Get on Your Boots!

Cody and I are just back from our whirlwind 36 hour trip to Baltimore to see our all-time favorite band in live action-- U2.   A big thanks to GG who let us indulge this fancy as she stayed home with the boys-- who did GREAT while we were gone.  James has fallen into a not-so-cute habit of throwing Frogger overboard (out of his crib) before every nap and every night, requiring us to go in and re-place him in the crib over and over until he's tired enough to go to sleep.  Its so frustrating that I was consulting Tom and Colleen this weekend about how to break the cycle.  Little did I know-- while I was gone GG went to work with her baby-whispering skills, and amazingly, miraculously (I don't know her trick), the child has not thrown the frog overboard for two full days (that's 2 naps a day and a night time---6 times in a row!).  Sean went poop on the potty the whole time we were gone --- we just need to call her in more often to work her grandmotherly magic.  If any of you are having baby behavior troubles, just call GG and she will have the problem solved in 36 hours or less. 

Back to our trip--it was amazing and wonderful.  The concert was awesome.  They played mostly old stuff-- even though their latest album (No Line on the Horizon) is really good, I think they only played 3 songs from it, and the rest classic U2.  They played for 2 1/2 hours, YET, I felt like they would have had to play for another 2 1/2 to get in all the great songs in their library.   The set included classics like Mysterious Ways, One, Sunday Bloody Sunday (which the drunk Irishmen in front of us loved), Beautiful Day (with a special sattelite appearance from Gabriel Gifford's husband, relaying the words from outer space--wild), Until the End of the World, Where the Streets Have No Name, With or Without You, and some of our modern favs like Sexy Boots, Moment of Surrender, I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight, Elevation and Walk On.  Not included were some of my favorites such as Sweetest Thing, Angel of Harlem, or In a Little While (not surprising, but would have been a nice treat), but thrown in was a special rendition of Amazing Grace at the end.  Beautiful.  

We have since heard that the set for this concert was the most expensive set ever made for a world tour, takes about a week from start to finish to build and tear down, and the tour is the highest grossing tour ever. The stage was unbelievable-- the whole show was 360 degrees, with a huge (HUGE) LCD screen in the round, suspended above the stage from which they played videos, streamed the show, and featured guests such as Giffords and some other world-political figures. Bono seemed great--classic running around and dancing, but he seemed to show his age a bit more than when we saw them about 6 years ago--the running was slower, dancing more controlled, and longer catching-your-breath breaks in between songs.  Yet, still amazing and you could tell he put his all into the show.   

Our tickets were General Field Admission, which means we stood with the masses on the field at Raven's Stadium for about 4 hours.  It was awesome because we were about 50 yards from the stage, could see everything and rock out with the most intense fans.  There were 80,000 people at the concert, the largest crowd ever in Raven's Stadium (since they filled the field with people as well as all the seats). Towards the end of the concert I was severely conflicted between not wanting to the show to be over, but not wanting to endure any more back/foot/shin pain from standing for so long.  I found when the show did finally end, I was more dissapointed about that than the pain!

We spent the rest of the next day at Club Galloway, or Tom and Colleen's house, sleeping in, eating, swimming, playing bocce and just visiting.  We got back last night and concluded it was quite a perfect little trip.  I love my husband-- what a gem to do this for us!  I'm just so sad its already over.  Here are some memories:

Here you can see some of the set, while Florence and the Machine was playing before U2.  Her face is on the gigantic LCD screen.

I haven't been to a concert in so long, since smart phones were invented, that I was just sort of amazed at what happened as soon as the band came out.  How many phone screens can you see in this shot?  The entire field exploded wiht lit-up phone screens.

As Bono and the guys came out from under the stage, we watched on the big screen.

Yet, we were close enough to enjoy the show w/out the big screen.  Here are Bono and The Edge-- a shot from my own camera.  I feel giddy thinking about that. 

The Edge, Larry, Bono and Adam.  Great show.

And here we are the next day, Kacie, Cody and Tom enjoying a Fake-Saturday on a Thursday morning.  Thanks guys for making the most of our 36 hours!