The concerts had a slight, but effective change. Instead of introducing the band with the Return of

Going to the Johannesburg and Cape Town shows was tempting, but they were simply too soon after Australia, so I was not able to attend. I couldn t justify paris open air bus tours spending a heap of money after a month being in Australia, to have to travel almost 16,000 kilometers and see only two shows, and not have the available time to visit South Africa in depth as it deserved. I was starting to teach a university course at that time and I needed to accrue more vacation time for my trip to Brazil in March. paris open air bus tours Needless to say, I was still excited about the shows for our friends in South Africa and knew that it wouldn t be long before I rejoined the tour.
By this time, my GA Guide started to gain a little more notoriety. This was a consequence of all the questions fans had been Googling over the course of the tour and finding my site as a result. Prior to the start of the 5th leg, I was contacted paris open air bus tours by Greg, a writer paris open air bus tours from South Africa, who found my GA guide and wanted to interview me to help the fans in his country understand what to expect in the queue. In his article, The Inner Workings of the U2 360 Inner Circle , he had exposed my guide to a wider audience, helping de-mystify the queue experience. It was good to read some responses, proving that his article was helpful. As commented by Michelle, So all this means that it s no use paying top price for best tickets you still won t get best view of show as cheapass ticket holders. I won t bother buying high priced tickets anymore, clearly paris open air bus tours low tickets holders get the best. I wish should have known but hey it s neva too late to learn new tricks.
The concerts had a slight, paris open air bus tours but effective change. Instead of introducing the band with the Return of the Stingray Guitar , the crowd was treated to a funky remix of Get On Your Boots (featuring the Soweto Gospel Choir) paris open air bus tours . While this song was featured during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and was rather appropriate to be played in Johannesburg and Cape Town. In Joh-berg, U2 invited legendary trumpeter Hugh Masekela to perform with them during I Still Haven t Found What I m Looking For . Additionally, U2 commemorated Nelson Mandela s 21st anniversary of his first public rally after being released from Robben Island s prison with a video montage during Pride (In The Name Of Love) . It was around this time that the Arab Spring political phenomenon was starting to gather pace, particularly in the north African countries of Tunisia (18 Dec 2010), Algeria (28 Dec 2010), Egypt (25 Jan 2011), and Libya (17 Feb 2011) and the middle eastern countries paris open air bus tours of Syria (26 Jan 2011), Yemen (3 Feb 2011), and Bahrain (14 Feb 2011). Referencing these social movements and protests, the video screen flickered images of Egypt and Tunisia during Sunday Bloody Sunday , adding to montages of Iran s Green Revolution.
On a side note, it was announced around this time that renewed U2.com membership subscriptions would be rewarded with a new CD called U2 Duals that featured many of the duets U2 had performed with various artists such One with Mary J. Blige and The Wanderer with Johnny Cash. Many U2 fans pointed out quite astutely that these songs were not in fact new but simply re-releases of previously recorded material available from current sources. The argument ran that for the amount of money being paid for a membership, there was little value in the CD and also from the content found in the U2.com website. Some felt that U2 fans sites had better content than that on U2.com. Others paris open air bus tours were more caustic and accused U2 s management companies for ripping off fans. Some solutions offered were a better fanclub CD similar to previous releases like Melon: Remixes for Propaganda , a free t-shirt like the U2 Go Home: Slane Castle sent out in 2008 , and better online content offered through u2.com. paris open air bus tours I m not sure if this was a direct response to the flurry of criticism, but U2 announced that they would stream the Cape Town concert live for those who were u2.com paris open air bus tours members. I was really pleased paris open air bus tours by this announcement, and felt U2 could do more of this (they continued to do so twice more on tour Sao Paulo III and Montreal II). I was able to record the stream and post it on my website for those who were unable to listen to the concert live.
It was an amazing show. Dubbed paris open air bus tours the Princess of Africa, South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka performed I Still Haven t Found What I m Looking For and a full version of Stand By Me with U2. Prior to City of Blinding Lights , I heard a low-level beat and chime that was hard to distinguish. As it got louder, my spine tingled when I realized it was Fez Being Born ! Sure, it was only a recorded paris open air bus tours version, but it was refreshing to hear something different. I love Fez Being Born because listening to it transports be back in time to the summer of 2008 when I visited Morocco. The lyrics parallel that journey I took to get there from Tarifa, Spain to Tangiers, Morocco : Bay of Cadiz and ferry home / Atlantic sea, cut glass / African sun at last . Soon after, the famous Zooropan line, What do you want , repeated before City of Blinding Lights changed the mood from confusion into exhilaration. Hearing this line from Zooropa was rather prescient since it wouldn t be too long before we heard this dystopian gem two months later in Sao Paulo.
The decision to go to South America came to fruition after talking to my friend Jana (Sao Paulo) at the Perth, Australia shows. However, the seed to go to the southern hemisphere was planted well before hand. After the Vertigo Tour, I wanted to expand my U2 concert experiences beyond that of North America and Europe. I was enthralled by the bootleg video of Buenos Aires and the crowd noise of Sao Paulo, especially their chanting prior to One . The U23D movie was also captivating. It was filmed in different locations Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Melbourne (strangely enough). Seeing the intense crowds in 3D on the IMAX screen paris open air bus tours was enough to capture my imagination paris open air bus tours and set out the goal of going to that part of the world. After having seen U2 in Latin America, paris open air bus tours I can say without any hesitation, it was an unparallel and amazing concert experience, a must for any die-hard U2 fan.
Sao Paulo was supposed to be the last city on the 360 Tour, but because of Bono s broken back and subsequent tour postponement, I arrived in Sao Paulo on April 9, 2011. My friend Cathal and Jana s brother Antonio picked me up at the airport. I can t tell you how excited I was to leave Edmonton s cold and arrive in the urban heat of Brazil, let alone to be there to see U2! I landed the day of the show uncharacteristically late but I had to finish teaching my university course before being available to travel. I knew that people paris open air bus tours were already lining up a week ahead of time, and simply couldn t get there any earlier. I headed to Antonio s loft to meet up with Martijn and get ready for that evening s show at Estadio Morumbi. The traffic can be maddening in Sao Paulo, but we got there around paris open air bus tours 1PM and was really happy to see Jana again (as I hadn t seen her since Perth), and her friend Colleen from New Jersey but lives in Vermont now. Colleen and I would later become good friends on the tour and I owe it all to the 10,000 kilometer journey to the south.
All three of us Martijn, Jana, and Colleen sought out Amp who was already at Estadio Morumbi and wanted to meet up with him. I recognized Amp from several North American shows before. I first saw Amp when he made it up on stage during a hilarious With Or Without You at Madison Square Gardens in New York during the Vertigo Tour. Bono had grown frustrated at the first two women (two of the three sisters ) who were unable to concentrate while on stage. Bono then pulled up Amp near the end of With Or Without You , much to the crowd s delight. Although I recognized him, I didn t really know him prior to Brazil. With all of us together, notwithstanding Nick (San Francisco) who was camped out for a week in the queue with Brazilians, we were pretty much the international contingent of fans. I didn t see the regular faces I saw in Europe or North America. It felt quite nice to be one of the few travelling fans in Brazil.
Martijn departed to meet up with Cathal in the seats, and it was Amp and I left out of the group to find our gate and queue for general paris open air bus tours admission. When I say that Latin American U2 fans are passionate, you really need to see it to believe it. By about 2PM there were three different lines for the GA, and each line had about 8,000 to 10,000 fans each ! Amp and I were astonished at how many people showed up at that time. By the time we got to the end of our line, we knew very well that we d be at the back enjoying the show near the soundboard. When we got onto the large pitch, we found an open spot near the back along a median rail and parked ourselves on the floor for the wait before Muse came on. We were still fairly exhausted from our long trips from North America that it was easy to nap on the floor while we waited for the opening act - Muse to come on.
I liked Muse before, paris open air bus tours but loved them after seeing their show live. They had the stadium lights off for the performance, and good light show, and songs like Uprising, Resistance, paris open air bus tours Supermassive Black Hole, Uprising , and Knights of Cydonia paris open air bus tours were absolute stadium rockers. I enjoyed their show whether I was at the back near the soundboard, or at when I was front row centre. Muse had an energy about them that is infectious when in concert regardless of where you are in the stadium. I was glad I had the privilege to have seen them on the U2360 Tour.
Before paris open air bus tours U2 came on, there was plenty of festive music being played over the PA system. When it was nearing paris open air bus tours 9PM, the sound system s level increased (prompting paris open air bus tours the eminent arrival of U2) and the samba music was pulsating wildly through the air. Even though it did start to rain, that did not dampen anyone s spirits. Everyone around me started singing and dancing along and I couldn t help but join in. This was a scene you woul