October

While U2’s seasonal metaphor has always intrigued me, I’m more awed now by the essence of “October” than I ever have been. In an article for atU2.com four years ago, on the 30th anniversary of U2’s second record, I wrote,

I think that's why I'm drawn to the album October, and especially the song of the same title. "October" is a song of contradictions; it's a parable of the temporal and the eternal, of the unstable and the unchangeable.

I’m especially thrilled that the song has found life, if not in a rather macabre and solemn subject matter, once again on the I+E tour. The piece was performed a few times while the band toured North America, but on the European leg, it’s become a central hub for the second half of the concert.

First, a bit of history helps me understand the context. Dublin was a rough place in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Overcrowded housing projects, rampant heroin addiction and raging unemployment became the city’s defining qualities. Yet, still in their teens, U2 set out to be a voice of optimism, challenging the malaise of the day and offering something transcendent in their music.

In a video interview (see below) from a concert in Hattem, Netherlands, in 1982, U2 were asked what the meaning of October was. "October is an image," said Bono. He continued:

We've been through the '60s, we've been through a time where things were in full bloom. We had fridges and cars, and we sent people to the moon. Everybody thought how great mankind was. And now, as you go through the '70s and the '80s, it's a colder time of year; it's after the harvest, the trees are stripped bare and you can see things. We've finally realized, maybe we weren't so smart after all, now that there's millions of unemployed people, now that we've used the technology that we've been blessed with to build bombs for war machines. October is an ominous word.

Jump forward to October 1, 2015. As of today, more than 4 million people have fled Syria over the last four years in an effort to escape a complex war between ISIS, the Syrian government and coalition forces. Millions more have evacuated from Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of northern Africa. In the worst refugee crisis since WWII, Europe has been inundated with those running from death to life.

U2 pick up this theme in concert, nightly calling attention to the plight of refugees seeking safe haven in Europe, and “October” has focused the spotlight tightly on Syria. As Edge plays an extended and somewhat melancholy piano introduction, Gabriel Chaim’s drone footage is displayed on the massive screen overhead. Filmed with a drone in the bombed out ruins of Kobani, a city that was all but destroyed rather than surrendered to ISIS earlier this year, the haunting imagery perfectly matches the cold minimalist piano background. And then, Bono sings, “Kingdoms rise, and kingdoms fall,” a line written three decades ago, but still feels searingly appropriate against the images of destruction.

Rip my heart.

The message, however, doesn’t stop there. Bono continues with a note of hopefulness, “But you go on... and on.” There is both transience and permanence in the song, temporal pain as well as eternal promise. This has always been the mission of U2. Call out the present reality, but move toward the ideal that is not yet. At 22 years old, Bono articulated the notion,

This band stamps on pessimism. We're anti-cynics. October is an optimistic record because through it there's a joy. I say rejoice. I'm sick and tired of hearing bands on a stage complaining; there's a bitterness in them. We say fight it. Rejoice! Don't let it bring you down.

Hand my poor innocent heart back to me, a little wiser and more experienced. Peace.

Following the understated “October,” U2 rips into an intense and provoking trilogy of songs, including “Bullet The Blue Sky,” “Zooropa” and “Where The Streets Have No Name,” all repurposed to highlight the refugee crisis. See my earlier blog piece here if interested on commentary for this powerful, provocative set.

“October”—the album, the song and the season—reminds us that lament is a real and valid part of life, and that we all wander at times through desperate uncertainty. But the darkness is not completely devoid of hope. The intransigent light of love, and of faith, guides us to a new home, often through a frontier not previously traveled. Some people, like those fleeing Syria, need a little more aid to get there. But it reminds me that we're all refugees. We’re all just pilgrims on our way.

Here is a clip of “October” from Turin, September 4, 2015.

 

Here is Gabriel Chaim’s original CNN footage, seven minutes of which were bought for use in the U2 concert.

 

Here is the interview about October from 1982.