Everything and more.
The house is quiet this afternoon. Normally I have music blaring from my Ipod dock as I create. Not today. There is a lingering aura that comes from having attended a live performance that cannot be easily shaken, that I want to stay submersed in for as long as I can. I don't want that to be disturbed. I am staying in that moment; the moment of surrender.
Photo David Joles Star/Tribune
The concert was AMAZING, everything and more. Our concession stand was not that far from the stage on the first level of TCF Stadium. We had a bee line to some of the best seats around. We heard every song just as well as anyone who paid a lot of money to attend. All it cost us was 6.00 for parking and a little bit of patience getting out of traffic at the end of the night. A small price to pay is an understatement of epic proportion.
We had a blast and we worked our butts off. It was so hot and so sticky in the hallways and the stands from days and days of high temps and humidity and of a stadium that had not seen use since winter. Had we been food; we were all beyond well done within the first hour, but we all relished every second. We smiled, caught lots of energy from excited fans and felt honored just to be there. We were after all, raising money for our kids various activities and being a part of a once in a lifetime opportunity at the same time. It was a privledge. I'd do it all again in a heart beat if they would do just one more show.
It was insane those few hours before U2 took the stage. Everyone wanted/needed water or soft drinks. I don't think I will ever fill that many cups again in my lifetime. We couldn't keep the ice stocked fast enough, that part of the night is a blur to me.
And then they came.
We knew as soon as everyone in the halls started running for their seats that Bono, the Edge, Adam and Larry were coming out. The concourse became an instant ghost town. We went from the constant mind numbing buzz of excited people to silence in a matter of seconds. It was eerie. You could have heard a pin drop and then, the opening chords began to resonate through the stadium, I got shivers. Their opening number; David Bowie's Space Oddity. It was a surreal moment. We all took turns running out to grab a spot by open areas to get a look at what everyone had gathered to experience. INCREDIBLE!!! We all had chances to watch and to listen to our favorite songs. We took turns, cleaning, helping those few who wandered out from the concert in need of refreshments and then took more turns watching the show from between stairwells and open areas on the concourse. We had some seriously good places in which to watch from, far closer to the stage than we would have had ever been able to afford. I am grateful for having been given the chance to go and just be there and a part of it all. I am thankful that both my daughter and DH were there with me. It's a story that will be retold many times over in the coming weeks. My only regret is that our younger daughter could not join us as she is one year shy of being able to work at the stadium. We will have to find a way to make that up to her.
At then at the end of the night, after the stand had closed, was cleaned and we were released we were allowed to watch the last 3 songs they performed right along side everyone else. It had started to rain about half way into the concert and I do mean rain, pour, deluge, word had it that the main floor, inner circle was close to being a wading pool, though no one cared. We stood in the pouring rain as the night came to close and then it was over. We walked out, stunned, amazed, overcome. But it was not over. There was one final moment yet to be played out and experienced. We got a rare, as up close and as intimate a moment as one can get in a place where 60,000 people had gathered. As we made our way out of the stadium, back tracking our steps on the long half mile trek to our car, we were puzzled by a line of security guys, maintaining what looked no more than like an empty part of the parking lot. We thought what the heck were they doing. So here we are slowing walking where we were motioned to go, (not that many people were paying any attention) and without warning 2 motorcylce cops, 2 squad cars and a line of black SUVs came from seemingly out of no where and it took us no more than a second to understand it was Bono and band leaving the stadium. We all waved and sure enough we caught a glimpse of the man himself. We were so close, an arm's length away. Seriously. It was over in the wink of an eye. I couldn't think of a more amazing way to end the night. There were only a handful of us that witnessed the moment amidst all those 1000's of people; because by the time they figured out what was happening, it was already over. We had shared in one private moment. That was so utterly cool. I am 'stuck in that moment and I can't get out of it' and what a splendid moment it is.
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