about ZooTV8
How I met U2: the second time (of four)
U2 always stay at a particular luxury hotel in Chicago, which is just down the street from where I used to work. In October 2001, was walking toward Walgreens on Michigan Avenue to drop off film (remember that?) from the previous night’s U2 concert. There was a small crowd of people outside the hotel whom I asked if they heard if the boys were still there... They said Bono's bodyguard just came out and said he would bring Bono and Edge out in 10 minutes if they were "orderly." I decided to stay...
When they came out of the hotel, I was in the middle of the "receiving line" wearing a suit. Edge and Bono walked up to me first --I guess because I looked respectable and non-threatening, or maybe because I'd met them both in Dublin in December 1999...
I asked Edge and Bono to sign a few things as other rushed around them. Edge bolted for the car, as Morleigh (his life partner and mother of his youngest 2 children) was already in the limo waiting for him and Bono.
Bono chatted with me as I mentioned to him that we'd met at U2's H.Q. in Dublin and that he took a picture hugging my wife. He apologized for that! I told Bono it was okay and that we used the picture as our 1999 Holiday Greeting Card. He said he was "glad it worked out for [Laura and I].
I then asked if I could have a companion picture with him, too. As he began to say "Er um, yeah, sure", a Chicago fire truck with its lights on passed by. Bono stopped talking to everyone, stood on his tip-toes, followed the truck with his head and said "WOW!" Once it had passed, he looked back at me and continued to talk. Very funny! Then Bono glommed onto me with a big hug. Someone snapped the photo and he was off. I quickly walked to Walgreens to drop off the film in 1-hour processing. As I walked back past their hotel, people were lining up again... Larry and Adam, same deal as before from the body guards.
No film, but Larry walked straight to me, said hello, smiled and gave me an autograph. Same for Adam, 30-seconds later. Some old guy barged through the line, pushing me into Adam. Adam gave the old man a really nasty look (the "what the 'effen-A?" look). Someone in the back shouted "He's a BIG fan, Adam", to which Adam smiled and laughed.
When I walked past the hotel again after work to retrieve my film from Walgreens, I ran into Paul McGuinnes, U2's manager; however, he was actually an arrogant ass to me when I said hello.
Next time, I'll tell you how I nearly ran over Adam Clayton with my SUV on Michigan Avenue in 2005...
2009-07-02 - Barcelona
Achtung Baby
