A secret is something...

You tell one other person, so I'm telling you...

It's possible that I'm cheating, but I think Bono would enjoy my misinterpretation.

It's no secret that I'm a U2 nut. I find them fascinating for a variety of reasons. Musically, certainly, I love their stuff. It has all the highs and lows and bittersweetness of real life and it's carried me through dark times and euphoric times of my life. Individually, they are remarkable people. I would love to sit down and have drinks with the four of them and learn just one thing from each of them. And as businessmen, it's widely discussed how well they've invested and saved their shillings. All that's amazing stuff. But I also look beyond that. Because they're such a big operation now, they hire great people; designers, crew, drivers, management, press people. And all of those folks have a wealth of knowledge and information to share that's invaluable. And so I read everything I find on their website. It all helps to give me ideas (every poet is a thief) which I - in turn - will pass on to my boys and we implement with success or failure. U2 is a well-oiled machine from it's shiny surface (the band) to its smallest pins (the crew) and there's a lot to learn from something that is so successful and so interesting.

One of my favourite parts, though, is called "Willies Diary". Willie is the tour designer for U2 (he's certainly done some fine work in his day). He's not a writer, but he has a flare for prose. Maybe everyone on 'the road' talks like this and that's all the more reason for me to get touring as soon as I can. His diary is riddled with neat stuff about technical information, restaurants, clubs, gossip and humour. I highly suggest checking it out. Here's a couple of excerpts.

21.04.2005
Denver Pepsi Centre II

"On the Elevation Tour we thought it was a real treat (and very funny) to very occasionally be able to receive wireless Broadband at the mix position. On the Vertigo Tour we couldn’t do the show without it. Even I was slightly staggered to witness Ash (the guy who wrote the control system software for our video set-up) updating the system yesterday. Why so strange? Well, the system was set up in Denver and Ash is in San Francisco. Or possibly London. Actually I have no idea where Ash is, other than being nowhere near Denver, but there he was – moving the on-screen cursor, writing code, installing new elements. Its witchcraft, I tell you…… "


23.04.2005
In Denver

"Come the evening Smasher announced he was off to see a band composed of one-legged midgets who play for a while and then wrestle (apparently). Not 100% sure of how to respond to that."