Now that I’m home from the land of beer, rain, and well-designed furniture, I have a chance to catch up on a few things from the past month:

First, AIGA stuff: the Leadership Retreat just gets better every year. These people are the best and I can’t wait for 2016. As before, I did a more substantial recap on the AIGA SB website here. TL;DR: Third time was definitely the charm. Before that, my first student portfolio day review as AIGA SB president was put in the books. I won’t lie, it was a big event, and I feel a lot like I used to after gigs with my bands 10-15 years ago—exhausted and ready to get drunk. More here on the AIGA SB site.

So what with all that stuff, I didn’t get much of an opportunity to soak in the first U2 show I’d attended in 10 years. Short review is: the band is kicking ass, the set and performance for my particular show (the first of five in Inglewood) was great for 2/3 to 3/4 of it, and the worst part was the Forum parking lot (it took us 90 minutes to get out of there).

Highlights, new songs: Cedarwood Road, Invisible, Iris. Highlights, old songs: The Electric Co., Until the End of the World, Even Better than the Real Thing, Bullet the Blue Sky. Novelty: a Bono impersonator made an appearance to sing Sweetest Thing with the Real Thing. More at U2gigs here.