No spoken words
Blue Crack Supplier
There's an easy way to solve the problem:
It's interesting (funny? sad?) thing is that where it's gone wrong and obsessive and stupid and mad is among the people who no doubt see the most shows, in the country that gets the most shows. Funny that the less shows a country gets, and thus the less shows individuals are seeing, the less they care. It would make more sense if it were the other way around, and it was the "THIS IS MY ONE U2 GIG FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS" crowd that were a bit nutty about it all, and it was the "THIS IS MY 12TH U2 GIG THIS MONTH" crowd that had it all within some sort of perspective and were all cool about it.
The vast, vast majority of U2 fans respected the self-appointed, unofficial system of the eejits (and I only call them this cos I know and love many such eejits) who lined up early to get their Bono-spot. The vast majority of lines afaik were happy, relaxed affairs. And the vast majority of the hundreds of people who helped run the lines around the world were in my experience friendly, helpful, patient and fair.
There's an easy way to solve the problem:
how it works everywhere else in the world maybe? i.e. you arrive at the venue at your chosen time, you grab your spot at the back of the line, you stay in line, you wait for the crush when the gate opens, and then if you have survived thus far, you run
There's an easy way to solve the problem:
Does this magically make everything better???
I wish I was 6'5"
I've met some fantastic people along the way. Including you Cathal. Your NJ story made me fully realize the type of fan you are and the true U2 spirit you exhibit. Our time in Winnipeg at the bar was also a fantastic time.
Indeed I did. Was slightly disappointed that we got fucking Magnificent instead of The Fly, but that's a minor complaint compared to the great show I got to see. It's not every day you see a band for the first time.if you posted somewhere about the show, I missed it. Did you have a super awesome time?
Yeah, but not everyone has met me....that's the fancy part.
My favourite part is the fretting over the wristbands. "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" - seriously.
And the couple of minutes from 9.15 on in this clip from the same gig. I don't know whether to feel extremely embarrassed for them, or just ashamed that I'm in some way a part of the same larger collective 'thing', or fanbase.
U2 Denver Pre-Show - Invesco Field, Colorado - May 21, 2011 - YouTube
Indeed I did. Was slightly disappointed that we got fucking Magnificent instead of The Fly, but that's a minor complaint compared to the great show I got to see. It's not every day you see a band for the first time.
And Interpol was very strong, which was a nice plus.
You know, these people that start the list and have their fancy notebooks and numbering systems, they’re schemers. Schemers trying to control their little worlds. I’m not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are. Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos. Get rid of the notebooks and the numbers and the line nazis.
Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fair!
They have all these rules and they think it's going to save them.
Yeah, but not everyone has met me....that's the fancy part.
i meeted you!
i think if we try, we can turn this thread around into a positive one
Only one person decided to line up at the gate the time the stadium said, and I hear a person or two go off on him about trying to budge when he's not around. No one seems to think that he thought he was lining up at the time the stadium said on their website or if he never heard of a U2 GA line, but alas.
My favourite part is the fretting over the wristbands. "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" - seriously.
And the couple of minutes from 9.15 on in this clip from the same gig. I don't know whether to feel extremely embarrassed for them, or just ashamed that I'm in some way a part of the same larger collective 'thing', or fanbase.
U2 Denver Pre-Show - Invesco Field, Colorado - May 21, 2011 - YouTube
I'll try to keep it short,
but these are really the only things I can contribute to this thread regarding GA lines...
- In my entire experience of going to concerts over the past decade, this is the only band where I have run into fans operating any list of some sort. I've been to many other gigs for other famous rock bands, and I never really run into anyone camping overnight or even coming before noon for GA. Maybe U2 is on a level of its own due to their popularity or something, but these are the only shows where I run into that sort of thing.
- Perhaps the line is a way for people to keep their place in line and not have people camp overnight, that type of deal. But I think we'd be kidding ourselves if we didn't admit that the people starting it were mostly doing it to get "their" spot on the floor. Outer rail, inner rail center, whatever. Which is fine really. Who doesn't want to pick their spot when they go to these things? You can debate it all you want with the pros and cons, but that's the main reason here (and why a lot of people get upset over it, why fans talk about it in the first place, etc.).
- My own GA experience this summer at GA shows. Got to Soldier Field the night before the Chicago show and signed up at #193 or something like that. Had a nice talk with the fans running the line, with one of them even asking me if I'd help run it during the night so some could rest. Security kicked us out though, and they told me to be a check-in at 4:30 am the next day. Fair enough. Get there at that time and most people show up by then. Security comes by and says their not doing our line, and if we wanted to keep it, we'd have to go off their property and come back to that one spot they had set up at 6 am. We do just that, and everything else that happened is pretty well-documented on the site.
Anyways, I get down to #157 or whatever it is when people don't show up. I'm one of the people let into the concourse early due to the sun. We're all let in later on that afternoon, and I end up with a front rail spot just to the left of Edge. I'm happy about it, and so is my camera, because that was a great spot for pictures of the band members too! Great show, got One Tree Hill, saw them from 10 feet away. I'm a happy camper.
- I go to another show this summer (not going to name it here, just because I don't want to single out the line runner, if anyone knows them personally). I sign up the Thursday night before, and get #67. The morning of the show, there's not many of us, but I'm dwindled down to #49. This was probably the smoothest of the two, and not many people came in the morning due to the rain and such. Only one person decided to line up at the gate the time the stadium said, and I hear a person or two go off on him about trying to budge when he's not around. No one seems to think that he thought he was lining up at the time the stadium said on their website or if he never heard of a U2 GA line, but alas.
Moving on, the time comes to go in, and we all crowd towards the front. I'm not keeping track of where I am, and it seems like I'm not alone, as I see a #84 or whatever in front of me too, and I'm in the first 30 or so people. Fair enough, I'm not going to make a big deal out of it. One girl in front of me notices my number and tries to say "I think the 40's are back there", pointing back to further in the line. I say that the line's mixed up by this point, but I'm not going to make a big deal out of it. If someone wants to go ahead of me, fine. I'm still pretty much guaranteed whatever spot I want, I think.
We're let in, and we're stopped a little before the gate entrance onto the field. I'm a little closer to the front, and then this man and woman start pushing their way through the line saying "We're #11 and #12". Some fans yell at them mildly, saying the numbering system doesn't matter at this point. They ignore it and move towards the front where they want anyway. We're all let in though a few minutes later, and some of us turn on a dead sprint towards the stage. None of the security tells us to slow down, surprisingly enough, but I'm not going to walk out of the principal for it. GA isn't a democracy, ya know?
Anyways, I make my way to the front of the rail, and I'm dead center in front of the stage. The first one! A nice Russian guy makes his way to me in front of a huge crowd, and I push him towards the rail so we can save our spots together. The line runner is third on the rail, and saves his spot on the right. I extend my hand to him as if to say, "We made it!" He doesn't acknowledge it though, whether he's tired or mad because I was #49 and he was #1, I don't know. He then spends the next half hour politely, but not angrily I'll stress, complaining about how security let people run and how they didn't let the order go through as they were numbered. He eventually said, "I'm not mad at the people, I'm mad at the execution."
He eventually calmed down though, and let his wife take his spot on the rail itself. During her husband's talk, she'd tell me "we're not made at you", as if I did something wrong (I didn't). But she was actually really nice and even offered to take my picture at the rail for me (which I let her), and we enjoyed the show together. Bono even seranaded her with the "you don't know how beautiful you are" part of GOYB during the second chorus, and we got a huge kick out of that. Didn't talk to the husband much during the show though, haha.
But yeah, there's a few thoughts to add to the conversation. Like anyone else, I wonder why there has to be a list in the first place, when other bands don't have this type of thing going on. But I doubt much is going to be done about it in the future, so the most I can do is wing it when I get to the venue. And as you can see, it might not matter much in the end anyway.