I Heart U2

The last couple of days have been spent in sweats, gorging on comfort foods and guilty-pleasure TV. After a few days of surviving on extra-strength Tylenol and black coffee at work, I took Friday off and allowed myself to indulge in sleep, sugar and red sweatpants. The red pants are legendary; they’re my “I’m not leaving this apartment” stop sign. Ahh. But as much as I love a weekend of cozy nothingness, by last night, upon realizing that Scott Baio telling his life coach, “I’m afraid of dying alone” was actually moving me, I knew I had to escape my little Batcave.

It was hard to get out of bed this morning. My left eyelid was partially swollen shut. The right side of my face had broken out. But I refused to be a victim of vanity and headed off to church, puffy face and all.

After church, I stuck around for the IMAX matinee of U23D. It. Blew. My. Mind. It’s a little awkward to admit that the best concert I’ve ever been to was on a movie screen, but it’s true. I can’t even really process it all. Just straight-up awesome.

Unos, dos, tres….catorce!

(Yes, I know he says, “One, two, three….fourteen!” It’s the brilliance of songwriting.)

I got chills. Multiple times. There’s something about a crowd of thousands shouting the word “love” over and over that makes me a little shaky. And thanks to the power of 3D, when Bono sings the “wipe your tears away” line from “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” I actually thought he was going to do just that. Seriously, his hand was thisclose to my face.

Beyond the many goose-bump moments, the film further solidified my U2 love (yes, apparently, it was possible). I can’t remember ever really appreciating the Edge, Adam and Larry so specifically as individuals. But now I’m officially the president of each of their fan clubs. You’d have to see it to understand, but it was refreshingly not just the Bono show. And the Edge plays the piano. Which means I’m in “music love.” Oh, and those men totally love each other. It’s actually slightly adorable. In a very manly rock-‘n’-roll way, naturally.

Sure, there were the typical Bono theatrics. Taking place over seven shows in South America, it was über-activism focused, with Bono “detonating” his mike stand, wearing his Coexist headband (at one point as a blindfold), and a united crowd (cell-phone lights ablazing) rocking out with an almost revolutionary fervor.

“Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” was breathtaking. How many grown men write love songs about their fathers? There was a chilling moment (whether you think it’s a moment of staged cheese, I don’t care) when Bono reached out for a hug, clinging to the empty air as if it were his dad. It almost brought me to tears.

If I lived my day-to-day life with one-tenth the passion and conviction those men channel into a single song, things would be significantly different. Probably in a good way.

LOVED it. Every single minute.