Monday, April 25, 2005

Bono sighting

Exactly 30 minutes ago, I saw Bono. In the flesh. And on the street, as opposed to in a concert venue where I've paid for the pleasure.

After the fantastic experience at last night's U2 concert, we decided to try to get tickets for today's show. Yes, the show has been "sold out" since about 15 minutes after tickets went on sale back in January. No, we're not soliciting the services of a scalper (perish the thought). That's the beauty of U2: In order to thwart scalpers, they often release a block of tickets very shortly before the show. Yesterday morning...nothing available for today's show. Yesterday at 11:30 p.m....voila! Tickets. Good ones, too.

So, back to my Bono sighting. Thinking that the Key Arena will-call opened at 4 p.m., we showed up around 4:40, only to find that they don't open until 5:30. So before walking back home, we decided to make a little circuit around the arena.

We were walking down Thomas Street, which runs along the south side of the arena, when we noticed a huge crowd of people hanging out, hoping for a band sighting. As we grew closer, I heard a security guard tell the crowd to "Move back from the vehicle. You wouldn't like it if that was your vehicle."

As we passed the thick of the crowd, I saw that directly across the street, the big black security gates were open, and that a big black SUV was stopped just inside. "Wait a second," I told He Who Puts Up With Me. I watched the SUV, but couldn't tell if anyone was in it besides the driver.

Then there was a commotion where the largest crowd was gathered. And who emerged from the crowd? Yes, Bono himself. He was wearing Army-green pants, a matching cap, and a bright purple button-down shirt (untucked, of course). Can't remember what color sunglasses, as I was a little stunned. He waved at the crowd, walked through the gates, and hopped in the back seat of the SUV.

And just think, if will-call had been open, I would have missed it. Whoo-hoo!

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