Feeling young again

Does U2 put on a show or what? Saeeda and I had never been to a concert together, so a while back I had bought tickets for the Irish band's stop in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Getting to the concert brought with it some trepidation - I was simply worried about being too old to even be at such an event. After all, aren't people of my demographic supposed to gently ease into listening of NPR and to start attending classical music performances?

But I was pleasantly surprised to see that most people were like us - middle-aged and having grown up with the music we were about to hear. The venue was amazing, the stage was cool, and the opening act - Black Eyed Peas - pumped up the crowd with energy. I didn't know half their songs, but that didn't matter. People around us muffled my mutilations of the lyrics.

Then Slash from Guns 'N Roses took the stage and kicked off that classic guitar riff from Sweet Child. Pure sweetness, even for someone like me who knows so little about rock. And then there was U2, a band that justifiably occupies a spot in history as one of the iconic musical acts of all time. 24 songs, ranging across both decades and albums, almost all of which we spent listening to while on our feet.

The funny thing is that Saeeda and I left the concert energized, almost as if a few years had fallen off our shoulders. This music thing was cool, and going to concerts didn't have to be a struggle against a tide of humanity. To some degree, the experience has caused a mini-transformation, and we're now on the prowl for other great musical events to attend. Ones where being middle-aged will be irrelevant. Ideas?