U2 and North Carolina collide with conference and concert

Photo: U2.com

I have a high school diploma. I have a B.A. degree. I now have a doctorate in U2.

“The Hype and the Feedback” aka the U2 Conference that I have been obsessively waiting for since August, was last weekend and I am back and overwhelmed because A) I learned so much and B) I had another dose of “360” at U2’s concert in Raleigh on Saturday night!

I think the best way I can sum up the conference is that we were the fanatic nerds, and I say that with love because I’m the first to admit that I am one, looking up to the popular kids. The star athletes, who happened to be four guys from Ireland in one of music’s biggest bands. I loved every minute of it.

For me, when I walked into the classroom for our first session, “What You Don’t Know You Can Feel Somehow” (which I knew I had to attend because it was the lyric from “Beautiful Day”) that was about the language/poetry of U2 lyrics, it all felt right. Here we all were, notebooks in front of us, pens in hand, waiting for the first words to be spoken. My pen was moving so fast because I wanted to catch every detail of each presentation! We were being schooled in U2 on a Saturday morning. No way did we want to sleep in!

When I listened to the papers being presented, I admired the individuals who wrote them because they no doubt spent insane amounts of time perfecting these pieces and were now showing them off for the first time in front of fellow U2 fans. There was no need to be nervous though. From the response I saw at the sessions I attended, everyone was impressed and hugely supportive.

Anthony DeCurtis, a contributing editor at “Rolling Stone”, made a speech on the first full day of the conference on Saturday. He talked of interviewing U2 and separately Bono. He gave some of my favorite quotes of the weekend: “U2 has a way in concert of uniting the people who came” and, when talking about Larry, said that Mr. Mullen Jr. has the type of personality to “pop Bono’s balloon every once in a while”.

We viewed “The Heart of America Tour” film, with Bono, Ashley Judd, and Chris Tucker that provided HIV/AIDS awareness in America’s Heartland. There was a clip in the film of Bono at a Krispy Kreme donut shop, which is something I might never get to witness again! Then we checked out “It Might Get Loud”, the electric guitar film with Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White. Highly recommended, whether you are into the mechanics of music or you want to see Edge being totally hilarious.

I got the opportunity to meet Neil McCormick, who wrote the book “Killing Bono”. The former schoolmate of U2’s frontman signed my copy of his book by referring to the lecture I told him I just attended. Called “The Grave as a Groove” (referring to ‘Window in the Skies”), the paper written by Henry VanderSpek, dissected the death lyrics in U2 songs (excellent presentation). Neil wrote in my book: “Death is a groove (but we don’t really want Bono dead!)” Super cool, really nice guy, so that marked the celebrity sighting at the event!

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the conference was meeting fans. I don’t know a lot of U2 fans who are as obsessed as I am and feel the need to defend the band at any given moment when criticized. Well, they all came to Durham and we finally had a chance to meet. Looking at everyone, seeing where they came from, learning about their background and how they got into U2 was really the icing on the cake. The event was about the fans and it truly delivered. I am so happy to have met everyone there because we all were there for U2.

I really want to take the time to thank Scott Calhoun for putting the whole thing together because had this event never come about, I would have just spent last weekend catching up on DVR stuff and feeling exhausted after working my day job. Instead, I got to meet extraordinary people who shared the same extraordinary thing- an undying devotion to U2. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? Also @U2 was a major part of the conference as well and I want to give them my thanks too for playing a role in this great weekend.

And the concert in Raleigh? Of course it was dynamite. Bono even shouted out the conference and so did U2.com! The band debuted “In a Little While” at the show and completely took me by surprise. “New Year’s Day” was done, as was “Unforgettable Fire” which is becoming one of my new favorites. But the song I couldn’t get enough of was “No Line on the Horizon”. I know people haven’t been into U2’s latest effort, and that’s fine. But this song is so amazing live, and it shows that U2 will go even farther in the future. And I think people secretly love shouting the “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa” part. I do, but I’m a U2 nerd.

Check out my Flickr page for Raleigh photos and my Facebook as well!

My new pal Amy, whom I met at the conference and do check out her blog, said the conference was like being in”U2 College” and she planned on graduating “Magna Cum Laude”. I couldn’t agree more. We took in our lectures and absorbed the enchanted information quickly and eagerly. We all passed with flying colors and earned our U2 doctorates that weekend.

Here’s “In a Little While” from Saturday night in Raleigh.