Lazy Sunday afternoon

Possibly because we attended the 2011 WWA National Wakeboard Championships on the Mississippi River on Saturday in downtown Minneapolis, interest in wakeboarding was high this weekend. Even Alison made it into the lake twice, including one attempt on waterskis - a first for both things (1. into the lake, and 2. waterskis).

Emily has wakeboarded before. Katie has waterskied, but not wakeboarded. Today, they each took a run. Obviously Emily's experience allowed a longer run.

Singing in the Rain

After waiting close to 2 years for the concert to arrive, U2 finally played TCF Stadium in Minneapolis this past weekend. The show was originally scheduled for June 2010, but then lead singer Bono hurt his back and all bets were off.

The concert was the first outdoor stadium concert in 33 years. It was only fitting that it poured rain for close to 75% of the show. To quote from the review in the Star Tribune, "the drizzle eventually turned into a deluge, and Bono and the band played on, getting pelted by the downpour, along with 60,000 jubilant fans." Well, 59,999 maybe. Alison enjoyed the show, but "jubilant" wouldn't be the description. Everything else is true. Every time the rain appeared to slow, it ratched up again, getting heavier and harder. I've been less wet in the shower.

The show was great. I've seen U2 four or five times dating back to the Joshua Tree Tour in 1987 (one of my first concerts) held at the old Foxboro Stadium. The best show was the ZooTV Tour where I watched the performance from the field at Wembley Stadium in London. With general admission tickets, my friend and I squirmed our way to something near the third row.

This show ranked among the best I've seen. The rain made it interesting and entertaining, but the music was excellent. What shocked me most is that the rain didn't interupt the music even though they have next to no cover from the rain.

The last time I saw U2 (in 2005 at Madison Sq. Garden), Bono's voice was a bit shot at the end of the tour. He couldn't hit any of the higher, longer notes. In this case, Minneapolis was one of the last stops of the tour leg; yet, his voice sounded vibrant.

The set list was solid with old and new hits alilke. What many of U2's younger fans may not comprehend is the transformational leap they made between Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, and just how amazing that was. In 1989, U2 was at the top of the world, a legendary band. The put out a simultaneous album/movie for goodness sake (Rattle & Hum) which easily could have been their "Jump the Shark" moment. They could have been like the Rolling Stones and played Rolling-Stone songs until they died and been multi-billionaires. Instead they COMPLETELY changed how they played music, and in turn how music was played. Truly amazing and ballsy.

There aren't many bands that transition from one music genre to another. When "their" sound ends, they usually disappear for a while, and then play 10 years of reunion tours. The fact that these guys were the definition of 1980s rock, and then release Achtung Baby in like 1991-ish, which was soooo different, so much edgier, is what make them one of the best bands of all-time, I think.

Main Set: Even Better Than the Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways - Rain, Until the End of the World - Anthem, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found, Stand By Me, Stuck in a Moment, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Can't Stand the Rain - Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights - Singing in the Rain, Vertigo, Miss You-I'll Go Crazy (remix)-Raindrops Keep Falling-Discotheque-Life During Wartime-Psycho Killer, Please - Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On

Encore(s): One - Purple Rain, Hallelujah - Purple Rain - Where the Streets Have No Name - Singing in the Rain, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender - Singing in the Rain

I recorded these on my phone





I put my camera away when the rain started. Here is a great YouTube post from someone right in front of the stage:



Perfect.

Fireworks in style

The town had a "Spirit of the Lakes" festival this weekend. Nothing special, but they did have a nice fireworks show Saturday night. Our neighbor is a collector and dealer of old, restored wooden boats. He took us out on the classic POSH to watch the fireworks.

It was a real treat watching the fireworks in high style.

Click here for the history of the boat.

Fourth fun

Despite traveling issues, I had a nice weekend celebrating the 4th in NY. Alison and the girls spent three great days on Cape Cod, but failed to take any pictures.

I flew in Thursday night, and on Friday had an opportunity to tour the floor of the New York Stock Exchange - something I have never done before. Although the Friday before the 4th was hardly action-city on the floor, it was interesting to see them ring the opening bell.



The rest of the weekend was spent in Westchester including long stays at the golf club. I got severely sunburned after falling asleep at the pool on Saturday (wear lots of sunscreen, kids!) which hampered by golf playing ability. The kids - well lathered in sunscreen - spent hours upon hours at the pool.



Emily has been practicing doing flips on the trampoline at home, and I convinced her that it was much easier off the diving board. After some hesitant flips, she spent the rest of the weekend flipping out.

Monday night we secured a sweet spot to watch the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular. High above Time Square, we watched the five barge fireworks show on the Hudson river from a friend's office conference room. It was a great view, and the perfect way for us to watch. Emily and I like fireworks, but Katie doesn't like the noise, and Alison is happy to have our own bathroom. Perfect.

We spent the night in a Manhattan hotel, and I headed back to Minneapolis Tuesday morning - well after a 3 hour delay, I think it was still morning.