Lovely photos indeed!
My quick take on the experience:
Definitely the worst GA line experience of any show I've ever attended, and that's saying something, considering the GA experience in Raleigh NC!!!
We (husband Paul/cydewaze and I) arrived at around 8am, and were numbers 60 and 61. Not bad! Of course the sun was BAKING us all day...it's a miracle we didn't pass out from sun stroke. Of course, that's no one's fault...but it contributed to an exhausting day. As for the line itself, I think (as did the people we talked to) that it was handled completely amateurishly. WHY oh WHY can't the security people just respect the fan numbering system like they did in DC and let us go in order? Or at least let people go in small groups and prevent people from rushing the line? Instead they just opened the floodgates at around 4pm (why so early I have no idea), and everyone rushed in a STAMPEDE to the gate. The guards were freaking out...I don't know what they expected, but this is how people get trampled to death at concerts! Everyone spoke a different language, and very few people understood the instructions yelled at us by the staffers (hey how about investing in a few bullhorns for starters??)
They had several false starts where we rushed from gate to gate, which just got everyone in more of a frenzy. We were in the first group (and the groups were large, several hundred people at a time which is too many, and all mixed together so that people with numbers in the upper 300s were ahead of us - very disheartening). They moved our group into a pen, and tried to hold the group back with a flimsy line of plastic tape. We were so pressed together I lost my grip on Paul, and then I literally couldn't move my arm back to the side of my body after letting go of him, we were that tightly packed. At one point I was so squeezed on all sides I felt like I was being pressed in some medieval torture device!
After a few more false starts, we ended up waiting in these conditions for about another hour (supposedly the sound check wasn't finished so again, WHY did they start this process so early??) and then finally they started letting people in in smaller groups. After getting my ticket ripped, I was amazed that everyone was RACING to the field. And it was quite a lengthy run too. Usually at concerts they at least try to stop you and get you to walk, but no, it was a SPRINT at top speed, and survival of the fittest. It was quite funny because someone almost collided with a port-a-potty door that was opened right into the pathway of the oncoming runners!
Finally I caught up with Paul, who had a spot on the outside front rail on Edge's side...but it was quite far to the side, and how all these other people got to the center (most of whom had no numbers at all!) I have no idea. I tell you, I really am getting too old for this GA carnage! And the amount of smoke! Europeans smoke a LOT. I was amazed. The woman next to me was smoking so much my eyes were burning and streaming.
Of course, the minute U2 comes on, all was forgotten...
The show itself was excellent. It was as though Bono had swallowed a whole can of jumping beans he was so full of energy. And I was able to gaze at Edge to my heart's content!
I have been studiously avoiding reading any of the setlist stuff for this leg, so it was fun to hear I Will Follow again after a long break, and Miss Sarajevo sounded fantastic. Hold Me Thrill Me was a VERY welcome addition
...I just wish it hadn't been at the expense of Ultraviolet.
I also missed Unknown Caller and UF. Oh well. The energy of the show and the fantastic crowd response really made for a great show overall.
It will be interesting to see how the show changes in a year's time when I go to see them in Toronto!
The crowd reaction after WOWY was something too behold.
