Nope, not Marty Riemer, but my good friend Marty Lennartz from the mighty Chicago radio station WXRT.

Marty and I often share our "James Lipton" moments when we meet backstage at Bonnaroo for 40 interviews in 4 days. But this time, we both had similar "good fan" experiences meeting Bono. Eerily similar.

You know who else is like that? Bill Clinton. Ask anyone who has had the great good fortune of meeting the guy, and they’ll all agree. He might not say it, but Bill Clinton could walk up to a table of radio djs and say, "Hello, I am a rockstar." And within minutes, not one person would discount that statement.

Here’s Marty’s account of night 2 of U2’s escapades:

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U2 Three Nights Live, Night Two, Chicago.

The city was in a U2 frenzy.  WXRT called it U2’s Day and  played nothing but U2 all day long. The TV stations sent crews to the station to report on the buzz.

U2 was in Chicago. The worst kept secret in town.  U2 and Shirley Manson, chatting and playing their favorite songs at Chicago’s premiere rock club, Metro. Where else?

A roomful of lucky U2 fans gathered to watch a radio show. The band sat on two leather couches looking totally relaxed. Larry set up “I Wanna Be Sedated” and the Edge chose “Brown Eyed Girl”.

I’m sure those classics sounded great on the air. Too bad what happened in the room during the music wasn’t part of the show. Shirley opened it up to an informal audience Q and A.  Questions about inspiration, lyrics and one from a guy who wanted to know how Bono and his wife have been able to maintain a relationship all these years. Bono answered it by saying he’s known her since high school but he’s still trying to get to know her. Sweet.

After the show, it all moved to a very cool bar in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood called the Violet Hour. Handmade original cocktails and private club atmosphere. The band showed up and spent time with everybody.

Bono sat with us and was engaging, charming, humble and also charismatically down to earth, if that makes sense. He’s a man who can talk to popes, presidents and radio people. Let’s say, he knows how to work a meet and greet. Not in a slick and shallow sort of way. He actually carried on a conversation with the people around our table. He talked about the old days, Edge’s guitar as well as inside stories about No Line On The Horizon. He said four of the songs were recorded in one take.  “20 minutes for four songs, two years for the rest”. 

He remembered a story of meeting someone almost 30 years earlier and he told us the band’s longevity is due to the fact they  all get along in the green room. Off stage, they like each other.

Bono was then ushered off to the next table and Adam came in and was equally generous. Band’s of U2’s stature aren’t normally so giving of themselves.

It was almost like they were a new band trying to make a mark and make some friends.

When it was all over Bono, before he left, made a point to stop back at our table to said he enjoyed spending time in our little corner of the room. 

That’s something I’ll remember.

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- Shawn