Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Countdown to 40 - Part III

U2 - New Year's Day

When I first heard this song, it was like I had been hit with a ton of bricks, that's the kind of impact it had.

I saw U2 live in Montreal a couple of years ago, which was great, but the first time I saw anyone live playing their songs was a U2 cover band that I saw at a high school in Montreal back in 1985, when I was representing Nova Scotia at the National Debating Championships (I finished eleventh out of a hundred or so, and the team came in second, which was pretty good for a small province).

I also got to sit in the desk once occupied by Corey Hart on that trip! Wow!!



Here's a live version from a German concert.



When people would ask me in interviews (back when I was a musician) what bands had influenced me the most as a songwriter, I would always say the Beatles, the Smiths and U2. We only did a couple of covers over the years - one of which was "Exit" from the Joshua Tree album.

I always wished I could play the guitar like The Edge!

Paul Kimball

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