U2 recently played at the Somerville theater and this means I got in full stalker mode.
My apartment is in Arlington, which is the neighboring town of Somerville, and when I heard the rumor that U2 was coming to town - I had to be a part of the madness.
I've been to the Somerville theater plenty of times, it's a great little hidden jewel. The theater typically has only 4-5 movies playing at one time because it is a small venue. It reminds me of an old broken down High School auditorium fully equipped with a stage, curtains and balcony seating. Every time I see a movie here, I look up and expect to see Statler and Waldorf, from The Muppets, sitting in the balcony, scowling at the noisy kids below.
Back to the point - U2. I've seen them play a handful of times, but because I knew the intimate setting of the Somerville theater and how their biggest stage only sits about 700 people, I knew I had to find a way into this concert.
Being a fan of MacGyver, I knew I'd have to pull out some sort of sneaky operation. So naturally, I ordered two tickets to the 7 p.m. showing of "He's just not that in to you". I know, I'm a genius. I demanded my roommate come with me by re-using the line "C'mon, we're 24 years old, we should be doing spontaneous stuff like this! I know you have work tomorrow but... we're 24 years old! Let's live a little." The aged-guilt trip works every time.
We jumped the red line to Davis Square and patrolled the outside of the theater. There were hundreds of people outside just waiting, watching and hoping for something to happen. I took my camera out and headed to the back of the theater.
TOUR BUSSES! Three of them - big, shiny tour busses. I snapped about 400 pictures before my roommate made us enter the lobby of the theater.
We were confronted first by a police man asking what we were doing. When we told him we had movie tickets, he laughed and sent us to a different line. We were then escorted downstairs where on the walk I tried to barter with the usher about getting into the main auditorium. A simple "not gonna happen" was what he said sternly.
Me and my roomie opened the theater doors and there was one couple sitting there looking like they were planning to rob a bank. They had everything short of a floor plan to the theater. I struck up a conversation with them to see how they were planning on getting in - but they hesitated to tell me the exact details because they "didn't want us stealing their plan." Seriously?
The husband exited the theater, and about a minute after the wife soon followed. My roommate and I figured we'd wait a couple minutes and then make our way upstairs. In between debating which door we were going to sneak and stomaching some witty banter between Justin Long and Ginnifer Goodwin, we stood up in our seats and started walking to the back of theater. As we approached the door, a cop slammed the door open with a flash light - grabbing the left behind jackets of the married couple who had left just minutes before us. Officer Angry then flashed the light right in my eye and said, "I hope you're not trying what those fools just did."
And with that, we sat back down and continued watching the movie. Every once in a while we could hear the crowd roaring from upstairs, or the loud drumming beats and guitar licks from the band. It was bittersweet.
"I'm glad we came even though we didn't get to see them. You're right, we should be doing more stuff like this while we're still young" my roommate said as we hopped back on the red line home.
No comments:
Post a Comment