Day 4-9: Between Times (May 15-20)

Day 4:  Seattle to Denver
Monday, May 15

I woke up the morning after Seattle to the sound of Heather leaving early to catch a morning flight back to Denver.  I was still lit up from the show and eager to get home to my three-year old daughter.   I was feeling the strain on my body, my heart, my soul that morning as I waited patiently after getting moved to a later flight than I had planned.

When I finally got back to Denver,  I was most pleased to see the clocks read 11:11pm in the terminal at my arrival gate.

Day 5
May 16

I was up early the next day to go pick up Julie from her dad's house.  I was thrilled to see her, and she appeared to feel the same, shouting, "Mommy, Mommy!" and running around the room wildly when I came in.  Her father remarked to me, "You look exhausted."
A sarcastic, "Thanks" was my only reply.

Upon return home, Julie and I stopped in the leasing office to take care of some business.  I nearly got in a fight with the apartment manager about some details of my lease renewal.  As I was about to burst into tears of overwhelmedness, my friend Daena, who works in the office, walked in the front door carrying a bouquet of irises.  Just as I was about to disintegrate, in walked the purple irises carried by a friend, and it was medicine for me to help her cut the stems and sort them into a vase.

It may not have been the kindest thing for me to hear at the time, but Julie's dad had been right... I was exhausted.

Day 6
Wednesday, May 17

Julie had day care,   and I had a mid-day meeting at my place of work, regarding a labor of love project, a soul's calling kind of thing.   For the past eight months or so, I've been blessed to have been granted time to work on a project to explore bringing yoga and relaxation training to the medical patients with whom I work.

I was still feeling completely shellacked, sitting in the hospital library and working through the project, but I managed to get some work done for a couple of hours before returning home to nap prior to picking up my girl from her day care.

Day 7
May 18

In the wee hours of Day 7, I dreamed of waiting for the band at the backstage entrance.  In my dream, I was urgently communicating with one of the bodyguards in an effort to get a message from Elsha to the band.

Elsha is a young woman that I was blessed to meet in 2009 through her friendship with Ted, my daughter's father.  Elsha rises to the challenge of living with muscular dystrophy, devoting her talents to be there for people less fortunate than her, running in marathons, and she loves U2 as much as any of us.  She's an inspiration to us.  She knows the band, and they know her.

In 2005, before I had met her,  I heard Bono dedicate "Miracle Drug" to her from the Vertigo Tour stage in Denver.  In 2009, I had travelled with Ted to see U2360 in Las Vegas, and I met Elsha and her mother there.  In 2011, we heard Bono dedicate "All I Want is You" to Miss Elsha and her mother from the Denver stadium stage.  Two days after the Denver show, Ted and I had traveled to Salt Lake City to see the band one more time.  We waited with Elsha and her parents outside the Rice-Eccles stadium for the band to enter on the afternoon of the show.  I had been feeling shy that year, but managed to quietly get an autograph from both Edge and Bono that day, as well as witness a beautiful exchange between Bono and Elsha and Shana, her mom.  Here's a link to the YouTube video of that exchange (where I managed to shyly assert that yes I think it might be a little cold in Salt Lake that night, and Bono's gaze turned to me for a brief moment)... the exchange between Bono and Elsha starts at 6:40 where my sunglasses atop my head are featured in the right lower corner.

https://youtu.be/zddeg4n7ELk?t=6m35s

In 2017, we were very sad that Elsha could not make it to any of these special shows. It was heartbreaking, and we missed her and her folks.  My dream of connecting Elsha with the band was vivid, and it felt very real, and in the dream, I seemed to have had some success in getting some kind of message to the band for Elsha.  So I reached out to her on Facebook the next morning in a private IM, to let her know about my dream, and find out if she would like to try to video chat with them through my phone in Chicago.

She said yes, and so I had a new mission.  In the meantime, there were two more weeks to work at my job and keep on working my recovery.  That night, I attended an MA meeting in my neighborhood, and worked on getting a little bit grounded.  It was snowing that night, and this increased the disorientation factor for me.  Just two days prior, my daughter and I had been swimming outside at the apartment complex pool.

Day 8
May 19

Julie Grace and I goofed around all day.  I was serendipitously anticipating a visit from my friend Cate and her daughter on the weekend.  They were travelling today and I would catch up with them on Sunday for a show that they were flying in to see at Red Rocks.  Cate's daughter was a huge fan of the "Oh Hellos" who would be on the bill at the legendary outdoor ampitheatre.

Cate was the friend who had made it possible for me to be in St. Louis for PopMart no less than 20 years prior, when I had a 21st birthday dance onstage with U2.  I had met her daughter only once before, in the year 2001, when I had visited Cate in Raleigh, North Carolina, for my first stop of 15 on the Elevation Tour.  At the time, the now high school graduate hadn't been even two years old.  Thereafter, the only time I had seen Cate was in 2009, when I had travelled from my home in Denver to see U2 when they played Virginia, where I had grown up.

Day 9
May 20

I worked through a long Saturday shift, and anticipated a show at Red Rocks tomorrow, May 21st.

Finishing Seattle

Day 3:   Finishing Seattle

We were all elated as the bright lights that opened the encore lit up the Joshua Tree in a disco ball haze.  The beginning of "Beautiful Day" looked very different to me in Seattle than it had in Vancouver two nights prior.  It helped that I had been ready for the scene before "Exit".  It helped that I was home in America again where I didn't feel I needed to apologize for our lack of leadership.  It helped a great deal to hear Bono telling the crowd literally, "We love you, America", rather than essentially, "Hey Canada, let's show America how to get it together".  It helped a lot.

During "Beautiful Day" I listened to Bono describe a world where we would all want to live... and I held up my license plate, one more time.  I heard him describing a place I thought of as U2OPIA.

The women next to me resumed their drunken banter a bit as "Miss Sarajevo" subdued the crowd's high energy that had permeated the performance of "Elevation".  I was in bliss with Bono still only feet away on the tree stage.  I was also beginning to feel a bit of a nagging worry though...   how disappointed would I be to walk away without a moment of personal recognition directly from any of the band members?  And how crazy was it to feel that way?  How crazy, selfish, and lost was I still, in the midst of my own progressing recovery?

The nagging doubt was just a hint of a shadow on the evening as the band got together and got down to business on their new song, the "Song Of Experience" and the very LAST song of Experience, a detail that Bono shared on this night in Seattle, "The Little Things that Give You Away".  Before he introduced the song they'd only played once before, he thanked us all for giving them "what's turned out to be a really ridiculous life", and I said back to him, "right back at you, baby".

Chasing the muse that U2 channels has shaped my life for 25 years.  It has been ridiculously glorious, heartbreaking, bitter, miraculous, tragic, breathtaking, and mundane all at once.  "Sometimes I can't believe my existence" is exactly right.

After the crescendo jam that ended "The Little Things", the band huddled on the stage together for a moment.  Bono broke from the huddle and asserted, "That is the end, but there's one more, for people who've travelled all over....... the city.... lets get back to where we started:  'I Will Follow'... Take the fucking roof off!  I Will Follow!"

https://youtu.be/bBi4V5p0N6s

Suddenly Edge was tiggering around in front of us, and we were all hopping with joy in the old familiar joyful energy of this unconditionally loving song.  And tonight, the bridge, spoke to me... "We surrender, surrender to your sign... we surrender... your eyes make a circle, so we see you when we come in here!" Sam and Trish and all of us were jumping, and I was pumping my fist, and flying into a fit of joy, laughter, solid grinning bliss as the show came to a glorious finale finish!

------------------------------------------------------------

The Afterward

Mad joyful grins and blissful chatter bounced around us as we found our way out.  Astrid walked past from her post at the main stage and I grabbed her for a happy post-show hug, wishing her safe travels home.  To Margaret and Bridget, it was "see you in Chicago!". To Stephen Dorsett, it was wow yes that was great, oh lovely you were right up in front on the rail!  To Kevin, we took the conversation to another level altoghether, I'm quite sure, though I'm helpless to tell you the details of it all at this point.

Just joy.  Followed by a long, thirsty walk home to the hotel room with Heather, then late night pizza, and the spinning satisfaction of flipping through social media until my eyes would no longer stay open.

The Joshua Tree back in The Two Americas... Thirty Years On

Day 3 (continued):  The Joshua Tree returns to the States

I turned off my light up barrettes when the band retreated to the main stage, and watched the screen as best as I could, while maintaining my station just off the rail at the tree stage.  My experience then became mostly an exercise in listening, because at 5'4" I couldn't see much over the other fans and Larry's drum kit that stood between me and the main stage.  It didn't trouble me, though.  I was able to appreciate more of the big screen than I had in Vancouver two nights ago.  In addition to that, the album opens inner landscapes, every single time, and I was easily lost in internal musical vistas.

Until Side 2 started, and then two women who were very close, right up next to me, started a loud drunken conversation that lasted clear through until the overpowering madness of "Exit".  I gave them a couple of those annoyed over the shoulder looks, which were ignored, and then I finally plugged my right ear with my thumb so I didn't have to listen to them, and that helped a bit.

The madness of "Exit" once again stopped all thought... as Bono was back amongst us in the pulsating lights of the tree stage, playing his Shadow Man, staying safe onstage in his role play.  In an interview recently, Bono said that he had been reluctant to get back into "Exit" because it was a place where he used to hurt himself in the 80s.  It is the song of a psychopath.  So he's created the alter ego of The Shadow Man for this tour, and he stays safe.  The visceral experience of being in the space of "Exit", being in that sound, is jarring, dissociating, psychotic, and irresistably compelling.

I was still shaking and catching my breath from the tree stage visit of the Shadow Man when "Mothers of the Disappeared" began.  The broken hearted lullaby gently soothed the rough edges leftover from its predecessor.  Then, back on the main stage, I heard Bono introduce, "The spirit... where is Eddie Vedder?... the spirit of Seattle!..." and the crowd roared with pleasure as the legendary lead vocalist walked onstage.  His voice belonged in the second verse of Mothers.  It was meant to be there.  The ending chorus of "El Pueblo Vencera" rang through the stadium, and then the first performance of the Joshua Tree in the United States was complete; completely unforgettable.

https://youtu.be/USBys4l4VVg

The Arrival into Our Space

Day 3:  A Long-Awaited Arrival into our Tree Space

From 5:30 PM when I found the spot I wanted behind Trish and Sam, until 8:40pm when the band hit the stage, the stimulation kept on coming.  The irritations, the joy, the excitement, the nerves... it kept coming.

It was good to look around the stadium and watch it fill with happy souls.  Mumford and Sons was very well received by a much more filled up Stadium than they'd had in Vancouver, and the Seattle crowd was nice and warm by the time they left the stage.  Nearby, there was a sign to the left of us that read "I'm here for the 20th anniversary of POP", which I greatly appreciated, considering my costume.  Brigitte Rebecca was stationed at the rail closer to the center of the tree stage.  She spotted me, and waved and shared her beautiful smile.  Margaret was behind her by just a couple rows of people, though she had been in front of me in line.  She had sacrificed rail for a more central point of view.  Joy was down closer to Larry's drumkit, right on the rail, and she gave me a nice big smile too.

I talked with Sam and her companion Johnny while we waited.  I listened as a woman several people back tried very hard to buddy up to them.  She seemed drunk and also seemed to think she had a chance of manipulating them and get herself closer to the rail.  Johnny muttered under his breath, "Yeah right we've only been through this a few times, love" as she tried to get them to "be in a picture" with her.  I thought she was being so obvious at the time... I was glad to hear that they weren't being fooled by her manipulations (unfortunately, we can't all be so immutable to flattery, but that's a story for down the road a bit...).  Between the rail and the stage, AJ Rankin, a crew member (and Bono's cousin) who was known to the fans in the know, walked past me and asked what the license plate around my neck said.  I showed it to him, and he said, "ah yes, I remember that one".  I was chuffed, for sure.

 Johnny shared stories of staying in Stuart Morgan's guest house in Ireland and, while there, admiring Adam's lemon colored bass from the PopMart tour that Stuart's missus had shown him.  As the bass guitarist's tech was onstage setting up for Adam, I reflected fondly on memories from the Elevation Tour, when I would usually station on Adam's side of the stage after about halfway through my 15 shows on that tour.  Stuart had kindly remembered to hand me Adam's setlist after Boston 1 in 2001 after the show right away, as I had asked him for it pre-show, and subsequently earned himself a warm spot in my heart forever.  As the twilight set in, and darkness began to fall, I turned on my three light up barrettes, removed my purple heart-shaped reflective blue sunglasses, secured the U2opia plate around my neck, and...

At long last, the Pogues song played over the sound system, and then,  Larry was striding forward down the ramp from main stage to tree stage.  We were finally off into the next dimension of U2opia!

There they were, all four of them. right in front of me (well actually Larry was to my right and I didn't see much of him during the show).  Adam, Edge, and Bono, took turns in a seamless rotation around the branches of the tree stage.  It was a beautiful dance to witness, indeed.  I carefully raised my license plate now and again, when I thought one of them might spot it.

The show started again with "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day" before the one I had been waiting for; "A Sort of Homecoming".   I pulled out my phone and took a few pictures with the last bit of juice in my phone's battery...

 

My favorite, where my friend David from Vancouver show told me, he's looking right at me!  I told him, naw Trish was in front of me so, he was probably looking at her, and he said nope, it was all me.  Then I zoomed in to study a bit closer and.... well, maybe he's actually not looking at either one of us, or anything in particular... nice fantasy though! ha

As the  backing track of "Bad" began, following "Homecoming", Bono sang the pre-lude... "all come, to look for America".  For me, then, with my phone dead and "Bad" starting, thought was gone.... only full engagement in the song as it began to build in its intensity through the first verse.  I lost myself and there was only the sound, and I was let in, wide awake for the first time.

(Or was I intoxicated by the proximity of the band?)

As I write this, I'm listening to a replay on YouTube, and the chills are running through my body.  Especially now, as Bono sings "We've all come to look for America... we've all come to look for America....".

https://youtu.be/864WfxdepL4

Then, as "Bad" wound into "Pride", Sam was jumping up and down in front of me, and I was recovering from "Bad" and ASOH during a song that I've heard so many times live, it would be one of the top on a list of bathroom break songs, if I were to take bathroom breaks while U2 is in the same airspace with me.

Then the retreat to the main stage, and I turned off my barrettes, as the red dawn of "Streets" began to fill up the surrounding open spaces.

Seattle Show Time

Day 3, Seattle, CenturyLink Stadium

About 4:30pm

Once we got into the first part of the inner holding area for the GA line, there was some effort amongst many fans to keep the number system intact.  Still, it quickly became moderately disorganized as we were wound through rows of rails and then into a second room full of vertical chutes where there were huge garage doors closing off the entry way to the stadium.  Kevin and I looked around and gleefully realized that he was in fact the fastest runner in this final holding area.  We had lost Heather in getting there, and we maintained contact by phone.  She confirmed that she was all good and would catch up with us at the tree stage once we were in.  I went to the bathroom and heard the band soundchecking "Bad",  and my joy kept rising.  There had been no "Bad" in Vancouver.  Tonight was getting really very promising by this point.

Guy Oseary came out then and mixed with the first part of the GA crowd at the front of the chutes.

I didn't approach U2's current manager at first, but then I wondered if he might tell me how the band feels these days about us all lining up for hours or even days in advance.  So I moved toward him and listened to the conversation between him and the fans.  There was an intense discussion that sounded to me like the manager was working toward problem solving around what had happened in Vancouver, with the entry fiasco.  I was most appreciative of Guy Oseary's focus and engagement with this issue, which had been directly traumatic for some of my friends.

I did take a moment to ask him how the band feels about us lining up all day to get close.  This question was so far off the focus of his inquiry at that moment, that at first he looked confused, then ultimately stated that they don't care, they just want everyone to have a good time.

Ok.... I thanked him and I stepped back to my place in line next to Kevin, feeling enlightened and impressed.
Here's my speculation, only speculation here, not assertions of fact:  maybe Guy knew that it wouldn't be a diplomatic time or place to mention that the band doesn't exactly approve of this investment of time and energy that might otherwise be spent productively and non-obsessively,  or maybe the band has let it go, IF they ever cared enough to disapprove in the first place, as I had believed at least Bono did, for years after hearing some supposed conversations that took place between fans and Bono during the Elevation tour.  There is no way to know, and that's okay.  I was grateful that I got a minute to ask so directly and test my hypothesis, as strange a thing to think about as it may have been.

After a while, the chutes started getting let in one by one.  The process was not perfect, but I was very happy once we got in to grab the spot I had been visualizing myself in, just one person back from the rail, at one of the two front tree stage branches.  Kevin had run ahead of me, but hadn't had any way to know exactly where I wanted to be, so when I got in I re-directed him from the spot he had chosen to the spot I had been picturing myself in all day.   Just in front of me were Trish and Sam with their bear named Joshua.  Joshua the Bear would be planning to attend every show of the tour (I did note that I had seen Sam in line behind me with a number on her hadn't that was higher than my own, but I let it go without too much resistance out of respect for the awesomeness of where I was, and all the people around me).  Heather quickly joined us at our spot without any trouble, and Kevin and I posed for a very happy selfie:

I sat down to take a breather for a while behind Trish and Sam, and I snapped this picture of Trish's ankle (shared with her permission):

We were ready for lift off.

Day 3: Mothers for Mothers Day

Day 3

May 14, 2017
CenturyLink Field, Seattle

The alarm went off, breaking into my deep asleep consciousness at 5:30am.  Heather got up to shower as I hit my snooze button.  I popped up when she came out, and we spent a little time working out the details of our outfits.  I didn't want to wear the U2 fly shades today or tonight, they almost seemed garish after the melancholy ending to the Vancouver show.  So I opted for my blue reflective  heart shaped sunglasses instead to go with my license plate, my silver shoes, and we also brought my light up barrettes for Heather to do my hair later on.

Very soon we were heading back down the hill via Uber, and the older gentleman who was driving us rather paternally asked if we had done something nice for our mothers today... it was, after all, Mother's Day.  Yes, of course we had, of course of course... and since we ourselves are also mothers, we were doing something nice for ourselves too!

When we arrived at the check in spot, it was cold and rainy and I was a little concerned for us both as we had not dressed for this weather.  Somehow, my intention to obtain a poncho had not actually manifested into a real poncho... yet.  I did, however, have my silver disco jacket to lend to Heather and that was slightly waterproof.  I had also put on two layers of leggings, a warm black set under my galaxy blue ones that were topped with the blue velvet skirt.  I wore a t-shirt, my purple Lulu top, and my motorcycle black jacket on top.  I was wishing I had brought my hat after all.  We huddled together on the curb and took turns calling our moms to say HMD.

Bright shiny things

Upon reaching my mom, I chose not to mention exactly where I was (erm, huddled in the cold rain on a curb at the break of day), but just shared that I was in Seattle with Kevin for a U2 concert tonight.  I sat on a curb and gently redirected her habitual complaints to a possibility of focus on the positive.  She laughed and seemed to appreciate my perspective.

My mother suffers from Parkinson's disease.  I cannot imagine what its like to be her, all I can do is be the light that I know still burns within her.  That light was sparked to show itself on that Mother's Day phone call as she laughed and said, "You're wonderful, Marcy", in response to my persistent attention to those things that could make us feel good.  It's a practice that keeps me sober, and wide awake in this defiant joy.

As the rain began to fall more convincingly on the early morning GA line, my enthusiasm for the situation began to flag a bit.  It was cold!  Just then, our neighbors in line began to unfold a tent-like overhang structure right over us.  Literally, Kevin and Heather and I were one moment sitting silently on the curb feeling a cold rain, and the next moment a roof appeared over our heads.

It was a GA line miracle!

So suddenly, we were together in a community of shared resources.  I felt inspired, knowing this is the future of humanity.  No them, only us, no mine, only ours, and everybody gets their own number, which in the end doesn't matter that much, because we are all at the same show after all.

This Seattle situation is what the GA line up scene was really all about.  Being together in community for the shared purpose of feeling the U2 music.  Words don't do it justice.  The numbers were just a game we played.  Ultimately we knew and we will continue to know, we are all in this thing together.

The morning went on, and after a few hours had passed, I put on my heart-shaped shades, set my timer, and took my meditation in our enclosure.  I noticed how cold I was, even though by then I was sitting under a blanket and shielded from the wind and rain.  I relaxed and let it be in my stillness, just stepping back mentally and observing my coldness, knowing it was temporary.  As I did this, I felt an opening in the back of my heart, and an abundant joy bubbled up to flood my heartspace.  I breathed into this feeling, and the warm pleasure pulsed with my breath in that space where thoughts were dispersed.

I was still cold though, so I didn't mind too much when the timer went off.  I hopped up and stretched my legs, and let our people know I was headed out for a stroll.  They told me to take my time, so I walked up past the front of the line, and around the building toward the back.  I found the area where it seemed U2 would enter.  I felt pretty happy in my nook in the GA line, and I didn't want to get over-stimulated by trying to have some face time with the band this afternoon.  I would leave that to Kevin if he so desired.  After the fervent excitement of waiting for the band's personal hellos in Vancouver, I was happy to save my energy and skip the possibility of a signing, selfie, or handshake this afternoon.

Sure enough, around early-afternoon, the energy of the line was beginning to buzz as people packed up their temporary shelters and comforts.  The news was that the band had arrived in the back, and Bono and Adam had stepped out of their cars and waved at the crowd of fans, but Adam said Bono had to save his voice, and they went into soundcheck without approaching the crowd.

Soon thereafter, as security began making moves to get us ready to enter the building, a group of Bible brandishing hate and fear mongers began a bullhorn sermon of condemnation aimed at the awaiting crowd of GA'ers.  They were ignored, for the most part, other than a few middle fingers sent in their direction, and a few loud voices that echoed Bono's speeches to the false preachers during Bullet The Blue Sky.  This intrusion was coincident with the joyful sounds of U2's soundcheck ringing out from within the field.  Just as the band was reaching the climax of "With or Without You",  the hell and brimstone parade was stationing themselves at our line position.  I reared back and uninhibitedly belted out a loud chorus of "oh oh oh oh"s in synch with Bono.  The fans around me joined in; defiant joy drowned out the hate mongers for just a brief blessed moment.

Out of that chaos of overstimulation from all sides, we were let into the venue.

In Company In Seattle

May 13, 1pm
Day 2:  Seattle, Washington

I was running on adrenaline when Kevin and I sat down in a corner coffee shop in Seattle.  I couldn't have told you the last time I had gotten a full night's sleep.  Despite this, settling there with Kevin was a beautiful new vibration in which to dwell.
After a short caffeine break, during which he told me the story of how his version of "Streets" had been born, we found our way to the hotel that Heather had reserved for us and got me checked in early.  I reluctantly left Kevin's company to get a much needed bath and take a moment to ground.

After a bath, a meditation, and some clicking through the latest U2-buzzing on social media, I descended the urban hill to meet Kevin for a bite before evening check in at the GA line at Century Link.  I could see and feel my energy getting a little, em, EDGY, like an addict chasing her next fix.  Kevin and his lovely girlfriend Olivia joined me for a quick, anxious bite down the road from the check in line.  I had passed by the fan-designated official unofficial check in spot briefly on the way to our dinner spot, and there I spoke briefly with Joy, and met Trish in person for the first time.  Trish was the Canadian U2er who had a beautiful distinctive retro style, and had been a stage crasher (as Bono was most recently heard to call the fans that got onstage throughout the last tour, though I'm not sure how one earns the designation of stage crasher after one has been expressly invited to the stage, and even in some cases flown in internationally on the band's dime for the express purpose of doing so, but that's another conversation)  more than once during the I/e tour.

As I had run off to meet Kevin for food, Joy gently admonished me to be back in time for 7pm check in, and I promised we would be there.

Kevin and Olivia and I were present and accounted for at the check in line at 7pm.  Kevin and I dutifully got ourselves checked off as I received a text from Heather telling me she was on her way.  This was good.  This might all just work out, I realized then.  Kevin and his girlfriend left the mad scene, and Kevin promised to meet me back at that very spot at 7am.
   I turned my focus to a relaxed presence in the GA check in scene, attempting to be relatively discreet as I awaited Heather's arrival by Uber.  The familiar faces on the scene looked warm and welcoming to me.  I saw fans with whom I had interacted in Vancouver, like Susan, whom I had met at The Pint on Thursday night,  and the handsome guy that could have been very bad for me at the Vancouver Hostel ("hey you were at the hostel in Vancouver" he said to me when he saw me in the Seattle check in line, and this was an improvement from my previous interactions with him wherein he begrudged me a chair where he had been resting his feet at The Pint and otherwise ignored me.  Yes, this is what I'm attracted to.  At least I realize the problem now, I tell myself).  Otherwise, there was Woody, Trish, Joy, Margaret, Bridget, and multitudes more... the tribe was in congregation and full of nervous exitement. I met Ken and found out where the fan gathering would be that night:  in a pub called The Owl and Thistle.

Heather made it from the airport then and got her number marked on her hand.  We headed over to the bar, enjoying a magical walk through Seattle streets, where a music festival was happening around us.  The rain dripped off and on and we stopped to take pictures of the sculptures and art along the pedestrian walkway.  It was very clear to me why Kevin liked living here so much.

We headed over to the bar to meet our U2 tribe.  And it did feel like a soul family reunion.  Finally I got to meet Astrid, my on-line friend from Austria.  We had been messaging each other for the past two weeks after connecting due to both looking for last minute tickets for Vancouver.  I had a clear bag for her to use for tomorrow night's show and she paid me back for it.   We talked for awhile and then I rejoined Ken and Brian and Heather for a little while longer, trading Bono stories, and just enjoying each other's company.  By about 9pm, Heather and I decided to go back to the hotel and get some sleep before the long day we had planned for tomorrow.