My thoughts on the concert:
1.) The GA Line: If you go into the tour forum and read the Chicago meet-up thread, you're going to see a great deal of threats and bitching about some people who apparently line jumped. 1) There were six of them, they are not going to ruin your evening 2) They were there in person at 5 AM, you were lined up somewhere else in your fan line and Soldier Field said they were honoring THEIR system 3) At least they were in the damn fucking line ALL fucking day. Not rushing back from their naps in their hotel room when security moved us inside.
I've always enjoyed going GA, but this experience really put me off of it. Starting a list three days prior to the event, telling people in the line who were upset that if they'd've been on Interference they'd've known about the line (a flat out lie, as there was no mention of it on Interference until it was already 75 people deep). Not actually standing in the line, completely going against the spirit of GA. Seriously, the fan base, in this regard, can go fuck itself. I'll continue to play by the rules and have fun and NOT be on the front rail, because I value my neck
2.) The Pit: Never again. Never ever again. I tried to convince LeMel that I didn't want to go in the pit before, but he really wanted to experience it for himself, and I'm glad I got to as well, it was an interesting experience, but never again. Through some poor choices of my own that afternoon, I ended up walking about six miles before 10 AM, and my feet were already in pretty bad shape. But see, I have some severe anxiety issues with crowds. Usually I can handle it at concerts, but this was a significantly bad experience, because we were up on the outer rail, and for the first time, I really felt like, "Oh shit, I can't get out of here." and really began to panic, so, unfortunately, I spent the majority of the encores turned around with my head over the rail so I could breath properly and have a visual on a means of escape. I was finally about to give up and have LeMel shove us out of there during MOS, but then OTH started, and then I kind of forgot how the last 45 minutes had gone for me and had a fucking blast
3.) Space Oddity: I don't know if it's the usual for the spaceman to be Gabby Giffords' husband or not, but it was, and he was VERY sweet. He was one of the reasons why Space Oddity got brought up so many times. At the end of his broadcast he said, "Tell My wife I love her very much.' and I got a little choked up at that. Then, of course, Ali was in the crowd, so Bono was in a VERY good mood, and he sang it a bit to her as well, I do believe. Then you have the Zoo Baby who always uses it, and the intro, and there you go = A Lot of Space Oddity.
4.) Bono: Oh my God, I really wanted to yell, "Are you loose?!" at him, but never got a chance, if he's acting the way he was last night in Minn. someone will have to do it for me. I don't know if he was drunk as fuck, high on life, or just high, but he was in the goofiest mood I have ever seen him in. Going on long-"rants" about this or that. There were a few times where he found himself unable to think of anything else to say, so he'd pause for a few seconds and then they'd just start the song. And I don't mean they were rants in the sense that he was talking about the One Campaign or anything like that, he was going on about when the band first met, how he met Ali, why he loves Chicago, Larry attending a Sox game (This received a SHIT TON of booing, and Bono couldn't understand why, he thought there were a lot of Kansas fans in the crowd or something. I couldn't tell if that was a joke or not), and general other stuff like that. It was WONDERFUL.
5.) The Show itself: It was great. I'm sorry I had to ruin it for myself by being so panicked the whole time, but it was still fantastic. Bono did a bit of the Life on a Distant Planet dance during EBTTRT and I about died laughing, then Edge held his "gay headset mic" while singing his part on the Fly, which was equally hilarious. Bono tried to do the water geyser, and it didn't mist right, and fell right back in his face. They were completely on, the Achtung Baby stuff was brilliant. I kind of wish they'd stop being pansies and just play the whole damn thing if that's what they're wanting to do instead of just packing it all in at the beginning, but oh well. There was a snippet of TTTYAATW, which was pretty awesome. Snippet of Promised Land for Clarence, which choked me up, and just a lot of wonderful moments throughout the course of the show that I will treasure very much. U2 loves Chicago, Chicago loves U2. It's great.
6.) Leaving Soldier Field: Never again. Unless it's U2. I won't even go there for a Packers game. What an awful awful place. It took us nearly an hour and a half, I would guess to get back to our car. The Death March, I believe Mike called it (I think we're referring to the same thing) is possibly one of the worst constructed exits I've ever seen. What if there had been an emergency? Holy shit. Awful. But there was a saxophone and a drummer playing "In the Mood' outside the stadium and that made it a little better. Love that fucking song.
7 (Finally).) Soldier Field Security: People can bitch and bitch all they want, but I thought they handled the GA line brilliantly. They (and U2's people) decided to let us in to the stadium around 12 because half of the line (not the half we were in) were sitting straight up in the Sun. We were then supposed to be taken back outside at 4:30 to be scanned in at Gate 6 to go into the GA, but then they decided, fuck that, how about this, this makes more sense. What they did was take us straight in in groups of 50-100, and only let the next group in once the one before was there. So, if you were 50th in line, you were getting the spot you wanted, and no one could POSSIBLY line jump you at the last minute and get in front of you. It was great.
thanks for sharing 
you're gonna get em in every crowd 
)
; it started lightly raining out of no where at the end of it which is why they put the umbrellas up before the last encore. 
