Oh the Humanity!

Have you ever acted like a geek with a new gadget?

Did you attend U2’s Rose Bowl concert?

If you answered yes to both those questions, I probably saw you ask the people around ‘can you take my picture?’ 

Yes, October 25^th could have been considered the Olympic Games of People Watching.

First off I never knew you could pack in 97,000 people into one building/arena. Luckily, for us, since the claw was more of a round stage, U2 could pack in even more people than usual!

Billboard later ranked the concert #1 in all-time attendance for a U.S. show. Sweet!

It’s just too bad the bathrooms weren’t accommodated for that.

It was my bad I drank a whole Coke on the way there. Idiot! But then to suffer nearly 4 hours after?! Thank the Lord Jesus, there were porta-potties next to the line back to the parking shuttles! 

Seventy buses were set aside for us after the show. And they moved non-stop. Workers looked more like they were at a high octane rodeo than an impromptu shuttle stop. The coordination for simultaneous herding was incredible to witness. Poof they were gone quickly replaced with the next set. 

Three helicopters constantly flew overhead during the concert. One circled us 12 times. Another got so close, I could actually saw the individual blades spinning. That freaked me out. If it fell, it could probably take out a ¼ of the crowd.  

If you missed all the excitement, don’t worry. You can watch it on youtube. I still have yet to watch it; I don’t know if I have the patience to watch a 2.5 hour long ‘rerun.’ (I also heard about a month ago that the show would be released on DVD.)

Several times Bono addressed the online crowd with pressing political and societal issues. 

I recently came across a statistic that said 250 tweets were posted every second during the concert. Like I said geeks with gadgets. (I myself kept snapping photos on my cell phone camera until it croaked from overexertion.)

Humanity seemed to be at an all-time high that crisp fall night. Unless you wanted something to eat, drink, buy or use the bathroom. Or waited for workers to take away the ‘tunnel full’ signs. Then you just became tired and grumpy like the rest of us.

To help pass the time, we of course did the perennial favorite – the wave. But this time it worked. Went around seven times. Best part of it is when you would be in the middle of a conversation, would stand up ‘whooooo’ sit back down and continue on.  

I’m happy I went, but I don’t think I’ll be attending another Rose Bowl show again in the near future. I can’t tell you how tired I was afterwards. That was a long day.