U2

Last night I went to see U2 in concert at Scott Stadium in C-ville. U2 has been on my bands-to-see-list for quite some time, but when I lived in New York they always sold out so fast and sometimes I just don't hear about the shows until it is too late.

In this picture I am to the right, under the back leg of the claw, sort of where the spotlights are intersecting.

I've known about this concert for a while, but actually remembering to look up tickets to see if they were available, well that took a while. I remembered on Monday and surprisingly reasonably priced tickets were still available. I coordinated last minute with another teacher that was going to see if my seat was any good and was thankful my cc info is saved on Ticketmaster (even tho I hate Ticketmaster's monopoly). You could have still gotten tickets the day of the show in some of the upper sections.

Planning for this concert was extensive and well done, but face it, more than doubling the population of a town like Charlottesville, where the roads make no sense, makes everything crazy. I was totally stressing about the traffic, roads, and parking. Luckily for me, Mary Louise was going and her hubby works at UVA, had a free parking pass, and knows his way through the back roads better than Chrissy and Ryan. I got in the car and rode... no thinking required.

Traffic was a mess, but you know I got two emails from Ticketmaster before the show reminding me to make a travel and parking plan. They sold parking passes in advance to certain lots and everything. Because I wasn't driving and no longer had to stress out about this aspect of the concert, I don't think it was that big of a deal. I am sure others in C-ville were not happy with the traffic situation though.

We arrived around 7 when my ticket said I had to be there and I don't think any music started until at least 730. Muse was the opening band, who I had heard of, but not really heard. I recognized some of the songs and liked them. One of my students is going to burn me a cd so that I can listen some more.

It was at least 45 minutes changing between Muse and U2. And being squished between two large people wasn't the most appealing, but this is what happens when you do things by yourself. You sit next to random people. And my seat was pretty good, pretty close, and not too high up.

U2 was AMAZING. I liked the big round screen because I could see what was going on and it kept things interesting. The sound set up was fabulous so even though I was behind the stage, the sound was great. I stood up and danced and sang the whole time. It was a mix of new and old favorites. The second encore was my absolute favorite songs!

The only down side I had was being behind some smelly high school boys and getting whiffs if their BO (some lady laughed when I was relaying this story to Mary Louise and Joel when we walked back to the car). That and getting home at 130 and having to work today... but such is life. And I think that it was worth it.