The Coolest Thing that I Saw on the National Mall

The Scene:

That fuzzy figure in the middle, wearing black and a touch of red? That's Bruce Springsteen:

That fuzzy figure in black? That's Bono:

I didn't get a picture of it -- or at least one that registered anything but the back of someone's head -- but I did get to see him closer when the band was headed toward the stage. He is actually even more attractive in person (or maybe that's just the aura of fame).

This was the rehearsal for the big concert on Sunday. I didn't realize it was going on until I saw Bruce on one of the big screens being testing down by the Capitol. "The Boss? Here? Now?" I thought, then about ran down to the Lincoln Memorial. The cold helped my speed.

Sadly, I missed getting Bono's autograph by about five minutes. Then, like a teenage fangirl, I stood in the cold for almost an hour, my toes and fingers alternating between numbness and pain, to see him again between the Springsteen and U2 rehearsals. I wasn't the only big idiot doing so, nor the oldest. Lots of us middle-aged fangeeks stood there shivering and reminiscing about how we saw U2 way back in the day. You know, before they were so big.

Of course, being middle aged, we had a lower tolerance for doing dumb things in frigid weather. We started bargaining: "He's got five minutes, then I'm leaving." Ten minutes later, we upped the ante, "I love U2, but they aren't worth frost bite. Five more minutes, then I'm gone." Ten minutes after that, "Once he comes out, I'm outta here." One guy, a little younger than middle aged, started yelling, "hey Bono, we have Nintendo and beer out here! The Edge said you sucked! Come prove him wrong."

For the record, that last guy was joking; but sometimes you have to clarify such things.

The oddest thing was that everyone was kinda cool. No one in our little freezing crowd acted like a huge drunk asshole to one another, as they often do at concerts. We were all just freezing fans, happy to get a little unexpected performance from watching the rehearsal.

I was extra happy because I had planned to go see the big concert on Sunday, but I really only wanted to see U2 and Bruce (Their tickets are prohibitively expensive these days. "Working class hero" bastards). The acts were only going to perform 2 or 3 songs, so I was pretty relieved not to have to go down for another freezing day amid those big, drunk, asshole crowds.

So, this was the coolest thing that I saw on the National Mall on Saturday.