Magnificent

A few years back, veteran director Rob Reiner assembled the legendary duo of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman for his latest film, The Bucket List. The movie was pretty good, but inadvertently created a distinct awareness in the viewer by posing a simple question: What things do you HAVE to experience before you die? The title of the film gave a name to this phenomenon about assembling a direly important "To-Do List" before leaving this earth. Whether extreme activities like skydiving, visiting foreign countries, or reconciling with loved ones, there is definitely impact in realizing these important longings...and then eventually crossing one off your list.

With U2 in town this past week (and me without tickets), I had accepted the fact that I wasn't going to see them at Reliant Stadium. But then, in a whirlwind twenty-four period, Melissa and I were set to go, with great seats to boot. It was an incredible experience, to put it lightly. Seeing Bono & the boys is something on my own "bucket list," so I left quite fulfilled. The fact U2 played over two hours of great music--with a little Amazing Grace thrown in--was more than I was expecting. The best songs, in my mind: "Elevation," "Amazing Grace/Where the Streets Have No Name," "City of Blinding Lights," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "One." Hard to narrow it down from there! Getting to see Muse as the opener was awesome too, but there was no doubt U2 met and exceeded the lofty expectations of a raucous Houston crowd.

(Pictures courtesy of the Houston Press)