U2start.com | Fan of the month November 2010: Doc32

Every month we put an U2 fan in the spotlights, the fan of the month November 2010 is user Doc32. Brian, as he is named, has some great things to share with us on U2 and his life. Enjoy reading!

Tell us something about yourself, who are you and what do you do for a living?
Well my name is Brian, and i just turned twenty in the middle of October, it feels so weird to have a two in front of my age, starting to make me feel old. My main occupation would have to be listed as student. I currently attend the University at Buffalo and am in my third year studying history and legal studies. My eventual goal is to go on to law school and hopefully become a lawyer someday.
Where i go to college is literally like 30 seconds down the street where i went to high school so being the poor college student i am, i'm still living at home. It's really kinda cool (some might say boring but i like it) to do all your studying in your life within 2 miles from your house. Especially if you like where you live.

In your opinion, what has been U2's defining moment and why?
For me U2's defining moment has to be their performance at Live Aid. Everything changed for them after that. The scale on which they performed and their popularity has been drastically different ever since. That performance of Bad will always be that crucial moment i think of in U2's career when they catapulted from being a band with alot of talent and potential to a band on their way to achieving superstardom.
However while i would say that is their defining moment that's not to say it's my favorite or their most significant. For me ZOOTV is the answer to both of those categories.

What does your U2 collection look like? What kind of stuff do you have and how is it organised?
My U2 collection is pretty sparse by comparison to some of our other members on the site. I own all of the albums in cd format, even though i hardly ever listen to cd's i just think they're nice to have. I like the liner notes and such. When No Line came out i bought that on vinyl, mainly because it looks cool not because i listen to records so often or anything like that.
I have a couple of posters which are hanging in my room that i like. One is of the Joshua Tree cover, another is the tour poster from the two shows i attended on the 360 tour in Toronto in 2009. The other is probably my favorite is about 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide and has all the album covers on it through All that You Can't Leave Behind, including Wide Awake in America and Under a Blood Red Sky.
My most valuable items though are probably my 3 concert tickets which i keep on my dresser

What is your favorite U2 bootleg, and why? Do you often listen to bootlegs?
I have the second ZOOTV Dublin show listed as my favorite bootleg although in reality it is probably a tie between that and the Sydney show. The Dublin show is an awesome performance with great sound, but you have got to love the quality and all the circumstances that went into that night in Sydney. Only wish it had Ultraviolet on it, so it's probably some combination of those two.

I listen to bootlegs far more frequently then i listen to albums. I enjoy albums as much as the next guy but for me music is all about the live setting. There is just something for me about live music that is unquantifiable. I don't even know how to put it into words honestly. I just enjoy the energy, passion, and interaction of live music far more than albums. The best shows are the one's where something connects between band and audience taking both somewhere they couldn't have gone alone. The bootlegs that capture that the best are my favorite.

Tell us about the time you met the band, did you get the chance to ask or tell them something?
This one i'm not sure of. Though i wish i had, I have never in fact met U2 more than anyone else who has just been to a couple concerts. If i claimed i have in the past i was either:
a. shamelessly lying
b. misunderstood
or
c. under the influence of something that had given me the impression i have met the band

However, if i met them in real life i wouldn't really have much of anything to say. I would likely just thank them for making music which i have enjoyed so immensely and tell them to stick with it until they can't anymore.

Does anyone in your family or one of your friends like U2? If so, did they introduce you to U2, or did you "convert" them?
I have one friend in particular (looking at you Big D) who shares my enthusiasm for U2.The two of us kind of grew into the band at the same time and it's always fun to have someone who shares your enthusiasm for something. I have a couple other friends who are fans as well who have attended concerts with me, but noone else with my level of obsession.
My dad kind of likes U2, he has been too two concerts with me. My first in December of 2005, and the first of the two Toronto shows. He believes i'm rather obsessive, and he's probably right.
Somewhat interesting story about that first concert i went too. It was November of 2004 when Bomb came out and u2 was all over the place over here in the US. Huge articles in the paper and whatnot. So being like they are, when they announced the Vertigo Tour show in Buffalo on December 9th of 2005, the tickets went on sale in December of 2004, a practice they continue to do much to many fans befuddlement. At the time i had just kind of really gotten into music, (I never really listened to music at all when i was younger) so i thought it would cool to see a big concert in Buffalo. They don't roll around that often. So we bought four tickets to go with the assumption that three of my friends would go with me.
At the time i was only a fan of bands like AC/DC, Van Halen, Black Sabbath etc, so U2's sound wasn't huge for me. So the year went by and I hadn't listened to any U2 at all leading up to the concert and i was really regretting buying the tickets because my three buds had bailed and i really wasn't that interested in U2 after all the Bomb hype so i was really dreading going to the concert. I convinced my Dad to go and found two other kids at school who i had just met to join me and I went with pretty low expectations. Once City of Blinding Lights started and the Lights went up during the chorus, and i saw the way people were engaged and loved this band I was a changed man. I haven't stopped my love affair with U2 ever since.

What is your favorite U2 videoclip, and why?
I have two favorite videoclips. The first is Sunday Bloody Sunday from rattle and hum. It's my favorite U2 song and i feel its also their finest performance of it. Again a song taken to the next level by circumstance and passion, and a performance that could never be replicated.
My other favorite videoclip is U2's performance of Streets at halftime of the Super Bowl in 2002. Following the 9/11 attacks it was a really heavy and emotional performance, especially to see all those names scrolling down of the victims and Bono opening his jacket at the end to reveal the American Flag. Best half time show ever

Can you tell us one song (U2 or not) that you wish you had written?
One song i wish i had written would be Ultraviolet. It's so deep, so powerful, and so catchy. For me it really is just a perfect song. I so miss the Edge's singing of Ultraviolet while Bono did his falsetto during the chorus though, that really completes the song for me.

When you're forced to leave to a deserted island and you can take only one U2 album with you, which would it be?
I would select Achtung Baby. I always love albums that have some type of a central theme or tell a greater story (including concept albums) and i feel like Achtung Baby does this to great effect. Aside from that it is also the best collection of songs they have so those two things considered it makes the choice obvious. However i would rather take my favorite concert dvd (Sydney) than my favorite album

What are your hobbies and interests away from U2, musical or otherwise?
Aside from U2, my biggest hobby is sports. Sports and music are the two biggest hobbies i have. If you ever check my twitter DocH32 (cheap plug) you'll see it's all about sports and music. In practice I have far and away more talent in the sports realm then music. All of my teams are horrid though, so maybe that's why i identify with U2's success to fulfill some inner void left in me by my sports teams!

I'd like to thank the crew for choosing me for fan of the month and for all their great work on the site. I really enjoy coming here and the interaction with those people i know and I look forward to getting to know others who i sadly don't know as well better in the future! It should be an exciting next year or so. Thanks!

Thanks for this interview Doc32!

Note: Our crew members randomly pick fans of the month, you can't sign up for it.

Coen

14 years

Great read!

Thanks for this quote:

All of my teams are horrid though, so maybe that's why i identify with U2's success to fulfill some inner void left in me by my sports teams!

You just gave me an insight to my own brain...that might be exactly my case

WojBhoy

14 years

Great read Brian

always good to have the chance to find out more about one of our fellow U2starters

KieranU2

14 years

Great interview Brian, enjoyed it

Very pleasant man!

sing_a_new_song

14 years

Great! Enjoyed reading

MattG

14 years

The visual image I get of the lights coming up during COBL, and you instantly being converted, with marveling eyes...chills, Brian, chills.

Great read!

LikeASong

14 years

Tell us about the time you met the band, did you get the chance to ask or tell them something?

This one i'm not sure of. Though i wish i had, I have never in fact met U2 more than anyone else who has just been to a couple concerts. If i claimed i have in the past i was either:
a. shamelessly lying
b. misunderstood
or
c. under the influence of something that had given me the impression i have met the band

However, if i met them in real life i wouldn't really have much of anything to say. I would likely just thank them for making music which i have enjoyed so immensely and tell them to stick with it until they can't anymore.

Well, this has to be officially declared as my most incredibly big mistake. When we were discussing which questions we would send to you, I surfered through your U2start profile and saw: Most valuable U2 item: U2 by U2 signed copy ... and then I automatically assumed that it had been signed by the band (or a member of the band)!! I am terribly sorry, Brian, my mistake, my mistake, my mistake