Music: Re: [u2tour] GA procedure, my experience in Pittsburgh

Just to offer a slightly different perspective...

I think it's unfair to criticize the people at the very front of the line as
not putting their time in. I flew to Pittsburgh straight from Minneapolis
and headed to the line immediately. Ended up number 35 in line. After the
first 35 or 40 you're unlikely to get a place on the front rail, and I can
say that the people who had my numbers or better really did put their time
in. When I got there the girls who were first in line had blankets from
where they'd slept out. Large numbers of fans who were the first to sign up
had signed up for 'shifts' to look after the line and take numbers. I stayed
for three or four hours helping out, writing down names, etc, and no one's
name was put down who did not physically show up. With one exception, people
hung around a bit, chatted, and generally put time in. They then checked in
again with the line on the following day (Monday). They were then again at
the venue for the 5A roll-call on the Tuesday of the show. So yeah, the
familiar people in the front row really did put in their time, and indeed
more than people who showed up at 4A (only an hour before the stated roll
call time).

I think the weakness of this line, compared to others that were run in the
exact same way throughout the leg was that they didn't properly cross
people's names off if they weren't there at roll call. On other stops if
people weren't there at 5A, they lost their number and had to go to the back
of the queue. That wasn't done after a certain point in Pittsburgh (I know
the people in front of me were fine, but I heard grumbling that there more
leniency behind me) for whatever reason. [As a side note, that reason
might've been that the venue was really unclear on when we'd be allowed on
property and so the arrival time for roll-call got switched a bit]

Anyway, other than that the line worked pretty much like every other line
this leg. It wasn't a secret - by the time I arrived on Sunday it was all
over facebook and twitter (hashtag #U2360PIT) and Interference. Details were
retweeted by @u2. If anyone came to the venue they could find the line
themselves. It wasn't too difficult.

I think the big problem has been that the line-ups in general have gotten
earlier and earlier. I arrived two days before showtime and ended up with
the same number I would've had in Vertigo if I'd lined up at 6A on the day
of show. Part of this is the stadium thing - with so much time before each
gig, the regulars have time to queue and everyone gets twitchy, gets afraid
that someone else will start the line, etc, so they start the line to close
off that possibility. After the line's started there's no disincentive to go
and get a number if you're local since you don't actually have to sit out
for two days or whatever. Like I said above, this doesn't really apply to
the people in the very front who are truly putting in their time, but it
does inflate the numbers after the first fifty or so.

Which isn't to say you won't get a good spot - at 35 I was on the front rail
in front of Edge. My friends who had come later (180 and 125) were directly
behind me in the second row and surrounded by people in the 200s and 300s.
But it is unfortunate that the line up starts so early. Especially for
people who are traveling - not everyone can afford to come so early.

Hopefully some of the early line-ups will be reduced if they play arenas
next leg. With shows closer together it'll be physically impossible to do
these two-day-before queues. That can only be a good thing as far as I'm
concerned.

--
"Starting to think that all of the world's major problems can be solved with
either oyster sauce or backing vocals."
-Brian Eno

(Eviscerate your memory)

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