Hard to believe it was 2 years ago. Like Rusty said, the city was really buzzing with anticipation. (Nice avi btw Rusty!)
It's not going to possible to match the feeling of seeing The Police, for the first time, at the FC show, 2nd row centre, looking right at Stewart.
Here's a little blog my wife wrote the day after the FC show. It took me down memory lane so I thought I'd share it here, being the 2nd anniversary and all.
I am referred to as "D".
QUOTE
Monday, May 28, 2007
wow..
Wow.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. What an amazing night.
Now I am the first to admit that I wasn’t the biggest Police fan. Not because they aren’t talented (because they are!), but more because the last time they played together in concert, I was 4.
So when the rumors started of a possible reunion tour, I didn’t pay it much attention. However, this is D’s band. He’s a huge fan…the first album he bought was a Police album. He never got to see them in concert, so he wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass by. Not many days have gone by in the last 3 months without some mention of The Police.
We were very happy to get tickets for the opening concert in Vancouver. Then, the fan club announced a special, intimate fan club-only show the night before. A last dress rehearsal for 4000 fans. D had to be there, but of course the tickets went on sale when D was out of the house – which left the task to me. For 10 minutes before the sale started, I sat at the computer, thinking I was going to be sick. I didn’t want to let D down. Thankfully we were able to get 2 tickets. This whole Police thing was turning into quite the event.
A few days before the show, the fan club announces they are holding a special pre-show party at the Brewhouse restaurant in GM Place, from 5:30-6:30.. Due to limited capacity, only the first 200 people will be allowed in. Well, of course we had to try for that!
Finally, Sunday arrives. We drop the kids off and head downtown early, about 11:30. We got a little confused and parked at BC Place instead. We were a little worried when we saw lots of people wandering about – until we realize that they are there for Eat Vancouver.
We get to Will Call, and there is quite the line – people had begun lining up at 7am to pick up tickets (tickets that had been bought already!). I check out Gate 10, where the line up for the pre-show is supposed to start and there is no one there. So I sent D off to get our tickets, and I hung around Gate 10. A few minutes after 12, people start lining up, and when the ‘official’ line up is started, I’m 10 people in – pretty good since we thought we were too late. D gets the tickets and yellow wristbands and joins me. As we settle in for the wait, we start chatting with those around us. From everyone we talked to, we were the only locals! The 2 people behind us (who we spent most of the afternoon with) were from LA, the young brothers behind them were from Vegas. We met people from Portland and Tucson. Of course, most of the chatter was about the Police, favorite songs/albums, who saw them where, who’s going to which concerts.
We were in the shade, so I was quite cold. I joked with D that I was going to run into Costco and buy a pair of pants (ok, why is there a Costco in downtown Van when most people live in 600sq condos?). I did end up running into Costco to use the washroom – good thing I had my card! Lol!
At about 3:30, the event organizers came out with purple wristbands – this shows that we have a spot in the party and we can leave the line-up. We headed back to the car to drop off our stuff, and then wandered through Costco to warm up. We wanted a choice of tables, so we went back to the lineup just before 5pm.
Finally, its 5:30 and they open the doors. The excitement really starts to pick up. Most people are still in disbelief that the concert is really going to happen. There were jokes that people had traveled to see this show, just in case the band breaks up before they finish the tour.
The party was ok – you got a free drink and some bar munchies (nuts and popcorn). They had a raffle to raise money for Wateraid. Top prize was 2 front row tickets for tonight. They also had front row tickets for last night and a bunch of signed memorabilia. Of course we were hoping for the front row seats for tonight, but we were happy to see the Vegas boys win them. (Not sure how much more of an expense it became because they had to change their flights lol!).
After the party we walked around and checked out the (overpriced) merchandise. Shortly before the show we headed to our seats – D had upgraded them to 2nd row center (which meant a pink wristband – we were looking pretty colorful!). They were amazing seats!
Finally, the boys took the stage! They feeling in the stadium was electric! Up until a few months ago, many people believed that this would never happen. Sting welcomed us and reminded us that it was a dress rehearsal, and that there would be mistakes. They left and returned a few moments later. They rocked it for 2 hours, playing 23 songs. It was incredible. I knew most of the songs from listening to them with D, but it was so different hearing them play right in front of you. The ticket had stated no cameras, but people were allowed to bring them in. We got a couple of photos with the camera phone…
The best part was seeing D experience it! It was such a treat to see him enjoy it. This was definitely his thing, and I was just along for the ride…but, oh, what a ride!
And I can’t wait to do it all again tonight for the opening show!
END QUOTE
Was it all a dream?
I don't wanna work, I just wanna bang on the drums all day.
