My Life Changed Forever the Night that Bono Kissed Me

Hmmm…well, that statement is misleading but it is not a lie.  My life did change forever the night that Bono kissed me.  But his kiss was not the reason why.  In fact I suppose it would be true to say that Bono kissed me because of the reason my life changed forever.

This is my February love story…

When Dave and I had been together for about 4 years I was ready to get married.  No, scratch that, I was desperate to get married.  Well, not to get married, but to marry him .I. Wanted. To. Marry. Him. 

So when he asked me to get a few days off of work so we could go to San Francisco over the 4^th of July holiday I knew he was going to ask.  He hated San Francisco but I loved it.  Why else would he want to go there if not to propose?

But here’s the thing about Dave… he loves surprises. So three days before we were supposed to leave for San Francisco when he said to me, “How would you like it if instead of going to San Francisco, we went to Paris and Italy instead?”  I excitedly answered “What!?”

Dave worked at Island Records – U2’s record label.  He explained to me that he had arranged a business trip with some radio programmers and trade magazine writers to go to Paris to see a new band called Quicksand to generate some publicity and airplay for them.  Then as a special bonus we were all going on to Verona to see U2.

I was thrilled… and crushed.  There would obviously be no proposal on a business trip.

The trip was a whirlwind.  We were only in Europe for 5 days.  We took the redeye and arrived in Paris the following afternoon.  Dave played tour guide to a group of 15 in a city he had never been to.  Paris was a day and a half of sightseeing, big group dinner, very little sleep, followed by another day of sightseeing, big group dinner, concert and very little sleep. 

The next morning all 15 of us got up, walked to a bus stop, boarded an airport bus, flew to Milan, took 4 cabs to the train station, took a train to Verona and then took more cabs to our hotel.  We were exhausted but Dave had to leave immediately to go to the venue where U2 was playing to set up our ticket and pass situation.

When we arrived at the stadium we met Dave and he told us we would be watching the show from the sound board.  The sound board was huge – kind of like a mini stage in the middle of the floor area.  Coincidentally there were also many industry bigwigs in Italy to see the show. Tom Freston, the president of MTV; Carter Alan, the Boston DJ who is credited as being the first DJ in the US to play U2; and Bill Flanagan from Musician Magazine who was writing a book about the tour were all on the soundboard with us.  Pearl Jam was the opening band.  Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington were there.  I may not have been getting engaged, but this little girl from Reseda was surely living the rock and roll dream.

The show was amazing.  I’d seen the band perform a couple of times on this tour before, but never like this – in Italy, amongst the powerful and famous with a laminated backstage pass hanging around my neck.  When the first part of the show was over and the band changed for their encore they would entertain their audience with videos recorded by audience members in a video confessional booth before the show.  The best videos would be edited during the concert and blasted on the big screen.  Again, I’d seen this before and was explaining what it was to the radio programmer next to me because the people on the screen were talking in Italian and we had no idea what they were saying.  And then the third person on the screen was Dave.  And. I. Just. Knew…

“Charlene, we’ve come over 5,000 miles and we’ve been on planes, trains, and automobiles to get here, and what I want to know is…will you marry me.”

I wasn’t even standing next to him when it happened.  I crossed the soundboard, threw my arms around him, and said yes. 

Under the guise of generating an awareness of a new band and being looked upon favorably by taking a bunch of programmers and writers to see the most famous band in the world, the real purpose of this trip was an incredibly large romantic gesture just for me.

After the concert we were all put on a bus that took us back to U2’s hotel.  There was a private party for the band by the pool area with a generous buffet and free flowing wine.  Naomi Campbell was engaged to Adam Clayton at the time and we chatted with them for a while.  One of the guys in our group had snuck his camera into the concert and we all posed for a photo with the Edge.  Immediately after that shot his camera battery died.  (This was over 16 years ago – before tiny digital cameras and camera cell phones.)

Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington and some of their gorgeous model friends played ping pong in flimsy summer dresses.  (Picture every male head on that patio going back and forth, back and forth with the ball from model to model. The term “super model ping pong” is still vernacular in our house!) 

I met Bono who congratulated me on my engagement and kissed me right on the lips. 

I am not exaggerating when I say that I think I drank 12 glasses of red wine and did not feel one tiny bit drunk (nor did I wake up with a hangover).  It was without a doubt the happiest day of my life.

Two days later when we flew home Dave bought me a Gucci watch I had been coveting for a long time in the duty free shop.  I joked with him on the plane that I didn’t know what was the best part of the trip – the designer watch, the kiss from Bono, or getting engaged.  Sixteen years later the watch sits in a box; it’s no longer my style.  The taste of Bono’s kiss (which yes, okay, was really only just a peck) has long been washed away from my lips.  But my love for Dave, my husband of 16 years next month, has only grown stronger.  So I guess we all know the answer about what was best.  (Definitely the kiss from Bono – right!?)