Meeting Bono+Edge at HQ 5/6th June 2008

[gibbo]

I was at HQ thursday and friday.

The maserati

The main man

 

[gibbo]

Me and Mr the edge

Me and steve lillywhite

Me and Dallas

Joe o'herlihy

 

[Gluey]

Great pics!! Well done!

 

[gibbo]

My autographed stuff

I had a great 2 days down there at one point when Sam came out on Thursday and said the band were busy and wouldn't be coming out I was at a low point but persistence paid off and the few minutes I had in Bono and Edges presence later that day will stick in my head forever.

I'm still buzzin now which is a bit sad for a 40 year old!!!

But what happened to me and what has been happening at HQ these last few weeks is why this band we love are so special.

Thanks to all that were there as well.

 

[Val]

So good!

 

[zuropa_fit]

I'm still buzzin now which is a bit sad for a 40 year old!!!

Not at all, gibbo. I'd be on top of the world! Revel in your fan-geekdom!!!

 

[zuropa_fit]

And how come the Zoo gets the whole story and we don't!!! I protest!

 

[bonocomet]

very nice

 

[last unicorn]

Congrats and THANKS for sharing!

 

[Lila64]

 

[WildHoney]

Made up for you Gibbo


Boys are looking

 

[gibbo]

And how come the Zoo gets the whole story and we don't!!! I protest!

OK then you asked for it!

OK here's the story of mine and rich's trip to Hanover quay on thursday and friday this week.

First can I thank everyone who gave me good vibes and wishes about this trip,I know I went on a bit about not meeting the band,now at last I can shut up about it!

Day 1

So I'd hit the road on thursday to Dublin via taxi,train and ferry with a better feeling in my bones than the last time I'd been to HQ in March.

At least this time I knew the band were at HQ.

The weather got steadily worse the more nearer to Dublin that we got,but hey rain and Dublin go hand in hand!

We arrived at HQ at about 11 30 am and it was only me and rich there,shortly after a canadian girl from Interference showed up and we tried to keep each others spirits up in the shite weather.

Slowly but surely 3 turned into about 15 with quite a few nationalities present.

Spanish,italian,belgian,polish and a greek guy.

Then as usual the cars start arriving one by one,the magic sign of the garage doors opening brings a bit of excitement but that's about it as they drive straight in.

All the band have nice cars but I have to say Bono's is a beast of a car.

This cheered everyone up in the miserable weather and even seeing 4 cars driving into a garage got me feeling good.Plus a text from Odie told me that Eno the night before had said the first song with a title for the album would be called Moment of surrender and 'It was the best thing he'd recorded with U2'

But after about another hour the HQ doors opened and Sam o'sullivan came over,my instant thought was hey somethin's gonna happen here but it was not good news at all.

He said that the band were very busy and that they wouldn't be coming out for pics and autographs so we'd be wasting our time standing outside in the rain.

At this point let's just say I wasn't a happy bunny,the curse of gibbo had struck again.What made it worse was that I knew the band were in there this time.

Anyway he added that they were on a very tight schedule and the record had to be ready for OCTOBER.Whether that is the release date or when the record is delivered to the record compnany who knows?

So at least we had a bit of goodish news,and it's come from a close member of the bands so must be genuine news.

Day 1 continued

So off me and rich trudged in the gloom and rain of Dublin to check into the hotel at least we could drown our sorrows in one of the best places to do such a thing,but after a few pints of Kilkenny later I felt better.

Fair does to Rich he was trying to keep my chin up stating that we'd go back at night and try again.So that's what we did.

We met Odie at a great pub off O'connell st called donahues? and trekked off back down to HQ for about 9-ish.

The same people more or less were down there from the afternoon plus Antoinette(liffey),Adrian(emergency U2) from the electric co website and our very own Danny boi and Bonofied,plus a couple of Brazilian girls.

I hadn't met adrian and danny before but what a pair of leg ends they are!

Adrian cheers for the pizza slice and fags!

So at about 11 30-ish the garage doors go up,the tension rises but Larry does his usual runner and surprisingly so does Adam.Was the curse striking again??

Thankfully not,Sam opens the door and we see the Maserati backing out but Sam is doing it,this is THE moment.

How to describe it,I still don't know.It's got to be one of the most surreal moments in my 40 year old lifetime.

It was like a mad stampede and I got stuck at the back but I lost my rag eventually and shouted Bono can you sign this English cheeky bastards program please?that did the trick yeh I'll sign it for a cheeky english bastard he replied!So he signs and I'm on cloud fuckin 9,Wow I ain't seen one of these in a while he says.

Lets just say my camera had a 'malfunction' at the wrong bleedin time!Me and Bono doesn't exist on my camera I'm waiting for one of the spanish lads from the U2 valencia website who has me on his phone with Bono but me being in his presence is locked in my memory bank for ever.

Some pics of the main man.(some of these are rich's)

So after the euphoria this is what I was like.(this pic is rich's)

A bit of a cheshire cat smile!

The next couple of hours were a very long stretch, Edge sure does put the hours in,we could hear a few guitar sounds through the HQ doors this was at about 2 am believe it or not.

but the wait was worthwhile at 2 30 am Taxi's come for sam and dallas and the garage doors roll up one more time and Edge's car rolls out.

There were about 8 of us left by now and this time it was a bit more calmer than the mad Bono stampede.

Edge has to be one of the most chilled out fella's I've ever met which sums the man up for me.He gave all of us time to sign stuff and have our photos took,I had 3 things to sign and said was that OK and he says yeh fine,a handshake and a pic or 2 later and I'm back on cloud 9 again.

So that's day 1 done!(day 2 to come)

 

[gibbo]

Day 2

So we wake up on day 2 and fuck me the suns shinin in Dublin!!

Got down to HQ at around 11 am again and we visit the spar for brekkie,that place must have made some money off the U2 fans this last few months.

Rich ambles down to the studios and I'm readin the paper outside the spar when I see a man in black acroos the road walkin to HQ,it was daniel lanois.

So I get up and follow just behind,hoping he doesn't think I'm a stalker and rich is in the distance daydreaming at the HQ door,some frantic waving and pointing by me alerts rich,he is a big fan of lanois and we took these pics.

Again it's only me and rich outside,taxi's pull up with various people some we don't know but one we definitely do,Steve Lillywhite.

He was sound.I get my I will follow single out to sign and he comments at least i'm signing something I worked on!lo and behold after he says that rich gets his UF album out! D'oh!

He tells us not to get his laundry in the pic.

At this point we were thinkin wow this is cool when we see a familiar face walking to the studio.Some bloke the schoocakes like!

Dallas is a cool as fuck bloke as well,he signs a few things and comments on my Joshua tree program saying it was his favourite tour,and being the gent he is I say you'll make me look small in the pic so he bends down a bit!!

Signing rich's U218 album

After that we didn't see much more else other than a few strange faces coming and going from HQ.

We had the pleasure of meeting cathkel and her daughter,a sound lady indeed.I hope to see some of your pics dear.

The only other famous face to show up was Gandalf,otherwise known as Joe o'herlihy!

And that was it,the time had come to get the ferry back home

IF ANYONE READING THIS KNOWS JAVI VARA FROM THE U2 VALENCIA WEBSITE CAN YOU REMIND HIM TO EMAIL ME THE ONLY PICS THAT SOMEONE HAD OF ME AND BONO.

 

[zuropa_fit]

Thanks for humoring me, gibbo. Some of us can only live vicariously and dream

 

[Jim]

sounds great! - i passed that way on Friday night (I was over for the Radiohead gig Friday) and got a cab to an old mate of mine's apartment which turns out to be overlooking the studio door! I was with other non-U2 tragics (like me) so had to whistle back into town.. I wish I'd made an escape now and joined you!
I said a quick hello to Daniel Lanois who i'm a huge fan of at about middnight as he was heading into a restaurant with Guggi up at temple bar... what a gentleman.

 

[u2gek]

Oh My GAAAWWWD......Gibbo - that was awesome!!! What a fantastic experience. And as Zoo said, some of us can only live vicariously, so thank you thank you for giving the play by play! And how awesome that you met so many of the "supporting" characters as well. What a truly amazing experience! Well Done!!!

 

[WildHoney]

amazing story , sounds so familiar, i think they'll be long gone before i get back to Dublin

Antoinette

You're cursed , i've meet Bono 4 times and still haven't got his autograph

 

[waynetravis]

Fantastic pics!! Congrats on meeting the guys
Very cool of them to hang around for a few minutes, especially at 2am

 

[RavenBlue]

Awesome Gibbo! All the standing the rain paid off, eh?

Great pictures too! You must be on the moon!

 

[Lizzie]

Hey Gibbo......

Ok mate...finally got back on here

I am so chuffed for you and Rich...I really am. I know how much this means for the both of you and I hope that, one day, I may get my dream too and meet the boys.

The pics are great and Bonos car is really beautiful....but look at the way the soft git has parked it lmao

Anyway, if the next trip you and Rich want to go on ties in with when i'm going, i'll sort out the free ferry over for you both........it would be a pleasure to do that for you

Anyways.....well chuffed for you and can't wait to see any other pictures that you have

 

[suzannagirl]

Hey Gibbo. your not a silly excited 40 year old...I was too....It is a great pleasure to meet your hero's they are lovely guys...and you get to meet all the other amazing fans too...It will be a shame the day the studio goes...I am back in Dublin next year from Australia so can't wait...to see Dublin again...and meet more fans....enjoy your high...it feels unbelievable....

 

[gibbo]

Just got these from Wotjek from Poland and Javi from the U2 valencia website.

I needed bono's platform shoes for the first two pics!

And special thanks to Javi vara(he's on the left of bono above) for this one.

Me and the main man.

 

[Bona Vox]

Bono has the Popmart-Look! (The look, or should I say the hoodie, reminds me of the MTV awards in 1997, when they performed Please... )
Thanks for the pics and congrats Gibbo!

 

[u2jesusgirl]

OMG Gibbo, I love the pic of you and Bono!!! So happy for you!!!!

 

[Giugiu]

Does somebody know if they were at the HQ studios yesterday or today??
Sorry if it isn't the right thread, but i didn't know where to post!

Ps: Congrats Gibbo!

 

[U2FloridaFan]

You look like you're in heaven..and rightly so. So happy for you

 

[Bonochick]

Great pics!!!! You're very lucky.

 

[RavenBlue]

Rich and his Girls rule camera is in there too

Great stuff!

 

[gibbo]

Rich and his Girls rule camera is in there too

Great stuff!

It's a good job bono didn't spot the girls rule camera!!!

 

[blm]

So awesome, gibbo. so, so awesome. glad your dream came true.