popbellydancer said:
Listen, I don't know where you were in line, but I was up front with Super_Fan both days...and yes, after lining up at around 3am Wednesday morning....god forbid, some of our group needed to take showers. the only place we had to go shower was across town, and by either using a car or the metro this process DID take more than 30 minutes. as for some of us leaving the line...we always had people in our group of 6 present in line at all times....that said, with a group of six you can't very well all leave the line and shower at the same time since you have to hold your spot in the line, now can you?? also, i made it quite clear to EVERYONE around us on both days that one of my friends didn't have a ticket and was in the ticket buying line all day long. (and please, don't tell me that's not allowed either, because it has been that way at every show since elevation, that if you don't have a GA and still have friends in the GA line, that you'll try to get a ticket in the buying line....we've all done it.) anyway, i made it clear that he was still sitting on the SAME SIDEWALK just around the corner all day long. and if anything he was suffering more for it cuz he couldn't be w/the rest of us (his friends) in line all day.
Super_Fan was never gone too much, and just like we understood his greater need for an education, he understood our lesser need of a ticket for our friend and showers. to imply that we weren't all there that day is ridiculous....and I have the back pain to prove it!
First, let me say that I understood Super_Fan's post to mean that he was gone for 7.5 hours in one day, not over the two....and when I asked him to clarify, his answer still made it sound that way. It wasn't until his most recent post that he made it clear he was gone for 3 hours one day & 4.5 the next, not all at once---after I'd already written my critical posts. So, what I'm saying, is that when I criticized SF, I thought he was gone for 7.5 straight hours on 10/19. If you were to tell me that you would honestly be okay with someone being gone that long, I wouldn't believe you.
Second, I understand the need to shower, how far you have to go to do it, etc. Half of me thinks it's okay for the campers to go and take a 2-3-hour break. However, let me say this: I was in the #40s in line. From the time they split the lines (11:30/12), there were never more than a total of 20 people ahead of me--in both lines combined. At one point, counting people in both lines, I was number 8. Sure, everyone probably left to shower around the same time, but going from the #40s to #8---there's something screwy with that.
Third, I also understand it when a person who doesn't have a ticket, but camps out, and then spends most of the day in the ticket-drop line. That's something different altogether, and I'm pretty much fine with that. (I'm not fine with when such people feel that they
deserve a GA ticket to a
sold-out show just because they camped out...and that ticket booth staff are "mean" because they're dropping seats, at face value, to a
sold-out show, but not GA's....). The thing about people not in line that I don't like is the idea that "it was okay with the people around me." The fact is, of course it's going to be okay with the people around you. What difference does it make to #4 if #2 is gone for a while? Or to #80 if #78 is gone? But tell #120, who got there after she fulfilled whatever her duties for the day were, that #5 is now going to skip for a few hours to go to class. Or the fact that if you got in line at 3am and I got in line at 6, and you're gone for 3 hours and I never leave, we spend the same time in line----why should I really be 40-some people behind you in line? Basically, it all comes down to showing respect to other people in line. There are people who had class, tests, jobs, or meetings that they couldn't miss----so they didn't get in line until their duties were done. They could have thrown their stuff down in line the night before, slept for a while, and then gone off to do what they had to do---but they didn't because it's not quite respectful to the people who do what they have to do before they get in line. If the lottery were to be done away with and
both the ellipse
and the rail were first-come first-served, can you imagine how
really pissed those people would be if they found out someone up front wasn't in line for hours on end??
Finally, let me say that if you look at my original post (the one you quoted), I said that the only real problem I had with the line that day was the attempt by a few fans to manipulate security to do the 10-minute thing, and then the blatant lie that was told to the rest of us that it had happened at every other venue & that we must not have noticed before. After hearing how great super 'diehard' U2 fans are in the GA line (and having a great experience with most of them), it was this act that took me aback. I could tell you exactly who it was who said this, as well as which super fans were looking on as it was said, but there's no need for that. I had really expected more from these fans.
Basically, like I said before, there are just too many grey areas and potential problems in an unregulated or fan-regulated line. Ideally, there would be set rules that would be universal at every venue, ideally put in place by the band. The lottery, while not perfect in practice, is a small step in that direction. That was my original point & it still is.
from me. The lottery isn't perfect, but it's a step. I have a feeling that the rules will be different for the next tour. But if they're not, then please let's just accept them & deal with them and have one less thing to bitch about for the entire length of the tour.
but the point is that they are NOT running it...CLEAR CHANNEL IS. so between the stupid uninformed venues and the TRULY shady dealings of one blonde Clear Channel Rep...we the fans have to do the best we can and remember that it's a "self-policing line"..... so if you have a problem with people in front of or behind you in line, the time to voice it is IN THE LINE... not later on when you can hide behind a message board!!! 
Dude, chill.
not that you remember any of that once the show starts! 
what time are we lining up? 
). 
