{"id":7091,"date":"2017-06-12T21:23:44","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T02:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jimmypribble.com\/blog\/?p=7091"},"modified":"2024-03-19T11:47:53","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T16:47:53","slug":"u2-joshua-tree-tour-wembley-stadium-london-12-june-1987","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/u2-joshua-tree-tour-wembley-stadium-london-12-june-1987\/","title":{"rendered":"U2, London, 12 June 1987"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap is-cnvs-dropcap-bordered wp-block-paragraph\">In the early Summer of 1987, I was in the Air Force, stationed in Sembach, West Germany. I was 19 years old. My uncle was also in the Air Force and stationed at a another base in Stuttgart, West Germany. I didn&#8217;t have a car or much money, so my uncle invited me to join him on a holiday in London. While we were there, I saw posters plastered all over&nbsp;the streets for the U2 Joshua Tree Tour. To my delight, I saw that they would be playing two dates at Wembley Stadium while I was in town! I&nbsp;went on a search for tickets and finally found some from a dodgy ticket broker in an office up some stairs from an alley in a bad part of town. I paid too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was the greatest concert I have ever seen. Someday, I might try and describe how I felt as I watched it. I will almost certainly fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U2 is currently on a tour commemorating the 30th anniversary of that album. Nicole saw the concert in Houston and we were comparing&nbsp;our experiences. Something inspired me to check the web for photos from that concert I attended in 1987. I was rewarded with something even better &#8211; a bootleg recording of the concert on YouTube. I can verify it is authentic. As I listened to it, I was calling out things that I remembered Bono saying &#8211; specific things to the crowd, changed lyrics. The joy&nbsp;of seeing that show returned to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kbT2Gws-SkA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes, I question my memories. There have been so many remarkable things that have happened in my life that sometimes I think I have embellished ordinary events even to myself. But I read the YouTube comments (almost never a good idea) and scores of people confirmed my clear memories: the heart shaking opening organ chords from <em>Where the Streets Have No Name<\/em>, being involuntarily lifted into the air as the crowd began jumping up and down to the beat, Bono spraying water from a fire hose on those of us who had fought to the front and seeing steam rise from the throng, struggling&nbsp;to lift people to their feet before they were crushed by the swaying crowd, my arm cramping while I held my concert&nbsp;shirt tightly against my chest, snippets of Peter Gabriel&#8217;s <em>Biko<\/em> and Joy Division&#8217;s <em>Love Will Tear Us Apart<\/em>, and having the concert end with tens of thousands&nbsp;of people still singing the closing song,&nbsp;<em>40,<\/em> as we all made our way to the tube and even continued singing in unison on the tube back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>I will sing, sing a new song<\/em><br><em>I will sing, sing a new song<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was magical. I will never in my life forget that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_20170612_0001.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"542\" height=\"800\" data-attachment-id=\"7101\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/u2-joshua-tree-tour-wembley-stadium-london-12-june-1987\/img_20170612_0001\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_20170612_0001.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"542,800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon MG6600 series Network&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_20170612_0001\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_20170612_0001.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_20170612_0001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7101\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_20170612_0001.jpg 542w, https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_20170612_0001-120x177.jpg 120w, https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_20170612_0001-90x133.jpg 90w, https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_20170612_0001-320x472.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 542px) 100vw, 542px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Self portrait, 1987, with my U2 Joshua Tree concert shirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"100\" data-attachment-id=\"7581\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/poornography\/sig\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/sig.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"400,100\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"sig\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/sig.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/sig.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7581\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/sig.jpg 400w, https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/sig-120x30.jpg 120w, https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/sig-90x23.jpg 90w, https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/sig-320x80.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please pin, tweet, and share! Most importantly, let me know what you think in the comments below. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the early Summer of 1987, I was in the Air Force, stationed in Sembach, West Germany. I was 19 years old. My uncle was also in the Air Force&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,18,11],"tags":[],"powerkit_post_featured":[],"class_list":["post-7091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","category-personal","category-retro","category-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/u2_featured.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5zSfL-1Qn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7091"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10981,"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7091\/revisions\/10981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7091"},{"taxonomy":"powerkit_post_featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmypribble.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/powerkit_post_featured?post=7091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}