Discoteque
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Well, since Elvis closed the Vegas forum, hope you don't mind yet another very late entry about the Vegas show!
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My alarm woke me up at 4:00 AM on Nov. 16, and for once I didn't want to throw it across the room. WOO HOO! I was heading to Vegas!!! In less than 48 hours, I would be in the GA line for my first U2 show in 14 years! I almost missed my flight?got to the airport with a scant 20 minutes to spare, and after security checks, literally walked onto the plane as they were about to shut the doors! After a non-eventful flight, walked out into the glitz and glitter and neon and nekkidness of the Vegas airport?yep, even the airport showed near nudity on their big screens. YIKES. After getting my luggage and getting to the Sahara, I went back outside to wait for Dana (Moonie) who said she would hit Vegas about 9:00 am. After our meet and greet, we decided to go have breakfast in the buffet area?holy CRAP is Vegas a smoky place! We could barely enjoy our breakfast the place was so smoke-filled (non-smoking areas, my eye!). After checking in, we sort of piddled around for a bit, and I took a nap because I was exhausted, but Dana spent the entire afternoon bedazzling her jeans for the show--by hand, no less. You go, girl.
We hit Jack's Irish Pub at the Palace Station that night. I wandered from table to table whispering conspiritoriously: "Interference?" "Pleba?" All to negative responses. At 9:00 an Irish band came on, called "The Wild Celts" and the were great! A little rock, a little Irish fiddle?and a little U2! They played semi-acoustic versions of SBS and NYD with the 5-6 rabid U2 fans in the place shouting "woo-hoo's"! If it hadn't been for the completely annoying girls at the table next to us who insisted on doing a very POOR imitation of Irish dancing, in order to bring attention to themselves, we might have stayed longer. Sheesh.
After sleeping late on Saturday, and doing a few errands, we dashed over to the Stratosphere aabout 5:45 for the ear-popping ride to the top. While I have a true fear of heights, it was pushed aside by the AMAZINGLY stunning views across and around Vegas from the tower. The day had been a perfectly gorgeous, cloudless sunny day, and the sunset could not have been better. I think I snapped an entire roll of film up there. Then suddenly we turned around to see 5 crazy people coming toward us waving their Interference tags! Hooray! We'd found our people!!! We met Kevin (Eliv8), Kate (Kite), Marina (mbi) and LuvLady (sorry forgot your name!), and PubCrawler. And I have a confession to make...um, I have a crush on PubCrawler. *giggle*
What can I say? Hee hee. We chatted with them for awhile, then went downstairs where we met JesseU2, someone who took his place in all of our hearts! After another ear popping ride down, we said we would all meet over at Fremont Street to catch the light show there. Unfortunately, we headed down the strip the wrong way, GRR!! But we had such a great time - the strip was ROCKING! It was SO VEGAS - gorgeous lights and neon in every square foot, flashy cars, flashy people, we even got to see a bit of the Bellagio water show from the road when we hit a red light. Finally when we realized we were heading the wrong way, and got turned around, by the time we got to Fremont Street, we'd missed the light show, DARN! But it was still a really cool area of town, seeing the old part of town before the Strip ruled.
We then headed to the Hard Rock Caf? for the Interference Party! We couldn't miss that giant neon gee-tar! Walked in and I immediately saw Sicilian Goddess in the back - she looked exactly like her pictures! And I wholeheartedly agree with Mrs. Edge - Sicy is the teeniest, skinniest woman I have ever met. Surely she can't be ITALIAN with a figure like that!! MANGA, Sicy, manga! Eat some more pasta, woman!!!
And there was April, right next to her, looking cute and innocent as could be, not PopWhorish at all! I was most excited to meet the elusive and wonderful Mrs. Edge, finally! She's just as adorable and sweet in real life as she is on line. It was so exciting to meet all the people I'd read posts from for months: martha, LikeO2, Sulaweisigirl, SonicSmurf, Zoolister(?), and the big guy himself: ELVIS (Joel) in one of the coolest shirts I've seen in awhile?I'm sure I've forgotten a ton of names, sorry bout that! The night was highlighted by our meeting "mini Bono", Danno, the spitting image of the real deal, so much so that we all went over to have our pics taken with him (and you know he just loved it!). Got back to the hotel about 10:30, got to bed about 11:30?only to have the alarm wake us at the ungodly hour of 3:00 am.
We staggered around like zombies and thought about going back to bed as well, but only for U2 would we be abusing our bodies like this! Got to the Thomas & Mack center at 4:00 AM, but what's this? Where is everyone?? There was not a soul to be found?no cars, no people. Hmmm?so we drove around for awhile, still didn?t see anyone. The UNLV campus police told us we had to get off the property and not to come back till 8:00!!! CRIKEY!!! What were we going to do for four hours?? Called Jess and Lynn to tell them our findings, they drove up, and we tried to figure out a plan. Finally the campus police came over, and Lynn schmoozed them into allowing us to come back at 7:40?oooh, a whole 20 minutes early!
It pays to be friends with the cops!
Dana and I, exhausted as we were, decided to not go back to the hotel, so we hit Denny's for breakfast. Let me tell ya, there are some VERY interesting people in Dennys at 4:00 in the morning. Everyone that came in promptly put their heads down on their tables and started snoozing right there where they sat. About halfway through our breakfast, a very *ahem* well-dressed guy in a cocked hat sat down behind us. He looked rather?like a pimp! Sure enough he was one! (think Kramer on Seinfeld) With his snappy off-white suit, matching hat, jewelry and with the HUGE roll of bills he unfurled?well, being a true tourist, I just had to take a picture of him!
The guy even posed for me, heh.
Got back to the T&M at 8:00 on the dot. STILL no people!!! WTF? We parked and walked up, only to get a reprimand from one of the T&M folks: "If you have GA tickets you need to line up across the street under that sign!" WHAT?!? When did this occur?? So me and Dana dashed over there in a panic, only to find?250 people already liked up!!! ARGH!!! Why hadn't soemone told us this at 4:00 in the morning??? I was so mad. But we got numbers 271 and 272, which turned out to be okay in the end. At 9:00, they herded us over to the far side of the T&M center, inside a fenced in "pen" area, where we snaked around and sat down to make ourselves comfy. We were again blessed with the most gorgeous sunny day, tho a bit cool. We met even more Interferencers including the infamous and beautiful Gina Marie, and the infamous and large DiamondBruno (who hit on poor Sicy all the live long day), hilarious lurker Monica from Tennessee, and so many more. Mini Bono was there again, causing a stir, and he even got on one of the local Vegas TV stations! The day passed quickly and before we knew it, it was 4:00 and everyone was taking their stuff back to their cars. We quickly changed into our "concert clothes" and got in line for the 2 hour wait for the gates to open.
Finally, woo hoo! The started letting us in, 4 at a time, very orderly?Mrs. Edge and I wanted to stand next to each other, and as we dashed inside, OMG! We literally had the pick of anywhere we wanted! People were just milling about, so because Jessica had never been outside the tip, that's where we went--second row by the rail! Dana ran into the heart to be close to her heartthrob, Mr. Mullen. By this time, OMG, my feet were hurting SO badly, I all but wanted to cut them off! How could I make it for 3-4 more hours with pain like this?? At 7:30, the lights went completely dark in an instant, and the crowd went crazy! No Doubt came on and rocked the house! I had told Jess that I really wanted to see Garbage and was not a No Doubt fan, but I couldn't believe how amazing they were live! After the first show, I thought they were just great?I may have to give them a second look, after all!
The wait was interminable between No Doubt and U2?OMG, was I really here? Were 14 years about to finally come to an end?? I was nearly hyperventilating. Finally...ahhhh...the intro music: Higher Ground, All You Need is Love, Sgt. Pepper's and the Influx Remix!!! OMIGOD!! Then here came the oh-so-cool Adam, followed by Larry, then WOO HOO!! EDGE!!!! Then Bono jumped in when the WOO-HOO's started, and the whole crowd was pogo-ing up and down!! I kept grabbign zJess and saying, "They're REAL, they're REAL!!!" Because I simply could not believe my eyes?14 years of looking at pictures, seeing videos, seeing them on TV, it was just the most surreal moment to realize that I was seeing them in person with my own two eyes. Unbelieveable. Then UTEOTW, and here comes Bono walking on the heart right in front of us, holy crap!!! Then the Edge as well?.I was about to FAINT, I swear. They did the bullfight scene literally 3-4 feet in front of us, it was astonishing. Bono's voice was SO strong and so amazing that night?he hit EVERY high note in every song, even in songs that I know they had lowered by an octave or a key to make it easier for him. He was DEAD ON all night. More amazing bits: Bono and Edge singing Wild Honey VERY closely on one microphone, Bono then leaning back and letting Edge sing solo for a line or two, yay Edge!!! Bono at one point walked out into the crowd at the tip, and they were there holding him up by his feet and legs?he's braver than I am, I couldn't do it! For "People Get Ready" he pulled a real cute girl in a sparkly top out of the crowd (who we later found out was another Interferencer, Rattleandhmmm/Julie!) She was SO cool and so smooth?she strapped on the guitar, and then?slid on a pair of shades just as cool as could be. Bono cracked up! Turns out this girl is a performer herself, and they let her sing along with them, and Bono even announced her name at the end, it was really great. He even changed the words for her?something about sandals, because hers had fallen off when she was pulled on stage. Toward the end of the show, he grabbed a black cowboy hat from someone and wore it the rest of the show - he looked SO adorable, he looked like the Bono of yore?the early U2 days, it was so bittersweet. He did a great version of What's Going On with Gwen Stefani?poor Gwen, she wasn't quite put together when she got on stage, so Bono sort of um, "helped" her get her microphone cord?or was it her belt??situated, with a very sly grin on his face! It was so great to know that No Doubt were so excited to be opening for U2, and were such fans, that after their own performance, they all came out into the heart to watch the show themselves--how great is that? Bono also made reference to an Elvis impersonator in the lower balcony by the stage, saying "Elvis, this one's for you" as they launched into "Can't Help Falling in Love with You." The lighting was amazing, sophisticated, and seductive and was a perfect addtion to the mood of the show. It was so cool to get TWO encores from the guys, but I wanted it to go on forever?yes my feet still hurt, but I wasn't thinking about that?I was enthralled with all of it, so enthralled, I'm afraid, that I didn't realize poor Jess was having a major meltdown just to my right?I didn't realize. Sorry Jess!
It wasn?t an experience without difficulties, though. When Bono and Edge came out to the tip, the crowd surged toward the heart, and I suddenly found myself pinned up against poor Inca for pretty much the rest of the show. Then some idiot on my left felt that elbowing his way up to the front was the way to go, and started trying to squeeze his way in front of me (the old "get your shoulder in front of theirs so you can push them out of the way" routine). At one point, he was being SO obnoxious, I turned around to yell at him, he yelled back at me, and the security guard then came over and yelled at both of us. I tried to ignore the jerk, but he really helped to lessened my enjoyment of the whole experiene. Why do people have to be so pushy and annoying?? But overall, it was an amazing, breathtaking experience?.we dashed to our car immediately after the show, narrowly missing the boys who had come out for a very short chat with fans, RATS! Onward and forward to?LA for the next night's show!!! (stay tuned...)
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Disco
------
Disco to Edge: Thanks for making 14 years worth the wait you guys were great tonight!
Edge: Thanks!
(later)
Disco to Edge: See you in Dallas, Edge!
Edge: Okay!
(and you just know he meant it both times)
---
Bono: Do not fasten your safety belt. We are about to get airborn.
---
--------------------
Bono just has such an incredible ability to harness the crowd's energy and feed it straight back to them, resulting in what seems like communal ecstasy.I've never seen anything quite like it. Our Bono is indeed a mighty force. He walks into a room and all the air gets sucked right out. He is completely magnetic. - Shirley Manson, on Bono
---
http://community.webshots.com/user/gudagirl
http://community.webshots.com/user/discoteque
(now with 'elevated Bono' album!)
---
My alarm woke me up at 4:00 AM on Nov. 16, and for once I didn't want to throw it across the room. WOO HOO! I was heading to Vegas!!! In less than 48 hours, I would be in the GA line for my first U2 show in 14 years! I almost missed my flight?got to the airport with a scant 20 minutes to spare, and after security checks, literally walked onto the plane as they were about to shut the doors! After a non-eventful flight, walked out into the glitz and glitter and neon and nekkidness of the Vegas airport?yep, even the airport showed near nudity on their big screens. YIKES. After getting my luggage and getting to the Sahara, I went back outside to wait for Dana (Moonie) who said she would hit Vegas about 9:00 am. After our meet and greet, we decided to go have breakfast in the buffet area?holy CRAP is Vegas a smoky place! We could barely enjoy our breakfast the place was so smoke-filled (non-smoking areas, my eye!). After checking in, we sort of piddled around for a bit, and I took a nap because I was exhausted, but Dana spent the entire afternoon bedazzling her jeans for the show--by hand, no less. You go, girl.
We hit Jack's Irish Pub at the Palace Station that night. I wandered from table to table whispering conspiritoriously: "Interference?" "Pleba?" All to negative responses. At 9:00 an Irish band came on, called "The Wild Celts" and the were great! A little rock, a little Irish fiddle?and a little U2! They played semi-acoustic versions of SBS and NYD with the 5-6 rabid U2 fans in the place shouting "woo-hoo's"! If it hadn't been for the completely annoying girls at the table next to us who insisted on doing a very POOR imitation of Irish dancing, in order to bring attention to themselves, we might have stayed longer. Sheesh.
After sleeping late on Saturday, and doing a few errands, we dashed over to the Stratosphere aabout 5:45 for the ear-popping ride to the top. While I have a true fear of heights, it was pushed aside by the AMAZINGLY stunning views across and around Vegas from the tower. The day had been a perfectly gorgeous, cloudless sunny day, and the sunset could not have been better. I think I snapped an entire roll of film up there. Then suddenly we turned around to see 5 crazy people coming toward us waving their Interference tags! Hooray! We'd found our people!!! We met Kevin (Eliv8), Kate (Kite), Marina (mbi) and LuvLady (sorry forgot your name!), and PubCrawler. And I have a confession to make...um, I have a crush on PubCrawler. *giggle*
We then headed to the Hard Rock Caf? for the Interference Party! We couldn't miss that giant neon gee-tar! Walked in and I immediately saw Sicilian Goddess in the back - she looked exactly like her pictures! And I wholeheartedly agree with Mrs. Edge - Sicy is the teeniest, skinniest woman I have ever met. Surely she can't be ITALIAN with a figure like that!! MANGA, Sicy, manga! Eat some more pasta, woman!!!
We staggered around like zombies and thought about going back to bed as well, but only for U2 would we be abusing our bodies like this! Got to the Thomas & Mack center at 4:00 AM, but what's this? Where is everyone?? There was not a soul to be found?no cars, no people. Hmmm?so we drove around for awhile, still didn?t see anyone. The UNLV campus police told us we had to get off the property and not to come back till 8:00!!! CRIKEY!!! What were we going to do for four hours?? Called Jess and Lynn to tell them our findings, they drove up, and we tried to figure out a plan. Finally the campus police came over, and Lynn schmoozed them into allowing us to come back at 7:40?oooh, a whole 20 minutes early!
Dana and I, exhausted as we were, decided to not go back to the hotel, so we hit Denny's for breakfast. Let me tell ya, there are some VERY interesting people in Dennys at 4:00 in the morning. Everyone that came in promptly put their heads down on their tables and started snoozing right there where they sat. About halfway through our breakfast, a very *ahem* well-dressed guy in a cocked hat sat down behind us. He looked rather?like a pimp! Sure enough he was one! (think Kramer on Seinfeld) With his snappy off-white suit, matching hat, jewelry and with the HUGE roll of bills he unfurled?well, being a true tourist, I just had to take a picture of him!
Got back to the T&M at 8:00 on the dot. STILL no people!!! WTF? We parked and walked up, only to get a reprimand from one of the T&M folks: "If you have GA tickets you need to line up across the street under that sign!" WHAT?!? When did this occur?? So me and Dana dashed over there in a panic, only to find?250 people already liked up!!! ARGH!!! Why hadn't soemone told us this at 4:00 in the morning??? I was so mad. But we got numbers 271 and 272, which turned out to be okay in the end. At 9:00, they herded us over to the far side of the T&M center, inside a fenced in "pen" area, where we snaked around and sat down to make ourselves comfy. We were again blessed with the most gorgeous sunny day, tho a bit cool. We met even more Interferencers including the infamous and beautiful Gina Marie, and the infamous and large DiamondBruno (who hit on poor Sicy all the live long day), hilarious lurker Monica from Tennessee, and so many more. Mini Bono was there again, causing a stir, and he even got on one of the local Vegas TV stations! The day passed quickly and before we knew it, it was 4:00 and everyone was taking their stuff back to their cars. We quickly changed into our "concert clothes" and got in line for the 2 hour wait for the gates to open.
Finally, woo hoo! The started letting us in, 4 at a time, very orderly?Mrs. Edge and I wanted to stand next to each other, and as we dashed inside, OMG! We literally had the pick of anywhere we wanted! People were just milling about, so because Jessica had never been outside the tip, that's where we went--second row by the rail! Dana ran into the heart to be close to her heartthrob, Mr. Mullen. By this time, OMG, my feet were hurting SO badly, I all but wanted to cut them off! How could I make it for 3-4 more hours with pain like this?? At 7:30, the lights went completely dark in an instant, and the crowd went crazy! No Doubt came on and rocked the house! I had told Jess that I really wanted to see Garbage and was not a No Doubt fan, but I couldn't believe how amazing they were live! After the first show, I thought they were just great?I may have to give them a second look, after all!
The wait was interminable between No Doubt and U2?OMG, was I really here? Were 14 years about to finally come to an end?? I was nearly hyperventilating. Finally...ahhhh...the intro music: Higher Ground, All You Need is Love, Sgt. Pepper's and the Influx Remix!!! OMIGOD!! Then here came the oh-so-cool Adam, followed by Larry, then WOO HOO!! EDGE!!!! Then Bono jumped in when the WOO-HOO's started, and the whole crowd was pogo-ing up and down!! I kept grabbign zJess and saying, "They're REAL, they're REAL!!!" Because I simply could not believe my eyes?14 years of looking at pictures, seeing videos, seeing them on TV, it was just the most surreal moment to realize that I was seeing them in person with my own two eyes. Unbelieveable. Then UTEOTW, and here comes Bono walking on the heart right in front of us, holy crap!!! Then the Edge as well?.I was about to FAINT, I swear. They did the bullfight scene literally 3-4 feet in front of us, it was astonishing. Bono's voice was SO strong and so amazing that night?he hit EVERY high note in every song, even in songs that I know they had lowered by an octave or a key to make it easier for him. He was DEAD ON all night. More amazing bits: Bono and Edge singing Wild Honey VERY closely on one microphone, Bono then leaning back and letting Edge sing solo for a line or two, yay Edge!!! Bono at one point walked out into the crowd at the tip, and they were there holding him up by his feet and legs?he's braver than I am, I couldn't do it! For "People Get Ready" he pulled a real cute girl in a sparkly top out of the crowd (who we later found out was another Interferencer, Rattleandhmmm/Julie!) She was SO cool and so smooth?she strapped on the guitar, and then?slid on a pair of shades just as cool as could be. Bono cracked up! Turns out this girl is a performer herself, and they let her sing along with them, and Bono even announced her name at the end, it was really great. He even changed the words for her?something about sandals, because hers had fallen off when she was pulled on stage. Toward the end of the show, he grabbed a black cowboy hat from someone and wore it the rest of the show - he looked SO adorable, he looked like the Bono of yore?the early U2 days, it was so bittersweet. He did a great version of What's Going On with Gwen Stefani?poor Gwen, she wasn't quite put together when she got on stage, so Bono sort of um, "helped" her get her microphone cord?or was it her belt??situated, with a very sly grin on his face! It was so great to know that No Doubt were so excited to be opening for U2, and were such fans, that after their own performance, they all came out into the heart to watch the show themselves--how great is that? Bono also made reference to an Elvis impersonator in the lower balcony by the stage, saying "Elvis, this one's for you" as they launched into "Can't Help Falling in Love with You." The lighting was amazing, sophisticated, and seductive and was a perfect addtion to the mood of the show. It was so cool to get TWO encores from the guys, but I wanted it to go on forever?yes my feet still hurt, but I wasn't thinking about that?I was enthralled with all of it, so enthralled, I'm afraid, that I didn't realize poor Jess was having a major meltdown just to my right?I didn't realize. Sorry Jess!
It wasn?t an experience without difficulties, though. When Bono and Edge came out to the tip, the crowd surged toward the heart, and I suddenly found myself pinned up against poor Inca for pretty much the rest of the show. Then some idiot on my left felt that elbowing his way up to the front was the way to go, and started trying to squeeze his way in front of me (the old "get your shoulder in front of theirs so you can push them out of the way" routine). At one point, he was being SO obnoxious, I turned around to yell at him, he yelled back at me, and the security guard then came over and yelled at both of us. I tried to ignore the jerk, but he really helped to lessened my enjoyment of the whole experiene. Why do people have to be so pushy and annoying?? But overall, it was an amazing, breathtaking experience?.we dashed to our car immediately after the show, narrowly missing the boys who had come out for a very short chat with fans, RATS! Onward and forward to?LA for the next night's show!!! (stay tuned...)
------------------
Disco
------
Disco to Edge: Thanks for making 14 years worth the wait you guys were great tonight!
Edge: Thanks!
(later)
Disco to Edge: See you in Dallas, Edge!
Edge: Okay!
(and you just know he meant it both times)
---
Bono: Do not fasten your safety belt. We are about to get airborn.
---
--------------------
Bono just has such an incredible ability to harness the crowd's energy and feed it straight back to them, resulting in what seems like communal ecstasy.I've never seen anything quite like it. Our Bono is indeed a mighty force. He walks into a room and all the air gets sucked right out. He is completely magnetic. - Shirley Manson, on Bono
---
http://community.webshots.com/user/gudagirl
http://community.webshots.com/user/discoteque
(now with 'elevated Bono' album!)
