"something ancient and altogether magical"

Many thanks to David Williamson for giving me a heads-up about his reflections after the U2 Croke Park concert we both attended. It's not about the concert in particular, but is a lovely piece of writing. I enjoyed his opening image of what you'd have to throw in the mix if you were going to try and clone U2, and I grinned at the phrase "exploring the most sensory fringes of Christendom." Excerpt (U2ey poem links are mine):
The 17th century metaphysical poets, who included in their ranks John Donne and George Herbert, used metaphor to explore the ecstasies of love and religion with footloose wit and invention. Bono and the Edge arguably had more in common with these erstwhile wordsmiths than the likes of Simple Minds and Big Country. Together with drummer Larry Mullen Jr., the three had been immersed in a charismatic Christianity which was as far removed from the ritualistic Catholicism of Dublin as punk rock was from the Monkees. This intensity of religious experience starched the band of the sceptical cynicism which had killed off the optimism of the Sixties. Though their rhythms may have come from the Velvet Underground and the Clash, they kept hold of the ideals of love and fulfilment that a society reeling from Watergate and Vietnam was fast abandoning. This willingness to paint a musical landscape where the mountaintops point, literally, to the heavens didn't shipwreck their careers. In moments of love and friendship, even the jaded urbanite can believe momentarily in the joy such music mirrors. The thousands - and later millions - of people who punched the air during U2 concerts may not have realised how similar the events were to spirited revival meetings, but in a secular age such highs are hard to come by.