GA Tips and Tricks

[OrARoundabout]

One night a bunch of us were having drinks in the pub and the concert came up and he says loud enough for everyone to hear "It better be fucking good cause I basically spent my life savings on it. $250 for a concert is ridiculous." I calmly got up from the table walked to the ATM machine pulled out $260 and threw it on his lap and told him "Well you're not coming so you don't have to worry about it" He looked at me in disbelief.

DAMMMMMMMMMMMMN...

You are one B.A.M.F

 

[Acrobatic]

Hallucination - kickass. Good job!!! That's how you do it. Fuck em if they want to bitch about it until the show. Now they'll just bitch about you taking the ticket back forever.

Yeah, just like everyone says on here, it doesn't matter if you are alone or don't know anyone. The GA experience will introduce you to 100's of new friends.

 

[Hallucination]

DAMMMMMMMMMMMMN...

You are one B.A.M.F

Well shit ya know the show isn't even for another 4 months and he was bumming me out about it already. Fuck that if ANYONE is gonna ruin something I wait 4-5 years for. Like most of us on this forum U2's music and seeing them live is a really important thing to me. In fact it's one of the most important things to me, so if anyone thinks they can tag alone half heartedly and even worse tag along with an attitude that comes off as if they're actually looking to not have a good time or appreciate the experience than they can shove off

 

[OrARoundabout]

Well shit ya know the show isn't even for another 4 months and he was bumming me out about it already. Fuck that if ANYONE is gonna ruin something I wait 4-5 years for. Like most of us on this forum U2's music and seeing them live is a really important thing to me. In fact it's one of the most important things to me, so if anyone thinks they can tag alone half heartedly and even worse tag along with an attitude that comes off as if they're actually looking to not have a good time or appreciate the experience than they can shove off

:highfive:


I completely understand! God, has it really been almost 5 years since the last Tour!?!?!

 

[lauramullen]

You tell them. I would have done the same thing. You don't need someone with a negative attitude with you.

 

[lauramullen]

Any news on the GA procedure yet?

 

[JCOSTER]

OMG! Can't wait.

 

[romi]

Any news on the GA procedure yet?

Baja posted about that this morning. In essense, she said it will be announced in next few days.

 

[bufftibbs]

Waiting (not so) patiently ...

 

[LoveTownTourist]

Isn´t it great that they don´t know how to manage to let the ppl. in 48 hours before the show starts.....what a miss management

On Tuesday 92.000 ppl. are coming an still they don´t know how to manage to let them in.

 

[Unknown Caller]

So...I can't be bothered to read through 27 pages to figure this out.

Generally speaking, how early should I line up to make sure I get into the circle? What can I expect if I get there at 4 or 5pm?

 

[Galeongirl]

Perhaps you should read page 1 then. It all depends on the venue.

 

[EdgeFest]

Yeah, just show up at 9pm, and you'll get in no problem. No foresight or planning, and we will all move aside for you to go in ahead of us. Doesn't matter that we've been waiting since 6am. Basically, get there as early as you can. It's impossible to predict.

 

[Shawn Bonneau]

I plan on listening to Howard Stern on my Sirius app in Montreal but gotta figure out the whole international 3G thing - I also wanna get to know the people around me -I'm sure being a venue built strictly for the concert they'll have pottys near by and parking lot close by and let you go to your car once in a while

 

[EdgeFest]

International data roaming is EXTREMELY expensive. Trust me, I work for a phone company, and there is no decent roaming agreement for any Canadian company roaming in the US or vice versa. Going rate is usually $5-10/MB. It adds up FAST.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Perhaps you should read page 1 then. It all depends on the venue.

Yeah, just show up at 9pm, and you'll get in no problem. No foresight or planning, and we will all move aside for you to go in ahead of us. Doesn't matter that we've been waiting since 6am. Basically, get there as early as you can. It's impossible to predict.

I DID read the first page...I understand that it will vary by venue...I even typed "Generally speaking,..." at the beginning of my post. I was hoping for some remotely helpful answers...maybe some personal experiences or rough estimates. What I was not expecting was the hostility. I'm not some newb who is expecting to waltz in at 9pm and get front rows spots...I waited all day for Elevation and got front row right by Edge. I understand how it works. That was almost 10 years ago...this GA "heart" is much bigger, I have a job and kids that I have to plan around now...I'm just trying to make my plans...is it so hard to just help a fellow fan out with a little info?

 

[corianderstem]

I believe that at most stadiums, people have been able to waltz into GA at 6:00 when the doors open, and even for a while after that, and still get into the inner circle (probably just crammed into the middle, as most people go for the front or back right away).

You could probably still be pretty close to the outer rail as well, from what I've seen at the shows I've been to.

 

[Galeongirl]

It's not hard to help out a fan with a little info, but it's not hard to just read the thread either. This question gets asked a lot, and there's a lot of answers to it. I'm not trying to be hostile, I just stated the obvious. Because it does depend on the venue, even if it's N1 or N2 and that kind of things.

 

[EdgeFest]

I DID read the first page...I understand that it will vary by venue...I even typed "Generally speaking,..." at the beginning of my post. I was hoping for some remotely helpful answers...maybe some personal experiences or rough estimates. What I was not expecting was the hostility. I'm not some newb who is expecting to waltz in at 9pm and get front rows spots...I waited all day for Elevation and got front row right by Edge. I understand how it works. That was almost 10 years ago...this GA "heart" is much bigger, I have a job and kids that I have to plan around now...I'm just trying to make my plans...is it so hard to just help a fellow fan out with a little info?

Sorry if it came across that way, but it is kind of tiresome that everyone wants to know the same thing... which the answer is.... it's impossible to predict, and it depends on the venue, and my advice is always 'as soon as you can'.

How can we possibly say... if you're there by 9:30, you're good. Or if you're there by 3:33, you're good. Even 6:30am the day of the show in Mexico wasn't good enough, apparently you had to be there 3 days before. It depends on how hardcore the fans are in that city, if the venue lets you camp, how big the GA is, if it's raining that day... it's a total crapshoot. It's really an unanswerable question, but usually the morning of assures it, and mid-afternoon will often as well. Yet again, see Mexico, where the answer was "none of the above".

 

[dazzledbylight]

International data roaming is EXTREMELY expensive. Trust me, I work for a phone company, and there is no decent roaming agreement for any Canadian company roaming in the US or vice versa. Going rate is usually $5-10/MB. It adds up FAST.

a good friend thought her phone was messed up for good re the roaming charges when she was unexpectedly stuck in TO, but it did get fixed once it was looked over. She loves TO but this time she was there for a was a connecting flight she missed because of bad weather.
So she had to call her travel agent back down in the US etc.

 

[secretly alone]

International data roaming is EXTREMELY expensive. Trust me, I work for a phone company, and there is no decent roaming agreement for any Canadian company roaming in the US or vice versa. Going rate is usually $5-10/MB. It adds up FAST.

I got charged 90$ extra on my phone bill after returning from Montreal last year...and I shut my roaming off a few hours after crossing the border!

 

[LPU2]

I DID read the first page...I understand that it will vary by venue...I even typed "Generally speaking,..." at the beginning of my post. I was hoping for some remotely helpful answers...maybe some personal experiences or rough estimates. What I was not expecting was the hostility. I'm not some newb who is expecting to waltz in at 9pm and get front rows spots...I waited all day for Elevation and got front row right by Edge. I understand how it works. That was almost 10 years ago...this GA "heart" is much bigger, I have a job and kids that I have to plan around now...I'm just trying to make my plans...is it so hard to just help a fellow fan out with a little info?

I'm in the same boat, so here's my experience. Got in line mid-afternoon for both Elevation and Vertigo was in the heart/circle every time (4 times). I went to Dallas to see 360 and just couldn't, nor did I want to, go to that length this time. I have kids, we were out of town, I'm getting old.

Got to the show about 30 minutes before doors opened. I don't remember when that was, but I'm sure you could find out. Walked as far as we could toward the stage. We were probably just 6 to 8 butts back from the outside of the walkway, when one of the security staff started letting more people in to fill up the pit. We didn't turn him down.

My plan is the same for Denver. I live here, but we gotta get a babysitter, etc, etc. I think the key to being time and energy efficient and still getting a good spot is getting there as close to door opening time as possible. If you MUST be in the pit, then get there 2 or 3 hours earlier. Back that up a few hours for New York, LA and Dublin.

But even for Elevation and Vertigo I kinda felt that it wasn't entirely necessary to get there that early.

Good luck!

 

[Rachel D.]

I did GA in Oklahoma and we walked straight into the inner circle at the stroke of 6:00. A security guy even asked us if that's where we wanted to go and pointed the way for us. I wanted to get there sooner, but the rest of my party insisted on stopping to eat supper, of all things. I was glad for the water and bathroom, though, because I didn't get another chance at either one for over six hours.

I didn't bring a purse, I just wore cargo pants. I had a mini wallet, camera, ticket, and cell phone. I made sure to wear comfortable shoes and a jacket. The people around us were very nice and polite; they even said "Sorry" or "Excuse me" when they bumped into me, even though it was really loud and they had to yell to be heard. People really respected each other's personal space where I was in the middle of the circle and no one shoved me at any time. I'm sure it would have been a little different against the rail or in a less polite city, but it was a pleasant first GA experience and my brother even remarked that the crowd seemed like "pretty decent people." Of course, everyone in the vicinity heard that and nodded in approval.

This time, I plan to get there earlier in the day. I'm going to try to sneak in a water bottle because last time I was so dried up that I couldn't talk. I tried to ask the beer lady if she had anything besides beer, but no sound came out. She just looked at me like this and walked away. They say to not drink anything after 3:00 P.M. if you won't be able to get to a bathroom, and I'd say that's good advice, but be prepared to be thirsty.

I plan to stand in line this time, so I'm bringing a small bag with snacks, a book, water, a rain poncho, and hand sanitizer. I also bought some shoe inserts because my shoes have worn out a little since 2009 and even then my back hurt for a week after standing so long. I am prepared to surrender the bag if it is not allowed into the stadium. I'm not scared to sit on the ground, so I will not be bothering to bring a chair.

Oh yeah, and I lost seven pounds last time from not eating much, standing for a long time, and just being really excited.

 

[u2rulesmyworld]

So...I can't be bothered to read through 27 pages to figure this out.

Generally speaking, how early should I line up to make sure I get into the circle? What can I expect if I get there at 4 or 5pm?

its kind of like the if you have to ask you cant afford it thing.

If you have to ask how early, your just not meant to be that close.

 

[paulrg]

The good thing about getting there early enough to get into the circle (which indeed can usually be done around doors open time) is that you will avoid the pusher and the shovers. The drunken crowd which arrive in some cities just before show time (having spent as long as possible in the bars first) can push their way all the way to the front of the outer stage if they have enough energy but they cannot get into the circle. Inside you find more fans and folk who place a value on the experience and so it is the safer bet for a less pushy/shovy experience.

I remember during the Vertigo tour being at a Boston show where I was near the front but not in the ellipse on the first night and had the distraction of a fist fight breaking out during One of all songs along with an inebriated couple coupling! The next night had a whole better experience inside the Ellipse where people were much more respectful.

 

[fall125]

just to provide my own experience for the always curious and impatient ...


I went to the Rose Bowl show, which was by all accounts one of the most populated of the tour. I got in the GA line around 4pm and still made it into the circle, front row Adam side (we subsequently moved because the stage was so high you couldn't see the band at all unless they moved to the edge).

I'm going to the Oakland show this year (which will probably be about half the attendance of the Rose Bowl) with my friends and we plan to tailgate, so we'll be getting in line early, however it probably won't be necessary to get a good spot in the circle.

IMHO, unless you want the tailgating experience, don't bother standing in line all day.

 

[Carmen03us]

Anyone know about GA at Qwest Fields in Seattle?? Whats a good time to show up? Do they do the numbering on the hand like they did in BC? Thanks!

 

[Edge_Orchestra]

Anyone know about GA at Qwest Fields in Seattle?? Whats a good time to show up? Do they do the numbering on the hand like they did in BC? Thanks!

Varies from show to show. And the numbering isn't 'official', done by venue staff. It is fans that do it.

I've heard venue staff at a few shows that were quick to say that they don't recognize, honor, endorse or enforce the fan numbering.

 

[ADecentMelody]

Hey guys, I tried to google the answer. How many are allowed in the inner circle this time?

 

[mrnathan15]

Isn't is 2000 or something? maybe more? At some shows they cram it extremely full though..