July 25, 2009 - Croke Park DUBLIN

[corianderstem]

Here are some of my pictures that I took from the Upper tier from night 2:

Beautiful pics! I like that you gave us progressive pics throughout the evening. sometimes I get to a show and think "Hey, these seats are great" and then when the show starts they don't seem nearly as close.

But if those are from the upper deck, I think my own seats for shows in the States will be great.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

Thanks, yeah it was not bad at all. I am happy that I will be able to see this tour from different angles at various stadiums.

 

[corianderstem]

Me too. I've got two shows with GA, one show with a pricey seat, and then one show with a mid-range seat.

 

[RedRocksU2]

I keep on hearing about this drama in the GA's....I wonder if it's just easier to get seats.

 

[RedRocksU2]

Welcome back Iris.

 

[corianderstem]

I keep on hearing about this drama in the GA's....I wonder if it's just easier to get seats.

I figure just showing up later and getting a spot further back will save you from most, if not all, of this stress-inducing drama.

That's what I'm betting on, anyway.

 

[RedRocksU2]

Well, I believe that NSW was at the back of the GA area and he liked it that way...right?

 

[thelaj]

This show needs to be seen from seats AND standing... it basically two entirely different experiences.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

Welcome back Iris.

Thanks!



I will be doing GA in Tampa and Atlanta but I doubt I will be queuing up early for a front rail spot.

 

[kevc]

great photo's !!

My pictures from this concert : 20090725 Dublin

Checked out your photo's. Some really good shots of Bono during Ultra Violet Light. I was there on Friday night. Cannot stop thinking about that gig. It was so good. Bad made the hairs on my neck stand up. Until the end of the world was amazing !! The mix of I'll go crazy is getting some bad reviews from other shows but I thought it was really good. You good feel the floor of Croke Park literally bouncing.

 

[Lila64]

Great photos Morgoth

 

[digsy]

just to add, my only other real downer was trying to get through the crowd. i was on outer rail on the first night and had to go to the bathroom just before first supported started. trying to get back was a nightmare - you say excuse me and please but people just refuse to budge. one guy even folded his arms and went "where do you think you're going?". another girl downright ignored me the first few times i asked and when asked again if i could get through she said no and turned her back on me, i eventually had to push her out the way and then she yelled at me for it.
i try not to push really, i ask nicely but the reality is in a tightly packed crowd there isn't always a perfect amount of space to get through and people get bumped. i try to be polite about it but some people just dig their heelsin. and i get that there are people at gigs who push their way to the front, but i'm by myself, where am i likely to be going by myself if not back to people i know and how is blocking my way going to help because all that will happen then is i'll end up in front of you instead?!?
really really pissed me off that did

 

[kevc]

yep. If only life was like this all the time. Everybody getting on and dancing in the streets.

 

[stealthboy]

I was at both Dublin 1 and 2 - 1 being up in the stands, and 2 down in GA. I got there at about 6pm (doors were already open) and went to Adam's side, about 10 feet back from the ring. The worst part was just waiting there as more people tried to push their way infront of everyone else who had been waiting there patiently. There was an Irish couple next to me, and every ten minutes there was some new "friend" that made their way up to them, turning into a rowdy bunch of 7 or 8 - I felt very crowded. At least once 8:50 came around people were more interested in the show than acting like total asses .

The show was fantastic and the setlist was great, but I liked the setlist from the 24th a bit better. The energy in the crowd was great, and I had a blast. The 10 or 15 minutes of rain we got wasn't too bad at all, and it was fun to see Larry's umbrellas unfold . I think the highlights were Crazy Tonight, Ultraviolet, and Moment of Surrender.

Here are some pics I took with my iPhone:
Picasa Web Albums - stealthboy - U2 Dublin Jul...

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

Here's what it was like outside Croke during Streets on Friday night.

YouTube - Outside Croke Park - 7/25/2009 Where the Streets Have No Name

very interesting.

 

[stealthboy]

i try to be polite about it but some people just dig their heelsin. and i get that there are people at gigs who push their way to the front, but i'm by myself, where am i likely to be going by myself if not back to people i know and how is blocking my way going to help because all that will happen then is i'll end up in front of you instead?!?
really really pissed me off that did

The problem for me was a lot of people were trying to push ahead who were not just trying to get back to where they were, but they showed up late and were now thinking they deserved to be up front. That got me *really* steamed. If you are up front, then you have to leave to go to the bathroom, that's cool, but I guess people just don't know unless they see you leave - so use the exact same line back in as you went out and people will recognize you!

 

[Jim]

^ for that reason it's good to get to know the people around you.. my 3 friends and I meet a lovely group from Belfast, Canada and England so I knew when I got back to my spot at the edge of the pit there would be no bother.. but fundementally if people won't move to let you pass to go to or return from the toilets they deserve to be pushed out of the way.. makes my blood boil and unfortunately there was a prominent minority of these arseholes on Saturday.

 

[digsy]

yeah i always try pick the same line, but when it's 20m deep it's hard to remember exactly where you went. the silly thing is it was almost equally as hard to get out as it was to get in.
the next night when i had to leave, i came back with a bunch of food - made me look more like i was returning to people and i could bargain chips for a passage through!

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

All of these GA experiences have me second guessing the whole GA thing. I think I will enjoy the show from the very back.

 

[starsgoblue]

I think my mouth is still hanging open from after the show

 

[lauramullen]

It was hard for me to make friends with the people around me considering none of them spoke English well or no English at all. They really didn't care about the people around them too. Very rude.

 

[cathalmc]

It was hard for me to make friends with the people around me considering none of them spoke English well or no English at all.

That'll be the Cork accent then

 

[Steved1998]

This is making me question my decision to get GA tickets....

 

[Outsider]

How were the kaiser chiefs??? Did they warm up the crowd well??

 

[cathalmc]

How were the kaiser chiefs??? Did they warm up the crowd well??

Just a bit! Your man is a bit hyper onstage. He can seem a little bit too try hard at times but he certainly gets everyone up and jumping around. Their songs are much more up tempo and rocky than Snow Patrol's.

 

[cathalmc]

the next night when i had to leave, i came back with a bunch of food - made me look more like i was returning to people and i could bargain chips for a passage through!

Great idea!

 

[djparky]

^Me too. I'm so sore and tired. Kaiser Chiefs was probably the best opening act they've had. There were awesome.

posting now I'm back home again- yeah my ankles were so sore after 2 days at Croke- and didn't get there as early as some of you did.Totally agree about Kaiser Chiefs- have been wanting to see these guys for a while and now definitely want to see them again- great live bandwe did as little walking as possible on the off day- the 2 hour bus tour of Dublin was really good and involved nothing more arduous than sitting downbut the sore ankles and general tiredness were so worth it

 

[vjacqb]

How were the kaiser chiefs??? Did they warm up the crowd well??

Personally I think they were awesome!!!!! I've definitely heard of KAiser Chiefs before from UK magazines, etc, but I'd never listened to their songs. They're actually VERY good!!

And they did a really good job of warming up the crowd. Definitely the best opening act among the 3 nights.

Someone behind me had a sign, "Where is my beer?". It caught Ricky's attention, and he first filled a cup with his beer, and then set it down on stage. Then afterwards, since he noticed no one from security intended to pass the cup to the bloke with the sign, he jumped over the stage to the railing, and reached over to give the cup to him!!! I was against the railing, and he passed by RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!! That was exciting!

You think he couldn't top that, but he DID! He jumped over the stage again, on the other side of the stage, and helped by the fans in that area of the pit, he actually got into the pit!! And then crowd surfing over to the outer walkway and back to the front of the stage!!

As soon as he jumped into the pit, I could see the security manager emerged from below the stage on my side, and he practically ran around the stage in front of me towards where Ricky had disappeared into the crowd. It was too late, the deed had already been done!! But then Ricky was passed on to him after he crowd surfed back onto the front. Tense moments there!! But the best way to get the adrenaline going!! And then Ricky used that high moment get the crowd going for U2 just before they left the stage.

Unbelievable!!! It was my first GA experience, and to have experienced that from Kaiser Chiefs was awesome!

 

[vjacqb]

posting now I'm back home again- yeah my ankles were so sore after 2 days at Croke- and didn't get there as early as some of you did.Totally agree about Kaiser Chiefs- have been wanting to see these guys for a while and now definitely want to see them again- great live bandwe did as little walking as possible on the off day- the 2 hour bus tour of Dublin was really good and involved nothing more arduous than sitting downbut the sore ankles and general tiredness were so worth it

Hello!! Glad you made it back home! We met in front of Bewley's and in Maguires in case you forgot! Haha, I also took advantage of the bus tour of Dublin to rest my sore ankles and back. Even fell asleep for a couple of minutes there...

 

[djparky]

Hello!! Glad you made it back home! We met in front of Bewley's and in Maguires in case you forgot! Haha, I also took advantage of the bus tour of Dublin to rest my sore ankles and back. Even fell asleep for a couple of minutes there...

yeah i do remember- just a bit fuzzy with some of the on line names now!

have read through the thread about fan behaviour- you get this with most acts- there are some that feel they have a divine right to be at the front each time- regardless of when they get there

Which is one of the reasons why I'm never bothered about getting on the rail at the front of the stage-Am aware of a Madonna fanatic who's been known to barge her way into the front row even when it's been all seated!

Having been to Croke before I knew how they'd organise it in terms of GC/GA queueing so it was clear to me what was going on-

They organise it very well- once each of the "rows" has 200 people in it they'll wrist band you and then you can move around- for Saturday & Monday we ended up at the back of our "row" just to have space to sit down.

we got outer rail on Adam's side (about level with the mixing desk for the support acts) for both Saturday & Monday and had no problems at all- people around us respected that we'd got there first and didn't push in at all. Especially on Saturday it turned out to be an amazing spot to be at- and on Monday we did actually end up at the front rail by the stage