Bono, in an interview with Jon Pareles of The New York Times:

After all the scale and sculpture of ‘360,’ to begin the next tour with only a single light bulb.

Although I won’t be in Rogers Arena in Vancouver for the opening night of the Songs of Innocence tour, I will be in the crowd on the second night.

I can not wait.

If you read the news, Songs of Innocence didn’t have the greatest debut. It probably holds a record for the album with the most downloads ever (or something like that), but it’ll be with an asterisk next to it.

Despite the asterisk, I love the album. It’s no Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby, but man it’s good. I’ve listened to the songs on repeat ever since the album debuted, and I’m chomping at the bit for the first half of Friday’s show to end with Raised by Wolves.

U2 is my first foray into geekdom. I was a U2 fan before I could talk. My dad played the punk band’s music in the vehicle on our trips from province to province, and it has stuck with me ever since.

This New York Times peek into U2’s pre-tour practicing plants just the right amount of shivers down my spine to make the next four days a terribly long time to wait.