"I’d like to have written “Lemon”. “A man melts the sand so he can see the world outside” is some of the coolest poetry I’ve seen, and really the whole song is."
Tell us something about yourself, who are you, where do you live, etc.?
Hi all, some of you may know my name is Dane, and I live in the United States in Tennessee. I’m 15 and in the 9th grade in highschool. I live with my parents, 3 sisters, and 3 dogs.
How did you become a U2 fan, why did you choose this band among other younger, more popular rock bands?
When I was about 10 my father and I went places together frequently, and he always listened to music in his car. He played it off of an SD card, mostly Black Keys, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, etc. but he had one U2 song on it, “Get On Your Boots.” I liked it a lot, but that wasn’t what launched me into fandom. It was about a year and a half later that I got an Amazon Kindle Fire and accidentally discovered “The Joshua Tree” in my father’s Amazon music library that I became a true fan. One of the reasons I think I chose U2 over more recent younger/popular bands was hearing Bullet the Blue Sky and the anger and emotion being poured into it. I had never heard music like it before, and pretty soon I was listening to One Tree Hill and Red Hill Mining town. My father (bless him, he didn’t know his son would become obsessed) provided me several more songs to get into when I asked about them, I can remember listening to Into The Heart, Electric Co., BD, Vertigo, SBS, October and AIWIY pretty clearly.
Does anyone in your family or one of your friends like U2? If so, did they introduce you to U2, or did you "convert" them?
My dad’s been a fan since he was in highschool. I have a couple of his old vinyls, October and Wide Awake in America. I believe he saw them live once on the Joshua Tree tour but I’m not sure which show he attended. My mother is a casual fan who appreciates their more well-known material. My sister (the one closest to my age, two years younger) took some time, I finally converted her but it was a painful two-year process; she hated U2 at first. And now they’re her favorite band!
How would you introduce a skeptic friend to U2?
I would play them Bad, live from probably Wide Awake in America, the famous Denver 1987 bootleg, or any of the UF Tour versions, probably a Nantes show. That’s worked in the past, and when it failed once I just played them The Fly and they liked that (that particular friend likes almost exclusively rap so it was tricky).
Can you tell us one song (U2 or not) that you wish you had written?
That’s a tough decision. My response would probably change next time you ask me, but I’d like to have written “Lemon”. “A man melts the sand so he can see the world outside” is some of the coolest poetry I’ve seen, and really the whole song is.
How did you hear about U2start?
Well I think I stumbled upon U2start a couple years ago reading random things about U2 I was looking up (and I only remember that because I remember seeing Sergio’s [not that I knew it then] avatar and going “oh, this site again”). Last year is when I made an account after wanting to download some bootleg. It was frustrating because the site made me sign up to get it! But I’m glad it did now of course.
What is your favorite U2 bootleg, and why? Do you often listen to bootlegs?
I listen to at least random sections of bootlegs almost every day. I really like Miami 2005-1-14 and Washington 1992-8-16, but I think my favorite is Denver 1987-11-07. “Silver and Gold,” “Running to Stand Still,” “Gloria” and “Spanish Eyes” are my favorite parts of it, but the version of “Bad” just can’t be beat in my book. The Washington show is a close second.
What are your expectations for the next leg of the tour? Are you planning to attend a show?
I’m not sure what to expect for the next leg. Hopefully the megaphone will be back I think that EBW will finally see a full band appearance. I don’t know if they’ll change their E-stage set-up or not, but I think they’ll do things a little differently this next leg. I’d love to attend a show (I never have ) but I’m on a bit of a money crunch, if they come within a couple states I’ll beg all of the relatives I know.
How different is U2 compared to other artists that you like?
U2 has been the same four people ever since “Boy” and I think that’s awesome, they know each other well and make great music together. The seem genuinely close and that’s cool.
What are your hobbies and interests away from U2, musical or otherwise?
Besides U2, I like playing piano and learning guitar. I’m getting into a lot of INXS and Oasis lately as well. I love biking, especially in nice weather. I enjoy technology and sometimes like to mess with Android devices, I learned how to put Cyanogenmod on one device this summer. And I especially love my dogs.
Dane with one of his dogs
Thanks for this interview thefly108!
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