Happy Birthday Bono

A few months back I stumbled across a video of Bono singing With or Without You on Colbert. He starts out speaking about the first home that he lived in with his wife Ali and then he starts to sing a new arrangement of an old song. I sat mesmerized remembering the words and admiring the showmanship. Bono can still sing and he sounds amazing.

Up until that moment I hadn’t thought about U2 for quite a while. They had put out a couple of albums that I wasn’t super into and they sort fell off my radar; pushed to the back of my mind. This performance of With or Without You was so beautiful that it reignited my interest in this band and this man.

I spent the next while looking up interviews with Bono and listening to all the songs I love. I am currently reading Bono’s book Surrender and can’t believe how good of a writer he is. The stories flow as if he is sitting next to you and speaking to you directly.

Rediscovering my love of U2 got me thinking about the first and only time that I have seen U2 live. It was in 2005 on the Vertigo tour, I went with my brother and his best friend. I remember the excitement I felt when the lights went down and the music started to play. We were a bit far from the stage but even still I felt Bono’s energy, he somehow connected with everyone in the room. If you want to know what stage presence truly is, watch Bono.

After the show I remember walking through Union station singing, laughing and trying to mimic Bono’s moves. It was one of the best nights of all time.

Two nights later my brother and I were back at the same venue sitting a bit closer to the stage this time to see Pearl Jam. Before the show we talked about how it would be so cool if at some point Bono came out on stage. We thought that he could still be in the city since U2 did have another show until the next day. We laughed and said that it would be awesome but it probably wouldn’t happen.

For the encore Pearl Jam played Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World. Suddenly the crowd started to get very excited. My brother spotted him first. Out walked Bono in a cowboy hat. The excitement could not be contained. We screamed, jumped and somehow ended up switching seats. It was the most amazing moment, I still can’t believe that it happened.

I am so glad that after all these years some thing was able to spark my love of Bono and U2 again. I feel like I missed their music, it was so important to me during my high school and university years, and the familiarity is comforting in a way. I have always been fascinated by Bono. When you listen to him speak you hear how he is intelligent and thoughtful, so very different from the cliché rockstar.

Today, May 10th, is Bono’s birthday. I hope that he has a good one. The world is a better for having him in it.