Who lives under the Brooklyn Bridge?
Sunday, December 12, 2004 • Posted by jcb
A few weeks ago chaos reigned in the streets of Manhattan. However, instead of the usual cabal of drunken cab drivers and myopic MTA bus drivers, New Yorkers were treated to the band U2 driving through the heart of Manhattan on a flatbed semi truck. Apparently the lads from Eire thought mucking up mid-town traffic for the afternoon might make good celluloid. So did I. So I grabbed the one man I knew would spend the whole day canvassing New York in search of the world’s greatest rock band. Adam Jones. I soon found Adam had his own motivations for coming along. (ed. note. my good friend Adam seems to have stumbled upon a rather successful career directing commercials and short films.) Before I could offer Adam the last of my stale bear claw, he had me saddled up with a mini-dv camera, batteries, extra-film, a digital camera of some sort, and a super-8 film camera. In the midst of this maelstrom of activity I managed to scrawl out a sign with the phrase “Rock and Roll Stops the Traffic”. Older fans of U2 might remember the U2 concert documentary Rattle & Hum. Bono spray paints the phrase on a fountain during an outdoor concert in San Francisco. A political firestorm later followed the mayor’s attempt to prosecute Bono for vandalism. I thought it oddly fit the moment.
As the noon hour approached our nervous apprehension soon melted away as we spotted the band and it’s caravan of approach vehicles and film cameras lumbering our way. Suddenly drunk on fanaticism, I jumped up on a traffic barricade completely forgetting about the film/dv/ or still cameras. I waved my ridiculous sign and spotted Bono giving my sign a wide eyed grin followed by a deep bow. Crazy.
For the better part of an hour Adam and I tailed the caravan getting various shots and just taking in the madness of it all. We finally headed to the Brooklyn Bridge where U2 ended the caravan with a full blown free concert for all. What a day in New York.
See the clips here.
U2 Jammed clips
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