HAWAII: Lining Up Two Days Early

[skjuls]

These are the gem quotes of the day:

"I was disgusted by the whole [HANS] thing (still have to read this thread), and stressed out the entire day, because I wanted you guys with me on the rail. thank goodness that worked out all right. so PHUH to the guys who had you thrown out because WE take care of each other!!!!"


then, a response:

"No comment!!! The WE take care of each other is so over the top..

It's like you don't care what others in the line had to endure. Hans knew and I talked to him before he left the cruise that there was a possibility he would lose his spot by going on the cruise.

The 'rules' of the time were confusing at times so they changed up until the pen. However, security did say that if you were not in the pen when we arrived then you lose your spot.

How hard is it?

This line wasn't has strict as others I have been in.

You cannot be surprised that others who put in long hours in line would be upset."


And then...

"I had booked and paid for the dinner cruise, but chose not to go to keep my space in the line. So I was gone for 4 hours as well, but spend 3,5 of those hours commuting from and back to the venue. I can tell you one thing, it's a lot less stressful if you don't have to leave the queue. 'enduring' the hawaiian queue ... I'm sorry but compared to the snow and ice night and day shift we had in Portland, this was a holiday.

Hans however, had organised the dinner cruise and had no other choice but to go. If he hadn't put so much work in organising the hawaii board, fan gatherings ... to entertain and inform almost 500 zootops, he would have been at his spot. I'm sorry, but this man has worked too hard for so many of us, to deserve this kind of treatment. So NO, the WE take care of each other is absolutely NOT over the top in this case."

Oooooh, I made one of your GEMS, I don't know if I should feel special or not.

Thanks for posting at the Zoo. I agree with what you posted.

Sheesh, is that what we can expect on the next tour????

 

[Carmelu2fan]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT

we were told when we signed up to go to our hotel and sleep and to come back in the morning.

Our group was prepared to camp out.....

Right on Jules! We sacrificed a whole day and our dinner cruise to stay in line. I expected everyone eles to do the same.

Kevin- Thank you for everything

 

[u2wedge]

Hans' decision to start the line that early and create rules allowing unlimited time away from line did nothing but set a shitty precedent for future GA lines.

I don't care what events he coordinated, it doesn't make him any more of a fan than the rest of us. And if the events he coordinated conflicted with the GA line schedule, then I'd argue that maybe he shouldn't be in charge next time.

 

[bfloxng]

Hans' decision to start the line that early and create rules allowing unlimited time away from line did nothing but set a shitty precedent for future GA lines.

I don't care what events he coordinated, it doesn't make him any more of a fan than the rest of us. And if the events he coordinated conflicted with the GA line schedule, then I'd argue that maybe he shouldn't be in charge next time.

I agree with everything you said, except I don't think Hans had a hand in starting the line on Thursday (nor do I believe he expected it to start that early). Having said that, since the line in fact started Thursday, those be the breaks for any and all who weren't there.

 

[BonoIsAGod]

What happened was that the little one was standing RIGHT behind me, and well, you saw me I ain't little. And I was standing right behind Daryl who was taller than me. So I suggested to her she may want to get behind someone a little shorter. So she moved behind Michelle. And Michelle being a better person than I actually invited her to stand in front of her, but she somehow took that to mean she could be nuts.

That little blond bitch was INSANE!!! I saw Miroslava motion to her to move over behind me so she could see a little better, so I thought what the hell, she's more than a full head shorter than I am. So I stepped back and told her to move in front of me a little. That wasn't giving license to push everyone around like a maniac and act like a total idiot! I figured good karma and the aloha spirit and all, I'd be nice. Fuck that, I was waaaaay wrong!!! Last time I do that, that's for sure! What a nutjob

Skjuls and Darryl handled her quite well

 

[u2wedge]

I agree with everything you said, except I don't think Hans had a hand in starting the line on Thursday (nor do I believe he expected it to start that early). Having said that, since the line in fact started Thursday, those be the breaks for any and all who weren't there.

yeah, I don't even know Hans, he sounds like his intentions were in the right place.

I just think it's unfortunate that these sorts of things always turn into some sort of ego contest amongst the fans who just 'have' to get in line early. I blame the venue for a lot of the confusion, they were very friendly, but I think they might have underestimated the energy of the crowd, especially those in GA.

At one point, the head of security said they were going to let everyone in at 2 or 3pm, and that they could get everyone into the venue in '15 minutes' if everyone behaved.

I think I stepped into the stadium at 5:30.

 

[BonoIsAGod]

I understand it gets tiresome, which is why I didn't get involved. Did I think, and still think, that starting the line 2 days early is ridiculous when we're in Hawaii? ABSOLUTELY, but that's it.

No bitching from my end. Not this time. If I had taken the time to be number 120 the right way (which means my ass stays glued to the line) and 60 people that had signed up earlier than I but had not spent nearly as much time as I, I believe you and lots of other people KNOW I would have raised holy hell.

But, by the time I showed up, everyone was pretty much settled and I got to hang ot with my lovely friend Michelle and chill, which is exactly what I wanted.

 

[U2girl]

IMO-

Lose the numbers (that way you eliminate those who just grab a number and don't arrive back in line much later. 1 hour tops for eating, showering etc.. after that you lose your spot) and put venue security in charge. (eliminate fan handling each other)

The 300 or so ellipse/heart/circle thingy tickets are randomly marked and picked via computer in the pre-sale. Ticket holders for those have a separate line (obviously they have to go into the arena/stadium first), and get the ticket upon showing some personal documents.

 

[bfloxng]

IMO-

Lose the numbers (that way you eliminate those who just grab a number and don't arrive back in line much later. 1 hour tops for eating, showering etc.. after that you lose your spot) and put venue security in charge. (eliminate fan handling each other)

The 300 or so ellipse/heart/circle thingy tickets are randomly marked and picked via computer in the pre-sale. Ticket holders for those have a separate line (obviously they have to go into the arena/stadium first), and get the ticket upon showing some personal documents.

Bottom line is, people who are in line should stay in line. For eats and showers, do like Aloha venue did. Sign out, get a wristband number, and sign back in. If you're gone longer than a permissible time (2 hours was reasonable in Hawaii given traffic and distance...and quite frankly I'm not opposed to 3 hours for overnight lineups), plain and simple, your name is crossed off the list and you get a new number when you return.

An even better solution is that your number in line is based upon your total time spent in line--leave as much as you want but lose hours and minutes "seniority." No one has a right to start a line and make a rule that everyone can sign in and leave for an entire day. That is not a line!!! That simply favors the group that started the line and their friends.

People who keep the line, whether fans or venue staff (venue staff could care less, so I'm still for fans) have a responsibility toward others to be honest and fair.

If they cannot do that, they should not accept the responsibility.

 

[bonoishot]

:eek :

whoa, that's insane! :crack : i wonder if things were so nuts because this was the last night of the tour, or if *maybe* the lottery actually did help to discourage the crazy line-ups... not that i'm a fan of the lottery, but hawaii GA sounds like it was awful!

Its probably because it was the last night. I know the DUblin GA lines were crazy but Manchester in UK was great. You could have a decent nights sleep and get up early the morning of the show and get a rail spot.

Though in Boston i did camp overnight in the snow from 1am until about 7am in the snow and the rail spot was so worth it. Actually slept like a baby too.

I'm kinda glad i missed Hawaii with the 2 day camping.

while the people behind him had been sitting on the sidewalk all day getting pelted with flying asphalt (though we all decided it was a damn good facial exfoliation :wink : ).

Sounds like fun Ruff.

Am glad everyone still managed to have a good time though.

Still despite all the drama you get with GA i can't wait till next tour. GA is the way to go.

 

[skjuls]

Skjuls and Darryl handled her quite well

Yeah literally picking her and moving her back. CLASSIC!!!!

 

[Lila64]

I don't know Hans, but he does seem like a good guy. My only question/comment about Friday night is this... People were probably going to start lining up Friday night for sure, possibly daytime (I thought the 'rules' were Friday at 6:00pm) . Why schedule the dinner cruise on the same night? Could it have been the only night available? What about Thursday? or Sunday? It was bound to cause a conflict...

I still would have loved to have seen Miroslava, Michelle, Jules & Darryl kickin' some short blonde's ass

 

[skjuls]

I don't know Hans, but he does seem like a good guy. My only question/comment about Friday night is this... People were probably going to start lining up Friday night for sure, possibly daytime (I thought the 'rules' were Friday at 6:00pm) . Why schedule the dinner cruise on the same night? Could it have been the only night available? What about Thursday? or Sunday? It was bound to cause a conflict...

I still would have loved to have seen Miroslava, Michelle, Jules & Darryl kickin' some short blonde's ass

The stadium did say that line up wouldn't start until 6 pm on Friday but they recognized the line that was formed so it could be interpreted however one wants........

Zootops voted for the night of the cruise...........

LOL,, the blonde was trying to get in between Maddy and me................. Big NO NO!!!

Bad Blonde Bad Blonde!!

 

[Lila64]

 

[Chrisedge]

Waiting 3 days in line is crazy. I am in favor of complete randomization for GA. I'm tired of the same people at the front over and over again, and I completely agree that it's not going to handled properly by ANYONE (fans / staff / whoever).

If there is room for 2000 people on the floor, hand out 2000 wristbands in random order. Pick a number from 1-2000 and that band can bring him/herself in and one other person. Go from there.

Fuck the self appointed "fans" that need to keep track of anything. I didn't wait in line for ANY of my GA's cause I think it sucks the way people go crazy over all this. I know most on here will disagree, because they are the ones at the front more than once, but unless every single person is forced into a line, that you can't come or go from, and NO ONE is allowed to hold spots, go away for more than a bathroom break, it's gonna suck. And waiting like that would suck too.

 

[bfloxng]

Waiting 3 days in line is crazy. I am in favor of complete randomization for GA. I'm tired of the same people at the front over and over again, and I completely agree that it's not going to handled properly by ANYONE (fans / staff / whoever).

I am inclined to agree, although I would think it would definitely dissuade some if not many from doing multiple shows, and that would be a downer. There is something to be said about having loyal diehards in the front, who know all of the songs and especially the rare gems. Conversely, having newbies up front more often would (1) Create more diehards, and (2) Make the ellipse or front rows more enthusiastic about the mainstays of the set--whereas diehards on the umpteenth show don't seem quite as enthusiatic about Pride, BTBS, One, etc. (the absolute regulars of the set--and I'm just citing general examples here).

Quite frankly, I don't know why the band doesn't either make FAN tickets ellipse tickets, sell ellipse GAs differently from regular GAs (Justin Timberlake is doing that on this tour--they're double the cost at $150 bucks), or randomly mark the tickets as ellipse winners. (The downside being secondary markups on those tickets would approach MSG prices for even the smallest towns). But, this way you know whether or not you're getting inside. Some people, including me if I'm doing 25 shows, would be content with that--just knowing I'll be inside the ellipse (because holding a spot on the rail, 2nd/3rd row, can be exhausting) from time to time.

There is no perfect solution, but I will predict this: Next tour, the stage will be in the round, with or without some sort of "ellipse." This way, they can sell ALL of the seats in the arena, be closer to more people, and quite possibly have an absolute killer performance.

Bottom line, nothing will please everybody and I doubt a "solution" will ever be found. But I will say this: I would be less enthusiastic about travelling afar if I knew 100% that my place on the floor would be 100% left up to total chance. I'd like to know I can earn a spot on the rail (or close thereto) if I really want it, and I wouldn't trade the GA lineup experience--each and every one I've had--for any experience in the world. (Barring Hawaii, which I totally forewent because of (1) the bullshit--being told I was 92nd when only 6 people were actually there; (2) my reluctance to spoil the experience for myself and others by standing firm to my convictions, and (3) the Sun and landscape of Hawaii). I have nothing but fond memories of each line I've been in--both awesome people all around and awesome shows.

Am I buggin' you? Don't mean to bug you.

 

[bfloxng]

Unless every single person is forced into a line, that you can't come or go from, and NO ONE is allowed to hold spots, go away for more than a bathroom break, it's gonna suck. And waiting like that would suck too.

But...I'll bet you if that was the deal the line wouldn't start two days early.

 

[bonoishot]

Bottom line, nothing will please everybody and I doubt a "solution" will ever be found. But I will say this: I would be less enthusiastic about travelling afar if I knew 100% that my place on the floor would be 100% left up to total chance. I'd like to know I can earn a spot on the rail (or close thereto) if I really want it, and I wouldn't trade the GA lineup experience--each and every one I've had--for any experience in the world. (Barring Hawaii, which I totally forewent because of (1) the bullshit--being told I was 92nd when only 6 people were actually there; (2) my reluctance to spoil the experience for myself and others by standing firm to my convictions, and (3) the Sun and landscape of Hawaii). I have nothing but fond memories of each line I've been in--both awesome people all around and awesome shows.

I agree. No solution will please everyone.

Also agree with your original post. If people are in line then stay in line, apart from the usual break to go clean up/get food etc. You don't just wander off for hours or a day or two then get back in line.

 

[bayou12780]

Quite frankly, I don't know why the band doesn't either make FAN tickets ellipse tickets, sell ellipse GAs differently from regular GAs (Justin Timberlake is doing that on this tour--they're double the cost at $150 bucks), or randomly mark the tickets as ellipse winners. (The downside being secondary markups on those tickets would approach MSG prices for even the smallest towns). But, this way you know whether or not you're getting inside.

This is a great idea. And I think there are alot of diehard fans who would love to do GA (at least once) but just don't want to do the camping out/line stuff - frankly most of us (yes, me included) are too old! So if we could be guaranteed an ellipse ticket, we would be there rockin' out with the best of 'em. And everyone would be fresh - energy and smell-wise!!

Is there a suggestion box on u2.com? Time to start lobbying the u2 machine.

 

[Chrisedge]

No worries Kevin! I agree with ya for the most part. When fans originally started the "list" idea on Elevation and marking hands I thought it was great. I waited all day in line on that tour (Early on) because if you got there at 8am, you were in the top 25 people or so and it was managible. By the end of that tour it was crazy and has only gotten worse. I was in favor of the scanning/random approach and most diehards found there way in mulitple times anyways, and still letting the occasional fan in there too.

I was up front 1 out of 4 times in GA, and that was cause we talked our way into the elipse from Craig? (Tall guy who ran the scanning early on)

 

[bayou12780]

Hey, chrisedge are you THE chrisedge - taper extraordinaire? If so, great job on honoulu. If not, change your name (kidding).

 

[bfloxng]

Hey, chrisedge are you THE chrisedge - taper extraordinaire? If so, great job on honoulu. If not, change your name (kidding).

That recording blew lol. I can only hear two idiots who must've been in front babbling away during the beginning of Rocko's set. What a shame! Would someone please shut those idiot "fans" up?

 

[bfloxng]

 

[NUMBER 28]

tryan101 wrote:

now add in the 4 or 5 obnoxious a-holes one row in front of us on Edge's b-stage rail that were so intent on protecting their space they had no problem elbowing out my 10 and 13 yr old kids who were just trying to get a glimpse of the stage all the while allowing their late coming friends rail access and you really start to question what the hell is wrong with these so-called fans. you know who you are mr. all in red 50 yr old guy [/B]

i'm the guy in red, 53 years old to be exact, who kept your son from being 'on the rail'. here's my story:
somewhere, at sometime, i looked down, and noticed a boy of about 10 years old, and saw his hand on the rail. i asked him 'how many shows have you been to?' i think he told me a number, but i forget. i said 'cool!', and turned away. the woman to my right said, 'don't be fooled by his shy manner, he's just trying to get 'rail'. and i looked back at your son, and told him, 'i will let you have a hand here, for stability, but i'm not going to let you stand at the rail. it's not just me, there are other people around here to deal with as well'. your son continued to look up at me, not saying a word. i turned to you and said, 'your son can have a hand on the rail, for stability, but he can't stand on it. people have waited overnight for this'. i was calm with you, and i was calm with your son. neither of you spoke to me again.

your son continued to stand there, ever so slowly trying to work his way between me and the woman on my right. again, i told him what he could have, and what he couldn't have. there WERE friends of mine behind me, who also would have liked to stand next to me, but STILL ended up behind me. so it wouldn''t have mattered to me, small child, big adult, there was no space between us for your son.

a while later, i turned to see your daughter in the same space as your son had been earlier, and at that point, i had nothing else to do with the matter. i knew that there was no space for ANYONE between me and the woman on my right, and left it to others to agree/disagree over the situation.

your son had few words to say to me, even as i understood that he may be shy in a situation as we found ourselves. i tried to draw him out, to talk with him, and had he given me some thing to work with, had he been even a little bit excited about being there, a little more forthcoming, and not appearing to be trying to get rail space that he wasn't entitled to, i would have found him a spot on the rail. but he wasn't. and every time i looked back at you sir, your face was the same. while i can't make assumptions about what your intent was, it APPEARED, that all you wanted was for him to 'get' that spot. and that some how, he deserved it, simply because he is a child. and that wasn't going to happen.

i've been at plenty of shows where parents bring their children, and are happy with the place they end up with, without trying to get them further forward. like any fan who has spent nearly 48 hours in a line, overnight, eating crap food, enduring line drama, i'm not inclined to give over space that isn't there, to someone who comes late, without some feedback, some input, some friendliness, from the person seeking that space. your son was no different. nor were MY friends, who also had spent hours in line, for their spot. they were either next to me because they put in the time and got their first, or behind me because they hadn't. children don't get a pass at an adult concert where there are plenty of 4 foot adults in the same predicament. why you feel your son should be entitled to squeeze his way in, i can't understand.

there is also a safety issue. if you paid any attention to me, (which is seems you did), you saw a 6'1", 230lb man being boisterous, and crazy as hell during the performance. who's going to be responsible if your son or daughter gets injured in a situation like that? many adults do...broken toes, sprained ankles, bruises...it all happens. i'm of the opinion that young children don't have a place in GA. it's too rowdy, the chance of brawls is ever present between drunken fans, and it's too loud. but hey, he's your son. and you would be responsible for him. not me. which is another reason i didn't want him standing next to me.

i can't speak to what you heard from others around me. but i was reasonable with you, AND your son. i was never rude, i never talked 'down' to him, i did my best to talk with him, and see just what he was about. and in the doing, all i could discern was, that YOU wanted him there. and if there is a 'next' time for you, you need to be there for a rail spot, so that he can have it with you. other parents do it, because that's how it's done.

 

[Popmartijn]

There have been plenty of posts in different forums/topics regarding people having lined up at 12 noon Friday for Saturday's show. Some say yay and others say nay. The truth is, the "lineup" (BIG QUOTES) started at about 9pm on THURSDAY...2 days before the show. So...I stopped down at about 4am to find 6 people in line. No biggie, I thought, I'll go back tomorrow and be in the top 100-200. So I asked the "linekeeper" (an un-named Zoo-Top) about the status of the line. "You're 91," he/she said. "Really," I replied, noting that there were six people in line.
Then I was treated with indignance...the old, "Someone has to keep the list," blah-blah-blah.
85 people were given numbers and allowed to leave for the ENTIRE NIGHT.
What a joke.
The result? About 500 people ended up WASTING an entire day in beautiful Hawaii because a dozen or so self-righteous, self-centered hypocrites felt this need to start the line two days early (and hold countless spots for others...some of whom spent the ENTIRE NEXT DAY FRIDAY AT THE BEACH...and curiously still made the inner rail) because they have this warped perception that the show can't go on if Bono can't see their face (or they're just absolutely relentless attention hounds).
Well, anyway, those who started the line in Hawaii and had 91 on the list while 6 were in line...I am calling you out here and now. You are pathetic hypocrites and, while you claim to espouse and follow the views, etc., of Bono and the band, the Hawaii lineup was a pathetic joke. I only wish Bono himself would have showed up in line that night, as I did, to see 85 positions being "held" ahead of others who were willing to lineup and wait.

While reading the original post and many of the replies here I have to say that I've seen much bullshit posted before, but that this thread is a hotbed of uninformed and malicious replies. It might not be possible to answer every incorrect point, but I'm gonna try anyway.

Yes, I was part of one of the groups that started the line and the list on Thursday evening. Even then we weren't the first one in the line. But that doesn't matter, that wasn't our goal. All we wanted was to have a fair and smooth-running list. Part of that included to send people who had a wristband away until Friday afternoon. So why did we start the line so early and did we allow people to leave the line until Friday afternoon?
To start with the second question, there were several reasons it was better not to stay outside the stadium's parking from Thursday evening on. For the many of those who weren't there, take a big step (just one, but a big one). Now, this was the width of the sidewalk outside the stadium's parking lot. Add next to it a not-so-quiet road and you can imagine it wasn't really possible to camp out there. No one was allowed yet on the stadium's parking lot (some got sent away when they tried to do this earlier). And during the night the police drove by a couple of times to make sure there wasn't a big group, otherwise they would've made everyone leave. This would've created a possibly bigger confusion.
Another reason to allow people to leave the line until Friday afternoon was simply this. You're on Hawaii! Enjoy the beach (indeed), visit Pearl Harbour, go surfing, do whatever! Don't spend your entire time on the island just waiting in some GA line. Some in this thread have mentioned the GA line system in Boston and this was exactly the system we wanted to copy. Give people a wristband and tell them to come back later. On Friday 6 PM the stadium's parking lot would open and people would be able to camp out there. What would happen then, we didn't know. All we could do was to try to run things as smoothly until that time. So this is what would happen if someone came to us to sign in:
U2/Pearl Jam fan: Is this where I can sign in for the line?
Us: Yes, you can. What is your name? OK, you are number... Do you know how it works? Well, here's the deal.
At 6 PM security will open the parking lot and escort us to those holding pens over there. What will happen then with the line system we don't know. However, until that time, get to know the people right in front of you and behind you. And go out and enjoy Hawaii. Don't be here all day. Just make sure you're back before 6 PM. As we said, we don't know what happens once security takes over.

In the end, security decided to honour our lining system, because they saw it worked. So Friday evening everyone was escorted to the holding pens based on their number in line. So many people did not have to waste an entire day in beautiful Hawaii, sitting on a windy sidewalk, just because no-one was keeping track of any line-up system.

Then why start so early? As I stated before, even us who kept track of the line weren't even #1. But once the line started it was important that there was some order in the line soon, otherwise it would be chaos (with everyone using their own list/system/position). Yes, I also think it's kinda ridiculous to start lining up 2 days in advance. I think this also has a bit to do with the announcement by the stadium that they would allow people to camp out overnight starting from 6 PM Friday. Because this moved the start of the line forward to be as far to the front of the line as possible on Friday 6 PM.

And also keep the following into account (for those not there). The people who got a wristband and left, didn't just show up 5 minutes before the gates into the stadium opened. Everyone camped out overnight, so they all waited at least 24 hours before the concert started.

So no, I'm not such a big hypocrite that I stir shit of something I wasn't taking part in. That I just blurt out some nonsense just because I wasn't willing to line up and wait and got some seats. That I was accusing people of one thing and then turn around and not follow up on it. I'm not someone who showed up early AND then started accusing others of showing up early too. I mean, you were there at 4 AM, so what are you talking about?

 

[Popmartijn]

People around me in line were talking about how the first 50-ish people in pen 1 had roped themselves off with caution tape. Is that true? It really had a lot of people in pen 2 upset when the word spread. If that did happen, I'd like to extend a big fuck you to those people because that's some incredibly childish behavior.

This isn't completely true. Yes, some lines were made with yellow "Caution" tape, but it wasn't to rope a group off. This was done with the approval of the security in order to prevent a possible queuing disaster.
The holding pen was just a big rectangle cordoned off by regular barricades (not even those special Mojo-barriers as used inside the venue). In a single corner of this pen was a small opening to enter the gates into the stadium. The fear was that once the gates opened everyone would go for that small opening. If you have several hundred people barricaded off, that has the potential of becoming an ugly situation. So a few lines were made, in order to guide the people orderly through the gates and to prevent this big direct push to the corner of the gates.
So I'm sorry if you think it was elitist behaviour or any way to identify the beautiful people (as I've seen mentioned in another post in this thread). The original idea was to make the GA entrance a bit safer, not to create an us vs. them situation.

 

[Popmartijn]

No, the "Flagship" is the loud-mouths from Boston who carry a bunch of flags and banners around with them.

This is not true, but I think some others have commented on this already. Anyway, I don't think it's worth it to discuss this here in this thread.

And, regarding the taped off area - that was the venues idea so that when the line started moving in it would detract people from pushing their way to the front of the line.

Indeed, as I've tried to explain in my previous post (before I saw your reply about it).

The venue was overwhelmed with the GA thing, I think they were expecting it to get ugly, which of course it did not (other than the typical drama). However, U2 security did a great job of getting people into the stadium with very few issues.

This is also true. The venue was overwhelmed. There hasn't been a (single band) GA show this big in the US for ages. This was also the biggest concert in Hawaii ever. It was even bigger than a Michael Jackson concert a few years ago (which had people in line around almost the whole block! If you saw the size of that block, you can imagine that has been a looooong line). I heard that they were expecting 9,000 people to show up on Friday night (which luckily didn't. I think it was 1,000 at most). In short, they didn't know what to expect so they were expecting the worst. In the end, it turned out (relatively) fine.

And yes, getting people into the stadium was extremely well done. I don't think I've ever seen such a quiet entrance for a GA line ever. No mad rush for the front of the stage (at least, not until you entered that front section), no chaos, none. Lots of other venues could learn from this.

 

[Popmartijn]

When they moved us on to the venue property, number 9 in line showed up for the first time since signing the list. I couldn't fucking believe it. All her friends allowed her to join the line, and they all knew she'd been on the beach all day. She got called out in line by a bunch of people but of course wasn't going to leave.

On the beach all day???
I didn't know the final U2 show took place on the beach. It would've made the line up a lot more pleasant. (To put it less cryptically, she'd been working all day as a local stage hand, setting up the Vertigo stage. So yes, she was away for most of the time on Friday, but she did not enjoy any time on the beach or wherever, but was working so all U2 fans could enjoy the show)

 

[Popmartijn]

it was a guy and woman--I didn't recognize them from other shows.

Yet, they've been to plenty of shows and lined up all the time. I guess you never were there in those lines.

 

[Popmartijn]

I knew if the line start we would get majority of the U.S. fans complaining about starting it too early. Ususally in the foreign countries the lines start 2 to 5 days in advance.

Actually, from my experience it's exactly the opposite. In many foreign countries the line doesn't start until the day of the show (although often a few do start lining up the day before). The only time I've camped out was in the USA (Boston and Hawaii). The other times, you were one of the first if you'd show up at 6 AM the day of the show.