Montreal GA Tonight (not a pleasant atmosphere)

[ancatdubh99]

Yes, it's definitely true that many of these crazy people were somehow completely in the dark about how this whole thing works -- including people who spoke English (I don't speak French, so I couldn't talk to non-English-speakers). I was shocked that most of them were really coming into the line without having done any research. It was actually really cute and refreshing. There were a lot of questions like "what songs will they play?"

Also, despite being willing to line up 36 hours beforehand in the driving snow, most of them seemed to have never gone to another show on this tour. It's like -- I'm going to the one show in my city and I'm going to make it count! I thought that was kind of refreshing. With the internet, everyone seems to know how many times they've played Bad in the last 4 shows, the word-for-word Miss Sarajevo speech, etc. It's kind of nice to have the show be a complete surprise, I guess. Kind of like it was the 80s again.

But really -- when I walked by Monday's line at 1:30 on Sunday, one of the guys asked me "so how does it work getting into the ellipse -- is it random?" It's really shocking that you'd spend that much time exposing your flesh to the elements without doing a little research first. Very weird.

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

It's all so random anyway, so why wait so long, suffer so much and not even know if you are going to win the lottery? Although I must say, the elipse looked PACKED tonight. I think there was some writsbanc cheating going on.

Not only did the ellipse look packed (so much so that a member of Arcade Fire left it and stood behind me on the general floor) but the entire floor looked crammed! Something was strange about it...

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

It was the craziest thing I ever saw. I'm all for camping out, but I didn't think anyone in their right minds would sleep outside in 10 degree weather (Fahrenheit). So we sat outside from 6:30 am (when they made us come back with the wristbands) to 6:30 pm when they let us in, and we really thought we were going to die of exposure. And I'm from Chicago. For the record, I had on 3 shirts, 2 wool sweaters, a big down jacket, a pair of tights, a pair of long underwear, a pair of leggings, a pair of jeans, 2 pairs of wool socks, 2 pairs of industrial mittens, 2 hats, a hood, a scarf, and a 5 degree sleeping bag, and I was beyond miserable. Those Montreal people are crazy nuts. And so many of them didn't even speak a word of English! I'm not sure that I would line up for 24 hours in the winter for a band that communicated in a different language...

Interestingly, we showed up at 11pm the night before Las Vegas 2 and were #1 and #2 in line. In nice weather. In Montreal, we show up at 6:30pm and are #80 in the freezing and driving snow. That just goes to show you that Montreal KICKS ASS. It was my first visit, and I fell in love with that city. It certainly has spirit.

And, by the way, it was the GREATEST SHOW I'VE EVER SEEN. Totally worth it.

haha, well Montréalers (or maybe it`s French-Canadians?) ARE a crazy bunch, as Bono said a few times that night!
It was an absolutely amazing show and there`s a reason why Montréal is always a must on my U2 itinerary.

I agree - the city is beautiful and full of life and spirit.
If Québec separates, I say Montréal stays in Canada

 

[alainlambert63]

got to the montreal show at 7:25pm saturday with my GA tickets and ended up no more than 10 feet from tip of ellipse. i guess the camping idea is a nice way to socialize with hard core fans and freeze your toes off.