u2's joshua tree tour - the 2017 experience

Thirty-three years ago, I fell in love with an Irish band named U2 when I heard the songs "Bad" (still one of my two favorite U2 songs to this day!) and "Pride (In the Name of Love)." 

Two years after that, "Pride" earned me extra credit it 10th grade Social Studies as I played the song for my classmates and we discussed the political relevance of U2 and this song, focused on Martin Luther King Jr's fight for equality. 

A year after that, I wasn't able to see U2 on their new "Joshua Tree" tour at The LA Sports Arena and I was very sad (about not seeing U2; NOT about not going to the suck-ass, now-finally demolished Sports Arena). I loved that album, especially "With or Without You" (duh), and "Running to Stand Still," and the trippy, harmonica-laden "Trip Through Your Wires." 

So in January, when it was announced U2 was going to tour in honor of the album's 30th anniversary AND would play the whole album in its entirety, I was in line online day one for the Rose Bowl show with my U2 Fan Club pre-sale code! 

(Sidenote: Being a U2.com member is, seriously, the best $50 a year you can spend as a U2 fan. Not only do you get first dibs at great concert seats [see my view from this show in photos and videos below, and see my view from the U2IE tour here, and my GA ticket access to be against the railing at the foot of one of the claws on the U2360 tour here] but you get awesome subscriber gifts... usually unreleased or exclusive recordings [Edge's Picks of the Top 22 Live performances from the 360 tour, The Joshua Tree singles on Vinyl] or gorgeous prints or photo books).   

Last night I finally got to use the ticket and hear the amazing Joshua Tree album live! 

Because of the amount of people in attendance, it was recommended we arrive early, and we did.. landing in our pre-paid parking spot at around 3:45pm. People in the lots were tail-gating and having an awesome time despite the 95-degree heat, cuz U2 fans are cool like that. 

Around 5:30 we decided to go inside the stadium. The lines in the front of the Rose Bowl were HUGE, so we went around the side to Gate B and got in the security line for "people with bags," which was going to take 15-20 minutes long from my guesstimate. But just as we were about to enter the windy part of the cue, an awesome HUGE security guard told me to drink my water (in a non-allowed cup size) quick and then ushered us into the "no-bags" security line. This was the equivalent of having TSA Pre-check at LAX on a summer Friday! We breezed through, swiped my credit card for the ticket verification and were inside the gates, in the land of cocktails and merchandise stands charging $45 for an almost plain white tee ;)  

At around 6:45, the Lumineers hit the stage. They were really excited to be there, noting this was the largest crowd they'd ever performed for.

They played all their hits you know, but don't know you know, until you hear them and sounded really good. (I like any band that has a cellist!)

Then as the sun went completely down, and the temperature dropped to like 80 degrees, the pre-recorded music got louder. "Black Hole Sun" from Soundgarden played and the audience lit up, in tribute to Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell who passed away earlier this week on May 17th in Detroit.

Then as The Pogues' "A Rainy Night in Soho" played, a hot drummer (that would be Larry Mullen Jr. for those of you who are blind) walked down the ramp to his drumset on the "B-Stage" (aka the stage at the end of the ramp leading down into the audience), and the show started with this...

This first mini-set consisted of four songs from the pre-Joshua Tree years.

I was really hoping that, like in Vancouver and Santa Clara, song #3 would be "Bad," but alas we got "A Sort of Homecoming" (which I still lovely, but is not "Bad.")

Then they all went up to the main stage for the main part of the show... The Joshua Tree, in its entirety.

The videos on the giant screen behind the band were beautiful, many similar to the photography from the album and its videos.

Then, after "Bullet the Blue Sky," Bono paid tribute to Chris Cornell, dedicating the beautiful and sad "Running to Stand Still" to him, and sending love and prayers to the Cornell family. 

After, that, he simply said "And now welcome to Side 2.." (Those of you not alive 30 years ago have no idea what that means. Le sigh..) and they moved onto "Red Hill Mining Town."

At the end of the album, a disco ball appeared at the top of the screen's giant joshua tree above the stage...

And then we were in the post-Joshua Tree era.... 

They played four songs, all eventually working their way back to the "B-Stage" right in front of my seats.

Then after they played "One," I thought that would be it. But they played "Miss Sarajevo" and then "BAD"!! I was so happy (even though the guido in front of me kept bopping his head [to "Bad." Yes, in case you're wondering, he was very drunk.] and raising his arm into my camera shot. I almost smacked his greasy head, but contained myself. ) They don't play this song a lot.. I think the last time I heard live was one of the "Elevation Tour" shows in 2001. Enjoy...

They then said goodnight... but played one more song after that. Don't leave until the lights come up people!

All in all, this show was worth both the 30 year wait, and the pretty penny I paid for those excellent fan club seats. The band sounded AMAZING!! And the production was beautiful -- both visually and audibly. 

Here's the Full Set List:

On Tape before band came out:

• Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden) — the audience lit up with camera flashes in tribute to Chris Cornell
• A Rainy Night in Soho (The Pogues)

B-Stage 

• Sunday Bloody Sunday
• New Year's Day
• A Sort of Homecoming
• Pride (In the Name of Love)

The Joshua Tree

• Where the Streets Have No Name
• I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
• With or Without You
• Bullet the Blue Sky
• Running to Stand Still (dedicated to Chris Cornell and his family)
• Red Hill Mining Town
• In God's Country
• Trip Through Your Wires
• One Tree Hill
• Exit
• Mothers of the Disappeared

Encore:

• Beautiful Day (with "City of Stars" vocal interlude)
• Elevation
• Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
• One

B-Stage

• Miss Sarajevo (Passengers cover)
• Bad
• I Will Follow ('The Little Things That Give…)

everything's coming up roses!

It's Day #2 of 2013 and I'm already doing a new thing! 

My friend Diana and I decided to go see the 2013 Tournament of Roses Parade Floats in Pasadena today because a) we've never done it before and b) we've both got a lot of time on our hands ;)

It was both amazing and exhausting! There were a LOT of floats in that parade yesterday -- it took us two and a half hours to see them all. And there were a lot of people trying to get up-close-and-personal with them, taking photos, walking in front of other people's photos, etc. But seeing them up close was incredible! The detail is just crazy. And it was super fun to see some of the natural materials they used to decorate the floats...

Artichoke hearts covering the foot of a giant teddy bear... (Shriner's Hospital Float)














Hearts made of cranberries... (Odd Fellows & Rebekahs float "Elevated Adventure")

Granny Smith apples and purple cabbages adding color to The Cat In The Hat's Garden... (Kaiser Permanente Float "Oh, The Healthy Things You Can Do")

Entire fruits and vegetables decorating a mixer and whole garlics strung together as a rope... (Trader Joe's Float "Recipe for Adventure!")

Red beans, peas, green onion stalks and flowers creating a quilt for cute puppies... (Beverly Hills Pet Care's float "Follow the Stars... Adopt a Pet") 

And watermelon rinds carved into little turtle shells (lower right) (City of Burbank's float "Deep Sea Adventures")

I took more than 300 photos and there are 90ish of them on Facebook, so if you really love flowers and are my Facebook friend go check out a ton of gorgeous photos there.

But for those that don't have that kind of time, here are my personal Top 10 Favorite Floats I saw today, in no particular order. Not surprisingly, they are all either heavily focused on animals, food, houses, gardens or have lots of purple on them. All that was missing was a hockey float :)

Odd Fellows & Rebekahs "Elevated Adventure"

Kaiser Permanente's "Oh, the Healthy Things You Can Do"

The Nurses' Float "A Healing Place" (Notice the trendy owls ;)

Beverly Hills Pet Care's "Follow the Stars... Adopt a Pet"

Cal Poly's "Tuxedo Air"

La Canada Flintridge's "Dino-Soar"

Downey's "Dew Drop By"

Burbank's "Deep Sea Adventures"

HGTV's "All Roads Lead Home"

Trader Joe's "Recipe for Adventure!"

things i love: afternoon tea in pasadena

I don't like coffee. In fact, I hate it. So I drink a lot of tea instead. Normally I've got my Starbucks Chai tea latte with me on-the-go. And at home, I brew Twinings English Breakfast or Stash Double Spice Chai.

But every so often, a girl just needs a fancy afternoon out with friends and finger sandwiches (not to mention scones with strawberries and clotted cream!). And one of my favorite places to go for such fancy afternoons is Pasadena, home to three establishments offering great, yet distinctly different afternoon teas.

This past week, one of my oldest, dearest friends came to visit from Portland with her 7-going-on-30-year-old daughter, who I adore. So we decided to go out for ladies afternoon tea at Pasadena's Chado Tea Room, which is located in Old Town. (So not only can you have tea, but you can go shopping afterwards at fabulous places like two of my fave stores -- Pottery Barn and The Container Store -- that are only a block away, and decked out for the holidays :)

Chado is one of the first places I ever had afternoon tea and it's a great starter place for people who fear a tea experience that's too fancy -- like those with young daughters.... or guys. (My mom and I have taken my dad here and he survived!) Part of the reason it's great is it offers things on the menu other than the traditional afternoon tea. Chado also doesn't bring your tea in delicate china teacups. In fact, Chado specializes in tea leaves. They have a whole wall of canisters packed with loose leaf tea, blooming teas and their own special blends. It is essentially the equivalent of a great, non-commercialized coffee house, but with tea. And when you order the "afternoon tea" you receive a 10+ page tea menu to peruse and order your individual pot of tea from.

I always get a black tea, since that's my fave. This week, I chose "Reena's Chai," which comes steeped with milk and sugar. It wasn't the best tea I've ever had there, but it was good. As for the food, it was delish! Each person gets four finger sandwiches -- a great open-faced smoked salmon, chicken with cranberry sauce, egg, and a watercress and goat cheese.

Then there are the scones... I love scones! I shouldn't but I do. They come with strawberries and cream. How could I not?

And finally, cookies and cake. All super yummy deliciousness! And only $18 a person, which is pretty cheap for a dining experience that lasts 1-2 hours and stuffs you before you're finished.

Another historic Pasadena place for afternoon tea is the Tiffin inside The Langham Hotel, which used to be The Huntington... which used to be The Ritz Carlton, and is still a tea-time fave of the famous Red Hat Society, who I actually saw here once for tea about 10 years ago, back when it was the Ritz. 

Being a fancy hotel, the afternoon tea here is more fancy than Chado's. So three of my friends who love fancy things + tea and I went here back in September on a Saturday I dubbed "Being Cultured and Stuff Saturday." (Before tea, we experienced culture dating back to the 14th century at the "You see it on TV every New Year's Day as the Rose Parade floats by it, but have you ever bothered to go inside?" Norton Simon Museum, which has an amazing collection including more Degas "Dancers" than you can point a toe-shoe at and Claude Monet's beautiful "The Artist's Garden." Highly recommend this museum... well at least the side to the left of the main entrance. I could do without all the older, religious art to the right.)

Anyhoo, back to fancy tea! One example of why The Langham is fancy: You don't pour your own tea here; the waiter/waitress does it for you, always making sure your tea pot (that doesn't even rest on your table) is full of the flavor you ordered. However, there are fewer tea choices here than at Chado. But, what they lack in tea choices they make up for in food! While I can't remember exactly how many sandwich options there are, the dessert choices are out of control! We couldn't even get close to finishing them all. The scones on the bottom of the three-tiered dessert tower were delish. And the custard filling these gold-tipped cones on the top-tier were an amazingly-wonderful surprise.

Then there was the middle tier, which came loaded with two of my favorite things -- cupcakes and creme brulee'. Sadly, the cupcakes were chocolate with a not-good fruit filling. And the mini-creme brulee' cups were just okay (they did have the brulee' though, so bonus points for that ;) But it didn't matter. There was so much food, we were stuffed by that point... and did I mention how amazing the cones on the top tier were? (Traditional Tiffin Afternoon Tea is $39/person.) 

Finally, if you love fancy British things and personalized service, then Rose Tree Cottage is the tea establishment for you! I went to Rose Tree with two friends for afternoon tea on New Year's Eve's eve almost a year ago and loved everything about the experience. 

Rose Tree is located in a beautiful old house in Pasadena and, while a bit crowded at the entrance, has a lovely old English feel once you are seated in the tea room. There are three seatings for afternoon tea (1pm, 2:30pm and 4pm) and Edmund and Mary Fry, the owners, greet guests at the door and are extremely friendly. Edmund seats everyone personally, and helps you open your holiday popper (an English tradition). The service is excellent... I was asked if I take milk in my tea once, and then everyone who came back to refill my beautiful china tea cup throughout the afternoon knew how I liked it. 

Afternoon tea starts with a delish non-alcoholic, fruity wine prior to the English tea being served and the food coming out. All of the finger sandwiches were yummy (I couldn't pick a favorite) and the scones with cream + a house preserve were AMAZING! (Note, you can purchase these in the gift shop and take some home too!) I'd show you photos, but Rose Tree has a strict no cell phones policy, which adds to the old English, relaxing and extremely enjoyable environment. I will definitely be going back there for tea and bringing my mom, as I promised Edmund... she's gonna love it :)