U2 in 3D.

Tonight I went to U2 3D at the IMAX in Natick. From the moment I sat down I was a little overwhelmed with the bass rumbling my seat and Bono in my face belting at me with what voice he has left on Vertigo, which isn't even close to one of their best. That didn't keep me from getting chills when Pride started. Or when the With or Without You baseline reverberated through my seat.

I've loved U2 since I was 8. Achtung Baby had just been released and my brother would blast it in his room while I danced around to Mysterious Ways. I expressed my love for them in the 4th grade by writing all of their lyrics all over my notebooks. I was a bit obsessed. I fell in love with The Unforgettable Fire, Boy, War, and Joshua Tree in the 5th grade when we moved to Seattle. When Sunday Bloody Sunday started during the movie, I was taken back to the summer after fifth grade when my brother and I went to the George Karl basketball camp for week in Tacoma. We listened to Sunday Bloody Sunday everyday driving 45 mins to camp and back. I turned to Cam and asked him if he remembered that when they started playing Sunday Bloody Sunday. He laughed and smiled.

In fact, my first concert was a U2 concert. I went to the spectacle that was Popmart when I was a freshman in high school. It was at the kingdome and incredible. Little did I know that a few years later I would see them close up and more personal.

All That You Can't Leave Behind came out when I was a senior in high school. Although I loved Pop, it just wasn't the same U2 that I knew and loved. Coming off a 3 year hiatus I was hungry for more U2. I listened to that CD over and over again and fell in love with it. I went to 2 concerts on the Elevation tour -- once in San Jose and the other in 2001 in Salt Lake when I was a freshman in college. I joined a Yahoo group specifically tailored to U2 concert info to figure out how to get the best tickets. I joined the official U2 newsletter group (before they had a souped up website) and got floor tickets. I became obsessed with wanting to be up close to the band, and see them go back to basics that I grew up with. I slept outside of the Delta Center to get inside the "heart"...the ramp that came out into the floor, After all of the hours of waiting, it was truly amazing to see Bono at his finest.

Although they seem to have all aged 10 years in 5, I still love them. Yes, their new songs might be cheesy and full of some pretty bad lyrics and yes, Bono is a little crazy on stage, and yes, he's lost a lot of his voice from smoking too many cigarettes, but I loved seeing them in concert where I felt like I was a part of it even though I was sitting in an IMAX theater seat. I love how they still play Sunday Bloody Sunday with passion and energy after playing it for 25 years. I love that Pride still makes an impact after all of this time.

If you're not a huge U2 fan, you'll probably find a lot of it cheesy and boring. They do look a little ridiculous with receding hairlines rocking out. They don't play the strongest set, but visually it is stunning. I recommend it even if you don't have a flood of memories coming back to you during the concert.