one week of U2, part one.
2005-05-03
SONG OF THE MOMENT: sometimes you can't make it on your own - U2
CURRENT OBSESSION: spring cleaning.
oh my God.
BEST.
WEEK.
EVER.
...it's been 3 days since that week has past, and i'm still having happy flashback moments...it's been truly amazing and unforgetable...i think even more so than my first serious relationship...haha...no kidding...who thought bono was better than making out?...*wink*...
...weeks ago i couldn't even imagine going to the concert, let alone see them up close on stage...i had lost all hope of ever getting tickets to the show...but somehow, thanks to God, i was able to see THE biggest and best band EVER...
...to be honest, i've probably talked about this week to so many people, i've actually exasperated myself...and i'm still rather swamped with spring cleaning (my gosh, i've accumulated a lot of junk)...so for your benefit and mine, i'll just do a quick rundown and timeline of the events of last week...let's say, it's my U2 week in 350 words or less...i'll try, at least...haha...
_______________________________________monday, april 25
the day before i find out from my friend alexandra that the tickets her sister's friend were selling have already been sold. all hope is dashed for ever going to the concert.tuesday, april 26
i go about my day as usual. then, at around 9 pm or so my brother interrupts me from my favourite reality show the amazing race to tell me that someone from his message board is selling a pair of upper bowl semi-nosebleed tickets for double it's original price. desperate, i call ali and ask her if she's on board. we decide to go through with it and we e-mail the seller.wednesday, april 27
i wake up early to call up the guy selling the tix. i ask him if they're authentic, and if he's willing to make an offer. he agrees and we decided to meet up the next morning to pick up the tickets. after an early morning, i was ready to just relax and do nothing. at around 12:30 PM, my cell phone rings, and ali is screaming on the other line. i thought for a moment that she had won tickets but she had MUCH BETTER NEWS. she calms down and tells me that the local rock station has announced that U2 will be filming their latest video "city of blinding lights" at GM place--and that they needed 4,000 fans as extras! filming starts at 3:00 pm and it's a first come, first serve basis, so we needed to be there. and fast. she ORDERS (really) me to get ready in half an hour. so i rush out of my room, still dumbfounded, take a shower, dressed up and ran out of the house by 1:00 in the afternoon. we get to GM place at around 2:00, and realized that they haven't even reached a thousand yet. so we got in line and started waiting. we were then informed that filming has been moved to 5:00 pm to accomodate more fans to come. then 5:00 turned to 6:30. 6:30 turned to 7:00. all the while, we had a mini-campout in the scorching spring sun, ate out, met lots of new friends, and i saw my ex, but that's another story. finally, at 7:45 PM, after waiting for 6 hours, we finally get in. previous to that we were given wristbands, tickets with seat assignments, and a few floor wristbands were handed out to some lucky folks. i wasn't greedy, so i decided to stay where i was. my friends and i get to our seats, and we realize were only a few rows back from front row side stage, which means we had a GREAT view of the stage and bono walking up the side catwalk of the so-called ellipse. we wait in our seats for another half hour as the crew sets up principal shooting.then, at 8:12 PM, U2 comes out on stage and the video shoot begins. got a good view of bono and the rest of the band. screaming ensues. the stage set up and lighting is flawless and amazing. even though we didn't reach the intended 4,000 (only about 3,500), it still felt like they filled the entire arena, which holds 20,000 people. the energy was amazing. they repeat the song twice, with an intermission in between for about 30 minutes as they edit the last shot. during those times of a short break the band entertains us with some humour. someone screams "sing another song", and bono decides to sing the hokey pokey. the crowd sang along, and he ends it with "i thought this was an traditional irish folk song". another time bono does his best pop idol host impersonation and asks each member as if they were the contestants. bono asks the edge if his mum was watching, and with a quiet and shy voice he says "yes, sir". bono then talks to larry mullen, jr. to asks him what he wants for christmas. larry says "world peace", which was greeted with applause. finally, he asks adam clayton why he was in pop idol, and he answers "to travel the world and meet interesting people". a rather funny exchange. the band was just so gracious though, and the crowd waited patiently through the tedious filming process.the song was played about 7 times altogether that night (usual for most video shoots). during that time we were blocked and moved around, including us being moved to the floor for good mosh shots (it wasn't a great view, mind you). confetti fell down on one of the shots, i saved some for memory's sake. finally, the shoot ended and we knew that they were gonna perform some other songs live for us to hear. the front row side stage was empty, so ali and i ran straight to the seats. and that's when all hell broke lose.unos, dos, tres, catorce!the band plays "vertigo". LIVE. and i was literally feet away from the stage. i just went nuts and sang along. that was the closest i was to ever seeing one of my fave bands. i couldn't believe it. they then went on to play 2 more songs--"all because of you" and "sometimes you can't make it on your own". during the "all" performance, adam walked up to our side of the catwalk, and my God, i've never been THAT close to anyone as big as U2 before. if it was bono walking up there, i would die. no kidding. it was as if i was already at the concert. it was magical, breathtaking, truly amazing. the whole thing ended at around 10:50 PM. i was tired, dehydrated, hungry and aching, but it was all worth it. never again will i ever be in that kind of an event. and the good thing is, when i see the final version of this video, i can say that I WAS THERE. it was history in the making, and i was a part of it. that day really got me ready for seeing them on the sold out vertigo tour in vancouver. possibly._______________________________________well, that didn't turn out the way i intended, didn't it?
...okay, i said i would try to type as little as possible, but i didn't want to miss any important details...and it's getting close to my dinner time and i still have to finish cleaning before tomorrow!...so i've made the executive decision to cut this into two entries...there's a lot more to talk about, and i simply don't have the energy at the moment to finish that much typing...seriously...
i'll have to continue this little chat tommorrow, with a rundown of the entire day of the concert itself.
till then.
...peace out...
