Tuesday, June 21, 2011

It's a Beautiful Day

A couple of years ago for Christmas or birthday - neither of us remember which - my littlest brother bought a family pack of U2 tickets for the show in Edmonton.  I was post-baby fat and breastfeeding and needing some cheer so the news was so very great.  When the concert was delayed due to Bono's back surgery I was so disappointed.  Although, it meant that there was no rush to wean my baby.  I could deal with it.

So a year after the original concert date, with a few different members of our crew we set out for U2.  I had never been to a big name concert before.  I've seen live music and always enjoy it, but a real live super star?  Only in my Hello magazines.  Mom, Jesse and I headed out from Lomah in the morning and stopped to grab Eric in Calgary.  I drove from Calgary to Edmonton and managed to find Kendra and Seth's place without much difficulty.  So awesome that they could join us.  Always nice to see them and have a chance to catch up in person, but they were also our Edmonton chaperons guiding us through Edmonton transit and allowing us to park for free at their place.  Seth even lent me a red shirt.

So after a long day on the road (or teaching - depending on who you were) we were off to see the magic that was U2.  Worried about rain and cold and so damn excited to be going, I skipped all the way UP to our seats.  We were about 10 rows from the top of the stadium.  Perfect birds eye view of everything.  Great seats Eric, thanks again.  The Fray opened and I don't really have much to say about that.  They were good, he was tall and bald.  You could tell how big his feet were from where we were sitting.  They didn't do much to get the crowd moving.  A U2 roadie in a black hoodie had more stage presence.  Oh well.

U2 were late getting to the stage.  Go figure, I always thought that rock stars were punctual.  But I think they were waiting for the sun to go down a bit so their massive light show would be visible and therefore more cool.  It was so surreal to watch them come out to the stage, take their respective positions and then DOMINATE those spaces.  For being so small, Bono could take up a lot of physical space.  He moved around, but was large in his movements.  We could see him and be taken in by him from way up in the cheap seats.  So awesome.  Truly a superstar.

I took a few photos and even video of the first song.  At some point without talking about it we all decided that that was enough sitting and we all stood up and danced for the rest of the concert.  We also sang back up for most of the songs. Why should Bono have all the fun?  It was such a great thing to be a part of with my family and friends.  I only wish that we had taken up more of you with us.  Then it would've been SO good.  Next time.

 The totally expensive, 150 trucks to move "stage".  Very Star Trek...I loved it!!

 Seth and Kendra just before things got started.  And just before Seth's purchase of a hot dog.  "How often do you get to eat a hot dog at U2?" Didn't need to convince me.

 My partners in transportation.  They were most effective at relaying proper merging techniques to a certain Sask driver.  Boy oh boy and I thought I had a runaway mouth in the car.

 So excited!!!  SO VERY EXCITED!!!  Note the red shirt - thanks again Seth.
 Our view, with an extreme zoom on the camera.  Not bad actually.  The ginormous TV screen helped.

The full on light show adventure.  This show kept building and building and building on itself.  I would definitely call that money well spent.  We should totally go together next time they're in town.

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