Snapshots

The Globe review said it all about the crowd interaction from last night, comparing us to the Orpheum in 1983 and forcing anyone who doesn't know them to look up the words "manna" and "acolyte." I'm not ready to say anything about the show yet, so here are three snapshots from the whole experience last night:

1. I'm driving in on my way to circle 128 and park at Braintree, and I've decided that my best pre-U2 listening is a CD of a lecture by Peter Kreeft, a Catholic philosopher, on the "Argument from Desire" for the existence of God. Kreeft is explaining that C. S. Lewis is the clearest framer of this argument, and then he adds that even more, in terms of actually evoking desire for the transcendent as an effort to move people closer to knowing God, Lewis stands alone as the sole great example in the modern era. I start laughing.

2. Before the show I'm having a couple slices of pizza, after a great time hanging out with Matt McGee of @U2 and his son near the GA line. Every screen in the pizza place is playing post-1990 U2 videos, and most people are watching them. Across the aisle from me is a woman waiting for her companion to come back with their order, and her eyes are on the screen as the next video begins. It's "The Fly." She tears up and begins to weep.

3. About halfway through the set, I'm offered this classic example of reverse Bostonian praise, in as heavy a Bahstan accent as you can imagine, by the guy next to me: "So, they suck as usual, right?"