HAWAII: Lining Up Two Days Early

[Bono's Betty]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT

The FACT remains that when I got to the line, there were 6 people there and 91 on the list. That is not a line. Like I said previously, using that logic, people could go to the arena sraight from the airport, take a picture of themself in front of the arena, and show up hours or a day later claiming they were there first (by simply showing the time on the picture in their camera) and therefore their spot in line should be held. If people aren't physicaly in the line for an extended period of time, they should not be on the list. The purpose of a line is to BE IN LINE--not to just make a list and "hold" people's spots because they mozied on down for five minutes.

 

[Miroslava]

Coriander, trust me, I wasn't complaining about second row. But you also have to admit that getting second row when you are standing in line SOLID from 10:30 pm the day before is NUTS!!!

Mads, so you were the other girl with the mom? Didn't know!

What happened was that the little one was standing RIGHT behind me, and well, you saw me I ain't little. And I was standing right behind Daryl who was taller than me. So I suggested to her she may want to get behind someone a little shorter. So she moved behind Michelle. And Michelle being a better person than I actually invited her to stand in front of her, but she somehow took that to mean she could be nuts.

 

[u2wedge]

Well, we arrived at the venue around 7:30- 8am the morning of the show and could have easily arrived at 2pm and had pretty much the same spot. A friend of mine camped out at 6pm the night before and was number 600+ and in the first pen. I was 30 feet from him when I got inside the arena.

At some point you just have to ask yourself how much your time is worth. It becomes an issue of fairness when people begin abusing the same GA privileges that they expect others to adhere to.

You're either in the GA line or you're not in the GA line. Venue security had a more than acceptable 2 hour rule for exiting the GA queues in order for fans to eat or go to the bathroom, etc. Taking trips to the beach? WTF? Anyone who did anything like that is just obnoxiously selfish and shouldn't be involved in anything GA because their twisted perception of how things should work muddle the whole process for the rest of the fans and creates way more problems and 'drama' that could be avoided altogether.

It sucks though, because it'll never change. I will say that there was some self-policing in our queue and some people who tried to get in the front of the line when it began forming were forced to the back.

 

[mads]

Mads, so you were the other girl with the mom? Didn't know!

Yeah, this was her first GA and she swears she'll never do it again.

 

[Miroslava]

When they came to Detroit I asked my mom, do you want to go?

She said yes.

I bought her seats, I did GA. I personally could never enjoy GA with my mom. She's little, and I'd kill the asswipe that did something to her like push her, etc. etc.

 

[mads]

My mom had a (very good) seat until the GA drop a couple weeks prior to the show. At that point she decided that she wanted to get the $100 back from her seat and get a GA instead.

I wish I had talked her out of it, but she said she wanted the experience. Next time she'll be sitting.

 

[ruffian]

I swore I wasn't going to get involved in this mess, cause well, I didn't. My ass didn't get there til 10:30 PM cause I was too busy enjoying our private pool, going to the beach and eating some lovely shrimp and steak from a shrimp truck off the Leeward Coast to bother with line any earlier.

I was number 630 in line. And let me tell you, not being involved in any drama ruled. Being second row didn't rule as much, but hey you win some, you lose some.

However, just wanted to point out that Hans was actually in line behind me in the second pen. So while he may have tried to reclaim his earlier number at some point, he either did get kicked out or thought about it better and moved himself back.

And sorry I didn't get to see you Ruff!!

You didn't miss anything--though I did think in the end, it was worth it to wait out. Last I saw of Hans people behind him were screaming and pointing and security was in the midst of it (and I think some Hawaiian police officers). blech! so much for Coexist.

Anyway, saw you for a fleeting second and then the line moved and everyone was in their own portion of the refugee camp. Glad you had a good show!

 

[ruffian]

Oh gawd, that was funny Thank goodness for my hoody. I was cleaning the dirt off me for days

Truly worth it. What an amazing show

did you get a look at your clothes from that day on the sidewalk...OMG, it was so disgusting. When I showered I found myself oddly amazed by all the black grit coming off me. ewwww!

but you are right--so amazing. and thank god for moist towlettes

 

[Miroslava]

You didn't miss anything--though I did think in the end, it was worth it to wait out. Last I saw of Hans people behind him were screaming and pointing and security was in the midst of it (and I think some Hawaiian police officers). blech! so much for Coexist.

Anyway, saw you for a fleeting second and then the line moved and everyone was in their own portion of the refugee camp. Glad you had a good show!

Michelle said she thought she saw you when we FIRST got to the line. I was too stressed out o notice anything. I had JUST been informed there would be no pinching of tents. I was a teensy, bitsy distressed about the prospect of not having my 4 walls and my roof.

We ended up sleeping inside the tent like a ziplock bag (which of course took as much room as if we had pitched it). Without the fly we could breathe through the mesh and keep out the bugs!! Seriously, the things I do for this band, I wouldn't do for a boyfriend.

 

[Lila64]

Mads - I think that was your Mom I was standing next to for part of the show. I think she was in a sparkly top, right?

 

[kafrun]

hi kafrun

Aloha

 

[kafrun]

did you get a look at your clothes from that day on the sidewalk...OMG, it was so disgusting. When I showered I found myself oddly amazed by all the black grit coming off me. ewwww!

but you are right--so amazing. and thank god for moist towlettes

moist towlettes

I haven't even laundered the clothes I wore that day Gotta throw them in the wash tonight. I honestly was laughing the whole time that was happening. The absurdity of it all

 

[ruffian]

Michelle said she thought she saw you when we FIRST got to the line. I was too stressed out o notice anything. I had JUST been informed there would be no pinching of tents. I was a teensy, bitsy distressed about the prospect of not having my 4 walls and my roof.

We ended up sleeping inside the tent like a ziplock bag (which of course took as much room as if we had pitched it). Without the fly we could breathe through the mesh and keep out the bugs!! Seriously, the things I do for this band, I wouldn't do for a boyfriend.

Yep, saw you I think right after you arrived...I took 2 Excedrin PM and then an Ambien after I got in my sleeping bag. I sat upright for several moments and someone managed to get a picture--I look stoned out of my mind! Better living through pharmacology. Definitely the way to forget you are on the asphalt with rubble embedded in your hip

moist towlettes

I haven't even laundered the clothes I wore that day Gotta throw them in the wash tonight. I honestly was laughing the whole time that was happening. The absurdity of it all

I remember being buried in my hoodie and getting black grit in my teeth. When people say, "oh, and they come back to the GA looking CLEAN!" I have the urge to describe the towlette bath I had in my rental car. Oh, the things we do.

 

[kafrun]

I remember being buried in my hoodie and getting black grit in my teeth. When people say, "oh, and they come back to the GA looking CLEAN!" I have the urge to describe the towlette bath I had in my rental car. Oh, the things we do.

Yeah, I had one of those too What an experience..

 

[Miroslava]

We had a bottle of Baileys (we brought ice and all) and proceeded to pass out. Had a good 5-6 sleep!

And baby wipes rule!

 

[Liesje]

I don't have time to read the entire thread, but I read the first few pages and would like to add my two cents. I agree with everything Kevin said in the original post (and mads' posts - I must've been right near you on the floor).

This was my 10th show this tour and my 8th GA experience. I completely agree that when you line up YOU ARE THERE with the exception of one hour to shower and grab some grub. Taking numbers/wristbands and showing up hours, or DAYS later is laughable. What a pansy-ass excuse for a U2 fan. Now, if the venue is able to organize this and keep it under control (re: the passing out of wristbands in Boston), then fine, great! But seriously we cannot expect half a dozen fans to keep control of 500 people "lining up" days early.

People have been asking me about the trip and the first thing I says is DAMN I am SOOOOOO glad we lined up the day of! I sit here laughing because I ended up in the same row as people who slept on the pavement overnight and stood behind people who'd been there (allegedly) for two days. Thank God we chose to make use of our time on the island by doing some tours, seeing the sites, and relaxing the beach. I *almost* feel sorry for those who wasted all that time in line only to get royally screwed by the clusterfuck we ALL knew would happen.

My experience with GA lines this tour has been that if you're not in the very front, it's hardly worth the effort. At least for the arena shows, the first 100 spots are closely policed and it's nigh unto impossible to cut in near the front. The middle of the line - the people that are willing to wait all day, but not days and nights - are the ones who end up getting screwed because you're too far back to get a number and too far back for help from the line nazis. I knew this would be the case so even though we showed up at 7am the day of (halfway back in pen 3), I had zero expectations and would not have been surprised if a few hundred people managed to cut in ahead of us.

I think the stadium did as well as could've been expected. My only disappointment was that when we arrived, they literally parked us into a parking space in order of arrival, so we all assumed they were going to usher us out into the line in the same order. By the time we had to scrunch into the line, this guy came around and basically said it was every man for himself and we could police ourselves. By then, people from farther back had already moved around the sides and were trying to cut in. I just let it go since I'm guessing this happens with any stadium show anywhere, I just wish the stadium security would not have given us these false notions to begin with. Once on the floor, I was standing near people we were by in the pen and also by people who'd been there for one or two nights, so it all evened out in the end. In hindsight, I wish some fans in each pen would've organized to numbered off their own pen, since security gave us a wristband with the pen number but no indication of what that meant for lining up.

Maybe this has been addressed already, but does anyone know why more than half the front section of the floor was vacant? I saw a woman literally bawling because she was in the second part and we had all that space. I thought they'd put more people up front once it got closer to the start, but even though I was second row on the rail, 5 steps back would've put me in open space. Was this an order of the fire marshall?

 

[Super_Fan]

I don't have time to read the entire thread, but I read the first few pages and would like to add my two cents. I agree with everything Kevin said in the original post (and mads' posts - I must've been right near you on the floor).

This was my 10th show this tour and my 8th GA experience. I completely agree that when you line up YOU ARE THERE with the exception of one hour to shower and grab some grub. Taking numbers/wristbands and showing up hours, or DAYS later is laughable. What a pansy-ass excuse for a U2 fan. Now, if the venue is able to organize this and keep it under control (re: the passing out of wristbands in Boston), then fine, great! But seriously we cannot expect half a dozen fans to keep control of 500 people "lining up" days early.

People have been asking me about the trip and the first thing I says is DAMN I am SOOOOOO glad we lined up the day of! I sit here laughing because I ended up in the same row as people who slept on the pavement overnight and stood behind people who'd been there (allegedly) for two days. Thank God we chose to make use of our time on the island by doing some tours, seeing the sites, and relaxing the beach. I *almost* feel sorry for those who wasted all that time in line only to get royally screwed by the clusterfuck we ALL knew would happen.

My experience with GA lines this tour has been that if you're not in the very front, it's hardly worth the effort. At least for the arena shows, the first 100 spots are closely policed and it's nigh unto impossible to cut in near the front. The middle of the line - the people that are willing to wait all day, but not days and nights - are the ones who end up getting screwed because you're too far back to get a number and too far back for help from the line nazis. I knew this would be the case so even though we showed up at 7am the day of (halfway back in pen 3), I had zero expectations and would not have been surprised if a few hundred people managed to cut in ahead of us.

I think the stadium did as well as could've been expected. My only disappointment was that when we arrived, they literally parked us into a parking space in order of arrival, so we all assumed they were going to usher us out into the line in the same order. By the time we had to scrunch into the line, this guy came around and basically said it was every man for himself and we could police ourselves. By then, people from farther back had already moved around the sides and were trying to cut in. I just let it go since I'm guessing this happens with any stadium show anywhere, I just wish the stadium security would not have given us these false notions to begin with. Once on the floor, I was standing near people we were by in the pen and also by people who'd been there for one or two nights, so it all evened out in the end. In hindsight, I wish some fans in each pen would've organized to numbered off their own pen, since security gave us a wristband with the pen number but no indication of what that meant for lining up.

Maybe this has been addressed already, but does anyone know why more than half the front section of the floor was vacant? I saw a woman literally bawling because she was in the second part and we had all that space. I thought they'd put more people up front once it got closer to the start, but even though I was second row on the rail, 5 steps back would've put me in open space. Was this an order of the fire marshall?

No one cared after Pen 1. Pen 2 and thereon just showed up and just walked in not caring. Few people care which are the one's camping out and the one's not lining up just there for fun, don't care, drunk or the only know like 18 U2 songs.

 

[Miroslava]

I sincerely disagree. If someone is camping overnight, they obviously care where they are. The first half of Pen 2 had numbers, and I think that if the numbering stoped, it was cause there was no one staying up and issuing them, but people were definitely asking for them.

And Lies, as for the half empty GA, quite a few VIP (orange) wristbands were issued to minor celebs and OTX package people. They showed up sometime before/during PJ.

 

[Liesje]

No one cared after Pen 1. Pen 2 and thereon just showed up and just walked in not caring. Few people care which are the one's camping out and the one's not lining up just there for fun, don't care, drunk or the only know like 18 U2 songs.

Well, I don't expect anyone to care. Like I said, we went knowing that we were NOT willing to sleep in line and not willing to get up at the asscrack of dawn either (we got up at 5 which is 10am our time so it was fine). Like I said, we can't effectively expect a few fans to police 1500 people.

I've been wondering why U2 don't hire someone as like a GA liason. Someone who is OFFICIAL and works for U2 but also communicates with the stadiums and their security about how these lines will go down, etc. For example, when I arrived, security walked up to me and told me to get rid of my camera. Then three hours later, I was told it would be allowed (which I knew all along). Then, security said U2 said no backpacks were allowed, but they had told everyone and advertised on their websites that backpacks ARE allowed. Just two examples of inconsistencies between U2 and the venue that could've been easily communicated to each other and then to the fans well in advance.

I think that someone official should always give out wristbands and that this should begin according to the venue's GA policies. Then, line at Aloha there should be a few officers who police the line so if someone wants to leave, a time is put on their wrist band and if when they come back, they are late, they are issued a new wristband and sent to the back. Considering how many security officers were already watching the line, if they had done this, they would've already had more than enough staff. This would eliminate drama, fights, inconsistency between fan lists and official policies, and still give people a chance to leave for an hour (which IMO is PLENTY to walk to McDs or take a sponge bath in the restroom. If you need to shower and primp, then what the fuck are you doing in a stadium GA line?!?!).

 

[Super_Fan]

The Flagship people did the right thing. Camping out Thursday evening would have lead to a disaster on the side of the road on the sidewalk. Security could have kicked us off.

They set the rules and we all agreed to it. This discussion should be over. The show is over.

In the future, if you have too many rules, and regulations from the start then you will get screwed, complained at the end.

Set the Rules, and Line Check In Times with 10 minutes leave-way and you will have a orderly fashion line Note ONLY IN ARENAS.

STADIUMS are different. No way to control and leave GA line to police themselves.

 

[Liesje]

And Lies, as for the half empty GA, quite a few VIP (orange) wristbands were issued to minor celebs and OTX package people. They showed up sometime before/during PJ.

That's what I was hearing, but I looked back towards the end of the show and was still only three rows from empty space. My feet hurt so bad I was thinking "shit, I could take a break back there and still only be ten feet farther back from the stage!". It didn't seem like enough VIPs showed up to make saving that much space fair. I dunno, the people we were by mentioned it was probably the fire marshall (who decides how many people can be in what areas).

 

[Miroslava]

Well, IMO, the right thing would have been to start the line Friday, but that's just me. I had a fantastic Thursday night and a fabulous Friday and a GREAT show.

So yay!

 

[Super_Fan]

Craig Evans and Paul McGuinness do not want to handle that. Let fans handle themselves. Its not a real problem. Craig Evans who came up with the laptop lottery states everytime to allow fans to police themselves.

If U2 gave out wristbands then how does someone else know its legit if someone comes later. There is No Perfect System. Police yourselves and thats all.

 

[Liesje]

The Flagship people did the right thing. Camping out Thursday evening would have lead to a disaster on the side of the road on the sidewalk. Security could have kicked us off.

They set the rules and we all agreed to it. This discussion should be over. The show is over.

In the future, if you have too many rules, and regulations from the start then you will get screwed, complained at the end.

The rules WERE simple - the stadium allowed the line to start at 6pm on Friday. I'm not complaining about what the Flagship people did, b/c 1) I don't know them and 2) I wasn't near them in line and 3) I never expected to be issued a number or for any form of order to happen, but what I'm asking for is for WHEN THERE ARE official rules, for them to simply be followed.

 

[Super_Fan]

That's what I was hearing, but I looked back towards the end of the show and was still only three rows from empty space. My feet hurt so bad I was thinking "shit, I could take a break back there and still only be ten feet farther back from the stage!". It didn't seem like enough VIPs showed up to make saving that much space fair. I dunno, the people we were by mentioned it was probably the fire marshall (who decides how many people can be in what areas).

OTX and ETS gave out wristbands to get into the ellipse. They did a drawing right before the show at the party. Band controls the wristbands. Do not get upset that they are allowing celebrities into the ellipse. Get there early and claim your spot.

 

[Liesje]

Craig Evans and Paul McGuinness do not want to handle that. Let fans handle themselves. Its not a real problem. Craig Evans who came up with the laptop lottery states everytime to allow fans to police themselves.

If U2 gave out wristbands then how does someone else know its legit if someone comes later. There is No Perfect System. Police yourselves and thats all.

Well, obviously it is a problem otherwise people wouldn't be complaining about one thing or another after every single show. How hard is it for someone from the U2 camp to tell the venue "hey, we do allow non-pro cameras, we don't allow caps on bottles, and we don't allow backpacks" so when people politely ask, they don't get the exact opposite as an answer.

 

[Super_Fan]

There are no Official Rules. Just Moral Rules.

 

[Liesje]

OTX and ETS gave out wristbands to get into the ellipse. They did a drawing right before the show at the party. Band controls the wristbands. Do not get upset that they are allowing celebrities into the ellipse. Get there early and claim your spot.

Brad, where the fuck are you getting the idea I'm upset? I said I heard OTHERS were upset and thought it was funny. No one's going to get exactly what they want every time. I'm more than happy with how things went down and definitely got WAY closer than I expected. All I asked was why there was so much more room at this show than stadium shows? I'm not implying anything so stop reading into it - it was a simple question. I don't know what OTS and ETS is so I don't care if they give out wristbands. I got in line when I wanted to and got the spot that I wanted.

 

[Super_Fan]

I sincerely disagree. If someone is camping overnight, they obviously care where they are. The first half of Pen 2 had numbers, and I think that if the numbering stoped, it was cause there was no one staying up and issuing them, but people were definitely asking for them.

And Lies, as for the half empty GA, quite a few VIP (orange) wristbands were issued to minor celebs and OTX package people. They showed up sometime before/during PJ.

Even if you were in the back of the line, the first Pen Filled up around 11 p.m. One hour after settling down.

 

[Chizip]

STADIUMS are different. No way to control and leave GA line to police themselves.

but didnt they try to control it at the beginning?

i agree with you, in stadiums there is no way to control it, so you get in line and you stay in line. you dont go off to the beach and cruises and all that.