GA experiences...

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Good read, Sicy. :applaud:

I was also fortunate enough to get into the ellipse for Vertigo and have a ringside seat for The Edge. Boston was my show.

I wish I could find some of the pics I took from that show. I know that disc is here somewhere. Great shots of The Edge. Dallas gave us pics from his mike stand after the show. What a blast and the group around us was very cool.

Hoping for a repeat performance at Gillette.
 
Sicy - I was at all those shows as well (except vegas). very nice story telling (in a good way). is that ryan o'neal in that sean penn pic?

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Haha it kind of looks like him, but no I think it was a frat boy or something. :wink:
 
Oh yeah I got some ok ones of No Doubt too :up:

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This one unfortunately was blurry

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Wow, thanks for sharing your experiences Sicy. That was a great read!

My question about the GA line experience is what do you bring with you (if you're planning on hanging around for a long time, or even camping out)? Where do you store all that crap when it's time for the show? What do you do with your purse/bag/etc during the show?

Thanks peeps!

Also, I'd be really interested to hear from some people who did GA in the EU stadiums last tour.
 
You just take it all back to the car before you go in. I've brought a purse/fanny pack etc inside. I usually bring a small purse that can go over my shoulder so I dont have to hold it the whole time. I'm pretty sure you're allowed to bring a small bag inside, which is subject to search of course.
 
Wow, thanks for sharing your experiences Sicy. That was a great read!

My question about the GA line experience is what do you bring with you (if you're planning on hanging around for a long time, or even camping out)? Where do you store all that crap when it's time for the show? What do you do with your purse/bag/etc during the show?

Thanks peeps!

Also, I'd be really interested to hear from some people who did GA in the EU stadiums last tour.


Do you have non-GA friend going to the show? In exchange for getting a friend/co-worker tickets, he's taking care of collecting all of our belongings when the time comes. Chairs, a cooler, the Sunday newspaper, etc. That's assuming we will be in full camp out mode from start to finish.

Bring back the Vertigo GA rules!
 
In Boston in December because I was on the rail. I stuffed it in front of me on the floor. There's a metal part of the rail that you step on, so I put my coat which wasn't a nice one down by my feet and had it in between my ankles and the rail.
 
I remember seeing Gwen come out with Bono to sing and the first thing I noticed were her high heels. Why? I have no idea. :coocoo:
That was a great opener. Non stop adrenaline by No Doubt.
 
I had a very easy GA experience. Showed up at 6 am to the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston with my brother. There was a line already formed at a building right next door. I was maybe 110-120th person in line.Briefly met WildHoney and bonoishot. :heart: At 8 am, venue employees came out and handed out numbered wristbands and told us to come back around 5. It was a bit disorgaznied with people trying to figure out their places in line, but we figured out or spots.

They let us in and it was like a maze of stairs. :lol: We got up to the computer where they were scanning people. My brother scanned his ticket first. Nothing. I was next. All of the sudden, I hear a beeping sound and Vertigo flashes on the screen! I'm literally getting chills typing this right now remembering my excitement. I remember jumping up and down screaming, "I've got Vertigo!!!!!" Got our wristbands and took our spot in the ellipse. We were 2-3 rows deep front and center.

The show was AMAZING!! The only dissapointing moment for me was during One. There was a cool moment where Bono pulled up a few interferencers on stage who had flags with them representing the countries they had traveled from to see U2. He also pulled up a few other people. I remember him pointing me out to security and some girl pulled me by the shirt away from the security guy. :mad: Stole her spot on the rail though as payback. I'm a bitch. :lol: So during the encores, I was right up on the rail. :heart:

Some pics from the show(the ones that look amazing were the ones my brother took)

My favorite from Sunday Bloody Sunday
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During Pride
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During I Will Follow, Bono holding a banner that a fan had made saying "We Will Follow".
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Taken by Shawn Bonneau. I'm in the hat and blue shirt. :love:
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I wrote this blog entry the morning afrer the show as well.
http://www.u2interference.com/forums/blogs/daygloeyes2/12-4-what-a-night-what-a-show-23462/

Good luck on your speech Sarah!
 
Nuthin but love for GA - first come, first served, lottery, whatever. Never made too much of a difference as by being a part of the earlybird GA experience someone was always scanning. Or you got a great spot outside, either way it's always been good. I don't think I'd ever do anything different, to be honest, unless I had someone with me for whom a seat would be more appropriate.
 
Nuthin but love for GA - first come, first served, lottery, whatever. Never made too much of a difference as by being a part of the earlybird GA experience someone was always scanning. Or you got a great spot outside, either way it's always been good. I don't think I'd ever do anything different, to be honest, unless I had someone with me for whom a seat would be more appropriate.

It seems that the 'earlybird GA experience' is really great, pretty consensus-y sounding to me, no?
I would love to do that sometime, but just have not yet been in a position to. But the thing about the non-earlybird GA experience is that it can be very very variable, I think. Unless you're waaay more zen then I can be :lol:
Like, when I got to the Palace (Detroit) at 3or 4 pm, the people in line were not all that friendly, there were a lot of people there who, I dunno, just go to shows because they get tix from their buddies working concessions somewhere or at the radio station, come very very early to drink like for the sake of picking up some chicks later and are just swaying drunk, could care less about U2, and wander thru the crowd like it's a frat party. Then too back there are more people who, shall we say, don't have that nice U2-fan quality lol, and cut and spend all night back and forth for beer, even on the floor, gosh. I got myself up against the edge-side rail maybe 20 or so people deep from the front of the ellipse outside, and it would have been a fine view really if there weren't very tall people holding cell phones up half the night standing in front of me once things got really going in the show, because even the not-so-big fans were into it by now. I might have been in the worst possible floor spot for Vertigo tour arenas...*middle* of the floor, where there is still some movement toward the front all night, milling, but no decent personal space, ya know?

Looking at the pix of shows in arenas, it makes me realize that the stage in such a setting--as compared to stadiums--is not really that high up? How much taller is the stage going to be for U2 360? Won't it be much harder to see them because it will be like looking into a wall til you scan upwards by 15 or more feet? except when they're out on the walkways I guess...
:hmm:

I should add, though, that even that experience was something I don't regret, the GA in an arena, because it was just more exciting in a way to be on the floor level with the band just a couple dozen people or so away from you at times, and the sound was quite fine to me. It's just not the same ability to take in the whole experience of the show, in a *cruddy* spot on the floor, with some 'issues' as it were especially, as it is from a decent seat (and for me decent could be close or far really, at least in an arena!). But you get, in my opinion, sorta no matter what happens in GA, a big buzz from being more "part" of the show down there! U2 is just so "big* in their shows, really grab you by the soul you know and commune with you in this biggest of possible ways, quite the amazing paradoxical vibe, when they're "on" especially wow...that I've felt very part of it even totally back of house upper level. I'm looking forward to feeling how that feels in a huge stadium, cool...
 
It seems that the 'earlybird GA experience' is really great, pretty consensus-y sounding to me, no?
I would love to do that sometime, but just have not yet been in a position to. But the thing about the non-earlybird GA experience is that it can be very very variable, I think. Unless you're waaay more zen then I can be :lol:
Like, when I got to the Palace (Detroit) at 3or 4 pm, the people in line were not all that friendly, there were a lot of people there who, I dunno, just go to shows because they get tix from their buddies working concessions somewhere or at the radio station, come very very early to drink like for the sake of picking up some chicks later and are just swaying drunk, could care less about U2, and wander thru the crowd like it's a frat party. Then too back there are more people who, shall we say, don't have that nice U2-fan quality lol, and cut and spend all night back and forth for beer, even on the floor, gosh. I got myself up against the edge-side rail maybe 20 or so people deep from the front of the ellipse outside, and it would have been a fine view really if there weren't very tall people holding cell phones up half the night standing in front of me once things got really going in the show, because even the not-so-big fans were into it by now. I might have been in the worst possible floor spot for Vertigo tour arenas...*middle* of the floor, where there is still some movement toward the front all night, milling, but no decent personal space, ya know?

Looking at the pix of shows in arenas, it makes me realize that the stage in such a setting--as compared to stadiums--is not really that high up? How much taller is the stage going to be for U2 360? Won't it be much harder to see them because it will be like looking into a wall til you scan upwards by 15 or more feet? except when they're out on the walkways I guess...
:hmm:

Yeah, it can be iffy if you get there late and don't scan. My best recommendation then is go to the soundboard area then and look forlorn. a. you'll have personal space. b. the sound and visuals there are great and c. you might just luck out and get a last minute ushering into the circle from a certain generous band manager :shh:

PS you were in Detroit? Did you see Bono bring me onstage? Best night ever! :hyper:
 
Yeah, it can be iffy if you get there late and don't scan. My best recommendation then is go to the soundboard area then and look forlorn. a. you'll have personal space. b. the sound and visuals there are great and c. you might just luck out and get a last minute ushering into the circle from a certain generous band manager :shh:

PS you were in Detroit? Did you see Bono bring me onstage? Best night ever! :hyper:

I did see you, you were fabulous:sexywink:!

Was that the 24th or the 25th, I forget?!
I did GA the first night and a good seat, side-stage, the second; I thought both shows were great. Side-stage was fantastic, I got my opp to watch Larry all night, he works so hard back there! That night I had my share of crap crowd issues in the seats too, but at least I could see and put my bag down somewhere and stuff. It's not like I do anything but become totally immersed in the show from a seat, just a little more space to do it in than what I had in mid-crowd GA.
My best crowd experience was in Chicago from the total nosebleeds. Met some nice people half my age and talked about U2 with them. They were largely unfamiliar with U2 from before HTDAAB, sweet 'youngins lol. Musta been cool to hear like "Bad" maybe for the first time, and The Fly, wow, at the show! :cute:
Cheers!
 
You guys are the best!! :)
Part of my speech is actually going to be about how awesome U2 fans are :love:

Thanks SO much!
 
so, then, what do the people who've done GA in stadiums think of it if you don't care about being in front? I'm just so torn between sitting in 100 dollar seats (other end of the stadium from the stage) or being short little person on the field. I just don't want to not be able to see a damned thing *and* get squished. Will there be elbow to elbow far back on the field? Will one just not be able to see a thing at all with all those heads in front of you and you might as well be a little farther back still and with your arse parked in a seat and elevated above the heads? Deep, important questions! :wink:

I guess it depends- when I saw them at Twickenham we were slightly further back and had a great view (albeit not close) and there was plenty of room for us to leap about- typically the GA bit is never full anyway- health & safety usually limits the number of people- so it won't be elbow to elbow- and round the edges is usually quieter than in the middle

I dimly recall we actually moved forward as the show went on so ended up alot closer than where we started

you have to remember that this time round the stage is huge 164 feet high or something like that?? so it will be on a much bigger scale than the previous couple of tours, and the typical U2 audience are older now so it is more relaxed than it would have been 20 years ago
 
There is probably going to be the number system again in most places. When you get there the person in the front of the line have a sign in type sheet in a notebook and you put your name down and get your number. It helps keep the line in order.
 
What do you do with your jackets once you get in the stadium and your GA? Dumb question but I needed to ask. :crack:

The first GA show I did, I layered with old sweatshirts and hoodies that I wouldn't care if they got stepped on or left behind. For subsequent shows, realizing I'd be on the inner or outer rail (since I camped out overnight), I brought some "S" hooks that allowed me to actually hang my coat on the rail. The rail had lots of holes bored into it so I put one end of the hook in a hole, and then the other end I could hang my coat on, I brought a few extra for the people I was in line with.
 
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