diamond
ONE love, blood, life
db9
U2ITNOL said:wow! It's been 16 hours since the concert ended and I'm STILL on Cloud 9. Couldn't sleep last night. Hardly have much of a voice left. And STILL haven't taken off my wristbands. What an amazing concert! One of the performances I've seen U2 give in the Valley since I started going to U2 concerts in '87. The setlist just flowed beautifully last night. And the crowd was just awesome! The band fed off the energy and gave us the best performance of the tour so far. What made it even extra special was my sister and I were front row center inside the ellipse! I still can't believe it. We arrived at the venue at 7:45am with the expectation of not getting into the ellipse but getting a spot on the outside rail near the tip. Neither of us have ever been lucky when it comes to lotteries, so the thought of getting into the ellipse didn't seem to be something within our reach. When they scanned my ticket and Vertigo appeared on that laptop screen, our jaws just dropped. Then we get down into the ellipse and find there's only a couple of other lucky fans in there. We went straight for the front rail in the center and didn't budge the rest of the night. I've never been dead center first row for any concert. I was in the heart a few times for Elevation but never got to the GA line early enough to be at that coveted center rail location. It was just as big a thrill for my sister. She's as big a U2 fan as I am. We both became fans after seeing U2 perform Bad at Live Aid in '85. Bad is both mine and hers favorite live U2 song. To have Bono singing Bad just a couple feet away from us was a mindblowing experience. I don't think that'll EVER be topped. I can die happy now!! Thank you Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam!!!
God how I wish I could have brought my Canon Digital Rebel SLR to the show last night. I consider myself an amateur photographer and could have gotten some amazing photos had I been able to bring that camera with me into the concert. Luckily though, I didn't get rid of the Kodak point-and-shoot digital camera I bought way back in 1998 when digital cameras first started coming out. I had that camera with me last night and took well over 100 photos. But being this camera is fully automatic without any manual settings to improve low-light picture taking, many of shots came out blurry. But I did still get some great ones!! I was praying last night the batteries wouldn't go dead before the show ended. This older Kodak digital camera uses rechargeable AA batteries and sucks the life out of them pretty quickly. Thankfully the batteries held through the entire show. I spent a good part of the morning retouching in Photoshop Elements the shots that did come out ok. I've uploaded all the photos to my Smugmug.com web gallery. Here's the link....
http://desertsky.smugmug.com/gallery/485411
and the link to photos I took Thursday night from the outside rail...
http://desertsky.smugmug.com/gallery/485536
enjoy!!
victoryu said:All,
My pictures from both Phoenix shows are up at my website here:
xanga-dot-com/dvictoryu
If you’re interested in reviews/pix of some of the other artists that I’ve met, feel free to surf around in there (you can arrow through on the bottom right of the page).
Also, I wanted to send a big "Hi" and "Thanks" to all the great U2 fans I met this week. It was great meeting (and waiting) with you.
Review: U2: Glendale, AZ 4/15/05 @ Glendale Arena
No luck meeting the band this day, and as me and Jen had regular seats, we didn't have to wait in line. Our seats were upper level, directly back – a very different viewpoint, and we got to see the full extent of the stage and light show.
Very little crowd interaction this night; mostly heads down and just rockin'. The tag on "Beautiful Day" was (unfortunately an incomplete) version of "In God's Country" which U2 tends to do while playing in AZ. "Electric Co." was dropped for "Gloria," while "Bad" was played for the first time this tour ("Zoo Station" was dropped). "One" had the standard ZooTV extended ending. Right after Edge's solo on "The Fly" there seemed to be a snafu on timing – it sounded like Bono extended the outro longer than Edge or Larry expected, and Edge just riffed a rhythm line until they all got back on the same beat. During the solo on "Mysterious Ways" Edge did his little sideways shuffle dance (similar to what we saw during the PopMart tour) from stage right towards Bono in the middle.
Victor-
Nice web page, and great pics.
Was good to meet you right before meeting Adam.
Hope to see you in the future.
diamond
Chizip said:
hey jon i was the guy right behind you in the GA line in the light blue shirt. i was so happy when i saw that you got in the ellipse with your sister, that had to have been amazing. i was able to get along the rail on the outside of the oval and that was amazing too. when they played bad i couldnt help but think how your sister said it was her favorite song, so it was awesome they played it. it was great meeting you and your sister, youre both very nice people, and im glad you both had a great time
U2ITNOL said:
Seeing Friday night's concert from the front row of the ellipse was an AMAZING experience! One that neither me or my sister Carmen will ever forget. Getting to spend the day in line with all other U2 fans like yourself made the entire day unforgettable.
One ironic sidestory about Carmen and I getting into the ellipse.... Remember that couple who were directly in front of me and Carmen in line? These two had arrived at Glendale Arena in the am well after Carmen and I had arrived at around 7:45. They noticed Carmen and I had line numbers on our wrists and asked where we got them. We pointed out to this couple the gal in Parking Lot B with the notebook who was giving out the numbers. I guess they didn't want to play by the rules and decided not to get numbers. Then tried to weasel their way to near the front of the U2.com line once the security at the arena allowed us to line up at 9am. The couple got into a argument with Ruffian and others at the front of line and eventually moved back, ending up directly in front of Carmen and me. We were only about 15 people back in line, so we didn't raise a stink about it and let them stay there. In the early afternoon they left for awhile to get lunch. While they were gone, Carmen and I debated whether we should ask them to move back further in line, or at least allow us switch places with them since they KNEW Carmen and I had gotten to the arena before they did. It was a tough call to make. These two could be potentially taking our spots in the ellipse. Or we could be letting them into the ellipse by switching places. In the end, we decided not to say a word to them and let them stay in front of us. And it worked out for the best. They ended up on the outside railing. Carmen and I got into the ellipse. Had we asked them to switch places and they agreed to it, it would have been the other way around. And I'd still be kicking myself today!
joyfulgirl said:Fucking awesome show.
GLORIA!!!!!!!!!!!
And me dead center against the rail at the tip of the oval.
ruffian said:
I saw you there! Chizip and I were on the rail just down from the drumkit, to the right of it. Can you believe we heard BAD???!!!!
EpandAmerica, Paige, Martha, U2ITNOL, it was great to talk with you in the GA...what an amazing, amazing show. Absolutely the best of the 4 I've seen this leg...
Originally posted by U2ITNOL i
http://desertsky.smugmug.com/gallery/485411
and the link to photos I took Thursday night from the outside rail...
http://desertsky.smugmug.com/gallery/485536
enjoy!! [/B]
diamond said:
Victor-
Nice web page, and great pics.
Was good to meet you right before meeting Adam.
Hope to see you in the future.
diamond
joyfulgirl said:
Part of what made being on the rail so fun was being able to look over and see you guys--the people I spent the day with--on the rail, too.
My heart skipped a beat when I heard the opening chords of BAD. It was just almost too much!!
*Ally* said:if anyone has photos of the "Mysterious Ways" girl, please please PLEASE post them!!! she is my best friend, and would be eternally grateful to have them...
thank you!!!!
btw, as an added piece of info, she was there last night with her Mom- yup, her mom waited all day with her in GA and stood on the front rail of the ellipse... a very special moment for her, indeed!!
EPandAmerica said:Hi Victor! I didn't know you were on Interference.
Your pics of the Adam meet are great!
Carmella (red hair)
At least all the way back on the floor, I could dance all I wanted. And I did. [/B]