U2 and 10/11 year olds

It was a pretty special occasion on Friday night when Caleb got to go to his first concert...and a pretty big one it was to have for the first one.  We'd got 4 tickets and not told Caleb we'd arranged with his friend's Alex parents for him to come too.  The kids were buzzing and excited on the way to Mt Smart.  On the trek along Great South Road to the stadium amongst the constant stream of people the excitement started to turn to a little nervousness.  I think the scale of the event was starting to hit home.  Our obsession with telling them to listen to instructions, keep close to us, hold our hands etc etc was all starting to make a bit more sense and we weren't just these silly adults telling them to do something just for the sake of it.

Before the throng of people and having to hold our hands

Anyway, we shuffled our way to our seats after winding up and down scaffolding stands of seating.  Jay-Z was playing.  The boys were whooping and making the star or triangle Jay-Z thing with their hands as he played.

Their hands were sore from clapping ...and U2 were yet to come.

Caleb and Alex in between acts

They wondered if they were the youngest at the concert.

So there must have been 50,000 people there...or thousands and thousands anyway...but who do they spy just 5 rows in front of us...one of their school classmates, with her sister and her dad.  Small world.  So there were more kids their age.

Of course there were kids from school just in front of us!!  Crazy.  

The youngest person we saw was about 8 months old, being carried in a front pack by his dad.  Hope he had earplugs on under his little wee beanie.  Gregg and I wondered if perhaps we should have taken Elena??  But that was a stupid so very fleeting thought.

No front pack for the baby for us at the concert - no baby

Anyway, U2 came on.  EVERYBODY stood up.  Caleb couldn't see that well...so we got him to jump up on the seats.  The look on his face once he properly saw the stage, the lights, the mass of people in the stands, the people in the mosh pits and general admission areas was my best memory of the concert.  It was one of awe and amazement and excitement combined with a little bit of shock and overwhelmingness (is that a word?).  His face lit up, his eyes sparkled.  It was great to see.  I loved it.  

They were thrilled at feeling the bass pounding in their chests.  Alex got a new respect for the drums and promised to go hard on his drum lessons.  Caleb promised to get his guitar out and start playing that again.  Perhaps they will start a band.  

11.30 arrived, the concert was over, the stadium seats started to clear, and we shuffled our way out through the scaffolding, carried along by the thousands of people.  Not one complaint from the boys this time about having to hold our hands while we trekked back to the car up Great South Road.  The car ride home was less energetic as the tiredness had set in...but all agreed they had loved the concert and can't wait till their next one.

Not so much energy at the end of the concert.