Cross posted from the ONE Blog.

I’ve never thought about driving to a large parking lot and having a party out of the back of my car. As such, it’s hardly surprising that the phenomenon of tailgating took me a little bit by surprise. But here on the North American U2 tour, the stadium parking lots turn into a massive series of parties, each of which is a veritable gold mine for new ONE members. It’s fantastic.

Just as every city and stadium presents a different way to sign up ONE members, I also find there are people with a variety of motives for joining. Everyone has a different reason for joining, from people who have a personal experience with extreme poverty to environmentalists to are concerned that not enough is being done to help the poor adapt to climate change. Whatever the person’s reason for joining, all it takes is a few seconds of introduction to ONE for most people to be convinced that they want to be members. And hence, I love all the tailgaters who give time (and sometimes food) to my ONE volunteers. Party on in the parking lot.

This is cross posted from the ONE Blog.

The U2 360 spaceship has landed in North America, and we’re off to a rockin’ start. Matt (who’ll be running the tour for most of the North American tour) met me in Chicago and we ran around town gathering T-shirts, wristbands, and our new tabling set up. Everything was in perfect order, including the weather. I’m told the odds of 4 September days of 72 degree sunny weather is an near impossibility in Chicago, but that’s what we got.

Our 30 volunteers were in good form, recruiting new members by the thousands. The biggest obsticale they ran into was that many of the fans were already ONE members. Not a bad problem to have!

I’m in Toronto now, and ready to get rolling on another two shows. I hope to see you at a show soon!

Cross posted from the ONE Blog.

It was a long summer touring around Europe with U2, but I’ve had a little rest and I’m ready to get back into action this weekend in Chicago. In just two months at 24 shows we signed up over 40,000 new ONE members, and fired up groups of ONE volunteers who are continuing to take action and organise in their communities.

One of the things that keeps me smiling up through the long days of the tour are the warm messages I receive from those volunteers all along the way. I asked a couple of them if I could share their sentiments, and I hope that you find them just as inspiring:

I wanted to volunteer for ONE for quite some time but I didn’t have a chance to before and thank you for giving me the opportunity. I’m still shaking from my head to my toes, it was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.

My heart is so filled with pride and love and I’m sure u all feel the same. All of you made me happier and more optimistic than I’ve been in a very long time.

To be there, so speak and to be heard, to teach others…for the first time I had a feeling that I am actually really doing something.
And it felt good.
It felt good to know that I´m doing something worthwhile, and that even I can make a change.

It is hard to explain how this was important to me, but I think that you know it:-).

Giving me chance to work for a real and good thing is so precious. Giving me chance to do this during U2 concerts is just…like a dream.

America, I hope you’re ready to have a good time and sign up scores of new ONE members. Toss on your ONE shirts and let’s rock and roll.

My brief stint in Gothenburg marked the farthest north I have ever been and the nastiest candy I’ve ever eaten. The bag of Gott and Blandat contained some good gummy candies, but also had salt covered liquorice a flavour that I wouldn’t recommend seeking out.

While slowly munching on the gummies, I had the pleasure of chatting with the my Swedish volunteers. They had come from far and wide for the concert, and were very insistent that while the Swedish winter was a miserable thing, that long summer days and the quality of life more than made up for the months of cold darkness. I suppose I’d have to live there to know for sure, but it may be worth going back some summer to see a bit more of that big green land.

Despite knowing a couple of good folks living around Amsterdam, I failed to have a meal with a local while I was there. I did, however, find something just as relaxing that made me feel like a local myself: a bicycle.

My hotel was about 8km walk from the stadium where I needed to be for work, and logistics didn’t look good. Public transportation would take over an hour as I would have to head into the city then transfer, and it was too far to walk with the equipment I needed to take back and forth from the hotel for work. It looked like I would be taking some expensive cabs That is, until I saw a rack of rent-a-bikes outside the hotel. In a sew minutes I was cruising along some of the best bike paths that I have ever seen. I wound through the woods and over the Amstel, a very pleasant ride without a car in sight.

Seeing how well the infrastructure catered to my bicycle commute, I couldn’t help but think that the hold adage of “when in Rome…” The local infrastructure catered perfectly to my needs, I just had to act like a local.