Moncton, New Brunswick. Originally, Minneapolis was supposed car hertz lax rental to be the tour closer. Then Pittsburgh was added on as the last date. My friend Chris and I had GA tickets for both cities, but when Moncton was rumoured to be the last stop at the end of January 2011 and then when tickets went for sale on February 8, we committed on going. We were at the closer of the 2006 Vertigo Tour in Honolulu and were intent on seeing the last show of 360 . Our Moncton caravan slowly grew. My sister Brenda was adamant on going and I convinced my friend Patrick to attend as well. We bought 4 GA tickets and were set to go. As the last two legs of the tour progressed car hertz lax rental in South and North America, we kept encouraging more of our friends car hertz lax rental to go to the Moncton gig despite its remoteness. In all, our caravan of traveling U2 friends came together for one last hurrah - Brad B., Colleen, Amp, Drew, Patrick, Vik, Chris, Noah, and Julie. car hertz lax rental Collectively, we must have seen easily over 300 shows between us on this tour, and on average attended 20-30 shows each. We certainly don't think we're more devoted than other U2 fans, because there are different ways to express ourselves as fans. Some collect all the CDs, others study the lyrics closely, and for us - we travel to different shows (which was certainly a privilege). We had some amazing adventures on the 360 Tour, and I felt lucky to be with this group of GA gypsies. car hertz lax rental A few of our other traveling buddies - (Tickle Me) Jorge, (U2Brother) Mark, (Fer) Fernando, (San Fran) Nick, (Argentina) Flavia, (São Paulo) Jana, and (Toronto) Anu were unable to go to the show but they were with us in spirit. Others had joined in on our camp for the ride - my sister Bren, Sandra, Colleen's mother, and Anna from Edmonton. There were other U2 friends that made it to Moncton - Martijn, Tony, Babette, Kheilia, Naomi, Rob, Carolyn, car hertz lax rental Emily, car hertz lax rental the Boston pack, and the U2Valencia crew. Vik was the last to commit in coming to Moncton because of work obligations, but ironically was the first to get there and inevitably start the queue. He told us he had to get to Moncton six days ahead because flights from London, UK on that Sunday was the only one that didn't cost a mortgage. Fair enough.
car hertz lax rental I got into Moncton Wednesday afternoon after a hellish journey. car hertz lax rental My midnight flight out of Edmonton was delayed by an hour and I missed my connection in Toronto the following morning at 7AM. Air Canada issued me a guaranteed flight at 9PM, but I was insistent that I get to my destination earlier. car hertz lax rental I had no appetite to hang around the Toronto airport for 14 hours! car hertz lax rental They re-routed me through Ottawa in order to get to Moncton by 3PM. Exhausted but excited, Drew, Chris, and Anna picked me up at the airport and we headed to the queue where Vik and his tent was situated car hertz lax rental to get my number, which was #19. (FYI: My thoughts about the GA list system will be reserved for my 360 Tour review). Security were adamant that no one except Vik be allowed to camp and run the GA line. As such fans were free to go on their own, with no silly check-in system every 4 hours. Nevertheless, we made sure we dropped by every so often to see that Vik was alright and had food, drinks, and intermittently relieved him of his duty so he could shower and change.
On the morning of the show, Chris, Noah, Brad (D) and myself got to the queue at 4AM to help Vik out with the subsequent arrival of GAers at 6AM. Brad (B), Amp, Drew, Colleen, Bren, Anna and the Boston crew came shortly afterward to help out. Security were very helpful and had direct communication with Vik. New faces arrived that morning, and I was ecstatic to see my friend Amy from Massachusetts who brought along her two young daughters. The five year old - Anwyn - had already seen 4 shows on this tour ( 3 in Dublin and 1 in Boston)! I met Amy and her friend Abby in 2005 during the Vertigo Tour while in the Oslo GA queue and have kept in touch since. It was comforting to be around familiar faces for the last show.
It was a picturesque, beautiful morning car hertz lax rental between 4-7AM. The sun was emerging from the horizon and we prayed that perhaps the forecasts were wrong. Nope. Shortly after 7AM, it was unrelenting rain that lasted for almost car hertz lax rental 12 hours. I had thought the downpour we endured during the 2005 Dublin 1 queue was bad, but Moncton was worse. Despite wearing a Goretex jacket and a poncho, almost every part of my body was soaked.
To make matters more difficult, I only had 2 hours of sleep at the campgrounds the night before because of the persistent noise of other campers and the quasi-concert going on the grounds. car hertz lax rental My friend car hertz lax rental Anu once remarked how amazed car hertz lax rental she was at how I am able to sleep anywhere in the GA line. In Moncton, I was so exhausted, I unfurled a foam camping mat, and slept on the uneven mixture of mud and gravel while a river of water passed beside me and rain fell from above. I had about an hour of rest. Anu would have been proud.
Since there were two opening car hertz lax rental acts for this show (Arcade Fire and Carney), we were let on the venue grounds earlier than normal. By 3PM, we went through security check and ticket scanning before being walked in segments towards the inner circle. The field was on a gradient, so walking on the slick grounds was important for the sake of safety. car hertz lax rental It was a bit anti-climatic not being able to run, but all things considered, a walk in was the safest option. I was extremely car hertz lax rental lucky to make it to my preferred spot on the rails - front-row-centre. Everyone has a preference, and I like the front rails because it offers me an unobstructed car hertz lax rental view of the band. I like seeing car hertz lax rental their banter and mix-ups. Also, since I'm not the tallest of blokes, having no one in front of me helps me take good photos and having car hertz lax rental something to lean on during the show helps ease the tiredness. I was even more happy to enjoy the concert with my good U2 friends car hertz lax rental - the ones I had traveled with around the world and shared vivid memories of the many concerts we had seen. Whether that was in Barcelona, Dublin, Zagreb, Chorzow, London, Sydney, Perth, São Paulo, Mexico City, or anywhere car hertz lax rental else in North America for that matter, it was rather fitting to end the tour together.
The rain had stopped just before the opening act, and it was a real relief to peel off my poncho and jacket. I was communicating with my friend Colleen who was with her boyfriend Greg and were on their way to the show. She had never seen U2 live before, and I kept building up the concert car hertz lax rental as though car hertz lax rental it was the greatest show on earth. They arrived fairly late in the day, but I knew that Edge's side in the pit was wide open. Most people don't know how to get into the inner circle, car hertz lax rental which is the reason why I drew maps of the pitch in my GA guide. After several texts, I met them at the cattle gates and lead them into the pit. It's always exciting to bring friends who had never been to a U2 show, let alone on the 360 tour. They had no expectations for the show, and I was confident that U2's performance and the spectacle of the production would impress them. To see Colleen and Greg there felt strange, yet gratifying, to be honest. In my mind, the 360 tour had become almost an intimate affair among the U2 faithful. I made new friends - bonded by the music and from traveling the world on this tour. Bringing Colleen and Greg into the inner circle car hertz lax rental was like introducing strangers to a different universe that I had come to love over the past two years. Some fans can be very protective, almost defensive of our passion to travel with the tour, because of outside judgement from others. I know I had received some scathing, yet baseless, car hertz lax rental statements in the 'Comments' section of the Edmonton Journal that had several articles written about me and my friends in the queue. Needless to say, I trusted Colleen and Greg, knowing they weren't the judgmental types. Like other good friends I've invited to a U2 concert for their first time, I was happy to share a part of my soul - that innocent happiness - that I discovered through car hertz lax rental the U2 community while traveling.
The first opening act was Carney - fronted by brothers Zane and Reeve Carney, car hertz lax rental and accompanied by Aiden Moore and Jon Epcar. Reeve, of course, plays Peter Parker / Spiderman in Bono and Edge's Broadway musical Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark . I thought Reeve had great vocal range and the band had some good tunes. It's hard to view Reeve as a hard-edged rock-and-roll lead, but the band's performance fit the bill. They were animated and tried to get the crowd going. There was a point in their performance where I thought Reeve was serenading Vik, but I think that was just him trying to look like a brooding rock-and-roll star. While waiting for U2 to eventually come on, we were treated to a couple of fighter jet fly-bys as entertainment. " I can see those fighter car hertz lax rental planes.. ." They sure beat the Snow Birds we got in Winnipeg!
Next up, Arcade Fire. I really like this band. They are musically car hertz lax rental gifted (as evidenced by their rotation of instruments), lyrically car hertz lax rental deep, and are entertaining live. My friend Cathal , who doesn't do GA, spotted Bono off to the side and texted car hertz lax rental me, " Just saw Bono in full stage outfit on his own in tunnel under stand behind stage dancing to Arcade Fire :) ." I had seen them in concert and up close in 2005 ( Winnipeg ), 2010 ( Calgary ), and 2011 ( Dartmouth ) and always enjoyed car hertz lax rental their performance. Before car hertz lax rental coming on stage, an instrumental version of Beautiful Day played on the PA (reminiscent car hertz lax rental of their entrance when they opened during the Vertigo Tour in Montreal and Ottawa). Wyn, Regine, Will, Richard, Tim, Marika, and Sarah were electrifying as always. Ready to Start was a rather appropriate opener, and other highlights were Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) , We Used to Wait, Wake Up and Sprawl II . It was during Wake Up when all the die-hards went absolutely bonkers. U2 had used Wake Up before they entered the arena/stadium during the Vertigo Tour, similar to the use of David Bowie's Space Oddity . Listening to that song and singing at the top
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