My Adjacent U2 Adventure…(adapted to Trash Tuesday)
Pasadena Lockdown. Must see U2. Must not pay for the privilege of seeing U2. Park down side street west of La Loma Street bridge. Walk up Arroyo Seco to Rose Bowl. Traffic is pouring in. Take west side of Rose Bowl. Pass U2 convoy. Watching U2 perform from Imagine bench is discussed. Mr V scraps “said idea” Head onto golf course instead. We toastto the Black Eyed Peas. Gather up “Trash Tuesday” #48 folding arm chair. Mr V swings chair over shoulder. Passing resemblance to Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine in Kung Fu).
Head south towards Brookside Park. Climb back trail behind public pool. Discover gate locked. Mr V uses excessive profanity to express displeasure. Wants me to jump over gate. Not going to happen. Mr V complains of hunger. Bad sign. Head to lower ground. Cross Suicide bridge (David Bowie’s “Ground Control to Major Tom” is playing). Get car. Navigate road blocks. Get to other side of locked gate, park and enjoy U2. Compromise. Hunger. Leave for Glendale. “In and Out” burgers. Take home/go home. Catch last U2 song on You Tube.
French fries; happy
………….
My first U2 experience occurred when I lived in downtown L.A in the mid eighties. U2 performed an illegal concert atop a building on 7th Street and Main. Word spread quickly. By the time I got there the police had already arrived and pulled the band off the rooftop. See for yourself.. follow the link after the disabler.
Don’t mess with the L.A.P.D. downtown division
Gee, it’s like a trash Tuesday on a Sunday night.
Today the mayor of Culver City said on NPR that Los Angeles is ungovernable so it’s clearly logical that in this situation, the police would act badly. Stoopid LAPD.
Long term relationships are tricky, there are always issues that can’t be surmounted. Then again, at the same time, there are adventures such as this.
We heard u2 way up here. The words were muffled, but still, I was impressed.
I heard helicopters, that’s about all. Much impressed by your perseverance and cleverness.
I remember that old LA street scene concert back last century. If only they had brought back that much excitement to the scence last night.
Pasadena Adjacent, against my professional advise, has exchanged her previous U2 video for another. Pasadena Adjacent’s Audio Visual Tech is guilty of the editing.
I’ll have you know my neighbor, an electrician at the Rose Bowl, gave me an Official U2 Merchandise Bag. Uh-huh. And it’s genuine plastic.
U2 must have had fun navigating your way into the less expensive seating outside the stadium. Half the fun is the journey…particularly if you have potent portable potables. Please tell me that swarm of semi trucks is not just for the U2′s guitars and drum kit. How much crap do they need? A couple amps and some smoke bombs? Apparently they don’t “travel light” -or- do they have a large following of truckers?
D, I like the pun and I read somewhere that they’re using the trucks to haul all their merchandising, or as I like to think of it, future Trash Tuesday scores, and the atmospheres for their dressing rooms. Très importante.
wow, what a cool night, you two…& i couldn’t believe how many trucks were setting up for that show last week…like a small country moving in…
Why not make concert viewing an adventure?? Well done! thanks for a virtual tag-along tour… but can I have a burger with those fries?
I have a photo from top of a trail looking down on the pool and the Rosebowl a bit farther on at the edge of N Grand and Arroyo Terrace. Absolutely spectacular view.
(the T-Tuesday chair looks like a mummy bag). Funny.
This was a great, entertaining post by you PA! Some of these sometimes deserve to be up in lights, if not in BOLD print.
Referring to your friends as “elitist arbitrator’s of good taste” is not the way to go about winning friends and influencing people. Unashamed? you kids are nuts
what a U2 adventure you had. great post for today and such obstacles.
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Susan: A major Trash Tuesday. The chair actually had a LAX sticker attached
PJ: If U2 had been a little car savy, they would have realized that 3:30 is the time they let out the garment workers. Those workers want O-U-T. Not a time to put on a show or get in their way. The morning would have been good (but U2 got a video out of it)
AH: I think U2 may be as big of a corporate entity as Disney. I find sound travels and bounces when it’s in a hillside setting. I didn’t find it half as loud as the parties in my hood.
Margaret: you’re a case in point to my comment to AH. It was fun
CO: You will never see them bring back that kind of excitement again. They will never see 25 again. We will never see the last century again.
and yes, my blog is BOLD!!!! and RIVETING!!! to my audience of ten. Really, would you want to see it change?
D: That swarm of trucks is an outfit out of Chicago. Your state is turning over some green on this tour. I forgot what it was like to be around really drunk people. The energy was great. Even saw a girl hold herself up by wrapping her arms around a tree. Kept her from pucking. Bless her heart.
Mary: a small country is an apt description. Really, Mr V and I are too old for this sort of thing but due to our immaturity, we can’t seem to pull away from the action. More frightening is the fact that I’m willing to let the world know.
Tash: I bet we’re speaking about the same place. Lots of small trails leading to that street from behind the pool. Unfortunately for us, they locked the gates at sundown.
About the concert; it really was (despite being on the wrong side of the stadium) an exciting experience. I just liked basking in the excitement of it all. and we had burgers too
John E: Let me say this Johnny, a few of you, while making sure I knew how much they disliked U2, still wanted to pump me for information. I remain unashamed
Julie: some obstacles even I won’t jump