u2 concert

Finally made it to a U2 concert last night. So mark that one off the list of things to do in life. Great show, as one would expect from U2. The light string stuff was cool and the walkway into the floor crowd is something every other band needs to catch on to. Some of the songs I didn't recognize, but for the most part I knew them--always helps at an arena concert where the distortion obscures the music a bit. The best would have to be either Sunday Bloody Sunday or Bullet the Blue Sky (which were played back to back), with City of Blinding Light and Where the Streets Have No Name probably in that tier too.

However, I had expected much more from a U2 show so I actually left somewhat disappointed. I suspect the seating had a lot to do with it; we were much farther from the band than I had imagined and the sound quality in our section was poor. Worst of all, the people around us were by far the lamest concert crowd I've ever had the displeasure of being around. They treated it like some sort of sports event, leaving their seats often for beer, restroom breaks, or any number of other reasons during the show. Amazing...that's the first time I've ever seen that. And most of them just stood there like statues during much of the show too. Those fools paid lots of money to do the same thing they could have done listening to the radio. At least we had some drunks behind us to keep the energy level up a little, but come on. It's a rock concert, people! So from now on, at U2 shows and perhaps those of similar bands, the floor is the place to be. That's where the action and the real fans are. If I go to another I'll likely plunk down huge piles of dough beforehand to make sure I get the right tickets.

Also, the hours leading up to the music confirmed that scalpers are the lowest form of human life currently disgracing our planet. I don't know that I've ever despised anyone as much as those thieves who kept going through the ticket line (unless they pushed in at the front, which they often tried but rarely succeeded in doing) and soaking up seats that would have otherwise gone to actual U2 fans. There weren't a lot of tickets being released and the timing and ticket types were random, so one could only hope to be at the right place in line when the desired ticket became available. Thus scalpers in the line hurt the chances of the rest of us to get the tickets we wanted. Plenty of us were holding out for only floor tickets; I might have snapped if I saw scalpers get their hands on some of those. We didn't get floors but we at least had a pair of tickets beforehand so we were still able to get in. Plenty of fans waited hours in line and didn't even get to see the show. I did hear one guy mention that he'd never seen so few floor tickets released on the day of a U2 show.

So, all in all a good show and probably even worth the exhorbitant price of admission ($110 apiece), but I know what to do to make the next one the once-in-a-lifetime experience I was hoping for.