The Yogi’s have been traveling lately. Last week we took a fall break trip to Saint Louis and had a great time. Today though I’m talking about what we did after we got home from that trip. Sunday afternoon Sweetie and I left SuperPizzaBoy and his Nintendo DS in care of Nana and headed to Norman, Oklahoma to see the Black Eye Peas and U2 in concert at the University of Oklahoma.

Traffic was heavy all the way. It seemed everybody in Oklahoma except SPB and Nana were headed to the concert. We got there in good shape. Parking over a mile from the stadium was $15. You folks in New York City may put up with that but its a mite expensive here in the heartland. I hold Barack Obama personally responsible. I never had to pay that much for parking until he became president.

We got there early. The wind was blowing. Old Glory, along with the OU and Oklahoma State Flags were flying proudly.

U2 built this gigantic stage special for stadium shows. It is 165 feet tall and has a huge circular video screen and an oval track about 30 yards by 60 yards I woud guestimate. It certainly was impressive. Supposedly it took a week to build.

The tower contains lights and smoke machines. The legs each contained four light operators who were hoisted into place. That made for 16 guys who were locked into place with no visible means of relieving  themselves. They must have all been young. You can just barely see them below.

The Black Eye Peas came on first. They were great. I like them now more than ever. They seemed very personable despite their techno clothes and music. They have been together since the mid 1990’s. They were very polished and gracious performers. Sorry about the pictures. We were not very close. Fortunately the stage had a huge video screen.

I was going to try and embed a YouTube video of the Black Eye Peas but that’s not happening. Here is a link to their official You Tube Site. They have some very nice videos of many of their songs.

When they ended their set to a standing ovation the lights came on and the roadies redid the stage. It always amazes me how many people come up to remove stuff off the stage and put more stuff on.

Finally, the lights went down, the Band walked on the stage. Bono sang and Edge played, for hours. It was wonderful. Bono has such a clear strong distinct voice. Edge’s guitar playing was amazing. He looks like a guy that just walked out of the woods, but his skill at the guitar is amazing.

Bono is such an accomplished performer. He certainly connected with his audience in central Oklahoma Sunday night. I have to say that it may have been the most emotional concert I’ve ever been to next to the Garth Brooks shows in Tulsa in the 1990’s. In both shows the audience sang large segments of many of the songs back to the performers. It was an amazing give and take.

The stage, or “Spacecraft” as Bono put it certainly helped bring the show more visible to us up in the cheap seats. The huge video screens and loud clear sound that it made possible made the show feel much more intimate than you would expect from a stadium concert.

U2 Trailer for their concert series showing the stage.

Either one of these shows would have rated a four stars out of four. Both bands on the same night indescribable. I have to say that as much as I love the Black Eye Peas, U2 was very special. It was a bucket list performance for us.