GA Experiences So Far- Good, Bad, Ugly?

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Personally, the people who line up for days are just as crazy as the people who push there way through the crowd to get up front.

I got there @ 830am on Friday. I thought the way Croke handled the GA was fine and pretty orderly. They did force everyone into the pit the first night and it was way to freaking crowded..... It was impossible to leave to get food and get back. You got so many dirty looks... However, once the concert started and the bridges started to move people spread out and it got OK.

However, we decided not to do that for the 2nd night. we enjoyed Dublin on Saturday. Got to the venue around 545pm and parked ourself in front of the sound board. It was a good spot, not as good as being in the heart/ellipse but probably an overall better experience than being in the packed-to-the-gills pit for 360... It is just way too many people in there.... I think they estimate the number of people in there by having people all the way around and not everyone trying to be in front...

Tomorrow is Red Zone for me. I'll read that thread to see when I'll show up. Probably 8ish... Also, Glasvegas sucks...

And its great being in the hotel across the street from the venue...
 
AdamThomasU2 said:
Hope this comes in useful to some here, if your doing GA then go for the railings by the ramp,the inner circle isn't all that!
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That was my experience on the last tour :yes: I don't need to be near the band for the entire show. I prefer the view from the ramps.

XBL_AchtungBaby said:
Personally, the people who line up for days are just as crazy as the people who push there way through the crowd to get up front.
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Lining up for days may be crazy, but pushing to the front is just rude.
 
oceane said:
Camping out is a waste of time IMO. All that does is give you a very good chance (but no guarantee as things don't always go in perfect order) to be on a rail front stage or front outside circle, but yesterday in Dublin you could have shown up at 2pm and still got inside the circle, where it's pretty crowded but you can still easily find a really good spot.

Yesterday I was one of the people who was in the 'pit' line, but then when I got in it was already very full (despite the fact that I was towards the beginning of the line and had been there since early morning--not sure what happened there), and when I saw some people standing outside I though I'd give it a try. Not only was there no one telling us there was anything wrong with doing that, a security guard actually showed me the way out without having to ask.

When the 'pitch/outside' people arrived, they were understandably not happy with the situation, but the way some of them reacted was very aggressive and over the top. I was talked to very nastily and forcibly pushed out of my spot on the rail. Again I know the way things went was not fair because people were told if they got into the pitch line they would have priority over the outside rail, but everyone should understand that this was a mistake from security, and the fans who took advantage of it (some of whom had no idea they were doing something 'wrong') should not have been bullied the way we were.

I think there is a very simple way to deal with that, as it has been for previous shows as far as I know: have only one line, one gate, but when people get inside they should be free to choose if they want to be inside or outside the circle, and wristbands should be given upon entry into the circle.

In the end I was 2nd row center outside the rail and it was amazing, I had a fantastic time, and I am fine with the fact that the people who had waited longer than me ended up in front of me. But the aggressiveness of some was uncalled for. :down:
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wow... who were these people? Were they female or male? Americans or not? Just wondering..

yes, this was a HUGE mistake of mismanagement by the security..big time.. and YES, as I mentioned before there should of been one line, one entrance for GA with the option to go either way.. This is basically how it was for Dublin 1 except a small few weren't able to get out of the inner circle. However, me and others were. Some were held at the entrance to the pitch for a couple minutes and then security let them thru. We got out of the inner circle and right into the pitch. Also, a simple thing like counting the number of people for the pit and when they got to their max number then directing the people onto the pitch.
 
Ah, thank you. And agreed. I don't have the stamina nor the patience for this sort of GA experience. I don't need to be right up front.
 
I queued up at 9:45 am on my 2nd day in Amsterdam. I got in pretty fast and started jogging to the inner circle
(My friend told me to go ahead of him; can't run because of my leg so I was sort of jogging), but my friend had to empty his pockets, seriously why on earth do that, they should know that that will fuck him over.
He had to even pull out his mobile phone, wallet and bubblegum and show it to the gateman.
So yeah about 500 ppl later my friend finally got the ok to run aswell.
I had a spot right infront of clayton even with the jogging, I look behind me and I see my friend walking to the outer circle , the inner was full by then.
Not wanting to be alone the whole night I walk right out of the circle(ppl didn't even want to let me through thinking I was going to steal their spot :D) and to my friend. Queueing for 8 hours to get next to a couple that arrived at 4.pm only because of some mentally ill guard, thanks.

/rant off
I did have a really cool night ofcourse on the outer rail, especially when the Bad sequence started, my alltime favourite song with one of the best "wide awake"s I've ever heard.
I had given up hope for my wish to hear that song live, but it happened! I even told a couple that was next to us right before Snow Patrol on the floor when they asked what my favourite U2 song was; "Bad, but they won't play it"
Could almost touch the band at crazy tonight when they stopped right infront of us. I went Crazy!(tonight):wink:

It was also way more fun than the seats I had the day earlier, seats made me a bit jealous of the people on the ground who were right in the action so to speak. Although was more convenient not having to stand up before U2 started. GA just made me enjoy it more. Though my feet and back obviously don't think so; I could really cry of pain when Moment of Surrender ended and I had to walk out of the stadium.
Next time I'll take some chairs for the long wait outside or an Air Cushion. We were totally unprepared for the queue so we had to sit on hard solid rock the whole day getting burned to death by the sun. Other than that, best 2 days of my life :D:lol:

One mistake I made in the queue line was making fun of some "French" people next to me while chatting with my friends, turned out at the end they weren't French but just from the French side of Belgium. We noticed when they started talking dutch at the end. Knowning they must've understood our dutch chat we felt a bit akward :D

Sorry for my terrible English at 2am. :D
 
Ick. Reading all these stories makes me feel like taking the "fuck it, I don't need to be up front" attitude. Sounds SO stressful. I remember last tour being somewhat stressful, but it was more of an excited "stressful." This sounds like it's stressful for real, and I have enough stress in my life at the moment without my favourite thing in the world adding to it. I'll still line up early, but if I don't get a good spot (an inner or outer rail to lean on - I have back problems and I need that to get through the show), it'll be back to the soundboard for me.

On the bright side, I guess it's good to go into this with low expectations, right?
 
VintagePunk You pretty much said how I feel

I was talking to my friend who is with me our plan, after that I finally said Fuck it I'm just happy to go to the show, Its not worth getting hurt or even killed over, if get in front great if not great either way as longer as I can see and hear I'm happy
 
So.....sticky question here. I want to line up early in the am (like, in a few hours) for GA. I've got 3 friends who cannot make it until 3 or 4 pm. Is it bad form to expect to hold places for them in line? I do physically have their tickets. Thanks....I need advice here! Traveled all this way and want to get the best GA experience...any ideas would be appreciated.!
 
Best use of a GA ticket

I've been hearing a lot of comments about the front row not being the best place to be during a 360 show, because thestage is too high and (for example) you can't see Larry.

So, this is a question for people who have been to a show already. Where is the best place to stand if: You care about a good view, crave interaction with the band, etc.

Front row? Back of the ellipse on the inside? First row on the outside of the ellipse?
 
This has been asked before, and it always gets responses on both sides, so don't expect to get a clear answer one way or the other.

Personally, I don't think it's fair to do that. I know other people think otherwise.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
there really is no need to make seeing your favorite band a 24 hour test of endurance. seeing u2 isn't fucking lemans.
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Oh the auto race, not the 24 hour endurance test that is fucking THE Lemans

Snapshot2009-07-2623-05-15.jpg




Mark
 
If you queue up early, do it because you want to spend hours and hours in te company of other fans or because you have nothing else to do, but not to get in front, because it isn't worth it, IMO. For this tour, front of stage isn't the best spot in the house, and I've been to many concerts and have had hours and hours of queuing. I'd never camp out or get there in the morning because I don't aim to get in front of the stage. I found the spot at the outer rail to be perfect. The inner circle IS great, but it's much too crowded. And there will always be "fans" who make it more difficult than necessary for themselves and others, it has to be like that for every concert, sadly.
 
oceane said:
Yesterday I was one of the people who was in the 'pit' line, but then when I got in it was already very full (despite the fact that I was towards the beginning of the line and had been there since early morning--not sure what happened there), and when I saw some people standing outside I though I'd give it a try. Not only was there no one telling us there was anything wrong with doing that, a security guard actually showed me the way out without having to ask.

When the 'pitch/outside' people arrived, they were understandably not happy with the situation, but the way some of them reacted was very aggressive and over the top. I was talked to very nastily and forcibly pushed out of my spot on the rail. Again I know the way things went was not fair because people were told if they got into the pitch line they would have priority over the outside rail, but everyone should understand that this was a mistake from security, and the fans who took advantage of it (some of whom had no idea they were doing something 'wrong') should not have been bullied the way we were.

I think there is a very simple way to deal with that, as it has been for previous shows as far as I know: have only one line, one gate, but when people get inside they should be free to choose if they want to be inside or outside the circle, and wristbands should be given upon entry into the circle.

In the end I was 2nd row center outside the rail and it was amazing, I had a fantastic time, and I am fine with the fact that the people who had waited longer than me ended up in front of me. But the aggressiveness of some was uncalled for. :down:
Click to expand...

Ditto!!!! Exactly the same for me! We asked if we could leave the pit and go onto the pitch and they showed us the way, made us queue for 5 minutes and then let us in. When the 'outside' ppl came in, understandably upset by the mismanagement, we moved back without being told to and let them have the rail but only 1 guy thanked us for this. Some of them were downright rude and aggressive and really spoiled the atmosphere - but only for a little while!! In the end i was surrounded by great ppl and it was an amazing night. :love:
 
VintagePunk said:
Speechless? I'm in a fetal position, rocking back and forth, crying.
Click to expand...

kramwest1 said:
Oh the auto race, not the 24 hour endurance test that is fucking THE Lemans

Snapshot2009-07-2623-05-15.jpg
Click to expand...

blueeyedgirl said:
Do you reckon we can get a discount on therapy if it's in bulk?
Click to expand...

VintagePunk said:
I think that kramwest ought to be responsible for fees, since he was the one that introduced us to the Lemans couple. :shudder:
Click to expand...

Sorry. Then you DEFINITELY DON'T want to Google Wayne Leman. Really, really don't.

:reject:




Okay, I dare you.

Mark
 
partygirl33 said:
So.....sticky question here. I want to line up early in the am (like, in a few hours) for GA. I've got 3 friends who cannot make it until 3 or 4 pm. Is it bad form to expect to hold places for them in line? I do physically have their tickets. Thanks....I need advice here! Traveled all this way and want to get the best GA experience...any ideas would be appreciated.!
Click to expand...

That is bad form. They may have tickets but holding places for 3 people on your own is just not right - nobody minds if you hold for your partner or friend - but three people is just taking the piss.

Essentially, if you want to be in a certain position you have to put in the time/work - there is no other fair way. In Amsterdam I queued from 12pm and in the end people who arrived several hours after had pushed their way to the same spot as me, and it sours your experience. Sure, I would have liked to explore that wonderful city more instead of standing in baking heat, pissing rain with painful feet... but I made my choice and stuck with it.

The fact is that if you want to be at the front, be prepared to wait.

===========================

My GA experiences have been very mixed so far.

In Amsterdam the queue was disorganised, no barriers and multiple entrances. People pushed and there was an intense crush several hours before the gate opened, followed by some people who just couldn't help but kiss and grab their partners - get a room.

In Dublin, the queuing experience was very good but the fact I had to tell the stewards where the Ticketmaster office was, in order for them to stop sending people the wrong way, speaks volumes about the mess they made. Ticketmaster are totally incompetent in my book and I fucking hate their monopoly.

The other thing is this: if you intend to queue - plan on being in extreme pain at some point because your feet will hurt. Find the most comfortable shoes possible. I had to walk back to central Dublin from Croke and on the second night I was nearly in tears from the pain of standing for so many hours.

I also recommend back rail of the pit, or front rail of GA - great views without the sore neck, and super-close when the guys use the catwalks (which is disappointingly rare).
 
Different concert in question, but I think someone in the setlist party thread posted a Twitter thingie that said a group of Irish fans were pushy and rude in the pit at today's concert, at least before the show started.

For what it's worth.
 
partygirl33 said:
So.....sticky question here. I want to line up early in the am (like, in a few hours) for GA. I've got 3 friends who cannot make it until 3 or 4 pm. Is it bad form to expect to hold places for them in line? I do physically have their tickets. Thanks....I need advice here! Traveled all this way and want to get the best GA experience...any ideas would be appreciated.!
Click to expand...

I started a whole thread about this very topic. Will see if I can find it...

Here:
http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f304/holding-a-place-in-the-ga-line-193151.html
 
U2Fanatic4ever said:
wow... who were these people? Were they female or male? Americans or not? Just wondering..
Click to expand...

Female, Americans, and well known to many who have been to shows in NA. I have seen them many times before at the very front, some have been on stage with Bono etc. Some have been active Interferencers too, at least during the last tours, but not sure this time around, but they will probably read this at some point. There was one guy who was quite aggressive with me too (pushed me out of the rail).

I want to say however that although some (not all) of them over-reacted and were bossy and agressive, it was a delicate situation and I do understand why they were angry. So it's not black and white, who was right or wrong, I can see how they would feel that we 'stole' their spot. There was just a certain sense of entitlement, and a following witch-hunt for the 'cheaters' (how they were calling us) that was a bit over the top IMO. Again, we only did what the security allowed us to do, and I could have done without the dirty looks I got the whole time waiting before the show.

Still I want to say that I had an amazing time at the show, and so did everyone around me. Even with the drama GA is totally the way to go :up:
 
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