trevster2k
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2001
- Messages
- 4,330
My review for the second show.
After having a GA ticket for the first show, I was expecting to be slightly disappointed by this show partially due to my seat location and having already experienced one show. The high of seeing them live after four years is slightly diminished after the first time.
Anyway, I woke up at 7am dehydrated and starving. I rolled over and ate my sub which I had bought on the way back to the hotel the night before. I left the hotel and went to buy a shirt and returned to the hotel to find a message from Michael Griffiths. I called him and we made plans to meet and have lunch. I packed up and had to go to Burnaby to drop my stuff off at a friend's house. I took the bus but got off 10 blocks away from the area where I should have.
Michael and myself headed back downtown and went to Aqua Riva for lunch. Great view of the harbour and mountains. Funny thing happened to us when Michael said he had to use the phone. We left the restaurant, went down to the street, entered a building to our left, the security guard directed us up some stairs and to the left to find payphones. As Michael was talking, I looked around and when I raised my eyes, what do I see? Aqua Riva! We had walked around in a circle to find phones right next to where we were.
We then went to the stadium to see what was going on, and there were scalpers everywhere along with a huge lineup at the boxoffice hoping for late ticket releases. Michael had to go to his cousin's house to get his tickets for tonight. Sidebar, Michael thought he lost his tickets because the night before his cousin put them in his pocket and went home with them. Michael had originally thought someone from the checkin service had taken them. After, retrieving the tickets, we headed back downtown, along the way, we met Nada (sp?) who was at the busstop. We were talking about the concert and she overheard us. She was going to GM Place hoping to get a ticket, she was from Brazil. She tagged along with us back to the arena where Michael met his friend Erika and ended up in the ticket line with us. We were hoping to upgrade our tickets as we had seats behind the stage. Michael tried to haggle with scalpers but to no avail. He wanted to trade his 2 for a pair together. We stayed in line until around 830pm taking in the whole scene. Eventually, the arena security and a couple of cops started coming down on the scalpers in the area. They were right next to the ticket booths. One postive story was a fellow who had will call tickets thru TM but ended up getting better seats. He promptly sold them for face value to a couple in front of us. Good guy for doing that.
Thinking I had a crappy seat, I entered the arena. The place was jammed, people were buying beer like crazy, maybe this explains the rough night some people experienced on the floor. I went to the makepovertyhistory.ca table and purchased 5 wristbands. Somewhere between that table and the next 20 feet, I lost my ticket. I was slightly panicked because what if they want to see it, I have to prove it was my seat. Luckily, no one bothered and I was pleasantly surprised when row 12 to the left of Edge was actually ROW 2
I forgot they had to collapse the first 10 rows for the stage area. To my chagrin, I entered from the wrong side and had to walk in front of 17 people to get to my seat which apparently was the first one on the other side.
I quickly met a couple of young ladies from Africa, Julia from Zimbabwe who had a flag draped over her back and Melinda from South Africa, they were travelling. I think they were seat hopping as within 20 minutes they were gone and replaced with .......... a couple of beautiful young Filipino girls who to my excitement had never seen a U2 show. They purchased their tickets through a scalper, $75 bucks above face each. Our seats were right in front of Edge's piano. I could make out the setlist, count the switches on Edge's effect thingy, see Bono's teleprompter. This is a fantastic seat.
I became a U2 guide for the girls. When Wake Up started playing, I jumped to my feet and told the girls to get ready. The lights drop during Everybody and there they are, Larry, Adam and Edge walking in through the back of the stage. The girls are freaking out now. Then Bono walks beneath us heading to his secret entrance, I shouted out to him as he went by. Having the 2 girls next to me while they experienced their first introduction to the magic of a live U2 made my experience even more fun.
I must admit, I found it kind of awkward in the beginning to get into the show as the people in the front row were seated so when we were standing, I was like......exposed to everyone looking out at the arena, not that anyone was looking at me but it does feel weird. The coolest thing about behind the stage seats is definitely getting a U2 view of the arena. I saw korczykp down on the rail right in front of Bono, and yep, he had a couple of hot girls next to him, he was right about them, one girl was more concerned with showing cleavage than enjoying the show although I did enjoy the cleavage.
The setlist had some slight variances with old favorites An Cat Dubh, and Into the Heart being played. I agree that with the older stuff, the crowd seemed to confused and not sure how to act during these songs, probably due to not being familar with these songs. Just like the previous night, Adam proudly jaunts around the ellipse, stopping momentarily to strike the bassist pose we are all so familar with, and the crowd eats it up. Cocky bastard!
I remember Bono sitting on the ellipse on Adam's side, lying like on his side like some cheesy magazine model, and then sitting up sucking his thumb, in front of Roland of Gilead and his wife, as I found out here. Cool! Bono had the audience mesmerized as he strutted around the ellipse standing with confidence and a facade of arrogance only the Fly could muster.
He is definitely the king of charisma onstage.
Personal Highlights:
Watching Edge play piano and guitar during New Year's Day was freaking unbelievable. To be that close to watch his fingers work the instruments, back and forth, was great. Of course, the girls loved it too ( I can't remember their names because it was too loud when they told me )
Before Love and Peace, Bono changed into his coat right in front of us. Again, the girls were just bonkers.
I loved being able to see Larry work his drumset. This was a cool view to see the man in his office.
The whole band showed a lot of love for the fans behind the stage. At one point, Edge came in front of us before going to the piano and hit some big notes showing off for us. I loved it especially since I just bought a guitar and will be learning some songs from over favorite sons over the next few years.
I loved watching the crowd moving and breathing like a giant entity. Just like the previous night, the entire arena was moving, dancing and clapping. 20,000 U2 fans sharing their joy at the same time.
A few times during the show, it was difficult to hear Bono so I explained to the ladies what he was talking about, having seen last night's show. And sometimes I have no idea what the crowd was singing, they seemed totally out of synch sometimes, maybe it was because where I was sitting.
After thinking about it, I have one criticism for this tour. The final encore of Achtung Baby songs, with the Yahweh and 40 seems to take the energy out of the crowd. Both nights seemed to slow down as they reached this point. Of course, people are still excited but the Achtung Baby might be better suited for earlier in the show since it seemed many people were just not into Zoo Station or the Fly. While the slow tempo of the final 2 songs is great for those of us who want to finish with the classic 40, it did take the wind out of the ending. The girls next to me seemed to experience this feeling as did many in GA during the previous night. My only criticism of the tour besides the lottery.
After the show, the girls thought last night's was better based on hearsay and reviews. I tried to convince them that is was just as good but I sheepishly had to admit that I too thought Thursday's show was superior to tonight's performance mainly to due to the people being onstage during Bad, Mysterious Ways, and One. The lone woman pulled up during Yahweh was an embarrassment for U2 fans. But the girls still loved the show, I gave each a makepovertyhistory.ca wristband with the promise that they will sign up and they thanked me for me such a great guy, wished me a wonderful life and we said our goodbyes.
This is the best part of attending U2 concerts, meeting people from all over the world of different faiths, and ethnicities. I love this part. Maybe I am just lonely but it really adds to the whole experience.
After the concert, I met up with Michael and my friend JD who met us after the show to go for some beers. We headed up Granville St which was packed. Unfortunately, we came upon an incident between some US sailors and locals where one of the local guys clocked the sailor and knocked him out on the sidewalk. Fortunately, a couple of police officers were on foot patrol right behind us. I hope he was ok. We had our Guinness and headed for the Skytrain where I said goodbye to Michael. Upon reaching my friend's apartment, I promptly passed out ending my pilgramage to the U2 altar.
Michael suggested going to Miami in the fall,
After having a GA ticket for the first show, I was expecting to be slightly disappointed by this show partially due to my seat location and having already experienced one show. The high of seeing them live after four years is slightly diminished after the first time.
Anyway, I woke up at 7am dehydrated and starving. I rolled over and ate my sub which I had bought on the way back to the hotel the night before. I left the hotel and went to buy a shirt and returned to the hotel to find a message from Michael Griffiths. I called him and we made plans to meet and have lunch. I packed up and had to go to Burnaby to drop my stuff off at a friend's house. I took the bus but got off 10 blocks away from the area where I should have.
Michael and myself headed back downtown and went to Aqua Riva for lunch. Great view of the harbour and mountains. Funny thing happened to us when Michael said he had to use the phone. We left the restaurant, went down to the street, entered a building to our left, the security guard directed us up some stairs and to the left to find payphones. As Michael was talking, I looked around and when I raised my eyes, what do I see? Aqua Riva! We had walked around in a circle to find phones right next to where we were.
We then went to the stadium to see what was going on, and there were scalpers everywhere along with a huge lineup at the boxoffice hoping for late ticket releases. Michael had to go to his cousin's house to get his tickets for tonight. Sidebar, Michael thought he lost his tickets because the night before his cousin put them in his pocket and went home with them. Michael had originally thought someone from the checkin service had taken them. After, retrieving the tickets, we headed back downtown, along the way, we met Nada (sp?) who was at the busstop. We were talking about the concert and she overheard us. She was going to GM Place hoping to get a ticket, she was from Brazil. She tagged along with us back to the arena where Michael met his friend Erika and ended up in the ticket line with us. We were hoping to upgrade our tickets as we had seats behind the stage. Michael tried to haggle with scalpers but to no avail. He wanted to trade his 2 for a pair together. We stayed in line until around 830pm taking in the whole scene. Eventually, the arena security and a couple of cops started coming down on the scalpers in the area. They were right next to the ticket booths. One postive story was a fellow who had will call tickets thru TM but ended up getting better seats. He promptly sold them for face value to a couple in front of us. Good guy for doing that.
Thinking I had a crappy seat, I entered the arena. The place was jammed, people were buying beer like crazy, maybe this explains the rough night some people experienced on the floor. I went to the makepovertyhistory.ca table and purchased 5 wristbands. Somewhere between that table and the next 20 feet, I lost my ticket. I was slightly panicked because what if they want to see it, I have to prove it was my seat. Luckily, no one bothered and I was pleasantly surprised when row 12 to the left of Edge was actually ROW 2
I forgot they had to collapse the first 10 rows for the stage area. To my chagrin, I entered from the wrong side and had to walk in front of 17 people to get to my seat which apparently was the first one on the other side. I quickly met a couple of young ladies from Africa, Julia from Zimbabwe who had a flag draped over her back and Melinda from South Africa, they were travelling. I think they were seat hopping as within 20 minutes they were gone and replaced with .......... a couple of beautiful young Filipino girls who to my excitement had never seen a U2 show. They purchased their tickets through a scalper, $75 bucks above face each. Our seats were right in front of Edge's piano. I could make out the setlist, count the switches on Edge's effect thingy, see Bono's teleprompter. This is a fantastic seat.
I became a U2 guide for the girls. When Wake Up started playing, I jumped to my feet and told the girls to get ready. The lights drop during Everybody and there they are, Larry, Adam and Edge walking in through the back of the stage. The girls are freaking out now. Then Bono walks beneath us heading to his secret entrance, I shouted out to him as he went by. Having the 2 girls next to me while they experienced their first introduction to the magic of a live U2 made my experience even more fun.
I must admit, I found it kind of awkward in the beginning to get into the show as the people in the front row were seated so when we were standing, I was like......exposed to everyone looking out at the arena, not that anyone was looking at me but it does feel weird. The coolest thing about behind the stage seats is definitely getting a U2 view of the arena. I saw korczykp down on the rail right in front of Bono, and yep, he had a couple of hot girls next to him, he was right about them, one girl was more concerned with showing cleavage than enjoying the show although I did enjoy the cleavage.
The setlist had some slight variances with old favorites An Cat Dubh, and Into the Heart being played. I agree that with the older stuff, the crowd seemed to confused and not sure how to act during these songs, probably due to not being familar with these songs. Just like the previous night, Adam proudly jaunts around the ellipse, stopping momentarily to strike the bassist pose we are all so familar with, and the crowd eats it up. Cocky bastard!
I remember Bono sitting on the ellipse on Adam's side, lying like on his side like some cheesy magazine model, and then sitting up sucking his thumb, in front of Roland of Gilead and his wife, as I found out here. Cool! Bono had the audience mesmerized as he strutted around the ellipse standing with confidence and a facade of arrogance only the Fly could muster.
He is definitely the king of charisma onstage.Personal Highlights:
Watching Edge play piano and guitar during New Year's Day was freaking unbelievable. To be that close to watch his fingers work the instruments, back and forth, was great. Of course, the girls loved it too ( I can't remember their names because it was too loud when they told me
)Before Love and Peace, Bono changed into his coat right in front of us. Again, the girls were just bonkers.
I loved being able to see Larry work his drumset. This was a cool view to see the man in his office.
The whole band showed a lot of love for the fans behind the stage. At one point, Edge came in front of us before going to the piano and hit some big notes showing off for us. I loved it especially since I just bought a guitar and will be learning some songs from over favorite sons over the next few years.
I loved watching the crowd moving and breathing like a giant entity. Just like the previous night, the entire arena was moving, dancing and clapping. 20,000 U2 fans sharing their joy at the same time.
A few times during the show, it was difficult to hear Bono so I explained to the ladies what he was talking about, having seen last night's show. And sometimes I have no idea what the crowd was singing, they seemed totally out of synch sometimes, maybe it was because where I was sitting.
After thinking about it, I have one criticism for this tour. The final encore of Achtung Baby songs, with the Yahweh and 40 seems to take the energy out of the crowd. Both nights seemed to slow down as they reached this point. Of course, people are still excited but the Achtung Baby might be better suited for earlier in the show since it seemed many people were just not into Zoo Station or the Fly. While the slow tempo of the final 2 songs is great for those of us who want to finish with the classic 40, it did take the wind out of the ending. The girls next to me seemed to experience this feeling as did many in GA during the previous night. My only criticism of the tour besides the lottery.
After the show, the girls thought last night's was better based on hearsay and reviews. I tried to convince them that is was just as good but I sheepishly had to admit that I too thought Thursday's show was superior to tonight's performance mainly to due to the people being onstage during Bad, Mysterious Ways, and One. The lone woman pulled up during Yahweh was an embarrassment for U2 fans. But the girls still loved the show, I gave each a makepovertyhistory.ca wristband with the promise that they will sign up and they thanked me for me such a great guy, wished me a wonderful life and we said our goodbyes.
This is the best part of attending U2 concerts, meeting people from all over the world of different faiths, and ethnicities. I love this part. Maybe I am just lonely
but it really adds to the whole experience. After the concert, I met up with Michael and my friend JD who met us after the show to go for some beers. We headed up Granville St which was packed. Unfortunately, we came upon an incident between some US sailors and locals where one of the local guys clocked the sailor and knocked him out on the sidewalk. Fortunately, a couple of police officers were on foot patrol right behind us. I hope he was ok. We had our Guinness and headed for the Skytrain where I said goodbye to Michael. Upon reaching my friend's apartment, I promptly passed out ending my pilgramage to the U2 altar.
Michael suggested going to Miami in the fall,
-you guys should definately come down!
