Given the choice, I choose “with you” instead of “without you”
My fondness and appreciation for U2 is one of the only good things that came from a failed, long-term relationship. Like everyone else in the free world, I owned “The Joshua Tree” and considered myself a U2 fan…until I met this former significant other in my life. He was a hardcore U2 fan. And, it didn’t take many listens of their other albums for me to also become a true fan. Together, we saw them in concert in 2001 (is that possible?! maybe it was `02) in Pittsburgh when they toured for “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.” It was certainly one of the most incredible concerts I’ve ever been to. The heck with the Grateful Dead…I was ready to buy a bus and stalk U2 all around the globe!
So, today the latest U2 masterpiece, “No Line on the Horizon,” was released. I’m enjoying my first free listen on Rhapsody, and I’m certain this album won’t disappoint us U2 fans.
As I’m listening to this CD, I can’t help but think about the band’s last album, “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.” I listened to it incessantly. Seriously. Jeff and I had just started dating, and he was wondering (aloud) whether I would ever listen to another CD again. Even now, nearly five years later, I put that CD in every month or two to get my fix.
“How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” despite it’s totally un-romantic title, brings back happy “when-I-started-dating-Jeff-memories.” We both had purchased the album, and, like I said, it received no shortage of air time in our cars. Who knew then that track five, “City of Blinding Lights,” would eventually serve as the song that played when we entered our wedding reception?! Or that we would donate our extra copy of the CD to the missionary who stayed with us the March after we got married? Writer’s note: Apparently we gave our extra “Much Afraid” by Jars of Clay to the missionary. Whatever.
So, while I’m totally stoked about a new U2 album release today, I’m also a bit nostalgic thinking about having Jeff in my life for the past five years. We certainly share a mutual fondness for U2, but thankfully there’s much, much more…some of which we’re just starting to discover together. Life is good.