deciBlog//2005.10.27//U2//DC.10/19

Fly up to DC (luckily cheap airfares) with Bob for the 10/19-20 U2 shows at the MCI Center (aka the Phone Booth). We hook up with Crutch in the city & stroll over to the venue to get in the GA line around 1:30pm. There's a chick at the front of the line who got there at 6:30 pm the night before keeping the log of names & assigning numbers. Her Sharpie marks your hand with your number. We are numbers 152 & 153. There are 2 lines for access to the floor - one for fan club members & one for those who are not. The rumor is fan club gets in 10 minutes ahead of the other. The reality that we learn later is that the fan club line goes thru 2 turnstiles (vs. 1 for the other line) which does move faster. We establish our place in the queue & get to know our line neighbors. This is a fairly easy going self-regulated scene. Everyone checks in & out periodically for food/drinks/WC. We head off for lunch & conveniently (& appropriately) find an irish pub, Fado. Great lunch & thirst quenchers. We discover that the MCI center has it's own little restaurant/bar right on the corner by the GA line. They are very cool allowing the fans in & out for drinks & especially bathroom access. A pleasant bonus. Around 3pm our neighbors in line say they're heading to the backstage loading dock to wait for the band's arrival for sound check. About 100 people eventually congregate with autographible memorabilia in hand. The security & police there gets all hot & bothered about where people cannot stand. Eventually U2's stage manager, Rocco, comes out & announces that there will not be a sound check either day. I wander over to him after the crowd disperses to confirm that this was not a smokescreen. I reluctantly put my 1979 Irish import 45 covers back in my jacket & head back to the queue. Around 4:45 the line evolves from spread out sitting around to standing closer together in preparations for entry. The keeper of the ellipse armbands chick comes out with her megaphone to review the procedure: ticket gets scanned for entry at the turnstile, then checked/marked with a Sharpie at the next checkpoint, then the next stop is where floor armbands are placed & the ticket is scanned for ellipse access. If you get "Proceed to Floor", you move on & do just that. If it says "Vertigo/Vertigo/Vertigo", then you go to the next table (after you fire off a big rebel yell)& get your armband for upfront access in the egg/ellipse/bomb shelter. Bob has a reserved seat the 1st night, so Craig goes 1st & gets the dreaded "proceed to floor." My ticket hits the jackpot resulting in several enthusiastic whoops. With armband #2 in place we head straight to the egg & land behind the 1st row of people 5 feet from & immediatley between the Edge & Bono's stage positions. I am just beaming. I cannot believe that this has finally happened. What a thrill!
Damian Marley, one of Bob Marley's 200 children, is the opening act. Nice reggae - occassionally rap-infused - but overall enjoyable. Good version of "Could You Be Loved." 40 minute set. Venue is filling up. Get to watch Edge's guitar tech, Dallas Schoo, check out all of the effects & hear him play samples of various riffs. 8:55 lights go down & out comes the band. I am in Nirvana. Sound was great with the PA above & behind me. No earplugs necessary. Eye contact with the Edge, who was incredibly fired up. He was beaming, jumping in up & down - pogoing- most of the show. The band was really on & the crowd was pumped. Two & one-half hours later Dallas tosses us a guitar pick after the show. This show is tied with the 4/23/83 UNC concert for 1st place in my book. My 13th U2 show.

Here's the set-list (bold where changes occurred between Wednesday's & Thursday's shows):

Main Set: City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Elevation, I Will Follow, The Electric Co. - Send in the Clowns, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - In a Little While, Beautiful Day - Many Rivers to Cross, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Love and Peace or Else,, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet the Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, One - Ol' Man River

Encore(s): The First Time (acoustic), Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, With or Without You, All Because of You, Yahweh, 40