Broadway, U2, and late night NYC

Seven months ago, I purchased tickets for Elise and I to go see U2 in New York City in September. On the floor, General Admission, in front of the stage.

One month before the concert, we re-allocated some funds in our budget to make a very condensed, exhausting, albeit enjoyable adventure.

I don't believe we walked more than 1/4 mile between the bus in front of our apartment complex, the transit bus from Philadelphia to NYC, and the subway from Madison Square Garden to the Manhattan LDS Temple. Amazing how effective public transportation can be.

After the Manhattan Temple, we went to our 2nd Broadway show since coming back East. The first was Mary Poppins for Elise's birthday, and for my birthday we decided to see West Side Story.

I love West Side Story. For so many reasons. Unfortunately, this show didn't meet the high expections I had. When you're seeing the FIRST Broadway revival for an iconic show in musical history - especially when said show director was heavily involved with Bernstein and Sondheim for the ORIGINAL production - wouldn't you expect more than a bunch of GAP models posing as gang members? Bah!

That said, the two Latin women playing Maria and Anita were absolutely incredible. THAT was the kind of electricity I was looking for. On top of that, "I Feel Pretty" is a much more beautiful and meaningful song when sung in Spanish. Just sayin'.

We then took the train to Giants Stadium (the next three pictures are professionally taken from other concerts, please click on them!).


Incredible stage.


Great music.


I'll summarize the U2 concert with 80,000 people singing along with the following photo. That's your good friend Bono in the background. Yes, we were that close.

Train ride back to Penn Station, and we arrived back in Manhattan at 1am.

We had a room waiting for us at the YMCA, however our bus was leaving in five hours. I'm a sucker for romantic song lyrics, and two of my favorite love songs are Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" and Animal Collective's "Summertime Clothes". Paul Simon refers to a couple falling asleep at the end of a date, holding each other at night in a doorway with the lights of Broadway immersing. Animal Collective (weird band, but oh! such a beautiful song) sings of a couple who can't sleep, so they spend the entire evening walking around downtown Manhattan with nobody around, enjoying each others company and the quiet of the late evening, finally going to bed at sunrise. Those songs have always made me want to walk around New York City, late at night, with the woman I love.

We didn't last as long as either of them, though. We made it until about 3am, then left Times Square absolutely exhausted. Slept for a little over two hours, then made the journey back to West Chester, showing up for the last half of the work day.

Random, quick trip. Jam-packed of goodness. Bless my dear, darling wife for going along with these activities. She's amazing.