Showing posts with label Adam Clayton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adam Clayton. Show all posts

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Sheffield Wednesday & Random Ramblings

This will be an odd blog post. I'm going to start by discussing Saturday's Sheffield Wednesday-Birmingham City game (including some random thoughts that have nothing to do with the game) and finish with some random ramblings. So if you're not interested in Sheffield Wednesday, scroll down. If you're not interested in my other ramblings, I'll let you know when to stop.

Sheffield Wednesday moved closer towards 0 and getting out of last place on Saturday by earning 3 points in a 1-0 win at Birmingham City. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Wednesday started the season with a 12-point deduction for breaking spending rules. After five matches in the English League Championship, they are now at -4 which continues to look extremely odd.


Just a few days ago, Wednesday signed Aden Flint on a loan from Cardiff City and Jack Marriott on a loan from Derby County. Despite not knowing their way around Wednesday's facilities yet, they both played on Saturday. Flint was pressed into service thanks to several injuries on the team's back line. Marriott also came in late in the second half. Both are experienced players, particularly with Flint's nearly 400 appearances, and they seem excited to join Wednesday. This gives the team even more depth. At the very least, the team should be able to get some good hotel rates thanks to the Jack's connection with Marriott.

Wednesday has now faced two music superstars over the past month. While they didn't fare well against Chris Martin and Bristol City, U2's Adam Clayton tripped Wednesday's Callum Paterson in the box, and Barry Bannon converted the penalty kick for the only goal of the game. Yes, Adam Clayton was stuck in a moment and couldn't get out of it.


There have been so many matches over the last few years where Wednesday had the lead only to concede a late goal. Birmingham City came close, but for once, Wednesday held on. That's nice to type.

I'm sharing this post-match video of Birmingham City defender George Friend, not for anything that he said (though he thought his team deserved a better result), but for him being a professional. When someone with a lawnmower or a leaf blower walks by around the 2:00 minute mark, Friend just talks louder. I'm guessing this isn't the first time this has happened to Friend in the middle of an interview. True professional!


Here are the match highlights:


And now for the non-Sheffield Wednesday portion of this blog post.

On Saturday night, we let three year old Luigi move from a crib to a big boy bed. It didn't go well as it took him nearly two hours to go to sleep. I think this deserves a separate blog post.

Broadway actor Aaron Tveit and I have a lot in common. We both did theater in high school, and we both graduated from Ithaca College. I'm sure there are other things too. The main difference between us though is that Tveit is probably going to be a Tony-award winning actor after being the only nominee in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical category. The key word here is probably. Despite being the only nominee, he's not guaranteed to win the award. Tveit still needs to earn 60% of the vote. I really hope he wins, and it would be insulting and sad if he doesn't.

Random question. Do you put a dryer sheet in the dryer before you put the clothes in or after you put the clothes in the dryer?

I may be the only person born in Pittsburgh never to have seen the movie Sudden Death. That's going to change soon.

Finally, I'm really amused that someone in the Burning Bush neighborhood posted this on Nextdoor.

Monday, July 17, 2017

U2 Concert Review

While I don't necessarily have a bucket list of bands/performers I want to see live in concert, if I did, U2 would be on this list. U2 is currently on a tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of The Joshua Tree, so despite the fact that I vowed never go to FedEx Field again, I traveled there to see U2 in June. (For the record, I said I would never see a Redskins game at FedEx again. It's extremely inconvenient to get there, parking and refreshments are extraordinarily high, and it's owned by Dan Snyder. Also for the record, for the U2 concert, it was still extremely inconvenient to get there, but I parked in a non-FedEx Field lot and didn't buy any food or drink at the stadium.)


* There were two songs that I wanted to see U2 perform live more than any others: Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day. U2 opened with these two songs, so I decided that it was time to leave on a high note.



* I'm sure that you're shocked that I didn't actually leave after two songs. U2 performed four songs on the "small" stage and then transitioned to a gigantic stage to play The Joshua Tree album in its entirety.



* Hot take: Side A of The Joshua Tree album (cassette!) with Where the Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, With or Without You, and Bullet the Blue Sky is great. Side B is meh. From top to bottom, the All That You Can't Leave Behind album with Beautiful Day, Elevation, Walk On, and Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of is better than The Joshua Tree. Hot take complete.

* I saw The Rolling Stones in San Diego in 1998 and remember thinking that they were old (yet were still amazing live). At the time of that show, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were 54, Ronnie Wood was 50, and Charlie Watts was 56. Meanwhile, U2 is actually older now than The Stones were then as Bono and Adam Clayton are 57 and The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. are 55.

* Does The Edge ever not wear a hat? Does he sleep in one and shower with a hat too?

* So despite leaving more than two hours before the start of the concert, we didn't make it to our seats until part-way through The Lumineers set. Therefore, I never saw The Lumineers perform Ho Hey, also known as the only song that I know by them. I did hear Ho Hey twice on the radio the day after the concert, so I'll call it even.

* I'm not taking credit for this observation, but Adam Clayton has an Anthony Bourdain look to him.


* U2 has such a deep catalog. I was (and am) happy that they played Elevation, Beautiful Day, One, Vertigo, and Pride (In the Name of Love) but it would have been cool if they also played Mysterious Ways and Desire. Again, really, really deep catalog.

* Overall, I really enjoyed the show. Yes, Bono talks a lot between songs about a wide variety of topics, but you know that coming in.

* Here's The Washington Post's review of the show. A lot of people didn't like it along with a few songs. The Baltimore Sun reviewed the show too.

* Oh, I was able to take this picture at FedEx Field for free. Thanks, Dan Snyder!


Finally, here are some videos from the show:

Sunday Bloody Sunday


(Another view of Sunday Bloody Sunday)


New Year's Day


Where the Streets Have No Name