How does one EVER sleep when the tour is underway? The saying goes - one sleeps when U2 is in the studio

Just getting my bearings straight after all of the opening night festivities. A lot has been said about the concert with all of the reviews coming out from various news agencies and fans, so I think you all will get a pretty good idea of the production and the theme of the show.

My thought on opening night was that it was one of the better opening night performances - but you could feel that pressure of it being opening night. The media area was a tent in the middle of the parking lot - and the surge of people entering that media tent was daunting. My heart goes out to the publicists with the tour because they had to deal with *a lot* of demand last night - and to be stuck outside of the arena in a tent the size of a Dodge Durango (well, it was a little bigger, but not by that much). Opening night means that the world is now watching, and if you don’t have your game face on, well, it’ll be reported on.

U2 had their game face on from the get-go. We saw them arrive - Bono and Larry in the first car in the entourage. We were hopeful they’d come out and say hello - at that point, there were only 20-30 of us outside. However, opening night being what it is - it was about getting the production right for the world to see.

Having GA tickets and no access to the elipse (and being about 900th in line), we decided our best vantage point would be towards the back of the floor - we wanted to catch the visuals as best as we could, so there was no point in being up with everyone else (and being the size of a leprechaun, I can’t see much anyway). The game faces were on the crew too - a lot of smiles, hugs, “how you doin’s” were going around with people catching up with each other. You’ve probably seen the photo of me with Joe O’Herlihy - he’s a very gracious person, and despite all of the pressure of opening night, he was generous to allow a photo and to answer my simple question “are there any surprises in store for us tonight?” - he said “that we’re even here!” Enough said

Opening night means that the crew are still getting accustomed to the technology and how it plays to a full audience. There was a lot of scrambling going on at the desks at certain points of the night. One thing was for sure - during Love and Peace or Else, both Steve Lillywhite and Gavin Friday were jamming away! Both Gavin and Edge’s wife, Morleigh, had notebooks and were jotting down notes during the show.

I do have to say - Love and Peace or Else is one awesome song live. There are so many overtones in the song…and the way the drum is used - not only for the music that comes out of it, but it’s being used as a symbol too. The way Bono was drumming reminded me of the time when I witnessed an Orange Day parade in Glasgow - the passion in the drumming of the marchers. The way Bono was blindfolded while drumming - and the symbolism of going out there and banging a drum for change. There are SO MANY layers to that performance - I could write about this all day! For me, that performance is a key highlight for the entire show. That is *the* show stopper at the moment. (It was just as passionate during the rehearsal on Saturday - just without the blindfold).

It’ll be interesting to see how different the 2nd night will be tomorrow. Remembering Elevation, the 2nd night was far more relaxed, and things flowed more freely during the performance. Methinks it’ll be the same tomorrow night.

Some points of interest:
An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart was one of the big songs that most women chose to go to the bathrooms for….the queue was pretty big. Many were also asking “What was that other song…electric something” - the diehards were rocking to it (and were ecstatic), but it was lost on many who came because of what they hear on the radio. (I was walking around taking photos at that point).

Merchandising: word was that Edun was producing the concert tshirts. I did not see any Edun-label shirts at the merchandising areas. Also: for the ladies….the ladies’ shirts are pre-shrunk and come in sizes: small, tiny, and not-so-modest. I bought an extra large ladies’ shirt and it’s tight on me (and I’m petite). Also, in my opinion, I have no idea who would pay $80-$90 for the retro shirts - some of which look like they’ve been in the washing machine so many times that you can’t even make out the design on it. I *am* thankful that the tour book remained at $20, and the average concert tshirt was in the $30-$40 range.

GA line ups: it looked like the computers were provided by TNA. What happened when you arrived was your ticket was scanned, then you were told to go to a table where a black line was marked on the ticket, you got a wristband, then your ticket was scanned - the screen either said “Proceed to the General Admission Floor” or an image with the black and red Vertigo 2005 came up - a TNA representative then stamped your hand (and your guest’s hand) and then you were told to go to a different table where the checkered wristband was added to the ticketholder’s wrist. The GA line was very calm and peaceful where we were. Two groups of people in front of me were lucky to get access to the “bomb shelter” (offical word is ellipse, but I like the bomb shelter - thank you to whoever coined that term!). NOTE: bring your U2.com membership card (or keychain) with you to shows that there was not a presale for. That’ll allow you to line up in the “fanclub” line of GA. See…there is value for your membership afterall! (This came from Craig Evans, TNA Tour Director) He said that fans weren’t given access in the presales for the add-on dates, so the fanclub code would have only been printed on the tickets for the first night in a city. For the other nights, just show your fanclub membership card.

We plan on providing similar coverage (perhaps not as detailed, though - our cell phone batteries can’t keep up!) to tomorrow night’s show - we’re still figuring it out. Thanks for checking out our photos and reading the updates! At some point, my audioblog should be arriving - I called in during Running to Stand Still when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was being introduced to the audience for the first time - people were clapping and cheering when Article One popped up. It was a moving moment in the show too.

More to follow - thanks for reading