Any of you get to U2 last night? Two of my friends TRIED to go and had a most unfortunate concert outing. Got on San Mateo bridge at 6:30pm. Traffic on 92 and 880. Stuck at Hegenberger exit still at 8:20pm. Lots got closed. Overflow parking faraway had LONG lines to get to and was $40!. Police directed traffic into a no mans land and then said no parking or you'll be towed. If parking was found it would have been 10pm or later by the time they would have hiked to the venue. She offered $100 to VIP parking and was turned away. They never got in to the show. Had tickets for over a year and paid for them almost 2 years ago ($500/pair). I guess this is what happens at stadium shows now unless you take time off work and go very early to ensure you get parking. I don't think I ever want to go to a show at the Oakland Col. again.
Ouch!!!
Sorry to hear about your friend's experience. Traffic did sound pretty horrible...I talked to Annalisa today and she said that it took over 3 hours from
Emeryville...
I had better luck taking BART. I drove up to the Fremont station @ about 6 and the parking lot was mostly full, but fortunately there were a few spaces left. From there, getting there was no problem. Leaving was another story. I left slightly before the last song was over and the bridge to BART/exit was so jam packed like sardines that it took about half an hour to get across...just barely made the 12:20 AM train (although I would assume they ran a few extra trains, which would have been the right thing to do because there were still tens of thousands of people waiting to leave.) But that wait was probably nothing compared to that of those who drove.
The concert was pretty amazing though.
I'm a sucker for good visual effects & U2 nailed that. They also played most of my favorite "lesser" singles (Walk On, City of Blinding Lights, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me -- the only other one I really would have wanted was Numb, but I guess that would have been too much to ask.) Lenny Kravitz was good too. I wish Moonalice wouldn't have been the pre-opener.