Van Halen is the greatest band of all time

[TripletDaddy]

For nostalgia's sake, I rewatched the U2 video on You Tube and it is funny how it has been edited. The events of the day did not really occur the way the video would suggest.

I was a sophomore in HS in 87 and KROQ, the local radio station, had announced on its morning show (Richard Blade and Poor Man) that U2 would be downtown filming and doing a free show.

My friends and I used it as an excuse to go record shopping in hollywood and catch a free show. The show itself was actually not in a great part of downtown...it was on Main street and about 6th or so....basically a few blocks outside of Skid Row.

U2 had been setting up there for a day or so and this event had been planned well in advance.

We got there at about 1 or so and there were a few thousand there milling about...HS kids, suits from downtown, and what seemed like a lot of homeless people, too.

The band would address the crowd now and then with megaphones updating everyone as to the progress and informing us that there was in issue with security. They talked about their new album (Joshua Tree) and the launch of their tour. The band indicated that as long as everyone would stay OUT of the street and on the corners, they would be allowed to play a short set.

The band played 2 or so songs and everyone stayed out of the street. I remember one of the songs was New Year's Day. Do not remember the other 1 or 2 because I was not that into their stuff.

Finally, they announced that the cops were going to let them do one more song. Some organizer, maybe it was the bands manager, comes out on the roof with a megaphone and basically tells everyone to get crazy and charge the streets. So everyone piles into the intersection and U2 played "Where the Streets...." They played it twice, if I recall.

The second time they played it, the cops came out and shut it down at the end of the song.

The video edit makes it seem like the band played on despite warnings to the contrary. Also, you can briefly see the guy with the megaphone and footage of people running into the intersection. But you can also clearly see that most of us were just standing on corners for the shoot because the traffic needed to pass through. You can also see a few homeless people.

All in all, it was a fun experience to witness a litte slice of rock history, but the video, in typical Bono style, is a bit self-aggrandized.