have to say i was just glad to have a ticket.

so, we arrived at aloha stadium and kellee, kevin’s sister (who is both cool and cute) decided it was her mission to get me on to the field with the rest of them. i admit i had my doubts about my chances, but the stars were aligned, or something, because it all worked out remarkably well. kellee told one of the security guards that i was her fiance and that i had proposed to her while one was playing. i don’t honestly think he bought it (if for no other reason than i’m a terrible liar and he could see it in my face, even though tried to play along). at that time there just happened to be a woman standing there, chatting with one of the ushers, who overheard our ‘story.’ she bought it because she GAVE me a spare field ticket she happened to have. from then on, i knew it was going to be an unforgettable night.

and it was. i was with some of my closest friends watching this increadible show…. now, i have to admit that i’m not the biggest u2 fan (unlike kevin and his friend, who’s name i still can’t remember), but to say the show was impressive would be a gross understatement. they played all the songs i knew and were great performers, especially bono (though i wasn’t surprised by that). what i think really made the show for me was the political statment they made continuously throughout the show. there were such strong social justice and moral undertones to the entire show that, at one point, they displayed on the HUGE screen part of the universal declaration of human rights! who the fuck does that? do you know of another musical group as big as u2 who would have the balls to make such a presumption at one of their shows? i certainly don’t. it quite honestly made the show for me (i almost cried).

and pearl jam opened. they put on a good show, but i have to say they paled in comparison and as such have little to say about their performance.

after the show, we went for pancakes at wailana, but there was a huge line! and it was full of u2 concertgoers, grr! as hungry as we were, we decided against waiting our turn and opted for zippy’s, which turned out to be just fine and certainly hit the spot….

all in all a fantastic day and marvelous show. i feel this post doesn’t quite do it justice (on many levels for many reasons), but i’m just not quite sure how to put the experience into words. aside from the experience itself, here are the momentos i have:

and this wristband. you should get one.