by Charlie

The GA line at the Rose Bowl was indeed a fiasco, as other people have posted. I didn’t even know about the incident Sunday morning (where the 400 people kicked out Saturday night were usurped by another group of 200). In light of what happened later in the afternoon, it seems Sunday morning’s events were a prelude to the mess that later ensued.

So for those of you who missed it, here’s one U2 fan’s experience.

We arrived at the Rose Bowl at 11:15 and parked on the grass right outside gate E (the GA entrance). We walked all the way to the back of the line and put down our stuff. I walked the line and estimated that we were between 1700 and 1800 in line, which was well within the 1st 2000 number that I had heard would be allowed in the inner circle. I found out from other fans about the hand numbering system, and learned that we would be marked shortly. We put down our chairs and coolers (in the shade, thankfully) and waited.

I found one of the yellow jacketed dudes and asked him about the GA policy. I was told that 1) the numbering system would be honored and 2) at 1:00, security would start distributing inner circle wristbands.

Around 12:15 we noticed a tall guy in a brown cowboy hat going down the line, writing numbers on people’s hands. He was escorted by a yellow jacketed security guy so we knew (thought) it was “official”. So this seemed to confirm the authenticity of the numbering system. He finally got to us around 1:00. We got our numbers (1720-1730 – my estimate was right!) and we were stoked that they were low numbers (comparatively).

At around 1:30 we noticed ahead of us in the line several stadium security people going down the line, handing out wristbands. Another good sign. They finally got to us around 2:00.

As we got our wristbands, a Pasadena police officer walking with the security announced to our section that the GA people would be led into the stadiums in groups of 250. For those of you who were there, that’s why the line was separated every so often by yellow tape.

The police officer then said that only the 1st 1,750 people in line would be let into the inner circle. When we heard that, the people around us all cheered and high fived each other, as it looked like we had just gotten by, since our numbers were just a bit lower than that.

A couple minutes later, we noticed several people who were not in line, with no numbers, walk up to security, and get wrist bands. I walked up to another yellow jacket and asked her why that was. She explained that the wristbands were for ALL GA fans. They were required, in addition to the tickets, to get down to the floor. There were, in fact, no “inner circle” wristbands.

Then I asked her if the numbering system would be honored. She said she didn’t know anything about that, but that she doubted it.

That’s when I started to get a little worried.

But there was nothing we could do at that time, except remain vigilant and wait.

At 4:00, we started to pack up and get ready to go in. We made our first run to the car to drop off non-essentials, and get changed. We left our chairs at the line.

At 4:15, we were back in our chairs, just kicking back.

At 4:25, we suddenly noticed that people ahead of us in line were frantically packing their things up and practically evaporating from the line. We jumped up and into action. We split our party group into 2 groups: some of us brought the chairs to the cars, and the remainder “waited” in line.

I later found out that the “waiting” lasted about 5 seconds (until the realization that the line was gone) and ended up in a mad dash with hundreds of fans across the stacked parking area, directly to the GA entrance.

While this was going on, we ran to our cars (which again, were just yards from the gate E) and quickly put the chairs in. My friend said, “wow, look what’s happening over there”. I looked up and over, and saw that the area that had, an hour ago, been a carefully set up line, with happy U2 campers, was now a mob scene, with probably about 3,000 people jockeying for position.

We immediately ran over, and amazingly, found the rest of our party, about 10-15 yards from the front of the line. There were about 1,000 people in front of us.

Did we take cuts? It’s hard to say. There were definitely people all around us with numbers in our range, people we had sat by. There were people with low numbers. There were people with NO numbers. By this time it was mob rule.

I saw one fan frantically trying to maintain order, yelling, “If your number is over 400, you’re not supposed to be here! You’re NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!!!!” Everyone ignored him

The head security official was out there with a bull horn. I couldn’t make out all that he said over the din of the crowd, but I do remember him saying along the lines of “we should police ourselves”. Everyone ignored him.

It was like we were all trying to get on the last helicopter out of Saigon.

Within a few minutes, security came over and restored some kind of order to the line. They set up positions along the outside border of the line/mob, effectively shutting off the 10-15 minute free-for-all of people cutting in to the front of the line that had just occurred.

By this time, it was 4:40. The sun was shining brightly on our backs, we were packed together like animals, and we were all sweating bullets. Thankfully, the crowd was pretty mellow. I saw people handing total strangers beer and water, and my eyes welled with tears at the touching display of humanity. See? Bono is right. We should all be nice to each other….or something like that.

We had already been told that the gates would open 15 minutes after the sound check ended. So we stood there like a herd of cattle, baking in the sun, and the sweet music that had been wafting from the Rose Bowl all afternoon now tortured us. Every time it stopped, we thought that the 15 minutes “waiting period” had started. Then the music would start again, and we groaned.

The sound check finally stopped at around 5:15. At 5:30, the first group of GAers (about 300-400 people) was let in. Then the 2nd group. We were at the front of group 3. Finally, at around 5:45, we were let in. We ”fast walked” into the stadium, down the tunnel, out to the pitch, and finally, at last, into the inner circle, which was already pretty packed. We made our way to center stage, about 15 feet back, just in front of the rail.

Then we sat down and rested. We had made it. Finally!

Knowing what we know now, could we have arrived later? Definitely. There were people in the mob/line right next to us who had just gotten to the Rose Bowl at 4:00, and had no numbers on their hands, and didn’t wait, and got in with us.

However, I was glad that we had arrived earlier and experience NO traffic getting in. That was nice. Also, the illusion of the numbering system DID keep everything (and everyone) well behaved and calm throughout the day. That’s small comfort for some people who undoubtedly got screwed out of a good spot, though.

All in all, with the exception of one hour of tension and stress, it really wasn’t that horrible. At the end of the day, we had enjoyed a nice day picnicking under a shady tree, hanging out with friends and other U2 fans. And then, of course, we got to see a great concert.

As for the show….it was not the best I’ve seen them, but it still ranks up there as one of the good ones. To me, Streets and SBS were a little flat. I’m not sure why. I liked the new stuff though….which surprised me!

One last note…there were TONS of VIPs in the audience. Among others, we saw Barbra Streisand, Colin Farrell, Ewan McGregor, Paris Hilton, the Asian dude from Harold & Kumar, and, of all people, Julian Lennon, who to me, personally, was the most intriguing. He looked JUST like his dad. Especially his nose. It gave me the chills.

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