Wow, two posts in a row! I promise, next time the contributor will be Amber. I just had to write about the awesome weekend we had.
I am a big fan of 80's music. My favorite band is U2, and so when I heard that they were coming to concert in Seattle as part of their U2 360 Tour, I couldn't pass it up. They played here on Saturday, June 4th at Qwest Field (home of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks). Amber and I attended with two of our good friends, Dustin and Sally Bluhm.
There were so many things that made the concert such an incredible experience. I'll list a few of them here:
1. Wonderful Weather: we were blessed with some incredible weather on the day (and night) of the concert. Seattleites have been complaining about how long it is taking for summer to arrive. Normally by June, the weather is relatively sunny on most days in Seattle. However, we continue to have gray skies nearly every day. That doesn't bother Amber and I. In fact, we actually really like the weather here, including the gray skies. But I must say, when the sun does come out, we really appreciate it. June 4th happened to be the best weather day of the year. Absolutely gorgeous! The Emerald City sparkled. Rich green trees (one of the benefits of all of the rain we get here!), sparkling blue water all around us with Lake Washington on the east and the Puget Sound on the west, the majestic snow-covered volcano Mt. Rainier to the south, and a brilliant sun in a gorgeous sky. The temperature was in the 70's. Here is what U2's lead singer, Bono, had to say about the weather, "The whole city looked like it had come out of a washing machine." Can't ask for anything better!
2. Lenny Kravitz: Lenny opened for U2. He played some classics, including "American Woman" and "Fly Away." He wasn't the reason why we bought tickets, but I thought he did a good job.
3. David Bowie's song "Space Oddity" played a prominent role in the show: "Space Oddity," also known as "Major Tom" was blasted through the stadium when U2 took the stage. I really like that song. Amber...not so much. I'm always teasing her about how it's such a great song, and that she's crazy for not liking it. Needless to say, I feel validated by U2. If U2 thinks it is good enough for them to enter the stage with, then it must be a good song. Here's a video filmed by another fan and posted on Youtube:
4. The Claw: have you ever seen a more impressive stage? "The Claw" resembled some sort of alien spacecraft. It fit with the overall space theme throughout the concert (as did the aforementioned "Space Oddity" song). The Claw was almost like a 5th member of the band. It commanded so much attention with its massive presence. The stage was lit in so many different ways and with a large palette of different colors. It was absolutely incredible. Just seeing the stage was worth the price of admission! Here's some pics that I took with my phone:
5. U2 Played a Lot of Their Old Classics: I think one of the things that sets U2 apart from other bands is their broad appeal to fans, from teenagers to people in their 60's. I guess that's what happens when you've been playing for 30+ years. Although I do enjoy their more recent hits, I prefer their older stuff. Thankfully, they played quite a few of their classic hits, such as "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," "One," "All I Want is You," "Where the Streets Have No Name," etc. Here's another Youtube video taken by a fan that was a bit closer to the stage than we were! "All I Want is You" is one of my favorites:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDv6-yh9eQ6. Touching Tribute by Astronaut: prior to the song "Beautiful Day," the video screen showed Mark Kelly, the astronaut and husband of Gabby Giffords. You may recall that Gabby Giffords is a US Senator from Arizona that was shot and nearly killed a few months ago. I love when Mark Kelly quotes the "Space Oddity" song as he says, "Tell my wife I love her very much. She knows."
7. Feeling of Gratitude: there were a couple of times during the concert that I was just overcome with an intense feeling of gratitude for all the blessings that the Lord has showered upon me. I don't know why these feelings were brought to the surface at the concert, but they were. From our seats, we had an incredible view of beautiful downtown Seattle. To add to the beauty, there was also an American flag that waved in the cool breeze throughout the night, perched atop the tallest sign at the north end of the stadium. The flag looked so impressive, especially with the awesome lighting that came from "The Claw." I felt so proud and so grateful to be an American . I also felt so blessed to have the gospel in my life and to be living in such a beautiful city, with a wonderful wife, two healthy and happy kids and a great job. I'm thankful for the feeling of gratitude that I felt this night.8. Great Friends: Dustin and Sally are two of are closest friends. We moved into the Seattle 7th Ward about the same time as them. That was 4 years ago. Crazy how fast time flies!9. Night Out with My Wifie: Last, but not least, it was great to be out with my beautiful wife. Since having kids, it's hard to get out on dates. Our friends Allen and Ashley were kind enough to watch Eli and Jane for us. We were nervous about Jane, because the longest we had ever left her was about 2 and 1/2 hours. We knew that the concert would go much longer than that. Fortunately, she and Eli both did very well.Thank you, U2, for helping to make June 4th such a great day.
Jed is done!! Graduation was a few weeks ago, but he still had a couple of tests to take. He passed the NAPLEX with flying colors and we just heard today that he passed the law exam!!! That means we are really 100% DONE!!! It is strange that we are no longer dubbed "students". People keep telling us we're real people now, but I truly do not know what it will take to make me feel like a grown up, two kids and a husband with a PharmD has not done it. Though I do not feel like an adult, I do feel so, so grateful. Jed has put so much time and effort into becoming an amazing pharmacist and everyone he has worked with over his time in school could see that. All of his preceptors and professors have been nothing but impressed. I have always known Jed was a cut above the rest and he has proven that once again.
Eli and his grad-dad. These two are best of pals. I told Eli today "Thanks for being my pal." his response: "no, da-da's my pal."
I think Eli and I deserve a bit of recognition for all our hard work as well ;)
