"Lucky we, lucky me." Pop culture teaches us a lesson in how to just...be. 📺The context Bono, the lead singer of the band U2, is currently performing a one-person show based on his memoir, “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.” I was fortunate enough to attend on April 17.
Bono takes the audience through the story of his life, interspersing U2 songs along the way.
His "band" was a cellist, harp player, and a DJ of sorts who plays percussion and uses multiple MacBooks to provide additional musical accompaniment.
👉Go deeper As an audience member, the show is especially powerful because NO PHONES OR FITBITS WERE ALLOWED DURING THE PERFORMANCE.
Everyone was required to place their electronic devices in a locked pouch that a member of the guest services team could only open.
It forced all 2600 of us to actually talk to the people around us, watch and listen to the show, and be immersed in the moment.
💡Connect the dots The "phone-free zone" helped the audience enjoy the performance AND it was respectful to the performers.
At one point Bono shared how, when he was 14 years old, his mother died at his grandfather's funeral. Yes, you read that correctly. Imagine you were in his home and you said, "Hold on, I want to film you talking about this."
Being phone-free also gave people the opportunity to take in the breathtaking artwork and design of New York's legendary Beacon Theater. For almost three hours including waiting for the performance to start, it forced everyone to just...be.
As Bono said at the beginning of the show "Lucky we, lucky me."
📢My BIG Takeaway I need to fight the urge to look at or use my phone as much as possible and, instead, take in what is happening in the moment right in front of me. Science has my back on this one.
Side note: Seeing people get access to their iPhones after the show was like watching the release of a family member who had been taken hostage. I could have sworn I saw people kissing and hugging their phones, openly weeping while whispering, "I am so sorry my dear. Please know I missed you so much."
🕖Bonus time Below is a clip from when Bono was on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." It features Bono performing a portion of “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.”
If you want to go full screen and watch it through your phone that's up to you. See how crazy that sounds?
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Rich Trombetta @trombettarich
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