mich40

Hello!

<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/4-eI-LFrMx/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Anddddd I'm dead. #u2ietour

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WoW WoW ! Boston is clearly on fire tonight ! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/U2ieTour?src=hash">#U2ieTour</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Boston?src=hash">#Boston</a></p>— Jo D. (@madfl3a) <a href="https://twitter.com/madfl3a/status/619668258740916225">July 11, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Gloria...3rd or 4th night. And Crystal Ballroom, since we didn't get it in Toronto because of technical issues.

AWESOME.... this is the moment I think?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhpuNdI1Yh4 It is.

Brilliant Mich, just brilliant. Thanks Jets. As long as you have known me on here, you know it meant the world to me. I also feel like I owe Larry money for therapy. Two weeks before the show, my family was in a car accident, which fortunately none of us were badly hurt, but I kept replaying the accident over and over in my head. Now I keep replaying him handing the sticks to us in my head. I have a new thought and I thank him for that.

They really did. There were a lot of us that had signs requesting it on the first night and they did it the second. The lyrics were slightly off, but that's ok.

I'm still not sure I can put into words my few days in Toronto, but I wanted to get it out the best I can before Boston kicks in. I'm still wondering if at any moment I'm going to wake up from a crazy dream and find that that's all it was. I'm pretty sure it wasn't. I think it is safe to say that I was dreaming out loud. When I finished my last show on the 360 Tour I never thought that U2 could blow me away like that again, but thankfully I was wrong. Toronto 1 was the night my dreams came true. The stars must have been perfectly aligned for myself and my friend Kim. Whenever we go to shows together and have GA, we always wear our Larry Mullen Band shirts, just wanting to show our love and support to the founder. When I headed to Toronto from the States, I knew that I had upper level 300 seats, but we were going to try our best to get GA tickets for myself and my friend, Tracy, that was traveling with me, so I brought the shirt, just in case. We missed the first ticket drop on Saturday afternoon because we had just arrived. Sunday morning we heard that the GA line was started, so we headed down and got numbers. Yes, I got a number, but still did not have GA tickets. Late Sunday afternoon, we got word that there was someone that had extra GA tickets at face value. So we were able to get those and sell our seat tickets to someone. Monday morning came and we were all hanging out in the GA line like you do and I was sitting there thinking about how I could make a sign, asking Larry if I could have a drumstick. Worst thing that could happen would be that he wouldn't. So I sat there, coloring my sign and passing the time. Once the doors opened, we got in (I was number 28 on the northside) and secured our spot on the rail of the e-stage. They got down there to perform and I held up my sign and he smiled and then things got pretty crazy on the stage. That's when the tribute band Acrobat performed. Kim saw Larry give their drummer some sticks, so we thought, "well that's it. He gave some to him." Then the band went into "Stuck In A Moment" and from where we were, all I could really see was Edge's bum and the piano. We couldn't see Larry at all. And then the song ended and all the sudden, he popped around the piano and was standing right there, handing the sticks down to me and Kim. He made sure that none of the grabbing hands around us got them and didn't let go until he knew that I had one and Kim had one. My U2 world exploded into fireworks at that moment. That was my dream come true. One of his drum techs came by a bit later and told us that we didn't know how special that was, that he rarely does that. Actually we did know that and we were very thankful for it. Some people have the dream of getting onstage, and while that would be nice, I know I'd make a fool out of myself. My dream for so many years was to have a pair of his drumsticks and to have him personally hand one to me was absolutely amazing for me. Of course it didn't hurt that I thought that show was probably the best city opener on the tour so far. Toronto 2, we had 300 level seats and that was fine because I wanted to be able to see the full production (note here that if you are only going to one show and have GA, I would not go for the rail. You will miss so much.) So we figured since we had seats, we would hope for a meet and greet since they weren't able to stop the day before apparently. It started pouring down rain, but we had ponchos and we had patience and Bono stopped by while there was a break in the rain. I was quite happy about this because I had always wanted a do-over from when I saw him in Raleigh in 2009 and I was so star-struck that I couldn't even speak. This time, was I not only able to speak but Kim and I asked him to tell Larry "thank you" for us. Bono told us that he remembered that and he would tell him thank you for us. He also said that Larry didn't come out in the weather because he didn't want to get his coif messed up. We all laughed. The show was amazing and I loved watching it unfold on the screens, but I did miss being closer, especially when we got the "shine like stars" lyric in With or Without You, but I was there and that's what matters. Both nights were wonderful. The whole band is on fire this tour and I love it. I took some pictures and I have them here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskfgrktv I didn't take a lot of pictures because I wanted to absorb it all. I hope everyone else who was there had a wonderful time too.

I don't think I can adequately describe my two days at the Toronto shows. I'm still trying to process everything that happened. All I know at this point is that the stars were perfectly aligned and I dreamed out loud like never before. The shows were absolutely brilliant.