land of opportunity

just listening to the radio in the car yesterday i couldn't believe two amazing opportunities that were announced...

1) the first ad said, "do you want to open for bon jovi?" (they're playing here in a few weeks). so i thought, ok, they're letting a local band open before the opening act for two seconds, but in fact, there is no opening act, so the local band that is selected will BE the opening act for bon jovi! can you imagine? what an opportunity. too bad victor's not in a band here! they'd surely get picked.

2) the very next ad said, "do you have what it takes to photograph cold play?" (they're playing here in a couple months). one lucky person will be chosen to hang with cold play the day of their concert and have a PHOTO SHOOT with them!!!!!! this person will actaully photograph cold play! can you IMAGINE? it pains me to even think of how amazing that would be.

*sigh*

aliyah - 19 months

sweetie aliyah on december 13 - her 19th month portraits

neon heart

the concert itself was fabulous. they played several classics from previous albums... it was more of a "best of" selection rather than a vertigo concert. no complaints here. perhaps the most moving performance and probably my favorite of the show was "sometimes you can't make it on your own" which he wrote about his father who died recently. bono introduced the song by saying, "every conversation with my father began the same way. we'd sit down together and he'd look at me and say, 'i'm not going to talk to you until you those stupid (sun)glasses off.' so..." and he took his glasses off. the only time they were off during the entire night. he said that his father was an opera fan (hence the lyrics, "you're the reason why the opera is in me.") i read that in the song when he asks, "do you-hear-me-when-i-sing?" he hits a tenor note that he knows his father loves. that just made the song so much more beautiful to me. bono performed the song with so much emotion and intensity.. and some tears. at the end he sang a little opera in italian to close the song (set list below). so beautiful.
i was so lucky to be able to take some pictures at the concert. i had my camera with me for about the first hour of the show... so it was good. shoot for the first half and then fully enjoy the second half without any distraction.
one thing i really liked about the show was the stage. the whole set was flat and there wasn't anything like a set behind the stage. usually the wall behind the stage dwarfs the performer because it gives scale for the eye to compare to. in this show, the tallest thing on the stage was the band itself. it made the atmosphere so open and intimate at the same time. also the ellipse (sort of elliptical "catwalk" that protruded from the stage) came so far out that the arena floor level seemed so small.
simply put, the crowd was drawn in and made felt like a part of the music and the band. they gave a spectalur show that night - and i'm so so glad i did whatever i could to be there. it seemed crazy to go out there by myself: concert ticket for one, plane ticket for one, hotel room for one... it seemed crazy to everyone else (except you bicbic!) but to me it made perfect sense.

setlist from the st. louis show:
city of blinding lights
vertigo / she loves you (snippet)
elevation
gloria
i still haven't found what i'm looking for / in a little while (snippet)
beautiful day / jesus walks (snippet) / many rivers to cross (snippet)
original of the species
sometimes you can't make it on your own / torna a surriento (snippet)
love and peace or else
sunday bloody sunday / rock the casbah (snippet) / jesus walks (snippet)
bullet the blue sky / when johnny comes marching home (snippet) / the hands that built america (snippet)
miss sarajevo
pride (in the name of love)
where the streets have no name
one

encore(s):
until the end of the world
mysterious ways
with or without you
stuck in a moment you can't get out of
instant karma! / happy christmas (war is over) (snippet)
yahweh
40

dayglo eyes

it's taken me over a week to start this post. i knew i'd have no idea where to even begin to convey thrill, the awe and the bliss of the 14th of december in st. louis.

it was a 12-hour day from when i got off the metro downtown at 11:30am until i got back on again at 11:30pm. within that one rotation of the hourhand i not only got to watch and hear my favorite and only band that i've waited eight years (four of which have been painful) to see, i actually got to meet two of the members face to face and another cheek to cheek.

i'll spare you the detailed chronology that filled more than 20 pages of my journal. barbara the cookie lady, lance from arkansas (bless his heart) and the lovely arena security camera-sniffing hounds will all have to be introduced to you over our next cup of coffee. here, you'll get the i-need-to-read-this-quickly-so-i-can-get-back-to-my-work/emails/sandwich/baby's-naptime-activities version.

2:34pm / /
after having just watched the band's vehicles drive into the arena parking lot (i got tipped by a nice security guard, bob, as to when U2 was landing at the airport and, thus, arriving at the venue) i went back to the security post to tell bob that the word he'd received from U2's security was in fact true: the band drove through without stopping. bob wasn't there, so i decided that since the band was definitely inside the venue and there was no getting in there for me (i had been trying for the last 3 hours - with bob and the cookie lady's help), it was a good time for me to grab a bite. i decided to walk to a train-station-turned-mall a couple blocks away (also suggested by bob - my fairy godmother for the day). walking in the direction where i'd seen the band drive in before, i noticed a bunch of fans from before still there. all quiet, but there... then i saw a camera flash go off. and then i started running.

2:36pm / /

i get back to the same place i'd just been standing before and i couldn't believe my eyes: adam, the edge, and bono were all there signing autographs. i squeezed my way up to the steel road barrier/gate that stood between the fans and the band to adam and gave him my little florentine blank book and a pen. i was so shocked that i could barely make my mouth say, "thank you so much." then i moved over to the edge (apparently all the fans around me had already gotten autographs and were just taking pictures. the band was gradually moving away from where i was standing to where the road barrier met the street). i just could not believe he was right there. he was so cool. so sweet-looking. so there. i can't explain the adjustment your eyes and brain make when they see something they've only known in 2D come to 3D and in your reality. it must be like having only drunk apple juice for your whole life and then you actually bite into an apple. suddenly there's the texture, the depth, another flavor and all the muscles and taste buds that can now enjoy the fruit as well.

2:39pm / /

my best had come for last. i made my way past the barrier to the end of where the fans stood and waited for bono who was slowly moving in that direction. i prayed he'd make it to the end.
when he finally arrived and i gave him my ticket stub on top of my book (thank God he wrote in the book and not the ticket), i said, "i came all the way from israel for this concert." "wow, israel..." he said and started writing. i watched him pause after the "r" in "israel" and proceed with an "a" as he asked me, "what's your name?" even though it was surely routine for him to ask (though i didn't see him do it to anyone in that group of people around me), i felt so happy that he asked. it just made me feel like he saw me as a person for one second rather than another nameless face. "negeen. n-e-g-e-e-n" he added it to the top of the autograph and kept writing.... so i thanked him over and over for coming and i told him they need to come to israel. "we need you guys out there." he gave me my book and i said, "can i have a hug." he smiled. "yeah." i put my arms around to his back and felt his hair on my cheek and his jacket under my chin. it was like hugging someone you haven't seen for so long and thanking them at the same time. after that, someone handed him something to sign without a pen and it made him hesitate to give me my pen back. "it's ok. keep it." and that was it. my meeting with one of the greatest musicians and humanitarians (according to this week's Time magazine) whose voice is the blanket of my soul and the band whose music is woven into every significant part of my life.