Much better performance and experience than FedEx IMO. Could be because we splurged on the "red zone" tickets which gave an excellent view. Way less crowded and way less drunken a-holes there.
last night's show was all kinds of weird, in a mostly good way. i agree, it was a better performance but i liked the crowd at fedex better: more energy, better sing-alongs, etc. i didn't have any drunk asshole issues on tuesday so that contributed to my positive perceptions, sorry that you had to deal with them eros (btw, we should meet up next time we hit one of these...). i think the band was trying a tad harder last night to connect with the crowd, they were a little more relaxed/less intense in DC. same went for muse - better last night.
c'ville was nowhere near sold out. i'm pretty sure you could have walked up and bought a field GA ticket at the venue, something that i suspect is relatively unheard of at U2 shows. the lower bowl was full but the upper deck was only 70-80% occupied. in both the field and the inner circle (pit) there was a lot of space between people, relatively speaking. i've never had an easier time of getting front and center at such a big show.
had red zone tix again. spent the DC show almost entirely in the red zone, only moving to the pit for the encores. this time we went straight in to the pit. we could have gotten to the rail, lots of space to move around (again, relatively speaking) but we didn't want to 'cause that would be rude and with an 8 foot high stage, rail isn't desirable anyways.
they sold no alcohol at the show, which turned out to be a blessing of sorts. no beer/bathroom runs, fewer drunk assholes (still lots of one-shot airplane bottles floating about) and it made the drive back easier for me. not sure i'd want that for every show, but for a road trip like c'ville it worked out.
we didn't have a parking pass so we paid someone $20 to park on their lawn, a thriving business in the neighborhood immediately to the south of the stadium. had an absolute BLAST partying with our "hosts" who were the image of southern hospitality. they really added to the experience. i strongly encourage folks to check out the neighborhoods around fontaine ave. it was a fun street-party scene, everyone was out partying and having a good time - even some older folks who had no idea who U2 were.
the "i'll go crazy" remix was still amazing. loved it.
damn tired today. more pix later.
