The Code of U2: A Tribute

Many times I've stared at the sun and listened to a U2 album as if it was my last night on earth. And even if I'd passed away from it God knows they have a sound that could wake up a dead man. For a minute there U2 was stuck in a moment they couldn't get out of. Many fans begged them please to come out with a new album that would make us numb with ranting. They could make all the baby faces they wanted and burn down Joshua trees with their unforgettable fire and we wouldn't care. And even though their lyrics often make me nostalgic for all that I can't leave behind, there is certain a symmetry to their long journey down the road of musical discovery past to present. They taught us how to count to four in Spanish and gave us vertigo without making us dizzy. Then they instructed us on the intricacies of how to dismantle an atomic bomb. With or without us they moved to a place were they were running to stand still. Timeless and classic, stateless and without a country, they are now citizens of the world.

U2 knows better then anyone that sometimes you can't make it on your own, and that eventually U2 and all their fans will at some point have met on a street with no name. For those who adore them, love is blindness and they will overlook their flaws until the end of the world because we know that Bono, Edge, Clayton and Mullen will keep trying to throw their arms around the world anyway, in their endless quest for all people to be one. Still in U2's world, life is always a zoo station where fans stay so faraway so close even though they are willing passengers. This irony is a bittersweet lemon for a band that loves and respects their millions of fans. It's what keeps us begging for more of the magnificent energy that is only theirs to create, and what ensures that concert goers will flock to where ever they will perform in God's country, from Miami to the Cedars of Lebanon. It's all because of you that music has been introduced to a sound that is in a league all by its self. And even when we're treated to the crumbs off your table we're confident that we will be full. So here's to a band that leaves their hearts on the stage so that every note played is a true moment of surrender. And if our paths are not fated to cross, I hope that somewhere U2 is reading this tribute, from a lifelong fan - someone who just wants them to see that anytime I'm lured into their sonic dreamscape, I'll have a beautiful day knowing that it's even better then the real thing.