chase the light

Got up this morning and had to get over to Shepherd’s Bush to find the Empire theater for tonight’s concert, Daniel Lanois [LINK]. I didn’t even have a street name so when I got off the Tube I asked a guy at McDonald’s and he pointed across the park at these two tall buildings. He said it was on the other side of the buildings. Ok, easy enough. One hour later I’m still walking around Shepherd’s Bush and finally ask someone else. Where’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire? Oh, it’s on this street a few blocks down, just keep going. Oh, ok. I finally get there and I realize that across the park I can see the McDonald’s where the first guy gave me horribly misguided directions. At least I knew where I was going now. Better to be lost here in the daylight than later tonight.

Hopped a train back to Kensington and went to the Serpentine Gallery to see the John Currin exhibit. Here’s a little info [LINK]. It was great and I walked through Hyde Park to the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall. Then took the train back to Piccadilly and grabbed dinner. After a little shopping and some rest I hopped back over to the Shepherd’s Bush area a little early in case there was a line. Not to bad, and for about 45 minutes the lined up crowd was entertained by the two local homeless guys who preceded to berate everybody who walked by. Seriously, the drunkest people I’ve ever seen. It was all non-threatening until they started in with the line and I was the subject of attention for about 10 minutes. Finally the police came and took care of the situation as it was starting to escalate and get unruly. Finally the concert started and Daniel Lanois came out and put in an awesome set. Since I got there early, I was able to watch the show from the front of the stage. I placed myself right by his steel guitar so I could watch him play it close up. It worked out perfectly especially for the encore when Bono came out and joined him onstage for a drunken version of “Falling At Your Feet”. Bono was so out of it he couldn’t even sing the song even when given the lyrics written out on a sheet a paper. After the song was over Daniel said, “That kids got a future”. Then Bono left the stage and Daniel said, “He’s gonna kill me later”. Well, after that drunken display I would have too. I didn’t bring my camera tonight but some guy up in the balcony did [LINK]. You can even see my head in one of the shots. Me below the red star, Bono below the white star. Great to see the show after having met him back in May [LINK].