"The most cherished part of my collection are the memories—standing with friends in the cold, snow, and wind for Denver’s PopMart stop, the entire Pepsi Center crying together when the 9/11 names started rolling along the screen, and just soaking in the Sphere show from start to finish."
Tell us something about yourself, who are you and what do you do for a living?
I’m a healthcare actuary living in Golden, Colorado (home of Coors beer). Actuaries work in estimating risks and uncertainties. The COVID-19 pandemic was particularly terrifying/interesting as an actuary, but this article I did a few years back sort of explains the sort of things actuaries do: https://www.theactuarymagazine.org/the-old-and-the-beautiful/
Before I was an actuary, I was a math professor, and before that, I was a weather forecaster.
How did you become a fan of U2, tell us how it happened?
Through high school, I was a music fan (and wanted to be a synthesizer player when I grew up), although my interests tended more toward Depeche Mode, OMD, and INXS.
Things changed nicely when I entered Western Washington University and ended up in a dorm clique of people who played quite good music; I specifically remember a lot of The Joshua Tree. In April of 1992, some of this group wanted to take a party bus down from Bellingham to Tacoma to see U2 on the April 21st date of the ZooTV tour.
I was familiar enough with U2 through them that I was interested, although a lot of it was just the excitement of going to a concert (I grew up across Puget Sound from Seattle and the hurdles were onerous enough that I’d never actually been to a real concert before). The party bus was $50, including the $25 admission ticket.
We might have had the worst seats in the house, but I was 100% blown away by the sound, the stage presence, and the spectacle of ZooTV. I didn’t know until many years later just how rare the setlist was, so I didn’t know any better, but I was immediately hooked, and U2 became my favorite band—continuing up to and including today.
Your first show happened in 1992 for the ZooTV tour. Half a year later you attended another one. How were those shows for you? Can you tell us about it?
The Tacoma show is what did it for me; I got back to Bellingham and immediately started buying everything I could afford as a college kid working in the student union. As I said above, it was a pretty unique setlist for the segment. Until I die, I’ll be able to close my eyes and recall the main set’s closing where the entire crowd sang loudly to Stand By Me.
Vancouver: Same group of friends, but we drove across the border to Vancouver for a fun indoor version of the Outdoor Broadcast leg. It was election night in the US, so it was neat to be in Canada. Bono also knew it was election night and was having a bit of fun about it.
Public Enemy was the opener, but Flava Flav was not allowed across the border, so it was a unique show by them. The Sugarcubes also opened—a beautiful evening.
We had better seats—not much better—but I believe near the front of the upper deck. I remember we were chastised by the people behind us because we wanted to stand up during the concert.
I also remember that we tried to outsmart the border crossing and take one further east than the regular Blaine crossing. When we arrived at the crossing, it was closed for the night, and we had to backtrack all the way to Blaine.
You’ve seen U2 at the Sphere, did it live up to the hype?
I did not participate in the initial presale for Sphere because we’d just had a third child and I wasn’t sure it would be okay to get away. But I turned 50 in October 2023, and my wife suggested that I just splurge a bit and go.
100% lives up to the hype—everything from sitting in the building watching it fill up, to the pre-event DJ show, to the show itself. When the walls “cracked” open and Zoo Station’s opening bit started, the energy in the building just blew up, and it was a celebration all around.
I thought the pop-up exhibit on the Strip was a bit overrated (it was okay), but the show itself was one of my two favorite shows.
In your opinion, what has been U2’s defining moment and why?
I’ve changed my answer three times since I started writing this up, but I’m going to go with the Live Aid performance at Wembley. That set the stage and got the buzz going to launch them into the stratosphere with The Joshua Tree.
What does your U2 collection look like? What kind of stuff do you have and how is it organized?
I used to have a lot more physical memorabilia but divested when I had to move several years in a row. I did keep most of the older books that I have.
Probably my most treasured piece of physical memorabilia is my shirt from the April 1992 show that I still wear to concerts and other special occasions (it’s my lucky shirt). The shirt’s seen better days, but haven’t we all?
I’m more excited that I have about 400 full concert recordings, which seems like a lot but is probably below average for this group. Maybe half were acquired before the internet, including my very first, procured at a hip Bellingham, WA record store: Rock’s Hottest Ticket, which everyone knows as the April 29, 1987 Chicago show.
Other than that, I’ve got way too many CDs, but the most cherished part of my collection are the memories—standing with friends in the cold, snow, and wind for Denver’s PopMart stop, the entire Pepsi Center crying together when the 9/11 names started rolling along the screen, getting the worst sunburn of my life waiting for U2360 at Qwest Field, and just soaking in the Sphere show from start to finish.
When you’re forced to leave to a deserted island and you can take only one U2 album with you, which would it be?
Has to be Achtung Baby. My favorite song is Acrobat, but the entire album, start to finish, still brings me joy and tears.
What are your expectations of a possible future new album?
I’d love to see them take some risks and see what happens. I hope they have it in them. I think they have it in them.
How different is U2 compared to other artists that you like?
I think it’s the relationship between the fans and the band—and also the stability of the band itself relative to other groups I enjoy.
I started going to concerts solo over the last decade, and it’s just great that no matter who I’m next to, the conversation just flows naturally.
I also really appreciate the visual aspects of a U2 show. The combination and the full sensory experience is something U2 puts extra energy into, and the connection with the audience and willingness to cross that barrier has always impressed me.
What are your hobbies and interests away from U2, musical or otherwise?
My main interests are my wife and three small children; just watching my kids grow, learn, and experience new things has been really exciting.
Beyond that, I’m a recreational ice hockey goaltender, I’ve climbed 35 of Colorado’s 58 14,000-foot mountains, and we enjoy high-altitude hiking. Cooking, traveling, and playing my keyboard (Yamaha MOTIF ES-8) round things out.
