What a weekend! 48 hours of U2 music, U2 memorabilia and best of all, U2 fans! I had the most incredible time and judging by the faces of most of the other people I saw over the weekend, I wasn?t the only one.
I arrived in Cleveland Thursday afternoon expecting the sun but instead got pouring rain?no problem other than getting to my hotel soaking wet. My cell phone wasn?t getting a signal so I was pretty much on my own for the night and decided to stay in and get a good nights sleep so I could get up early and see the sights.
Friday morning, I had breakfast in the hotel coffee shop and my U2 weekend got off to a good start when Stuck in a Moment was playing inside the restaurant! From there, I took a shuttle over the RRHOF where I stood outside and just took it all in. The first thing I noticed was the HUGE sign on the front of the Rock Hall??In the Name of Love?Two Decades of U2? I made my way inside and right away noticed the Trabbies hanging from the ceiling, along with the ZOO TV neon sign?I felt a little silly but as I was going up the escalator with the Trabbies right over my head, I got a little choked up LOL!
I headed straight for the U2 exhibit and felt like a giddy little girl when I saw Larry?s first drum kit sitting next to Bono?s first guitar. Whoever set up this exhibit has to be a bit of a sadist because all of these wonderful bits of U2 history are sitting just inches away with only a small barrier around them but there are signs everywhere saying ?don?t touch.? That is like putting a piece of candy in front of a little kid and saying ?don?t eat that.? They also have party pooper security people making sure you don?t put your hands on anything in case the signs weren?t enough! The rest of the exhibit was great?Larry is certainly to be commended for holding on to all of this U2 history. My personal favorite though had to be the clothes on display. Two things struck me in this part of the exhibit?the first one was just how small their clothes actually are, especially Larry?s. The second thing I noticed was the kick ass shoes they wear! Edge?s cowboy boots with the lemons are beyond cool!
I checked out the rest of the exhibit, walked around the waterfront area a bit and decided to go back to the hotel, just in time to get a call from Mrs. Edge announcing that the GTA arrivals had begun, woohooo!!!! I was really excited to meet everyone, most of all Spinny!!! After a bit of socializing and an unfortunate pizza incident, we all made our way to the Hard Rock. I met Stories for Boys and a few of the Midwest girls earlier in the day and at the Hard Rock met Moonie, Marina, Oktobergirl and Scarletwine (thanks again for the CD)
Exit put on a great show, despite sound problems that were beyond their control?I?m really sorry now that I never got to see them in LA.
Saturday started with breakfast with the GTA and then back to the RRHOF, where I took in everything I missed the first time around. It was a pretty amazing day, with U2 music everywhere, tables of memorabilia set up and more people walking around in U2 t-shirts than at an actual U2 concert LOL! I thought I was seeing things when I walked by an exhibit table and saw "the U2 Kens" sitting there
Once again, Exit was great. I loved watching people?s faces as they came down the escalators and realized that 4 GIRLS were tearing it up down there! After spending 5 hours walking the entire HOF, it was back to the hotel for a nap before dinner.
Following dinner at the Hard Rock, we took our places at a prime location in front of the stage and waited. While sitting in our booth, I noticed a very cute girl wearing Adam pants walk by and I just knew it had to be Elizabeth!!!! I made my way to her table and met JamJar too, also wearing the Adam pants! Later in the evening, I waved to Kristie and her cute fro-boy but the size of the crowd prevented me from getting close enough to actually talk to them LOL!
Finally, the highlight of my weekend?ELEVATION CANADA!!!!! I can?t even put into words how much ass they kicked on stage that night! The crowd was just insane, jumping up and down, singing every word, just like an actual U2 show. That was my 4th time seeing Elevation and by far the best show I?ve ever seen them put on. The highlight of Mysterious Ways was of course Mrs. Edge, who, despite the limited space, danced beautifully! And the surprise addition of Lady With the Spinning Head was just INCREDIBLE! Brady, Kevin, John and Mick?you should all be proud of yourselves!
But, before I knew it, it was back to reality and I was off to the airport first thing Sunday morning
It was so great meeting and hanging out with everyone from Canada?you GTA people are NUTS! Hopefully I?ll see you all in August
It was also so nice to meet a bunch more Interlander?s, especially the PLEBA girls
We MUST do this again