U2 Tour Dates - Now Official!- Page 199

[mabel]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 1:19pm

This is as far as I've gotten thus far...I've gotta run to class, but I'll post some more before my Film class tonight. Sorry it's so long and I only got to Patti Smith's set!


OK, here’s my rambling review of the goings-on yesterday for the show!

First, I was a bit sluggish because of my charming roommie, which left me with 3 or 4 hours of sleep. Oh, jumping ahead to when Claire and I got home around 1:30 (thanks to the lovely subway and a 20 minute or so wait at the Bleeker St. 6, after a D train arrived on the C track?!?!?). Since Crazy saw it fit to turn on all the lights Monday morning at 2:30 for half an hour, including the bathroom light w/ the fan, I didn’t think I would be at all out of line for doing the same! So, I turned on the bathroom light to see in our room to grab Claire’s pillow and a blanket (got the first mini-leg stab...should have taken that as a warning sign!). So, I come out here, and start to tell Claire about my bizarre leg issue (I get it every once in a while, sleeping…like once a year, where you’re woken up by a sharp pain, and you can’t stand up to stretch it out, because you’d just fall over)…well, this time I got the stab while I was already standing up, so over I go! And Claire and I are laughing hysterically! Then, there’s an abrupt slapping off of the bathroom light and slamming of the door. Give me a break!!! Wench! She did the exact same thing yesterday (ok, so maybe she was quieter than I was, but I couldn’t help it! I collapsed in the living room, dammit! It’s not like I’d planned on having excruciating leg pain/leg failure!)

Anyway…I guess I’ll break this up into some rough stages of the day. So, first would be the line. The forecast was for it to be partly cloudy and 57. They lied. It was totally overcast and raw, and I was cold all day in line. I got out of class at 10, waited until 11 when they opened for lunch at school to get a sandwich to bring with me, and ended up getting there around 11:45. I was #86 in line, and so it began. Stacey showed up around 12:30, and we chatted for a while. I met Pat and anjilly around 1 in line, and that was fab! Claire got in around 3:30, and at 4, there was a bunch of screaming down the block, signifying that Bono was out signing. We all ran down, and this royally screwed up the line. People in the 100s were ahead of us, and shortly after this, I went back to my place to drop my messenger bag off and change, hoping it’d be fixed by the time I got back.

I guess some of the people got re-ordered, but there was still this one chick w/ a pink coat on that refused to go back to her spot (she was #124). Apparently everyone yelled at her, and while it was really annoying, I found a lot of the line’s comments about her rather amusing (especially the group from Texas in front of us). Oh, and by this time, it has started raining, but they didn’t let us in at 6, as promised. I think it was closer to 40 past.

So, next: Getting in and getting scanned. They had people go inside in small groups, and Stacey and I were a cutoff for a new group. The guy behind us was bitching to MSG security about them not recognizing the numbers, and they were like “hmmm…too bad!” We get the ok to go in, open our bags, and go up stairs where they have two tables set up with the scanner laptops. We get our first floor wristband, and move on down to the laptop. Stacey went first and got: Proceed to Floor. So, I take a deep breath, and she swipes my ticket. The screen still says Proceed to Floor. I’m bummed…then I notice she’s still trying to scan it (the screen is still showing Stacey’s scan). She tries 3 or so times, but it just won’t take, so she says to the guy standing next to the table: “Hit it!” He presses something (I think it was mouse pad on the laptop…or maybe it was a key, I don’t remember) but then it goes: “VERTIGO! VERTIGO! VERTIGO!” And we scream and scamper over to get our tix stapled together and they’re punched with big umbrellas (appropriately enough!) So, basically, I guess I’m still lucky that I got a faulty ticket that wouldn’t scan, but I don’t think my ticket necessarily was a “winner.” Since it wouldn’t scan, they just let us in (as far as I could tell). Like the little kids getting automatic entry into the ellipse…I guess they’re all about, “when in doubt, put ‘em in the ellipse!”

So, we wait some more…someone screwed something up (I heard that some people got in before the doors were open) and there was a lot of yelling. Some guy kept screaming if we didn’t all turn around and move back, he’d send everyone that wasn’t cooperating to the back of the line. Well, I can’t move if the people behind me can’t move, because someone 20 people down is being stubborn and won’t move. Anyway (surprise, surprise!), nobody really moved. They didn’t send us to the back of the line, and we eventually got to move to the next little waiting spot. We ran up two escalators, ran around the a good chunk of the perimeter of the inside of the arena, and waited again. When they finally let us in, we went through two check points for them to flash our ellipse wristbands with a black light (it had little U2 symbols, like the Vertigo target, bomb, a heart, etc on it).

We get in, and the front rail is already full. The people that got scanned in in front of us got the last spot on Adam’s side (next to the chick that got pulled up for WOWY). So, we get a spot in the second row between Bono and Adam. I love Edge (and even though I’m on an Adam kick, given the choice, I would have picked Edge’s side) but it looked like his side was already 2-3 people deep. I was perfectly content being in front of Adam and being closer. I had a short girl in front of me too, so it was a perfect view! (At first, Stacey was like: Do you want to stay here or go to the back of the ellipse? While we did miss everything on the ellipse, it was TOTALLY worth losing the acoustic encore for all the other songs being that close!)

On the floor behind the rail, there’s a 2 foot (or so) metal lip that’s about an inch high. It was barely enough room to fit two people deep, but I managed to stay on it all night, only stumbling off a bit once, jumping around during UTEOTW. I should have known better anyway, as my legs were totally dead by then. The girl in front of Stacey was a bit of a wench. She was really pissy. You’ll just have to take my word for it. I don’t really have any specifics, but she was obnoxious. She took up more than her fair share of space too, and I felt bad for Stacey about that. I was initially behind her, and I saw that she was going to be annoying (sticking her ass out and standing farther back and leaning forward onto the rail, rather than standing up close to it) so I moved over a person before Patti Smith started.

Patti Smith…I suppose I’m glad I saw her, and she had the aura of being important and influential, but I wish I’d had someone that I was more familiar with for an opener being that close. I only knew the songs that were U2 related: Dancing Barefoot, RnRN (during which, she snippeted Vertigo, as they’d been snippeting her song during Vertigo lately), and PHTP (oh and she did Instant Karma too). She spat a lot too, which was kind of…odd (and more than a little disgusting) from that close perspective. And not like, she’s singing and some spit is coming out. No, like hocking ‘em onto the stage (at least one per song).

Updated On: 11/22/05 at 01:19 PM

[mabel]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 7:52pm

Got a message from Claire...they didn't get beeped in, but they're on the ellipse, on Adam's side. I'm guessing that they're probably near the L&POE drum???

Anyway, I'm in for the evening. I've got to pack up some stuff for tomorrow, but I'll be following the setlist. I hope someone else pops on here so we can chat a bit. I've typed up a ridiculous review of yesterday's show. I wrote it up in word, and it's like 5 pages long, so I'll spare you just posting it here in one big chunk. If I happen to catch someone on-line, I'll start pasting a summary of a song or two at the end of each post.

So...guess that's it! Good show, CLAIRE!!! Hope you get to dance w/ Bono! It'd only be fair since I got scanned in yesterday. I feel kinda bad about that. But, at least she got a spot on the rail, right?!?!?

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 10:33pm

1. Your roomie's a bitch. So are things openly pissy on her end now, or is everything still totally passive-aggressive? I HATE those leg cramps! I get them rarely too, but when I do, it's like I jolt in the middle of the night, and I'm paralyzed in pain. What to do?

2. So did you talk to any of the people surround you? How were they? Did you catch a glimpse of Bono? (When you talked to Claire, did she mention Bono? I guess she's seeing the show with Stacey too tonight?)

3. How was Stacey?

4. Did you freak the hell out when you got ellipse? I seriously would've screamed.

5. I'm glad I ran for Edge's side last time, but if I went again, I'd want to be on Adam's side. Okay, maybe not. Well, yes I would. So tell me about your moments with him! Was he lovely and adorable? Is your jumping the reason the phone kept cutting out near the end of UTEOTW??? Heh.

6. It's so unlady like to spit in public, especially with 20,000 people watching you!

[mabel]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 10:43pm

1. She's still passive agressive. She didn't say anything last night, even when I went in to get my PJs. I was so hoping she'd say something, because I totally would have bitched her out!

2. Very nice people around us in line going in. They were all very funny about that #124 line skipper...didn't really talk to people in the ellipse.

3. Stacey's very nice. I think these were shows 16 and 17 for her (seen shows every tour since ZooTV)

4. FREAKED THE HELL OUT! I totally didn't think we were getting in, like I said in the post, because of problem scanning, and the screen still said "Proceed to Floor" but then it was VERTIGO! VERTIGO! VERTIGO! EEEEEEEE!!!

5. I was perfectly content being on Adam's side. Just wait till I get down to the Streets song review! There was a gem there that I wouldn't have missed for the world!!

6. Yeah, she's kind of scary!

OK, part one of my mondo review:

OK, so the concert itself. Well, before it started, between sets, I was already getting antsy about my legs/feet. I opted for shoes with height rather than going for comfort. They certainly aren’t uncomfortable shoes, but they definitely weren’t meant for standing for hours on end and then jumping/dancing around. (I stood for a lot of the time in the GA line, because Stacey was standing and I stood too, so we could talk). Anyway, I was hoping to be able to sit down after Patti Smith’s set for a half hour’s power rest, but it wasn’t happening. Not only was it way too packed in up front (I was able to sit for about 20 minutes before Patti’s set, which was nice) but they had to push back the rail a few inches and pull it forward again, and we had enough trouble moving back and forth standing up!)

General comments: Being that close…IS F*CKING AWESOME!!! I was able to wave my arms around and dance like a shmuck, and do all the silly stuff that we’d be watching the GA people doing up in our behind the stage seats. It was great! I left, hot, sweaty, and totally beat, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was amazing! I wish I could do it over and over again (though definitely not back to back) I couldn’t do GA again tonight. I really, really couldn’t. I don’t know how Stacey is going to do it!

OK, brace yourself: A song by song review!

COBL: AMAZING! I had both arms up in the air as it was beginning and a piece of confetti just landed in my right hand. Lovely! It was fabulous to do the arm thing to “Oh you look so beautiful tonight.” You feel like an ass doing it in a 400 section behind the stage, but it was crazy down front!

Vertigo: Great, great energy. I think it was here that I got a big smile from Adam (or maybe it was COBL). There were a couple of eye contact/nod/smile moments. One at the very beginning and then…I don’t really remember. I took a couple of pictures, but my camera battery ended up dying by ISHFWILF! I was kind of pissed. Mainly, because I should have bought a back up set of batteries, but I turned it on yesterday morning, and it said the battery was full. I tested it out in a couple of songs with Patti Smith (w/ and w/o flash) and it was full. It said it was full when I turned it on to take a couple of pix during COBL. Then, at the beginning of ISHFWILF, it was dead. There was no, down a line, half dead, so I could have known to wait for a decent shot. Just dead. It’s actually just as well, because while the pictures looked fine on the screen, they aren’t crazy good like some people’s on-line, and I’m glad I was able to just be into the show w/o worrying about taking pictures.

ETA: OK, it helps to actually paste the review!

Updated On: 11/22/05 at 10:43 PM

[mabel]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 10:49pm

Claire's setlist thus far:

1. City Of Blinding Lights
2. Vertigo
3. Elevation
4. ELECTRIC CO./ Send In The Clowns (Snippet) / See Me Feel Me (Snippet)
5. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / In A Little While (Snippet)
6. Beautiful Day / One I Love (Snippet - REM Song)
7. Original Of The Species
8. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own / Black Hills of Dakota (Snippet)
9. Love And Peace Or Else
10. Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (Snippet)
11. Bullet The Blue Sky / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (Snippet) / Hands That Built America (Snippet)
12. Miss Sarajevo
13. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
14. Where The Streets Have No Name
15. One / ??? Snippet / MLK

ENCORE

16. Until The End Of The World
17. Mysterious Ways (Girl just brought up on stage!!! Hope you don't fall with a leg cramp if it's you, Claire!)
18. With or Without You

Updated On: 11/22/05 at 10:49 PM

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 11:03pm

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't be complaining if I was on Adam's side. In retrospect, I would've been pretty darn tootin' happy! The only reason I ran for Edge's side first was because surprisingly Adam's side was about 4 people deep, but Edge's was only 1, which is how I managed to get into the second row. (I suppose Seattle just likes Adam more!)

Oh man, since you'd been in runners for most (all?) of the time I was in town, I didn't bother to bring up with you that you should go for comfort over height. I was actually going to post that on Sunday, but figured it would be a moot point. Because I made the same mistake of wearing my freakin' 3 inch boots through the line-up AND having to stand the whole time and for the whole concert, and I seriously don't think my feet have ever been in that much pain before or since then. My ankles were actually wobbling the rest of the night and my feet swelled like melons. Truly disgusting. You got a nod/eye contact/smile from Adam? AAAHHH!!!! What did you do??? LOVE! Let's see pics! And how come you didn't push in front of that stupid WOWY girl to get Bono to pick you??

How does Beautiful Day and One I Love fit together?? Beautiful Day is so airy and cheerful and One I Love is relatively haunting! And NO MIRACLE DRUG FOR BOTH MSG SHOWS?? God, isn't Claire lucky?!

[mabel]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 11:10pm

I'd say the nod/smile/eye contact was pretty much all in one go. Though, from what I recall, there were at least two eye contact/smile moments. I just smiled back. He was literally smiling all night!

The shoes I wore last night are actually comfortable, but they just didn't cut it for that much time standing. I should have worn super comfy shoes in line and then switched off when I ran back to my room. Not bright!

Part II:

Elevation: Great from down front. Lots and LOTS of smiling from Edge! I initially didn’t like the slow build up of this version (on early boots, and even at my Boston show), but it had grown on me in October, and from the floor, the payoff of waiting for it to kick into high gear is insane!

IWF: While I kind of wish it had been OOC or Electric Co (so we could have had Bono throw water on us), it was BEYOND kick-ass to see IWF from that close. This (and my stumble off the platform during UTEOTW) was the only song that I really jumped around. Frankly, my feet just felt too F*CKing heavy for the most part, and I couldn’t get up in the air (not to mention that it’s kind of harder than it would look when you’re crammed in with all those people), so I’d just kind of bounce around (which served the purpose and was still great fun!). But, IWF was crazy, and I totally went nuts. I’ve heard it 4 times now, and if you’d said the only Boy song is going to be IWF again…no way I would have expected it to take off like that, but it totally did.

ISHFWILF: Initially I was kind of disappointed, because usually there’s another old song here (Electric Co, Gloria, even The Ocean) And this was another one that I initially felt like after seeing it a few times, I could do without, but I was wrong again! It was fabulous. The best part was the very end, Bono was about to do the snippet of IALW, but the crowd shouted one more full-out “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” and he stopped and just listened. Then he said “every once in a while you get a really special moment (or something to that effect), and you just have to take it. That was one of those moments. Thank you.” It felt spontaneous and genuine, and that made the whole song for me. He was ready to sing In a Little While, but we were just too much. He had to stop and take it in.

Beautiful Day: This was full of energy, as would be expected. Snippets of Sgt. Pepper’s and Blackbird. It was very good, but I don’t really have anything of particular interest to say about it.

CLAIRE'S setlist since WOWY:
Stuck
Instant Karma

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 11:14pm

What the hell? Are they doing the same encore as yesterday, just mucking the order a bit??

I think you have a new appreciation of, like, ANY song when you've got as good a spot as you did last night! Especially with such a fantastic encore (though I s'pose around Elevation and IWF, you didn't know what you were in for). Glad to see IWF was as ape-SH*Tting awesome as I'd imagined - better than from our seats, right?

Where's Stephen's boot?? Did you guys meet up later?

[mabel]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 11:18pm

OMG! Claire's show is over!!! This is so sad. It's the end of our U2-ing!

1. City Of Blinding Lights
2. Vertigo
3. Elevation
4. ELECTRIC CO./ Send In The Clowns (Snippet) / See Me Feel Me (Snippet)
5. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / In A Little While (Snippet)
6. Beautiful Day / One I Love (Snippet - REM Song)
7. Original Of The Species
8. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own / Black Hills of Dakota (Snippet)
9. Love And Peace Or Else
10. Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (Snippet)
11. Bullet The Blue Sky / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (Snippet) / Hands That Built America (Snippet)
12. Miss Sarajevo
13. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
14. Where The Streets Have No Name
15. One / ??? Snippet / MLK

ENCORE

16. Until The End Of The World
17. Mysterious Ways
18. With Or Without You

19. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
20. Instant Karma
_______________

I definitely have a new appreciation for a lot of the songs. IWF was crazy-good! Like...INSANE!

Part III:
OOTS!!! BEAUTIFUL! I love this SO much more than Miracle Drug. Though they really need to do something about the curtains for this song. Those freaky floating heads are beyond frightening. It may have been interesting to see what MD would have been like without being able to spend the whole song watching the little light thingies race though. Mmm…not really though! I can’t believe so many people were so pissed about them dropping MD for OOTS. There are people saying it was the worst move of the entire tour. Whatever. I’m beyond thrilled that I got to hear OOTS again, and dropping MD for it…It really doesn’t get any better than that for me.

SYCMIOYO: A solid performance. Bono nailed the money note, and sang a bit of opera at the end. I couldn’t really see him much for this, but it was fun watching Edge play the solo up close. He told a story about his dad always telling him to “take those stupid, F*CKing glasses off” before taking them off to sing the song.

L&POE: Kind of odd not being able to see Larry and Bono, but Edge and Adam did a great job of playing to the ellipse. At one point, Adam was playing while dangling his bass out to the crowd so people could touch it. Alas, it was about 3 people to my left, so I didn’t get to cop a feel. Oh, speaking of Adam. His pants are so cool. They were the black ones with the red stitching, and he’s got some little Vertigo thing on his left ass cheek. That’s one potential shot that I was kind of pissed about the camera being dead for. Oh, and Adam’s bass playing on this song is so beyond sexy! He does this sexed up rocking with his bass, that should totally be illegal! Right up there with Chris Martin’s non-PG piano gyrating.

SBS: Bono brought a boy stage, who we saw in the ellipse earlier, before the show started. Totally spotted that a mile away, since he’s been bringing kids up to sputter through “no more” with him. This kid was super cute, but he kind of timidly said “no more.” The little boy really didn’t look like he wanted to be there, imho. I think Bono should stick to bringing the girls up to dance and people to play acoustic songs. If he brings a kid up, the extent of it should be a lap around the ellipse (like he did a couple times during Into the Heart on the first leg). I’ve read some stuff about Bono bringing the same girls up to dance, because he’s leery about how they’ll react, but I’d think a little kid is 10 times more unpredictable. There was some other show that he brought a boy up who absolutely refused to say “no more” with him. I think it has more potential to grind the song to a halt than to kick it up a notch. The rest of the song was great though; totally high energy. And I love Rock the Casbah snippet in it!

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 11:35pm

What did the WOWY girl look like? And how does Rocking The Cashbah work with SBS??? Does this seem like a really short setlist tonight?? 20 songs??

Dude, no pics of Adam's ass?

[mabel]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 11:41pm

RTC worked really well at the end of SBS, imho. Certainly better than the "no more" kid!

Follow this link, and go to the bottom, where there's a picture of the full stage w/ Adam on the far right smiling...I like to think it's me he's smiling at!



I've got more about the WOWY girl in my review, but she was a tall, Asian girl. First, she was really bouncy up there which got her an early boot. But she was also a few inches taller than Bono, so I think it was really awkward for her to crouch over to rest her head on his shoulder.

Part IV:

BTBS: Much better up close. Bono got the microphone and didn’t need to be saved from going over the edge. Always a plus!

MS: The BEST I’ve heard Bono sing it. The Pavarotti part was so on! I think the only quasi-sketchy one that we saw was 10/14, but even the others that sounded great, still kind of rasped out at the end of that big note. It was solid throughout last night. Big thumbs up to Bono there!

Pride: Amazing energy. Think I might have gotten a little smile from Adam here. Don’t remember. It was fun watching the people in the lower levels behind the stage going crazy! No missed lyrics or “frogs in his throat” either, so good, good there!

Streets!!! AMAZING! I couldn’t really see much of the band, because they all pretty much ended out on the ellipse, but it was so much fun watching the arena going totally apeSH*T! At one point in the evening, and I don’t remember if it was before Streets or not, Bono and Adam had a full-on lip-lock! AAAAHHHHH!!!! It was definitely more than a peck, let me tell you! I bet that made Adam’s night!! I think I almost shed a tear for not being able to get a picture of that. It was right-there!

One: LOOOONNNNG intro. Name-dropping, etc, etc. Good, solid version. No MJB, which is always a plus! Oh, and they did the “Hear us coming Lord” thing at the end, which is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that! They’d only done it at one other show I went to, so I was beyond thrilled when he did it. And they also did Old Man River, after Bono announced that Edge had just spent time in New Orleans, and that he was helping in an effort to bring music/instruments back to those who’ve lost everything.


Forgot the link...oops!

Updated On: 11/22/05 at 11:41 PM

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:30am

Ow. SH*T. Will respond in a mo'. I've sort of injured my neck and upper back some how and I need to lie down on a tennis ball to try to bend things back in place. Ouch, it really hurts. BRB!

[mabel]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:52am

What the hell did you do?!?!? And I thought I had problems! Hope your tennis ball does the trick.

Claire's back, and got some AMAZING pictures! I totally should have stolen her camera yesterday!

Part...what is it? V???

Encore: MAMA! MAMA! MAMA!!!

UTEOTW! A-MA-ZING! No bullfight, as far as I could tell. Early on, I stumbled off the platform, so I stopped jumping around after that. Bono ran a lap around the ellipse, and it looked like Edge played a solo to the back of the arena. They were all kind of going every which way, so I don’t really remember it all. I’m so glad I got to finally hear it though! Totally rocking number!!!

Mysterious Ways: I tuned my hideous dancing up a notch here. I wanted so badly to be yanked up, and yet, looking back…REALLY, such a good thing that I wasn’t. Considering I could barely walk out of the arena and I collapsed in the living room, I don’t think dancing to Mysterious Ways would have been a good match for me! I’ve got a new respect for those girls that do dance during MW and Fast Cars. WOWY doesn’t really count, because you just stand there, but when they actually dance around! YIKES! I did have a second or two there, where I really thought it was going to happen though. I swear! And I’m not over-exaggerating. He stood right in front of the girl in front of me, for at least a half a verse, and there were 4 girls reaching up, and even though I was the only one of us in the second row, that girl in front of me was so short, my hand was the closest one to him. He stood there for a while looking at me/us, and I was totally ready (also totally not thinking about the fact that there was no way I’d be able to dance around up there…so, it’s totally just as well…but, for a second there, I really, really thought it was going to happen!)

WOWY: He was eyeing up the girls a couple people over. And you know what the determining factor is on the girl getting picked? You’ll die, Tiff!!! She had a sign that said “I’m from the future too, and it’s better!” UGH! Anyway, the girl he ended up picking wasn’t at all cooperative (at least for what he seems obsessive about getting from the WOWY girls). He put his hat on her, and she was kind of jumping up and down, like that blonde girl on 10/8, and he seemed none too pleased! He grabbed her chin with one hand, put his finger up to his lips with the other, going “Shhhh,” and then he turned her face out to the audience, and she stayed like that for a second (as he put her hands on his waist, where he wanted them). But by the time he had her set, she was back kind of looking around again. So, he (gently) pushed her head on his shoulder. She didn’t look overly comfortable (probably because she was taller than him, and she kind of had to hunch over to rest her head on his shoulder), and she was kind of shaky/fidgety, so he tossed her back early. Not early enough to take someone else, like on 10/8, but he definitely sent her back sooner than he usually does. Bono, I totally would have played along! And just standing there and cuddling would have been about the extent of the energy I could’ve mustered up. Twould have been perfect, I tell ya! I’ve got it all down: arm around waist, head on shoulder, hang on for dear life (with the occasional look up to gaze in his eyes…remember that 10/8 girl? “No! Look at me!!!...Fine, back you go.”)

First Time: It was pretty…again. I wish they’d done Walk On or Wild Horses instead. I couldn’t really see anything, but it really was lovely just to listen to it.

Stuck: Tiff called just as it was starting, as I was pulling out my phone to call my mom. She loves Stuck and acoustic songs, but Tiff beat me to it. Sounds like you thoroughtly enjoyed it though! I LOVE acoustic Stuck! I’m glad I got to hear it again (even though I couldn’t really see Edge and Bono). BTW, that JOFO guy is a bastard! I’ve called him out on really out of line posts before. Not a fan.

Instant Karma: Before the song, they said that the last two months’ shows in NYC were some of the best shows/best times they’ve had in a while. And he said they wanted to do something special for us, so they were going to try doing a song they’d never done before. So, I’m running off potential songs in my head. One Tree Hill? No, they’ve done that before, you fool! Hmmm…Dancing Barefoot? Patti already did it though. Well, they it wasn’t DB, but Patti did also play IK in her set, so I guess my criteria wasn’t up to par. I’m embarrassed to say this, but I have to admit a dolt-moment. I totally spaced that this is a John Lennon song! You can now pass the burden on to me from Tiff (aka: I hrt Paul McCarthy). During Patti Smith’s set, when she sang it, I was like: Hey, I know this song! I didn’t know that’s a Patti Smith song. Derr! Because it’s NOT! Then, when they were starting it in the encore, I was like “they’re playing Revolution??...Nope, it’s the Patti Smith song again!” WTF was I thinking?!? I know the song anyway, and when I’m not wiped out/over-adrenalized/dehydrated, I would know that it’s John Lennon. Good lord, it was in freaking LENNON!!! I just saw that! *headdesk* Anyway, it was great, spontaneous, and the band (especially Bono) looked like they were having one hell of a good time playing it! Bono looked positively giddy.

BAAAADDDD!!! There’s really nothing to say about Bad. I didn’t cry, which is actually surprising. Though I’m willing to bet I’ll start bawling when I listen to the recording of it. I’m weird like that. I cry almost every time I listen to a recording of Running to Stand Still. For Bad, if I’m listening to it w/ headphones, just really listening to it, I usually end up crying. But I didn’t cry during RTSS in Boston or either of the times they played Bad at MSG. Anyway, long story short: it was sickeningly good. PHTP was full of energy. I think it was about 10 minutes long.

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:01pm

Hey! I'm home! I had an AMAZING time both days. I don't have time to write full reviews (and Nicole's review of the first night is more than sufficient!), but all I can say is that it was a great experience. I liked being directly on the rail around the ellipse because we had a perfect view of the stage (no crazy people standing in front of us), we could see the screens and all the lights, and they came out really often and played to us. Adam, Edge, and Bono all stopped directly in front of me multiple times. I came thisclose to touching Bono's hand. I tried to enjoy the experience, but I also managed to stick out my camera and snap some photos. So here they are! I'll start with a few for Tiff:

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:02pm

Arg. I think I have to post them one at a time, each in an individual post. Updated On: 11/23/05 at 01:02 PM

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:08pm

So these are in a totally random order. But this is from Stuck in a Moment.

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:09pm

LAPOE (Bono and Larry)

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:10pm

Updated On: 11/23/05 at 01:10 PM

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:11pm

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:12pm

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:13pm

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:16pm

CoBL (with the confetti pouring down)

I have tons more, but I'll stop now. Anyway, it was amazing and I'm so happy I got to do GA. Nicole, thanks again for letting me stay with you! I wish we could have seen one of the shows together, but at least we both got to do GA and had a great time.

[mabel]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 10:03am

Ooooh, hooray for the photos!!! I'm going to go get prints sometime tomorrow or Saturday. Mind didn't really come out that great. I have a couple decent ones of Bono and Adam and some kind of blech ones of Edge (either blurry or someone's hand in the way)...there was one good one w/ Bono, and Edge was kind of leaning in, but I cut half of his head off! Oh well, at least Claire got some good ones!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! CHOW DOWN! Mmmmm!!!

[Patronus]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 10:32am

Amazing photos!

Can I just take a quick moment to rant? I AM SO F**KING TIRED OF RENT.

You guys all know that I have a long history with this show, but I am getting to the point were I want to scream. 500 posts on the topic from people who were still drinking from a bottle when I was really into it. The ****ty Broadway company I saw on Sunday. The more or less average at best film on Tuesday. I am at a point where I am ready to be done with it all and it coincides with a time where it's ALL I READ on BWW.

/end rant.

The preceding has been brought to you by pissy, tired guy who has a 5 hour flight in a few hours.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/25/05 at 12:33pm

Hey all! Sorry about the absence - have been doing Supernatural this week (asked for today off) and I'm freakin' cranky and tired.

Okay, first of all,



Aww, Bono...thinkin' o' me and touchin' yerself while yer singin' that, aren'tcha boy? Heh.

Second, great pics, Claire! So what side of the rail were you on? It really is a smashing view, isn't it? Can't wait to see yours, Nic! When are you going to post them?

Stephen, f-ing WORD. I saw Rent on Wednesday night (and then GoF right after to cheer myself up) and couldn't muster the energy to log on here and read everyone's reviews. Wholly mediocre. The experience left me more or less cold. Some strong points, of course (I do believe that Jesse L. Martin's voice is defined as Vocal Sex In Song.) but not what I'd hoped it would be. (Then again, my hopes were high but my expectations were low, so this may just be a self-fulfilling prophecy.)

God, I'm so tiring right now. Had a BLAST on Supernatural though. Jensen and I are thisclose to being lovers, you know.