Opening Night Technology Poll
Hey Gang–
It’s 10:20 local time. U2 has just finished playing “Elevation” down in San Diego, but I’m stuck up here in God’s Country (No. Cal.). However, bayareaken is on AOL IM and sending me messages from his phone. When a favorite song comes on, he calls up to let me listen. I’m also in a chat with M2, and u2vox, each of us has someone at the show calling and we’re discussing and correcting each other’s setlists and snippets.
Yes, we are utter and complete geeks. And judging from the smoke coming out of the @U2 servers, there are more than a few more of you out there as well.
I’d like to hear from everyone who got a cell phone call during the show. If you’re in India, maybe it’s early morning, in Europe, it’s before dawn, east coast North America–why aren’t you sleeping? What song(s) did you hear? Could you decipher the lyrics? Were you called during a special song?
I’m wondering if anyone that entered the San Diego Arena tonight did so without a cellphone in his or her pocket.
What did we gain by following along as it happened?
Discuss…
[Added after "40" at 11:00]
I am really touched. I just finished listening to “40″ from a cell phone. My two best U2 friends were also listening to calls from other people. We are in three different states, but took turns typing what were hearing to each other. If listening to a crackly cell phone and typing to friends can bring a tear to my eye, I can’t imagine what will happen when I finally get to a show on April 9th. I again congratulate myself for, as M2 would say, “picking the right band” way back in 1983. Thanks especially to Ken R. for calling/texting, and Sherry, Steve, and Phil for putting me on speaker today.
Audi.
AG.
OC1980 said,
March 28, 2005 @ 10:59 pm
I’m totally with you. My wife thinks I’m a complete idiot. She told me she didn’t realize how “into this I was”. I’m not sure how to take that….
As for today, I got absolutely nothing done at work because I was looking for any new news on about 10 different sites. I’m such a geek. I’m going to see them twice next week. I don’t know if I’m going to sleep between now and then……
u2vox said,
March 28, 2005 @ 11:13 pm
This post has been removed by the author.
Bonobum1 said,
March 28, 2005 @ 11:22 pm
Please post the setlist. I can’t wait to see it!!
u2vox said,
March 28, 2005 @ 11:31 pm
That was indeed cool. Thanks m2 and AG for sharing that with me! And special thanks to MF for phoning me a bunch of tunes and text messaging the setlist when it happened. What the hell did we do back in the days of Popmart?
spinningheadlady said,
March 28, 2005 @ 11:37 pm
I had some family at the show and they called me during the first few songs. What a treat! Loved it! Hearing it, coupled with all the photos from people’s cell phones, Flickr groups, Yahoo and Getty Images and chatting with fellow U2 fans on different threads and chat rooms was the next best thing to being there! Thanks U2!
qubikal said,
March 29, 2005 @ 6:25 am
I got a couple calls from my sister at the show..hard to hear it clearly over a cell, but I made out COBL, NYD, and SBS… looking forward to seeing them in San Jose.
Swan269 said,
March 29, 2005 @ 7:45 am
Well, a very good friend of mine (Andy Tennant)!!!!!was in the egg two rows away from Edge. I was working in the trenches of ESPN and he would call me with reports of songs by holding up the phone. I heard snippets of Bliniding Lights, Electric Co, Into the Heart, New Years Day, Running to Stand Still, Vertigo, Love and Peace. Audio quality was not the best but who freakin cares.
On a wierd side note……Technology is amazing…thanks to M2’s site I was able to buy a T-shirt of my choosing by looking at the pictures, then calling Andy and telling him exactly what I wanted……
What a great night and I wasn’t even there….can’t wait for 5/26 and 12/7
Bajagirl said,
March 29, 2005 @ 8:02 am
HUZZAHH!!! Had a call from the wonderfull ALLEGRA from the old zootopia, got to listen to Beautiful Day, so many thanks to her.
The acoustics at the arena are not that great, but I could make out the lyrics and enjoyed it tremendously.
Went to dreamland here in the midwest with U2 and the sound of the crowd in my ears. Cant wait for my turn!!!!
And yes, i have put my order for a t-shirt with my mom and sis, who get to go on 3/30
Marc said,
March 29, 2005 @ 8:29 am
Just curious… is “Running To Stand Still” played like on Joshua Tree or like it was performed on ZooTV? I loved the ZooTV version, so I was just curious.
And no acoustic set? That is disappointing.
-Marc
Gonzo said,
March 29, 2005 @ 5:19 pm
RTSS was played like in the days when the JT was still standing.
Not having an acoustic set was NO disappointment for this fan! The whole show rocked!!!