The 'Last Battle' for U2

Since the moment I first heard the song 'Desire' blaring through my high school gym in Colorado, I've been a fan if U2. That relationship has carried me with them over two decades and I have seen them in person on every tour since 1992.

To give an idea of what a nut I am for my Irish brothers... I got my ear pierced as a conservative Bible major, ministry student before going to see them for the first time. I have listened to all 11 CDs and 145 release songs 4 times straight through Boy to Horizon in the last 2 weeks. I have almost 400 songs by U2 on my iPhone. I like them.

I am worried about Bono. Is this their last hurrah? Larry says it cannot last forever. He says he hasn't told the band his feelings, but they must know.

I am worried because the CD us the exact opposite of what Larry expresses. No Line on the Horizon suggests no end in sight. The disc begins with a big kiss for the future (one that personally, nationally and globally looks darker with each shady back-alley bailout).

The disc even ends with a challenge that both politically and spiritually invites us to love our enemy and keep them as close as neighbors and friends. This is more than the guidance of a messiah. These are the words of children in the last battle by the great C S Lewis. Not only has Bono been a reader of Lewis through the years but U2 have been at times the rock n roll embodiment of the great thinker and author. That is why I am worried. Because the end of "Horizon" is a page from Lewis' last children tale about Narnia. Book 7. Choose you enemies wisely because they will define you. Too bad George W. Bush did not read Narnia at Yale. Our world might be different right now instead of a firy ball of fury.

I am worried that U2 us telling us something through a mixed Larry & Bono message. Which drum beat do we hear? If ticket sales mean Anything then this band is at the absolute top of their game or any other game in the history of this world. Period. That should get the attention of the eternal, like those shepherd boys songs have four thousands of years. Obscurity doesn't suit these boys with their eyes always beyond the horizon to something beyond. They make you want to pursue something beyond belief.

So I am worried if this is the horizon. But the music tells me otherwise. This is a disc that captures sound and elements from 30 years of their music and moves forward. The lyrics are deep and reverberate on the soul. By are they finishing? Have they moved from one white album to a final white album?

I hope that like Lewis' "Last Battle" this is only the beginning of a new horizon with many more expanding horizons in the future.