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I had a lot of fun in the GA hang-out. I ran into people that I'd been in line with at other shows (oh hey, remember me from XYZ show? oh HIIII!) and it cracks me in that the more shows I go to, the more people I recognize. Fun tho...a bit like a loose-knit community. There was a guy in GA who is the closest thing to a Bono-clone that I have ever seen and of course he was getting pulled into lots of pictures. Twas fun to watch people arrive to the GA line and see this guy wandering around chatting with fans...their eyes would get kind of big, they'd do a double-take and then start laughing. Diamondbruno was there of course, but I'll let him tell you all about his day as I'm sure he'll do.
So, that was GA...lots of the usual thing. Ordering pizza, listening to bootlegs, discussing past shows, comparing books, magazines, scrapbooks and photos with other fans, etc. Oh, one really cool thing...there was a guy that was chatting with some of his friends in the line just before we started going into the arena, and apparently he was a taper and trader. He handed out a couple of bootlegs from the Oakland shows to people just because they had been there and he thought they should have them. And he handed me a copy of the 11/9 Salt Lake City show (even though I wasn't there) just for the hell of it. Isn't that cool?
As far as the actual show itself, I'm not going to be a whole lot of help with the details because I was so exhausted from lack of sleep and dehydration that it all is a bit of a haze right now. (of course the fact that I had to fly out right after the show and have been on a plane since then till about now may also have something to do with that state of affairs.
) spanisheyes and I were in the heart at first, but decided to move outside to the area around the tip as there was still some room at the railing. It was interesting to see the show from a different perspective, and between the two of us I think we took about 5 rolls of film...so SOMETHING should turn out.
Bono pulled a girl out of the crowd who had a sign saying "This chick can play a mean guitar" (or something similar) and a list of songs including 'People Get Ready'. When he pulled her up, she lost her sandals and jumped onto stage barefoot and had to get her shoes from one of the guards. I thought she did a great job on the song tho, kept up with Edge quite nicely, following him up the heart to the stage while Bono trailed behind. He improvised some lyrics about how she seemed to prefer the Edge. lol. Lonely Bono?
When they finished the song, he shared the mike with her and she belted out the last few notes with a lot of passion which seemed to impress Bono. So, kisses for her from Bono AND Edge. A girl beside me mutters "Oh, I hate her SO much!" lol.
Other highlights, which you've already heard, was a snippet of Who's Gonna Ride on the end of Bad, and I Can't Help Falling in Love with You at the end of One. There was a Elvis impersonator in the side front GC section, and Bono was directing comments towards him off and on during the show..."This one's for you, Elvis!" etc. Oh, and the other thing that made me laugh was a sign that was a few feet away from me which said "Adam, let me ride your wild horses!" to which Bono laughed quite a bit. Dunno if Adam saw it or not.
So, that's all from me. I'm sorry to ramble on and on. Again, I'm also sorry that not everyone was able to be there...I would have loved to meet you all! Perhaps if we have more of these get-togethers before shows, at some point we will have all met each other somewhere or another, eh?
Cheers to everyone! It was fun to put faces and personalities to names and I hope we can do it again.
-sula
p.s. While we were in line that afternoon we got the word that apparently the GA line for the next show in LA had already started. omg...crazy!