I had one of the greatest concert experiences of my life this night. If you look closely in the far right of the photo you can see me - on the barrier.
Below is the email I sent to my girl, my friends and a mail list collective of music fanatics that have become friends.
It was an amazing show. Heres the setlist;
Main Set: City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Elevation, Out of Control, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Beautiful Day, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Love and Peace or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet the Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, One - Ol' Man River
Encore(s): The First Time (acoustic), Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, Fast Cars, With or Without You, All Because of You, Crumbs From Your Table, 40
----- Original Message -----
From: adambaker@iinet.net.au
To: adambaker@iinet.net.au
Sent: Mon Oct 13 0:43
Subject: Fwd: Ive seen a million faces, and ive rocked em all
Some of you who knew me circa 1998 will be aware of how dark that time in my
life was. I retreated to music more than I had ever done in my entire life. I
escaped to it, i immersed myself in it. I rediscovered it. Two artists in
particular were on heavy rotation - U2 and the Stones. I wasnt depressed or
anything, i just wasnt a happy camper, was away from friends and family and
retreated to these artists in a major way. Early in 1998 I did the infamous
Metallica tour of New Zealand and Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
After that trip (6 shows, one tv studio taping, 5 backstage passes - not that
im bragging.....) I was Metallca'd out. In fact most "heavy" music was hardly
ever played at home after that tour. So U2 and the Stones fit in perfectly.
Whilst id been a fan of both the Stones and U2 for about a decade, i had lost
interest in U2 around 1995. I got into them in 1988, around the era of the
Joshua Tree and Rattle N Hum. I loved them, They were amazing. In 1991 I heard
U2's first single off Achtung baby - The Fly. To say I hated it is an
understatement. But as they released more singles, I found myself starting to
like the album more and more. And then I heard One, and all has been well in
my U2 world ever since. Zooropa is amazing -especially Numb and Stay. Dont get
me started on POP...
OK then, POP was what helped me in 1998. Critically panned, commercially
bombed - these are the types of albums that i connect with. The beats, the
rhythms, the lyrics. Dont get me started on the drumming... If you havent
heard this album, please do so. But dont listen casually, put it on and
concentrate really hard. I still find new parts to listen to, to songs ive
heard dozens and dozens of times.
But I had never seen them live. The "Love Town" 1989 Australian tour I missed
(i was 11). The "Zoomerang" 1993 tour I missed (none of my friends wanted to
go). The "POPmart" 1998 tour I missed (just moved out of home, just registered
my car, just spent $3,000 on the Metallica tour). I had hoped that they would
tour the All That You Cant Leave Behind album, but it didnt happen.
So when I found out that U2 would be here in New York when I was here to see
Springsteen, I knew I had to be there. It didnt worry me that tickets to every
show went on sale in May this year and were sold out. I had to be there.
Scalpers be damned!! As it turned out, a mate of mine had a spare ticket to
two shows - one of them a general admission ticket!!!!!! FCUKIN A!!!!!!!!.
The show last Saturday night was awesome. Walking into Madison Square Garden
was a dream come true. I have so many bootlegs of shows in this building -
each performance is a gem. Artists bring their "A" Grade game here. Walking in
to the arena just blew me away. A moment ill never ever forget.
I had a great seat on The Edge's side. Very cool view of the stage and runway
that went onto the crowd. 9.15pm they came on, opened with City Of Blinding
Lights (how fitting!), then Vertigo. HOLY FCUKING SH1T - im seeing U2!!!!! So
awesomely cool. They pulled out All I Want Is You - that blew me away. One of
the best songs on Rattle N Hum. Sunday Bloody Sunday floored me - FLOORED ME.
It was just like on the Rattle N Hum video. Edge started the piano intro to
Miss Sarajevo - one of Yvee's favourite U2 song's. I called her so we could
listen together. On the album, Luciano Pavarotti sings. He wasnt here tonight.
Bono sang his part in a perfect operatic voice. He nailed it - NAILED IT!!. It
was good that Yvee could hear that song. The call cost me like $30 though...
It gets better. They then started One. I knew that they would play it - there
would be a riot if they didnt. And then something happened that I totally
didnt expect - Mary J Blige came on stage and sang it with Bono. She had
recently performed the track with U2 as part of the Hurricae Katrina relief
telethon here in the US. It was so cool - i had no idea she had such a great
voice. Thats one damn hottie as well! They played Wild Horses as well - a
favourite of mine from Achtung Baby. With Or Without You could have been live
from 1987 it was that perfect.
Heres a video of Astro rockin out at the show -
http://members.iinet.net.au/~adambaker/images/U2_MSG_8th_Oct_Astro.AVI
So then Sunday night I went to the final Springsteen show on Long Island - ill
email the details of that epic adventure later on.
Monday night October 10th. U2 are again at Madison Square Garden - i dont have
a ticket. Scalpers are asking above $1000. Ebay is crazy with high prices. I
searched craigslist.com in the ticket section for NYC. Found a guy selling a
good rear of stage seat. Ive always wanted to see a show from that angle. He
is selling it for face value - $75!!!!!!!!!!!!. I emailed him, no response. He
replies when I was travelling from The Bronx to my NYC hotel, and i missed his
deadline. Called him back and he had offered the ticket to another guy. But
this other guy hadnt shown up. If I got to his office before the other guy - I
could have the ticket. He works above the Hard Rock Cafe on Times Square, so
it was easy to get to. I got there. I got the ticket. I was a happy dude. He
only wanted $70 in the end!
After the ticket pickup, I went down to the Garden to hang out. Bono turned up
about 2 hours later. He got out of his SUV, and came over and signed some
stuff. He signed my How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb vinyl cover (I came
prepared...) I asked him about an Australian tour - he said "looks like we are
coming now!" WOOHOO!!!!!! Went back to the hotel, dumped my stuff and went to
the show.
Many of you may have received an email, phone call, SMS, etc from me over the
years claiming that I have just seen the greatest show ive ever seen. Examples
of such events are Helmet at Selinas in 1997, Metallica night 2 in Sydney
1998, Suicidal 1995, Biohazard 1995, Prince at the Basement in 2003 (Bill D.
you rock!) Foo Fighters at the Metro this year, Pantera 1996, Springsteen in
Sydney 2003, etc. But tonight WAS one of these "greatest show ive ever seen"
moments.
The band were on fire. The seat I had was amazing. I snuck my recording gear
through security (suckers!!) and recorded most of the show. A truly magical
place to see a show - the crowd in this building was amazing. I walked out of
there one happy camper. I just wish that those of you who are full on or even
partial U2 fans could have seen what I saw that night. Bono has said in many
interviews that they play some of their best ever shows here in New York at
the Garden. I have nothing to compare these two so far, but it truly was a
magical experience seeing them here.
Which leads me to last nights performance. I friend of mine sold me his spare
general admission ticket. For face value $54. These things were going for over
$500 on ebay. Ill forever be in debt to Paul for what happened last night.
The line up for General Admission starts around 7am, with doors opening at
6:30pm. I got there at 10am and was 24th in line. Whilst waiting, one of U2's
tour personell came along the line and gave some of us U2 guitar picks. I got
one of Adam Claytons. Very cool, though he doesnt usually use one!. Its got
the vertigo logo on one side, his autograph on the other.
For those of you who arent aware, U2 have the general admission / floor
sectioned off into two areas, with a huge looped runway going through the
middle of the crowd. This is for safety, security and performance reasons. The
section on front of the stage in known as The Elipse (see the photos to work
out why). To get into this Elipse, you need to have your ticket scanned. They
let people in at random based on some scanning procedure. I was with 4 other
people. Their ticket scanned "VERTIGO, VERTIGO, VERTIGO" giving them access
into the Elipse. Mine didnt. Boohoo. BUT, they can take a friend in with them.
That friend was me. FCUKIN A!!!!!!!!!!! So we waited in another line to get
into the arena. They let us in. I ran faster than id ever run in my life. I
got to the stage - FRONT ROW IN BETWEEN EDGE AND
BONO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY FCUKING SH1T!!!
U2 came on at about 930. They opened with City Of Blinding Lights again. very
cool. I was so close I could see that Bono needed to trim his nasal hairs. Too
close! Edge spent most of the night right in from of me. It was amazing to see
one of musics most dynamic and influential guitarists standing 1 metre in
front of me, playing songs that id listened to over and over and over for
years and years. Halfway through the set they played Sunday Bloody Sunday,
Bullet the Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name and
One - all in a row. I was just blown away. I could see the band were having a
good time, joking with each other. During Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bono pulled a
little girl on stage and sang to her. He then put her back into the crowd and
gave her a rose and his headband. One of the hilights was the encore when Bono
dedicated Stuck In A Moment to Michael Hutchence. I hi-fived a girl from
Melbourne who was three people up from me. We started the Aussie Aussie
Aussie, Oy Oy Oy chant. No-one knew what we were doing. Damn that was funny
stuff.
The show ended. I was beat. One of Bono's crew gave me a setlist. Ill frame it
with the signed vinyl cover and guitar pick.
Now call me whacky, call me crazy, call me kooky - but ill put my name to this
right now. I truly have just had the best concert experience of my life.
Besides the facct that i met Bono, confirmed an Australian tour, got a guitar
pick, had front row of the "Elipse", hung out with cool New Yorkers all day,
got cool photos, had my favourite songs played, etc - this show was amazing.
Just brutally brilliant. Considering that I didnt think i'd ever EVER see U2,
i walked away one happy dude. Every show I see from now on will be compared to
this one show. People tell me this is the greatest concert venue on the
planet. I havent seen many, but it sure is special. Bono mentioned last night
that this is the best venue in the world as well!
And not that im bragging, but look at these photos - damn im good!!!! More are
here http://members.iinet.net.au/~adambaker/images/
So thats it for me concert wise. 7 concerts in 8 nights. Im sooooooo tired.
Today I start my "retail therapy" er.. i mean gift buying for Yvee. Kate needs
a teddy bear from FAO Schwartz as well. I must rest tonight - tomorrow is
Bleaker Street Day. Dozens of record stores all on one street.
Adam
(But you've got and unquenchable thirst for New York)
__________________________________________________________________
And heres some of the photos I shot at the show. Some of the best photos ive shot at any show.
Earlier in the day I managed to meet Mr Hugh Hefner, Holly, Bridget and Kendra (his three ladies) at the Virgin Megastore in Tmes Square. Heres the email and photos.
----- Original Message -----
From: adambaker@iinet.net.au
To: adambaker@iinet.net.au
Sent: Sun Oct 12 22:50
Subject: Fwd: Me, Hef - and da ladiez....
Due to popular request....
Last week I went into the Times Square Virgin Megastore. Its a very
cool store - i can see my self getting into a lot of financial trouble
in a place like that.
But i digress...
So theres two huge posters up for instores. One for U2 photographer Anton
Corbijn, signing copies of his (damn heavy!) U2&I book last Saturday. And one
announcing that Hugh Heffner together with "Holly" "Brigdet" and
"Kendra" = the stars of E's "The Girls Next Door" will be there at
1230pm yesterday to sign copies of the November Playboy.
I of course cleared my busy concert schedule to ensure I made time to
pay my respects to THE MAN, and of course bask in the silicon enhanced
wonderousness that is "Holly" "Brigdet" and "Kendra". I was 24th in
the GA line for U2 at MSG, so cleared it with the line co-ordinator
and those around me, and walked on up to Times Square.
Got there early. Lots and lots of people outside in the rain waiting.
I went to the basement level where there was only about 20 people in
line. Some Playboy Enterprises dude made me sign a release form as
they were filming the instore appearance for the TV show.
Great - My one chance of "starring" in a Playboy video with Hef and
three hot Bunnies, and ill end up looking like a drooling out of town
tourist geting an autograph. Er....
They allowed people to get two copies autographed. So I got one for
me, and one for my travelling companion on this trip - Astro Boy. Dont laugh.
They made you stick a piece of paper to the magazine so that it would
be dedicated to you (maybe to stop eBay reselling??) So I walked up
and put my two copies down. The first Bunny - Holly
(http://www.eonline.com/On/GirlsNextDoor/TheGirls/index.html\) said to
me - Who's Astro? And I showed her. She went all giggly and said she
loved him - he was sssooooooooo cute. So I asked to take a photo with
her and Astro. She said yes, then proceeded to almost molest poor
Astro Boy - lucky ba$tard!
Hef was cool - as he should be. Lucky ba$tard.
ANyhoo, this is my Playboy Bunnies story. Its as close as ill ever get
to them again. And at least my travelling partner got some good Bunny
Action on his trip
Enjoy!
Adam
(You got any Australian in you? Do you want some?)
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