You too can play with U2.

June 8, 2001 9:26 AM

You too can play with U2. With a little forethought and practice, a guy named Glen Goland lived every amateur guitarist's wet dream last night in Boston. Have you done anything to make your wildest dream come true? Or, like me, are you just letting it all ride on dumb luck?
posted by dchase (19 comments total)

I'm trying to get me a Boxter.
posted by Doug at 9:27 AM on June 8, 2001

All you need are three chords, a loud voice, and a little ambition.

Check (got about 20), check, check.

Next R.E.M. show, I'm asking for "25 or 6 to 4".
posted by hijinx at 9:36 AM on June 8, 2001

Neil Finn's been doing this during his most recent gigs: getting people to play along with songs, or sing the harmony parts done by his brother Tim on "Woodface".

Of course, if you're a left-handed guitarist, you're usually right out of luck, since Jimi or Kurt weren't into that sort of audience participation.
posted by holgate at 9:44 AM on June 8, 2001

Whoa, wait, REM covers 25 or 6 to 4? I mean, I'm fairly sure they didn't do the original, but since I can't remember the name of the original band, I'm suddenly afraid to post this...
posted by annathea at 10:01 AM on June 8, 2001

chicago
posted by rebeccablood at 10:09 AM on June 8, 2001

annathea - No, they don't. Sorry. The most I've seen 'em do in concert is "Wichita Lineman" or "Galveston", back on the 95 tour.

Fun fact: Chicago Avenue in Chicago is an honorary street named for... Chicago.
posted by hijinx at 10:13 AM on June 8, 2001

Need to rename it

Chicago [band] Avenue
posted by brucec at 10:19 AM on June 8, 2001

hijinx: Stipe or Peter Buck, one, must've had that same book of country classics for piano my sisters had in the '70s. I grew up (almost literally) screaming along as one or the other sister played "King of the Road" (covered by REM, on "Dead Letter Office") and "Wichita Lineman." This is way too coincidental. I should probably write the band's HQ, get the real scoop.
posted by raysmj at 10:22 AM on June 8, 2001

They should have named a subway after the band, not a street, cuz their original name was Chicago Transit Authority.
posted by luser at 10:26 AM on June 8, 2001

Dammit holgate, stop taunting us North Americans with Neil Finn references. We're feeling awfully left out reagarding tours.
posted by Avogadro at 10:46 AM on June 8, 2001

Not sure about Chicago, but REM does do some Velvet Underground covers (on Dead Letter Office), one of which I saw live back in the late 80s.
posted by trox at 10:48 AM on June 8, 2001

In college, there was this mod-hipster guy who some folks thought was maybe kind of a poser....one day this rumor began that he had been onstage with U2 the night before.

'Bullshit. That's impossible.' we said.

Then we saw the damn polaroid of the guy onstage with U2, with acoustic guitar (which I don't even think he knew how to play). It turns out he had made friends with them hanging out in Dublin....

So the bastard turned out to be MORE cool than he was pretending to be, not less.
posted by crunchburger at 11:16 AM on June 8, 2001

A few years ago (Joshua Tree tour) I saw them do the same thing, with the same song, at the Boston Garden (the building that the Fleet Center replaced)

It was pretty amazing to see the joy on the fan's face. They were playing "People Get Ready" with Bono on Acoustic and Edge on electric when Bono asked a guy in the front row if "he could play guitar any better." They brought the guy up, showed him the chords, and he played along.


Of course, I still prefer James Hetfield sharing his beer with the underaged kids in the audience.
posted by bondcliff at 12:13 PM on June 8, 2001

Nice troll, hijinx. I knew Chicago was an aging rock band, but I didn't realize they were famous before 1914. Talk about your dusties!
posted by dhartung at 12:24 PM on June 8, 2001

The guys in U2 are just really cool. My younger brother is the drummer for a band that opened for them on a few dates in '98 (I don't particularly feel like boasting about my brother or his band, if you're curious, you can do the 2 + 2.) U2 invited them to fly to a gig on their private plane, and were super supportive. Bono even told my brother that his drumming was, "fucking tops."

My point is, they didn't have to do anything like that, I think they're just good guys by nature. I'd love to see more rock musicians be less narcisistic.
posted by bicyclingfool at 5:14 PM on June 8, 2001

Dan: Baby, what a big surprise. Right before my very eyes.
posted by hijinx at 5:55 PM on June 8, 2001

Never though I'd see Neil Finn references in Mefi.

Thought I'd expand on what holgate said - Neil has not only been picking people out of the audience to have a jam with (they used to do that a bit in Crowded House too), but took that a step further on his recent Wellington, NZ tour, by forming a band for each night, of complete strangers (selected from demo tapes sent to him).

And its not like he was short on musical help - when in the following Auckland shows, he enlisted the likes of Johnny Marr (of the Smiths), Ed O' Brien and Phil Selway (of Radiohead), Sebastian Steinberg (of Soul Coughing), and Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam).

Avogadro: I'm seeing Neil in a few days. Woo! :)
posted by aki at 9:05 PM on June 8, 2001

I saw Green Day at an arena show a few years back and they pulled some teen volunteer from the pit and had him play rythm for two songs while Billy wigged out and danced around in a leopard print thong.

Then they got tired of it and set the drums on fire.
posted by NortonDC at 11:08 PM on June 8, 2001

Glen, (who is on one of the U2 mailing lists I'm on) basically did what a guy called Jonathan did a few weeks ago. Advertise his skills. Jonathan, three or more concerts in a row, held up a sign with : "Stay + piano part + me". Finally, he got pulled on stage, was told 'it pays to advertise', had to answer a quick question about the key of the song and then played the song Stay (beautifully) with the band, after a warning: 'nothing fancy, or you're off'.

In the 80s pulling guitar players out of the audience was common practice for U2. Usually on 'People get Ready'.
posted by prolific at 5:18 AM on June 10, 2001