'Back to You'

After two weeks spent going back through the first hunk of my CD collection, and emerging myself in Elvis Costello and Madonna in advance of concerts from both, I'm ready to restart my journey through my CD collection. The next stop in my travels is my John Mayer chunk and I'm so looking forward to it.

I've written about my deep affection for John Mayer many, many times, and will surely delve back into that topic once I've made my way through his CDs.

Last week I saw Madonna live for the first time in more than six years. With her fierceness, attitude, intensity and stamina, Madonna remains my greatest idol. She has a lot to say and will find a way to say it all, damn the detractors.

In the midst of her grandstanding, she still knows how to put on a great show, as evidenced last week:

Thank you Madonna for another fantastic show, for being entertaining and challenging, inspiring and intriguing. I hope it won't take another six years for me to see you again.

'My Imagination Just Stole Me Away'

I'm through my first CD shelf, nearly 70 percent this project of listening to all the CDs I own. In February, I started with my Elvis Costello CDs, prepping myself for his show with The Impostors at The Wiltern. From there, I moved onto my Madonna CDs, the anticipation building for the release of "MDNA." After, I went back to the beginning of my collection, starting with The Doors "best of" and winding my way through one-offs, past obsessions and treasured memories—Henry Rollins, The Black Crowes, INXS, The Spice Girls, Alanis Morissette, The Beatles, No Doubt, Green Day, Weezer and The Corrs, with dozens more in between.

In all, I've listened to 240 CDs since embarking on this project in February. At times, it felt like excruciatingly slow going, me not finding the time to get through as much music as I'd like. There were other times, thankfully, that I could zip through five or more CDs in a day. Because of those days, I'm actually much further along in this process than I thought I'd be, so much so that I'm currently taking a break, giving myself the opportunity to pick back through that first shelf, revisiting forgotten favorites, mixing new release (Alanis, No Doubt and Green Day) in with their precursors, and spending a bit more time with Elvis Costello and Madonna in advance of concerts for both.

I heard an interview this morning with a man who wrote a memoir about being in a book club with his mother. The author and interviewer were beginning a discussion on the differences between physical books and e-books when I arrived at work, so I didn't get to hear his thoughts. It did get me thinking about my own preference for the physical over the electronic.

Though not telling the whole story, our possessions do reveal quite a bit about who we are, our interests, priorities, philosophies and habits. If I go to someone's house, I'm curious about the books, movies and music filling their shelves. I do check out the covers of books and magazines people are reading in public. Two grad students actually struck up a conversation with me at a show once because one of the students and I were both reading "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas."

If I was on a Kindle, we wouldn't have had that conversation; instead I would have just been another person with my face illuminated by a screen.

Going back through my CDs, I feel like the music I own is a good reflection of who I was, am and maybe even could be. I'm not afraid of the impression someone will get of me by scanning the titles because I know each of the 345 CDs on my shelves contains some memory, bit of inspiration or big idea that in some small way makes up who I am.

Throughout this process I've smiled many times, sighed quite often and gotten choked up more than once. I've been transported back in time to junior high dances, high school science classes, the college newsroom, the streets of Dublin, hotel rooms, stadiums, museums, car trips, times high and low. Each artist continues to speak to me and most are deserving of their own entries here, but so many of my big ideas about one have been crowded out as soon as I started playing the CD, certain that, yes, this is it.

The truth is, they could all be it, all be the CD I'm listening to when that momentous whatever happens, the one that inspires me, the one that comforts me, the one that encourages me, the one that conspires with me, the one that pushes me out the door or tucks me in at night. At varying times throughout my life, the CDs in my collection have played at least one of those roles, sometimes more.

On the other side of this break, I have 105 CDs of similar importance. Starting that off will be John Mayer, who I've mooned over many, many, many times on this blog. He's so damn good and I'm very much looking forward to spending some time with his words and music. Also ahead are James Blunt, Robbie Williams, Ashlee Simpson, Fall Out Boy, Amy Winehouse and Adele, just to name a few. The grand finale will be U2.

I used to think that I had too many CDs, the great majority rarely listened to, just taking up space and collecting dust as I continually returned to the same 50 or so. Now that I've started going back through my collection, I've recognized the value in what I have and have no plans to get rid of anything. There's nothing wrong with having a lot of stuff, as long as you use it. With my love for my music reinvigorated, I will use it.

I understand that some people reading this might thinking 345 CDs is nothing. With Amazon selling digital copies for $5 or less and people blindly ripping whatever they can from other people's collections until their iTunes folder consumes their entire hard drive, I can see how having thousands of complete albums is not as big of a deal as it used to be. My collection will continue to grow but will probably never reach those heights because it's physical, buying CDs can be costly and I'm getting choosier about what I will buy.

As long as artists continue putting out CDs, and stores exist to sell them, I will continue buying.

Here's what I've listened to so far this year:

Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello With Burt Bacharach: Painted From Memory
The Very Best of Elvis Costello
My Aim Is True (Rhino reissue)
Elvis Costello and The Attractions: All This Useless Beauty (Rhino reissue)
Spike (Rhino reissue)
When I Was Cruel
This Years Model (Rhino reissue)
North
Elvis Costello and The Attractions: Armed Forces (Rhino reissue)
Elvis Costello and The Attractions: Trust (Rhino reissue)
Elvis Costello and The Attractions: Get Happy
Elvis Costello and The Attractions: National Ransom
Elvis Costello and The Attractions: Punch the Clock (Rhino reissue)
Original Soundtrack: De-Lovely
Elvis Costello & The Imposters: The Delivery Man
Elvis Costello Live With the Metropole Orkest: My Flame Burns Blue
Elvis Costello and The Attractions: Imperial Bedroom
Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint: The River in Reverse
Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

Madonna
Erotica
The Immaculate Collection
Original Soundtrack: Evita
Ray of Light
Something to Remember
True Blue
Like a Prayer
Bedtime Stories
Madonna
Live a Virgin
Music
You Can Dance
I'm Breathless
GHV2
Original Soundtrack: Who's That Girl
American Life
Remixed & Revisited I'm Going to Tell You a Secret
Confessions on a Dance Floor
The Confessions Tour
Original Soundtrack: Vision Quest
Hard Candy
Sticky & Sweet Tour
Celebration
Glee: The Power of Madonna
MDNA (clean and deluxe versions)

The Doors
The Best of the Doors

Guns N Roses
Appetite for Destruction
Lies
The Spaghetti Incident
Use Your Illusion I
Use Your Illusion II

Motley Crue
Decade of Decadence
Too Fast for Love

The Eagles
Their Greatest Hits
Don Henley: Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits

Henry Rollins
The Boxed Life
Wartime: Fast Food for Thought
Rollins Band: Insert Band Here: Live in Australia 1990
Sweatbox
A Rollins in the Wry
Rollins Band: Yellow Blues
Rollins Band: A Clockwork Orange Stage
Big Ugly Mouth/Short Walk on a Long Pier
Think Tank
Live at the Westbeth Theater
Talk Is Cheap Volume 1
Talk Is Cheap Volume 2
Talk Is Cheap Volume 3
Talk Is Cheap Volume 4
Spoken Word Guy 2
Spoken Word Guy
Nights Behind the Tree Line

Tina Turner
Tina Live in Europe Disc 1
Tina Live in Europe Disc 2
Simply the Best

Stray Cats
Best of the Stray Cats-Rock This Town
Brian Setzer Orchestra: Brian Setzer Live (Two Discs)
Brian Setzer Orchestra: Guitar Slinger
Brian Setzer Orchestra: The Dirty Boogie
Brian Setzer: Rockabilly Riot! Volume One: A Tribute to Sun Records

NKOTB
Face the Music

The Black Crowes
Three Snakes and One Charm
By Your Side
Lions
Shake Your Money Maker
The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
Live Circus '95
Croweology

INXS
Elegantly Wasted
Live Baby Live
Shabooh Shoobah
Full Moon, Dirty Hearts
The Greatest Hits
The Swing
INXS
Kick
X
Welcome to Wherever You Are
Listen Like Thieves
Beneath the Colours
Shine Like It Does

Ashley MacIsaac
Hi How Are You Today?

Original Soundtrack
Dazed and Confused

En Vogue
Funky Divas

Poison
Poison's Greatest Hits

Live
Throwing Copper

Patty Smyth
Patty Smyth

The Rolling Stones
Bridges to Babylon
Hot Rocks

Kevin & Bean
A Family Christmas in Your Ass
Super Christmas

Original Soundtrack
Grease

Spice Girls
Spice
Spice World
Geri Halliwell: Schizophonic
Goodbye

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band
Born to Run
Born in the U.S.A.

Bangles
Greatest Hits

Original Soundtrack
Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion

Everclear
So Much for the Afterglow

Stevie Nicks
The Best of Stevie Nicks: Time Space
Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
Fleetwood Mac: Greatest Hits
Trouble in Shangri-La
Fleetwood Mac: The Dance
The Enchanted Works of Stevie Nicks

Depeche Mode
The Singles 86-98
The Singles 81-85
Dave Gahan: Hourglass

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Greatest Hits

Alanis Morissette
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
Unplugged
Under Rug Swept
Jagged Little Pill
So-Called Chaos
Jagged Little Pill Acoustic
The Collection
Flavors of Entanglement
Havoc and Bright Lights

Mariah Carey
#1s

Culture Club
VH1 Storytellers/Greatest Moments

Lauryn Hill
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Heart
Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits 1985-1995

The Allman Brothers Band
A Decade of Hits 1969-1979

Etta James
The Best of Etta James: The Millennium Collection

Hole
Celebrity Skin
Courtney Love: America's Sweetheart

Abba
Gold: Greatest Hits

Carole King
Tapestry
Love Makes the World
The Living Room Tour

Taylor Dayne
Tell It to My Heart
Can't Fight Fate

Sinead O'Connor
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Sean-Nos Nua

Tracey Chapman
Telling Stories

George Michael
Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1
Faith

Aretha Franklin
The Very Best of Aretha Franklin: The '60s

The Beatles
Abbey Road
1
Original Soundtrack: I Am Sam
A Hard Day's Night
Help!
Let It Be
John Lennon: The John Lennon Collection
Revolver
Rubber Soul
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles (The White Album)
Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur
Magical Mystery Tour
Past Masters

Various Artists
100% Dance

Janet Jackson
Design of a Decade: 1986/1996

Destiny's Child
Survivor

Bobby Darin
The Ultimate Bobby Darin

Cyndi Lauper
She's So Unusual

Nirvana
Unplugged in New York
Foo Fighters: Skin and Bones

The Pretenders
The Singles

No Doubt
Rock Steady
Tragic Kingdom
Return of Saturn
The Singles 1992-2003
Gwen Stefani: Love Angel Music Baby
Gwen Stefani: The Sweet Escape
Push & Shove

Jewel
This Way

Social Distortion
Live at The Roxy

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Deja Vu

Kylie Minogue
Fever
Body Language
The Best of Kylie Minogue

Blondie
Greatest Hits

Jimmy Eat World
Jimmy Eat World (Bleed American)

The Proclaimers
The Best Of …

Janis Joplin
18 Essential Songs

The Ramones
All the Stuff (And More) Volume Two

The Clash
The Singles

Nelly Furtado
Whoa, Nelly!

Billy Idol
Greatest Hits

The Cars
Complete Greatest Hits

The Osbournes
The Osbourne Family Album

Green Day
International Superhits!
Insomniac
American Idiot
21st Century Breakdown
Uno!

Weezer
Weezer (The Green Album)
Weezer (The Blue Album)
Maladroit
Pinkerton
Make Believe
Weezer (The Red Album)
Raditude

R.E.M.
In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003
And I Feel Fine … R.E.M. The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987

The Cranberries
Everybody Else Is Doing It so Why Can't We? (The Complete Sessions 1991-1993)
No Need to Argue (The Complete Sessions 1994-1995)

Van Morrison
Astral Weeks
Tupelo Honey
Moondance

Van Halen
Van Halen
The Best of Both Worlds

Original Soundtrack
Clueless

X
Los Angeles/Wild Gift

Prince and the Revolution
Purple Rain

Norah Jones
Come Away With Me
Feels Like Home

The Vines
Highly Evolved
Winning Days

The Corrs
Live in Dublin
In Blue
Borrowed Heaven
Talk on Corners (Special Edition)
Forgiven, Not Forgotten
Home

(Past) Half-Time Report

It's been a while since I did an update on my CD-listening project, so here's the latest. Since February, I've listened to 180 of the 341 CDs on my list. It's actually going quite a bit faster than I thought.

Recently, I've gotten to dip into some of my all-time favorite albums—"Rumours," "Tapestry," "Under Rug Swept," "Listen Without Prejudice" and "Abbey Road." Each of those albums, and dozens of others in my collection, have inspired and comforted me. One listen isn't enough, so I think I will take some time to go back through this portion of my collection and re-listen to a few total standouts (including sadly overlooked gems like Everclear's "So Much for the Afterglow") once I get to the end of the first of my two CD shelves.

Here's what I've been listening to lately. Coming up, I've got No Doubt, Green Day, Weezer, The Corrs, John Mayer and so much more happiness. I can't wait.

Bangles
Greatest Hits

Original Soundtrack
Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion

Everclear
So Much for the Afterglow

Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac
The Best of Stevie Nicks: Time Space
Rumours
Greatest Hits
Trouble in Shangri-La
The Dance
The Enchanted Works of Stevie Nicks

Depeche Mode/Dave Gahan
The Singles 86-98
The Singles 81-85
Hourglass

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Greatest Hits

Alanis Morissette
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
Unplugged
Under Rug Swept
Jagged Little Pill
So-Called Chaos
Jagged Little Pill Acoustic
The Collection
Flavors of Entanglement

Mariah Carey
#1s

Culture Club
VH1 Storytellers/Greatest Moments

Lauryn Hill
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Heart
Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits 1985-1995

The Allman Brothers Band
A Decade of Hits 1969-1979

Etta James
The Best of Etta James: The Millennium Collection

Hole/Courtney Love
Celebrity Skin
America's Sweetheart

Abba
Gold: Greatest Hits

Carole King
Tapestry
Love Makes the World
The Living Room Tour

Taylor Dayne
Tell It to My Heart
Can't Fight Fate

Sinead O'Connor
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Sean-Nos Nua

Tracey Chapman
Telling Stories

George Michael
Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1
Faith

Aretha Franklin
The Very Best of Aretha Franklin: The '60s

The Beatles
Abbey Road
1
Original Soundtrack: I Am Sam
A Hard Day's Night
Help!
Let It Be
John Lennon: The John Lennon Collection
Revolver
Rubber Soul
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles (The White Album)
Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur
Magical Mystery Tour
Past Masters

Various Artists
100% Dance

Janet Jackson
Design of a Decade: 1986/1996

Destiny's Child
Survivor

Bobby Darin
The Ultimate Bobby Darin

Cyndi Lauper
She's So Unusual

Nirvana
Unplugged in New York

Shine Like It Does

Fifteen years ago, almost exactly, I was at the Greek Theater for what would be Michael Hutchence last LA concert with the band. Of course, I didn't know that at the time. What I did know was that the show was amazing. Michael Hutchence was one of the most incredible frontmen I've ever had the pleasure of seeing live—sexy, charismatic, energetic, passionate, playful.

After the show ended, my friend and I hung out in front of the Greek for a while, hoping to catch of glimpse of the band members before they left in their tour bus. While sitting on a bench, two guys came up to us and asked, "Do you want these?" "These" ended up being after-show party passes. Naturally, we said yes.

We made our way through the suite to the patio, grabbed a tiny bit of the food that was left and took in the scene. The party was filled with friends of friends and name-droppers, a generally irritating crowd. Mel B., then a newly world-famous member of The Spice Girls, was at the party with friends and the people around us weren't shy about trashing her within earshot. It was so rude!

She quickly left, so my friend and I followed her out (I wanted to complement her on her truly cute lace-up boots). Back into the suite we heard someone excitedly call out, "He's outside!" and followed a stream of people out front to find ourselves in the presence of Michael Hutchence.

He was beautiful. His dyed-black hair was straightened with flips at the ends, sunglasses pushing it back from his face. He was wearing a black shirt buttoned just above his naval, the sleeves rolled up, cuffed faded jeans and flip-flops. His toenails were painted with black glitter polish.

I had so many things I wanted to say about the concert, the band, the videos, the memories I'd had from more than 10 years, and thank him for all of that. In the midst of clamoring girls regaling him with stories of house parties in Mexico, he looked over at me and I froze. I smiled but couldn't speak.

Pretty soon, he was being ushered away by one of his handlers and I'd missed out. I promised myself I would do whatever it took to find another opportunity to thank him for everything and that I wouldn't chicken out.

Four months later, my mom and I were driving home from a Leon Russell concert when KLOS DJ Susan Ansilio reported that Michael Hutchence had died. I was crushed.

I liked INXS growing up but the concert made me into a fan. Michael Hutchence's death ramped that up even further. Though I'm glad for the music I've been able to discover since then, I'd rather be a so-so INXS fan with the opportunity to see Michael Hutchence on stage again than a huge INXS fan with the CDs and books and DVDs and everything, but no shows to look forward to.

A silver lining to all this is that I've learned not to let opportunities like I had that night at the Greek slip through my fingers again. If I have the chance, I let the people I admire know how much I appreciate their work and thank them for the impact they've had in my life. I never want to hear a terrible announcement on the radio again and know I missed my chance to say thank you.

Here's what I've been listening to lately (a few down, so many more CDs to go):

INXS
Elegantly Wasted
Live Baby Live
Shabooh Shoobah
Full Moon, Dirty Hearts
The Greatest Hits
The Swing
INXS
Kick
X
Welcome to Wherever You Are
Listen Like Thieves
Beneath the Colours
Shine Like It Does

Ashley MacIsaac
Hi How Are You Today?

Original Soundtrack
Dazed and Confused

En Vogue
Funky Divas

Poison
Poison's Greatest Hits

Live
Throwing Copper

Patty Smyth
Patty Smyth

The Rolling Stones
Bridges to Babylon
Hot Rocks

Kevin & Bean
A Family Christmas in Your Ass
Super Christmas

Original Soundtrack
Grease

Spice Girls
Spice
Spice World
Geri Halliwell: Schizophonic
Goodbye

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band
Born to Run
Born in the U.S.A.

'Let Your Love Light Shine'

I've made it through a few more artists in my quest to listen to every CD I own. I thought I might fall back in love with some CDs during this process and definitely did over the last few weeks, particularly with the Black Crowes chunk I just finished and the INXS chunk I'm currently enjoying.

I've been a fan of The Black Crowes since junior high. I was trying to remember what originally drew me to the band in 1990 and can't place the exact moment, but think it was probably one of the band's videos. The band's mix of blues, gospel and soul hit me just right back then. On truly hard days, I'd blast "Seeing Things" or "Sister Luck" from "Shake Your Money Maker."

The band's music has made me happy (or at least less sad), comforted me and inspired me. The songs are fantastic and funky. It's definitely something I need to revisit.

Here's where I've been:

Brian Setzer/Brian Setzer Orchestra/Stray Cats:
"Best of the Stray Cats-Rock This Town"
"Brian Setzer Live"
"Guitar Slinger"
"The Dirty Boogie"
"Rockabilly Riot! Volume One: A Tribute to Sun Records"

NKOTB:
"Face the Music"

The Black Crowes:
"Three Snakes and One Charm"
"By Your Side"
"Lions"
"Shake Your Money Maker"
"The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion"
"Live Circus '95"
"Croweology"

Here's where I am:
INXS:
"Elegantly Wasted"
"Live Baby Live"
"Shabooh Shoobah"
"Full Moon, Dirty Hearts"
"The Greatest Hits"
"The Swing"
"INXS"
"Kick"
"X"
"Welcome to Wherever You Are"
"Listen Like Thieves"
"Beneath the Colours"
"Shine Like It Does"

Wild & Wild

After spending some time walking down memory lane with my a few of my favorite Sunset Strip bands (The Doors, Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue and Eagles), I moved on in my CD collection to my Henry Rollins chunk.

I detailed my great affection for Henry Rollins two years ago, so won't rehash that here. What I will say, though, is how great it was to listen to his music again. I've generally been a bigger fan of Henry Rollins' books and spoken word, and haven't found my way into Black Flag, but his solo music is damn good.

I was lucky enough to attend two Rollins Band concerts. Both times, the band played sets comprised mostly of songs from forthcoming or just-released albums, so I knew none of the songs being played. Despite that, both shows were among the best I've ever seen. Henry Rollins always has a good band accompanying him, particularly the bass players he enlists. The man himself is one of the best front men ever, giving every ounce of blood and sweat he can for the benefit of the audience.

I was reminded of all that with the few music CDs I have of his, and I was glad of it.

Here's what my Henry Rollins bit contained:

"The Boxed Life"
Wartime: "Fast Food for Thought"
Rollins Band: "Insert Band Here: Live in Australia 1990"
"Sweatbox"
"A Rollins in the Wry"
Rollins Band: "Yellow Blues"
Rollins Band: "A Clockwork Orange Stage"
"Big Ugly Mouth"/"Short Walk on a Long Pier"
"Think Tank"
"Live at the Westbeth Theater"
"Talk Is Cheap Volume 1"
"Talk Is Cheap Volume 2"
"Talk Is Cheap Volume 3"
"Talk Is Cheap Volume 4"
"Spoken Word Guy"
"Spoken Word Guy 2"
"Nights Behind the Tree Line"

Following Henry Rollins was The Queen of Rock 'n Roll, Ms. Tina Turner. Starting in high school, when the film "What's Love Got to Do With It" came out, I really got into Tina Turner. I've seen the movie many, many times (and quotes from it were an in-joke with some of my friends) and listened to the soundtrack on cassette repeatedly. I've seen her in concert three times and they were all great shows.

With so many CDs in my collection, it's easy to lose some in the mix, and that's what happened with Tina Turner. Her music holds a special place in my life and I know I have to go back to it more often, especially now that I'm the aunt to some fantastic little girls who could definitely benefit from some exposure to Ms. Turner, her strength, grace, playfulness and attitude.

Here is what I listed to today from Tina Turner:

"Tina Live in Europe Disc 1"
"Tina Live in Europe Disc 2"
"Simply the Best"

The going is a bit slower than I anticipated on this CD-listening project and I still have a very long way to go (at this point, it will be months before I can dip into John Mayer again). At least I have some incredible music to look forward throughout this process. Up next, the incredible Brian Setzer, solo, with the legendary Stray Cats and with his amazing Orchestra. Stay tuned!

Attitude of Gratitude

Within my community online, there's been a lot of talk of anniversaries these past few weeks. Last summer, U2 relaunched its 360 Tour on the West Coast, so each week is providing another chance to look back and remember where we were this time last year.

I went to three U2 shows last year. The first (which I detailed here) June 6 in Oakland, and the third and fourth June 17 and 18 in Anaheim. Each show was fantastic and meaningful and extraordinary in its own way.

As has been my tradition since seeing U2 for the first time nearly 15 years ago (PopMart LA Coliseum June 21, 1997), I sent the band a thank-you note, which I share with you now. This isn't a thank-you note just to the band, but to everyone who has shared the U2 experience with me over the last 15 years. It wouldn't have meant nearly as much without all of you.

Dear Adam, Bono, Edge and Larry,

I remember watching the sobbing, shaking, fainting Michael Jackson fans on TV when I was younger and just not getting it. How could watching someone perform send a person into such hysterics?

After Saturday's show in Anaheim, California, I understand these Michael Jackson fans a little bit better. I didn't faint or need medical attention, but several times during the show I felt the moment overtake me. I cried.

This was my 13th U2 show and, without a doubt, the best I've seen. The mixed-up, surprising set list definitely heightened the excitement ("The Fly!" "One" in the main set! "Stuck in a Moment" acoustic!) but the group I was with also helped push me over.

I became a member of Zootopia and Interference.com nearly 10 years ago, following the Elevation Tour. Through these boards, I've gotten to know other fans from all around the world, many of whom have become my friends.

I was surrounded by a dozen of these friends on Saturday. We jumped and screamed and sang and danced together all night. "Oh my God! What's going on?" we'd shout to each other every time the set list took an unexpected turn.

We all knew that would be a show people would talk about, jealous they weren't there. We were grateful not just to have been in the audience that night, but to have been there together.

This is what your band has given me—dear friends, mind-blowing experiences, global adventures. Being a U2 fan, I got to briefly live out my rock journalist dreams when I was contributing editor for Interference.com. I've been given the opportunity or excuse to travel to Dublin and New York City, places I'd always wanted to see, and Nashville and Raleigh, places I never expected to visit but adored. I've found the words to express all the overwhelming love and hope I felt when my niece and nephew were born in your songs. I've bonded with family members and coworkers who are also fans.

I've also connected with other fans empowered by your music and example to work to effect positive change in the world through my volunteer work with the African Well Fund. The number of people I've met through the organization are so passionate about making the world a better place, about giving what they can to help people in need is so inspiring. Aside from The Beatles, I can't picture any other band that attracts that kind of fan base, or has that type of lasting positive influence on its fans.

I attended my first U2 show at the LA Coliseum in 1997, PopMart. A few months later, I sent you a thank-you note, still glowing from that amazing night and the memories of singing the "oh-oh-oh-ohs" from "Pride" under an illuminated sky with tens of thousands of other strangers I knew I was connected to. Fourteen years later, I still feel that way after a U2 show, though it's been magnified by all the fringe benefits loving your band has provided me.

Thank you for that. Thank you for 13 glorious shows. Thank you for the albums, the songs, the videos, the experiences. Thank you. I can't wait for show 14.