360°

2009 has been the year of the concerts. It actually started in December of last year with AC DC, but it was after that concert when we decided to make a list of bands that really wanted to see if they ever went on tour again. Low and behold many of those bands did decide to tour this year, and one of the biggest on that list – U2! We bought the tickets months in advance thinking we would have plenty of time to wrangle up a babysitter. And a month after buying tickets, Scott and I had the bright idea to run a 10K two days after the concert. Little did we know what kind of crazy we just signed up for! Long story short, my parents came through for us on both occasions ( A HUGE thank you, Mom and Dad!), but it required us to travel back and forth to Tampa twice in two days… That’s 360° x2! Why you might ask? Why in the world did we NOT have my parents watch the kids for the entire weekend? Because the Saturday morning after the concert our budding actors had their last acting class. And it wasn’t just a typical class day. It was their mock audition. Mason and Morgan are now represented by two agencies, and we felt it necessary to fully prepare them for what might happen in the near future. Yes, I know – insanity! But that is how us Womack’s roll!

The concert was AMAZING! I have NEVER seen a stage like that ever in my life. My good friend and neighbor, Sara (another HUGE U2 fan) and her husband, Chris, were able to get wonderful seats for all four of us. My favorite part of our seats…. the personal cup holders right in front of us. Sad, I know. And as an added plus, a running friend, Tracy, I met through my cousin was there as well. She and her husband were so kind enough to hunt us down for a quick visit before the show. It was great to see Tracy and meet her husband! Shortly after their visit, the opening act began their performance. I became a MUSE fan that night. They remind me of a mix between Nine Inch Nails, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and U2. The lead singer’s voice is brilliant. My only complaint during their set was the countless number of clueless people who kept walking right in front of us. Our seats were in the front row of the second level complete with railing – hence where my precious cup holder was located. For some reason these people thought our row was the normal walk way. Not only did we have to deal with constant interruption from our visual pleasure, but at least six times we had people accuse us of being in their seats. My favorite argument: “No, because our seats are in row AA, you must move!” It gave me great pleasure to explain to each person especially those in row AA, that the rows are in alphabetical order starting with the row we were sitting in – the Letter A! Oh the look on their faces when they realized how far up they still had to go. I still can’t believe how rude each encounter was with this issue.

But once U2 started, everything settled down. We had no more interruptions… well, except for the drunk singing along with Bono on “Amazing Grace”. And there we were with 72,000 people, the largest crowd in Raymond James Stadium’s history enjoying one of the best bands ever. Their stage was mesmerizing giving us not only close ups of the band, but visual artistic imagery. My only criticism is I was hoping to hear a bit more from their older albums, but was content when they played Sunday, Bloody, Sunday. And again, if you can, this is another band you do not want to miss in concert. They are simply legends.

My 360° View of the Concert

Where The Streets Have No Name