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• Hearing the sound check for the opening to Where the Streets Have No Name while walking to dinner
• All the people blasting U2 music before the concert
• Discovering that our seats were better than anticipated
• Florence and the Machine entering through our section of the stadium
• Being able to physically feel the drumbeats during Florence’s performance
• She wasn’t wearing shoes
• All the guys enthusiastically clapping along with Dog Days Are Over
• Playing I-Spy a techie:  they were climbing ladders inside the legs of the Claw, and you could even see a pair of legs dangling from the framework  :)
• U2 entering the stadium to Space Oddity, just a little down the way from where we sat
• Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For Sing-Along with Bono
• The Zooropa screen metamorphosis
• The vests for City of Blinding Lights
• The lights
• Spotting minor technical glitches - random spinning gobos and LED fixtures that were not the right color - because it reminded me that there are some universal truths about putting on any performance
• Seeing even the event staff, security and cops taking phone pictures
• Sunday Bloody Sunday, Where the Streets Have No Name and With or Without You
• Bono tossing and failing to catch his microphone during With or Without You
• Bono’s reaction to the crowd’s response to With or Without You
• The tribute to Clarence Clemons
• Watching them exit the stadium through our section, and then exiting through the exact same door several minutes later

Ok.  Obligatory OMG post coming up.

Sooooooooooooo….I definitely went to the U2 concert in East Lansing the other night.

And it was kind of amazing.

It was a beautiful day (and no, that was not meant to be a terrible pun) and I don’t think there was a single thing that went wrong - which was nice after waiting almost 2 years since I bought my tickets (while in Japan) to go to this concert.

We got there early, so getting a decent parking spot was really easy, and we also beat the crazy rush to get dinner before the show started.  Not to mention the fact that we heard part of the sound check, which was awesome.

After dinner, we headed to the stadium and it took almost no time to get inside.  Our seats turned out to be a lot closer than I expected - although we were very curious about the sections a few rows down that were taped off.  But it was kind of cool, because it was almost like we were sitting backstage.

And then there was the Claw.  Enough said.

Security seemed pretty intense around our entry gate, and as it got closer to the show, they weren’t letting people in.  Then some techies came through and headed towards the stage.  At least we thought they were techies, until we noticed that one of them was wearing high heels - and then a familiar head of bright red hair emerged from the stadium entrance we had entered through about an hour before.

Needless to say, we were pretty happy with the seats we got.

I really enjoyed the opening act, and I thought it was a great way to start off the show.  It also helped that I really wanted to see Florence and the Machine live anyway.  :D

I really loved how she seemed like a kid in a candy store the entire time.  Plus, she managed to keep belting after running a lap around the entire stage.

Of course, there was a bit of a wait after she left because they had to strike her equipment and help the followspots up to their positions.

I haven’t decided yet if hanging from the Claw to do spotlight would be totally awesome or not.

It was a bit of a wait after that before the rest of the show started, mainly because they had to set up proper security before U2 could enter the stadium.

It was madness.  Eventually, everyone clued in to the fact that U2 would be entering the same way Florence and the Machine did, which meant that a lot of people were trying to crowd around that gate.

It’s actually kind of funny to see everyone’s arms in the air with their cameras.

And from that point on, it was just magic.

Everyone sang along to Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Beautiful Day was fantastic and Vertigo was almost epilepsy-inducing (in the best way possible).  There was a crazy energy in the stadium that I still can’t quite believe.

Everything was just phenomenal, and it just kept getting better and better as the night went on.  There were crazy light-up vests for City of Blinding Lights, the giant circular screen morphed and moved during numbers and as the opening drums of Sunday Bloody Sunday played, images of people standing up for their rights played across the screen.

Some of the most powerful moments came at the end of the show, with With or Without You and Moment of Surrender.  The applause and cheers were so deafening after With or Without You that Bono was actually rendered speechless for a second.  And Moment of Surrender was a beautiful tribute to Clarence Clemons.

Sadly, it had to end, and they exited the way they came as I, along with everyone surrounding me, strained on the tips of my toes to see them off.  Then we followed them through the very same door.

I left the concert having spent more money than I would normally ever consider spending on a t-shirt, with a not insignificant amount of hearing damage, the beginnings of a sunburn, dehydration and the knowledge that even though I wasn’t going to get home until 2:30 at least, I still had to get up before 8:00 to go to work.

All I could think was:

I finally ate at Tomokun the other day after being told that I should.

And they have takoyaki!!!!!!!!!

And real ramen.

With actual broth.

And real noodles.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And to make me even more of a nerd, the only thing I could think of after I got my food was this scene from Tampopo - one of my favorite movies ever:

jeric-kripke:

SCENE FADE 

CUE MUSIC

I would die of laughter.