We asked Eric Shivvers, 20 plus year fan of the Irish rock band U2, to tell us about The Joshua Tree album and tour. This is what he answered exclusive for U2place.
During the summer of 1987, The Joshua Tree album was played incessantly through my stereo. When I arrived back at the University of Iowa that fall, to begin the school year, U2 announced their American tour dates. I was pretty sure we could have attracted the band at that time as they were still playing college campuses. Unfortunately, when the dates were announced a few weeks after my arrival back on campus, we were not chosen. That was until the band was told that they couldn’t set up their outdoor stage at a neighboring college up the road. U2 had to change venues on the fly and chose the arena on our campus. As I say in the book, “It was like the rock gods looked down on us, zapped a lightning bolt onto our campus and said, “By the power invested in us, we’ve chosen U2 to play Iowa City on the Joshua Tree tour.” I honestly couldn’t believe these Irish rockers were coming to our college. The announcement added more fuel to the U2 fandom fire burning inside me. Within days of the change of venue announcement, my anxieties kicked in, waiting for that night to come. The sad thing was everyone else wanted those coveted tickets. I, one of the band’s biggest fans, ended up with the worst seats in the house, but that didn’t matter. I was seeing U2.
It will be twenty-five years, this coming fall, since I first saw U2 in concert on that fateful night in Iowa City. I cannot believe it’s been that long. So much has happened to me in that span of time, but in reality, I’m still the same person inside who is passionate about this band. The excitement of ripping off the plastic wrapping of a new U2 CD, standing in line for concert tickets, meeting other fans at the venues and of course, getting the pre-show jitters still exists. All of this has some sort of cost. Well, I guess a better way to put it is one has to have an understanding of my fandom. My wife thought I was crazy when we first met, but after eight years of marriage, she has come to my side and understands how the band is important to me on many levels. In fact, it was she who sent me to a writing workshop at my Alma mater to write the book, I’m a Fan: How I married U2 into my life without going to the altar. When I arrived back on campus, I retraced my steps, even into that very arena where I sat in my seats and gazed over the immense space to where the stage that night sat. I had a feeling my life had come full circle.
If you had asked me on October 21st, 1987 if I would eventually write a book about my U2 fandom, I would have said, “No. My parents are writers and they’re boring.” I would have even given you the same response ten years ago, but all that changed. When my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s I needed an escape from life. I turned to my life’s story and decided to write a book about what I knew best. Not Cycling. Not graphic design. But U2. The story had to capture everyone – U2 fans and non-U2 fans. I had to engage the audience and tell them how the stepson of an Irish Literary scholar became a U2 fan not because of his parent’s intellect on the subject of James Joyce, but for his ability to let me see the world through travel. I love this because irony in a story makes life interesting. Even though my stepfather is no longer with me, I still visit him visa vie a U2 song and that is where I find comfort in life.
Below we propose an excerpt from the book Erik wrote, in particular here he’s remembering about the venue he assisted on 20 october 1987.
I stood there and watched an old friend become engulfed into the masses. Ray and I cut to our right, through the sea of humanity, and made our way to our seats. Like a dog sensing an earthquake, people began to run through the concourse. The flurry of activity on U2’s stage came to a stop. Without warning, the lights went dark. Pandemonium broke out. Fans sitting next to us rushed to the stairs. Ray and I stayed back. Rented security and student workers couldn’t retain the river of flesh charging to the arena floor. The base of the arena swelled like the waves of a sea. The backing track to Where the Streets Have No Name began. Edge’s arpeggio commenced as spotlights flickered on and off, creating more tension. Bono, the last to arrive, wore a cowboy hat and a duster. He shouted, “Hello! Ooooohhhh……….Yeah ……..Alright.” All of a sudden, the stage was awash in blue-tinted light and there was Bono, tiptoe dancing in his cowboy boots and gyrating to the beat. Edge stood next to him strumming his guitar. Adam swayed with his bass. Larry kept them all in line with his marching drumbeat. The show was on. Bono came to the microphone, launched into the lyric and blew the evening into the stratosphere. I was lucky. Everyone has a favorite band and remembers songs or albums from their college years. To have such a big album, like The Joshua Tree, break in the middle of my collegiate years, was very fortunate.
At one hundred eighty feet from the stage, we could still feel the passion. Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry couldn’t have cared less where they were playing nor the size of the venue. All U2 cared about was performing to passionate onlookers, observing their stripped-down concert, full of raw energy. It was a far cry from the norm where rock acts at the time relied heavily on special effects. On this night, there were no lasers, pyrotechnics or video screens. Just four guys, on a stark stage, letting their music speak for itself. We couldn’t contain our excitement and nor could Bono as his arm had been in a sling for two weeks. Tonight, the arm was free to play the harmonica. “My once broken and now mended arm,” he said to us as he introduced Trip Through Your Wires. Edge, Larry and Adam stayed in line and let the singer speak for them. The roar of a response from the crowd was their validation to be in the band.
U2 sprinkled the set with classics such as Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year’s Day, which Ray and I sang to. The song October was the deepest cut from their catalog and only used as a lead into New Year’s Day. MLK, The Unforgettable Fire and Bad were remnants from the previous tour; the band refrained from leaving them behind. Exit exuded raw power and In God’s Country, my favorite tune from The Joshua Tree, sounded even purer as the main set came to a close with Pride (In the Name of Love). Bono waved to the crowd and slowly left the stage. We clapped, whistled and shouted for an encore. It seemed like eternity. The band arrived back to a stage drenched in red light. Bono was letting us know that the United States had blood on our hands in Bullet the Blue Sky. He entered the song with bravado and ranted a long soliloquy. The following tune was the soft Running to Stand Still, which was infused with a dark narrative of the inner reaches of heroin usage plaguing Ireland, leaving a heavy burden on the stage. While Bono moved through the lyrics, he grabbed a hand-painted bed sheet scribbled with “Hawkeyes Love U2” and draped himself in it. U2 held out their biggest hit to date, With or Without You. It was not an up-tempo closer, but one that was to leave us with two thoughts, one religious and the other about relationships. In the religious sense, Christ and living with or without Him. And in the meaning of relationships, loving someone by giving whole-heartedly without receiving the same level of love in return. It was a heavy, double-entendre song and a storyline the band would visit quite often in upcoming recordings, including the future hit, One.
As the last notes of With or Without You hung over the crowd, the stage went dim. We knew we were being led to the end of the performance. The standard show’s closer, 40, began to exude from the speakers. Edge and Adam exchanged instruments. Bono, with the help of us in the audience, sang the song in its entirety and said good-night. Adam, followed by Edge, played a little solo and left the stage leaving Larry as the sole representative of the band onstage. With his thunderous beat, he kept the song alive as the crowd sung in replacement of the lead singer. With the last cymbal crash, five years would pass before I would see them again. The show was everything I thought it would be and then some. U2 played it straight and taught us a thing or two about their impression of America. It was a radiant night and worth every anxiety attack I struggled with prior to the event.
– excerpt from I’m a Fan: How I married U2 into my life without going to the altar, Eric Shivvers
You can buy Erik’s book following this
Here the blog: http://iamau2fan.com/