by SMJOHN

The only reason I was able to see this show, is because a fan in Mexico had to give up his tickets due to personal reasons at the last minute. I received confirmation that ETS had transferred the GAs to my name at 12:30pm on the day of the show while I was still en route at the Toronto airport. That, short of getting your getting you tickets from a scalper at the Corel centre before the show, is getting down to the wire!

My girlfriend was picking me up from the Ottawa airport and didn’t know about the tickets yet. We had seen U2 in Toronto earlier in September, and I had her convinced that getting to see them again in Ottawa was unlikely because of outrageous post market ticket prices. While waiting at the baggage carrousel in the Ottawa, my girlfriend saw former Muchmusic VJ George Stroumboulopoulos. When I met her I surprised her with how I got tickets. She was floored, but as is the case with most of these fan reviews, the best was yet to come…We picked them up from the official U2 pre-party at the Sensplex.

We took a shuttle from the Sensplex to the Corel centre. My girlfriend and I were the youngest people on the bus, as it appeared to be filled with hammered 40-somethings that were on a company fieldtrip.

We finally found the GA line, after running around the perimeter of the Corel centre without jackets in the freezing cold. Several people ahead of us in line got lucky and got pink bracelets to get into the ellipse. I was one of the lucky ones too!!!!!! You could tell the guy scanning the GA tickets loved his job. We had to get our ETS bracelets cut off because they were the same colour as the ellipse bracelets, and the woman behind me was pleading me to take her instead of my girlfriend! BTW the ellipse bracelets have some special UV markings that are checked meticulously, so don’t think you can cheat the system!

I’ve been reading the fan reviews here since I joined a couple months ago, and NEVER thought I’d be writing one myself…I feel obliged since I was very lucky to attend this concert period...Before Arcade Fire came out, everyone in the ellipse was on cell phones telling their friends about their dumb luck. You never really think it’ll happen to you…While my girlfriend was in the bathroom, I noticed some members of Arcade Fire in the ellipse, and congratulated the violinist on her performance. I missed Bono’s entrance, and was surprised to find him on the outer lip of the ellipse while the rest of the band was on the main stage. We didn’t notice the 'pixel panel' light curtains malfunctioning during the show or people leaving before the first encore because of our proximity to the band. You are so close that you can see Bono’s glasses fogging up and even see his eyes glancing over to the teleprompter from time to time. Ushers were quick to tell people to extinguish their joints, while some smokers managed to slip through the cracks. I gave the peace sign to George Stroumboulopoulos who I noticed over to my right later on in the show. Someone here posted that they stood next to Bono’s brother. We saw a bald guy that seemed to have an ENDLESS supply of beer, and he was also chatting up George!! Could that have been him?? When we saw U2 in Toronto we were sitting in the 300 section. There are pluses and minuses for both vantage points. Being in the ellipse makes the concert seem like a small venue, while the 300 section gives you the whole perspective and a good view of the floor lights on the stage.

My whole point of this review, if there has to be a point, is that U2 fans truly are the best. I got my tickets for face value, from a fan that unfortunately couldn’t attend the show. He didn’t take advantage of my situation, and it goes to show that there are good, honest people still out there. I wanted to share this story, because after all the wading through the muck of scalpers on ebay and craigslist, I did manage to pull it off at the wire. The guy I got my tickets from will kick himself when he reads about me getting into the ellipse, but I’m sure U2 will find their way through Mexico in upcoming legs. Thanks also to ETS for not dropping the ball so late in the game.

We managed to take a lot of good pictures during the show. In the end I may have taken too many photos before U2 came out, as my camera battery died during the show. If anyone has pictures, especially from the ellipse, that they would share or trade for mine please email me.

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