Larry Lootsteen, Conestogo, Ontario, Canada
I guess I'm feeling my years this morning. I turned 50 last April. And now that I see that my first favourite U2 album is 30, should I?
I don't really feel 50. But I don' t feel 19 any more either. I felt 19 until I hit 40. Then I felt 23 for a few years. Now it seems to be catching up a bit more. Today I feel 38.
I'm sure the band is feeling it more these days too. No lack of energy and drive but I'm sure they notice how things have changed. And with War, I can look back and realize what that album really started.
I was listening to U2 some back before that release in 1983. But I became a real fan with that one. It was a turning point for the band. And it was for me as well. Out of college, starting my career. I was just starting to hang out with a group of people who included the woman who would become my wife. And 27 years later, she still is.
War started a run of indestructibility, undeniability and near perfection for me as a fan that lasted until 1997's Pop. It wasn't that I didn't love that album too. It was when I realized every band has a shelf life. And suddenly they had one too.
They fought through that and still continue to fight. This fall should give a good indication of where they stand. For them. For us. For me. And as the wars they fought against and so many since continue to end and begin again, the war of hearts, two hearts really, yours and mine, begins again. I can't stop the dance, honey, maybe this is their last chance.
And whether this is the beginning of the end or end of the beginning, our two hearts still beat as one.