gloria002

Portland - end of leg 3 Next Montreal and Boston, where Marcy made 5,000 ONE-signs to hand out in the GA. (after we heard that, we advised pple to use copy-machines, hihi)She was allowed to distribute those signs inside the venue before the show. But nothing was on the back, and both Donna and I later ran into posts from pple who wondered what it was all about. which is why we suggested to the next in line to add a printing on the back. Saying what and why, where pple could find more info and what they were supposed to do with the signs. Johnny, another hard working member of the Canadian clan, bringing the banner from Montreal to Boston to Sharon. Sharon texted me there was ‘magic in the air’. Bono pulled the banner onstage again, and specifically wanted her up there too. Excellent choice, if you ask me :-) Buffalo, where the banner was in the safe hands of Carolyn again. Salt Lake City, where Renee had prepared her action for weeks. Calling people to bring a white T-shirts with ONE. Bought 200 ONE-bands to hand out, took sign-up forms, ... talking talking talking ... After that, she flew to Portland, taking the banner to the next show. Portland. I had been saving extra money and holidays, because I had plans to come to America to see one of those small gigs. The choice between Sharon (Boston) and Donna (Portland) was heart-breaking, so I let fate decide. A few weeks before the show, I entered a section in the Zoo I didn't often visited, and I stumbled accross a post that ETS has GA’s for Portland. The choice was made. It was a tremendous pleasure to meet Donna, after working together for so long. And to meet the others we work with. We ended up handing out thousands of ONE signs again. And THANK YOU signs, a great initiative from the people from interference :-) I brought the banner home after this ‘jetlagweekend’ (back and forth in 4.5 days - 24 hours of travelling to get there) It was full, I added a third piece in Portland using safety-pins. time to sow it all together :-)

onstage again Next, New York. Sharon set up a campaign for the gigs in New Jersey on the first leg, and was a perfect choice to take the banner to the gigs in NY and Philly. My Portuguese friends, Hugo and Tania, travelled to America for the gigs there, and I told them to hook up with Sharon, which they did. Next thing you know … I get a text message in the middle of the night, that kicked me straight out of my bed. Hugo texted me at the spot, that Bono took Tania onstage to show the banner to the audience. … The only girl in the entire venue who had seen the banner here in Europe … The coincidence was striking! More stories and pictures for the Zoo. And more people were inspired. In fact, this banner seemed to give some of them the courage to stand out from the crowd, get involved, and try to convince others. Two women in Atlanta and Salt Lake City decided to start campaigning, and Donna and I backed them up, helping them by sending out e-mails to radio-stations and newspapers and keeping them motivated when response came slow of not at all (yeah well, been there done that. to them, it was all new and when you're enthousiastic, you think the whole world is. Not.) More travelling : Houston, Dallas and Las Vegas. The banner moved on – thank’s to FedEx for some very short deliveries - : Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta. Kristen doing a great job in Atlanta. Admitting that she was so scared … a little girl in a big city … but she went out there, talked to the people in the GA-line to have them join the One Campaign. (sign up forms come in so handy :-)) Ottawa. Blake, who made a MPH-banner and has been taking it to all sorts of places, and has send it out to all kinds of places in order to find support for the cause, collecting signatures. He managed to meet Bono and have his banner signed. But more importantly : he also managed to deliver it to the Prime Ministers Office. We had Carolyn there who worked very hard all day. Asking people to sign the ONE declaration in the GA-line, and at the ETS party. Talking to the press, ... She took ‘my’ banner to the gig, spot at the fence … and Bono pulled her onstage to show it to the audience again ! Yep, a hype is all you need. The press loves it, and that's the perfect way to get the campaign in the spotlight.

banner starts travelling - the hype did the rest For me, one of the best summers ever had come to an end. But the banners had another journey to make. Our work of spreading awareness isn’t finished … at all ! Once home, I checked if all the names were added, and off they went to Jill in Canada. Donna’s Canadian clan, who set up the white ONE T-shirts campaign in Vancouver earlier on the tour, had high plans for the Toronto gigs. I suggested I send the banner out there and Jill said she would take it. (Donna, think you should tell your paint job here :-)) More people found out about it, and volunteered to take the banners to the gigs they were attending. Spreading it out in the GA-line and explaining people what they were for. Always trying to get them to at least think about the issues, guiding them to www.one.org. From Toronto, it travelled to the Peace Museum in Chicago, for the auction of the green Falcon. (The Zoo gathered 9,000 dollasr because we wanted the guitar to stay in the Museum. Unfortunately, we got outbid by deeper pockets. But then again : our Money went to the Museum, so even though we lost, we still win). It got there too late for the auction, but still in time for the shows (it got lost after delivery and a totally freaking out Zootop send me messages, I managed to calm her down, said nobody ate the thing and told her to look for it logically, and she soon found it.) Thus, she took them to the Chicago shows, where people who’d heard about it, went out to look for it, to add their names. Not exactly what I had in mind at the beginning. But then again, I had nothing specific in mind. All I wanted was to send it out, hoping others would feel what I felt, and get involved. I gave it a few minutes thought, and concluded this evolution was actually good. I realised these banners had become some sort of symbol, and I figured : how can we say no to someone who wants to become ‘part of the family’ by adding his name on it. Up came Milwaukee, with one of the mods from the Zoo as safekeeper. Pam (Feathers) sewed the 2 parts together, which made it easier to carry from one place to another. And they alerted me late at night, that they had it signed by Edge and later on, by Bono. I was a bit worried that this would make the banner a hot item. But the symbolic aspect made the Zootops who carried it, protect it as if their lives depended on it. I smiled and thought I didn’t have to worry. The banner started leading its own life, actually doing a better job than I'd ever dared to hope it would.

ONE thread - Lisbon By then we’d set up a special One/MPH thread in the Zoo. All the pictures from people taking action all over the world, we try to gathered them there. I posted mine too and apparently, those caught the attention of the rest of the animals in the Zoo. Interesting … But first, I had one last show to attend … Lisbon. Yep, but not without problems. The broker where I bought my tickets, decided to go into voluntary liquidation one month before the show. Hence, no tickets and my money gone !! With flight and hotel booked, and my heart set on the experience, I searched the net to find new tickets. I don’t understand a word of Portuguese, but reading it went surprisingly well. So I bought a pair of tickets from a scalper on some sort of Portugese ebay-website and was worried about how this deal was supposed to end. Up came the live chat/broadcast for Milan (one person calling from the show, one collecting the call broadcasting from behind his computer, and all the others listening and typing - yahoo chat) I joined - actually enjoyed hearing something that sounded like U2 in a filled bath-tub (luckily, the sounds isn’t always that bad on the live-chats), but I also ran into Hugo Martins, a Portuguese guy. A total stranger, fellow Zootop, who decided to come to my rescue after he heard my story. He drove 2 hours up the country, scarcely missing the terrible forest-fires. Had to wait another hour for that guy to show up with the tickets, and drove 2 hours back to Lisbon. Said he didn’t want my money until I got to Lisbon, and he could deliver me those tickets personally. I fell off my chair when I learned he did all this from the goodness of his heart for a total stranger. And more was to come. The Portugueese set up the One World – One love action, to join hands during ONE. Excellent work, more names to be added to the banner and the campaing got extra publicity due to their efforts to get their initiative in the media. When I got to Lisbon with my husband, Hugo had us ‘adopted’ by a group of 49 Portugueese (and 1 Mexican) fruitcakes, who had travelled to see all gigs on the Iberian peninsula. Hugo took us to the Concha Bar the day before the gig, where I was introduced to the guys who started One world-One love, AND to the people from Pobreza Zero (Portuguese ONE). More pictures for the Zoo coming as I pulled out the Zootopians united against poverty banner and the press had a field day. Pobreza Zero gave us one of their banners to take to the gig. Who has rope in her pockets when she goes to a U2 gig ? Well, I do. Blame it on too many festivals and friends asking me if I’ve seen their missing shoe, which usually I have, tied up with the rest of our and their gear when evening falls ! Anyway, we hung that banner on the fence for the press to pick it up. We spend 2 more fantastic days in and around Lisbon with a few U2-fans. Glorious days. we stay in touch, and we know we will meet again. :-)

a banner born 4 days in Dublin, with way too much partying and way too little sleep. It took me about a week to recover from it. Good thing I had a holiday. And while I was sitting in the sun in the backyard, listening to my Ipod, I was pondering about all the wonderful experiences I had so far. 3 fantastic gigs. But so much more !!! I found wonderful souls in the Zoo. Some of them I met at the gigs. And other than that, a lot of people go to multiple concerts, and all of us – fruitcakes – kept running into each other. We had our hearts filled with the same passion and joy, and our head with a lot of similar ideas. Over the years, I have spend a lot of hours at doors to see U2 play. But I never talked to so many people as I was doing now. And for the first time in my life, I realised just how many people feel the same about U2 and the causes behind it. After 22 years of fruitcakeness on my own, I finally found a ‘family’ that fitted me perfectly. I just had to do something with those feelings. Thus, I took out the last sheet I had, and decided to make a banner to express this. “Zootopians united against poverty”. 2 afternoons in the sun, and although I felt a bit silly, I liked what it looked like in the end. What I was going to do with it, I actually had no clue. I thought I’d figure that one out on the road. I posted 2 pictures in the Zoo, and received some really nice reactions. I decided to take it with me to the next gigs (Amsterdam II and III) and see if I could find more people to join the cause. Meanwhile, I had been gathering the names of the people who had started actions elsewhere, and wrote those on the banner. Similar experiences in Amsterdam. More names added to the banner. More people joining the movement. Unbelievable !

Donna - Dublin Somewhere in the proces of our preparations, I found out about Donna who was doing a similar thing for the Vancouver gigs, but with ONE T-shirts (she should tell her own story !). And when Debbie mentionned she wanted to set things up for Dublin, the three of us joined forces. My hubbie send me a link to a radio-station that was doing a special on U2, and I send them an e-mail with our plans : spread the word on ONE - MPH, ask pple to show their support by wearing a white T-shirt with those things printed on them. Well, I did send out a lot of e-mails (again!), and so did Donna and Debbie, but they were one of the few who responded. I told them I was merely back-up. That Debbie was in charge of Dublin. But once I was in Dublin, they called me on my cell. Saying they wanted all 3 of us on the phone to talk about it. They wanted us live on the radio at 6 pm, but by that time, I would be inside the venue, somewhere up front, with a support act onstage. Not exactly a good time to get a call. Plans changed, they would call us in the afternoon, and tape it. I was in the GA-line for the gig when the call came, with soundcheck going ! Debbie was somewhere in Dublin, and Donna was pulled out of her bed in Canada. Dave Fanning was the one who interviewed us. Me, moron, having trouble remembering names, had no idea who I was talking to. My zoo-friend Diarmuid went nuts and said, you actually have God on the phone, and I thought, HUH ? For those who don't know him (hèhèh, I'm NOT the only one), he's a very famous DJ in ireland. One who has supported U2 from the very beginning ... pfhihi, let's say I found the right man without realising it :-)) But you know, maybe it’s for the best, being ignorent made it easier to just say what I had to say, without getting nervous. It was hard enough to hear and understand everything. English is not my first language and in the middle of the conversation, U2 soundchecked ‘Who’s gonna ride your wild horses’, and the crowd in the GA-line went nuts !!!

how did we work ? Been a busy week here, I'm delighted to see Donna already started telling what we've all been up to :-) When I started for Brussels, my intention was to have a warm welcome for the band. It had to do with the presale and general sale being quite a fiasco, and everyone complaining ... I posted a topic in the international section in the Zoo, to see how others would react to the idea. Much to my joy and relief, quite a few people responded, and we tried to find something that would work. Visible, meaningful, safe for everyone, not blocking anyone’s view, not leaving a mess at the venue, keeping in mind it was outdoors hence any kind of weather was possible, and stay away from logistical nightmares … very high demands. Shortly after that, the wonders of technology brought Bono's speech at the TED-awards on my computer. The one speech that had me convinced that, if ever I was to take action, this would be a good time. We found out about the ONE-bands, and decided to have our own version of them, meanwhile guiding people to the real ones. White bandanas, made of cloth. For people to wear around their head, on their arm, it didn’t really matter, as long as they were visible. The warm welcome was turning into a request to people to act as ONE. We all loved the idea. So did Clear Channel (event organisation) when we informed them what we had in mind. BUT ... they couldn’t give us approval to bring anything into the venue. They said we needed permission from Principle Management. I called, faxed, e-mailed … but the only answer I got was : “they are looking into it” I can see what the problem was. We had a Belgian humanitary organisation, who was actually willing to pay for thousans of those bands. Protos, part of the North-South movement, teaching people how to find drinking water, how to keep wells working, so they are no longer depending on aid. We thought it fit right into the concept of ONE. And in fact, months later, they turned out to be part of the Belgian version of ONE (2015 – de tijd loopt). But I guess everyone was terrified that we were about to connect the band to an unknown organisation. I had forseen that, and added a request to allow us to distribute pure white bandana’s. Things we made ourselves, from shredded sheets or God-knows-what-else, no organisation involved. But even that question was left unanswered. With less than 4 weeks to go, me, and my Zootop-friend Reggy, realised we had to make a drastical change in our plans, because the answer would never be there in time. We set up a website, and decided to go after the people who were coming to the gig. Websites, radio-stations, magazines, newspapers, … They weren’t exactly waiting for us. I kind of tricked one paper into printing the story, and slowly but surely, the rest followed. Hours and hours and hours have I spend online, searching for media and fansites, posting what we were up to, guiding pple to our website. I have mailed a gazillion people to try and spread the word ... We were horrified a few times in the last 2 weeks. Some journalists had the story wrong. How hard can it be, we explained with both hands and feet, AND we had a website in 3 languages ! It did teach us to make a press release and have them use that. No mistakes possible. Others wanted us in the paper and not our story. Anyway, about 1.000 people let us know through the website, they were joining us. And I don’t know how many more were convinced we were bringing those bandanas ourselves, and would hand them out. Damn ! In the middle of our frustration, people were mailing us to say they had 20, 50, … 2 persons had 300 bandanas ready, and were asking where to bring them. I decided to give it one last desperate attempt with Clear Channel to be able to get those inside … and 3 days before the gig, they said YES ! With too little time left to get that info out, a few of us started shreading sheets in massive amounts. The last 5 sheets I had, I took with me to the door the day of the gig. A quite enjoyable way to make the day go by, even for the ones sitting around us who watched us struggle with pieces of cloth. lol. Since we weren’t allowed to hand the bandana’s out on the streets, me and 5 friends were carrying a ton of bags as we went through the gates, hoping security would be informed. Luckily, they were. Once inside, we secured our spot at the rail outside the bomb shelter, and 6 of us started working, telling people what they were for. Asking them to join this cause. Thanks to the papers, most people already knew what they were for, and they were actually screaming for them ! 4.000 bandana’s, and surely, not enough ! Truth is, it was hard work, but so much fun to do !! Neither me nor Reggy could have imagined that so many people would give us such warm reactions. We were both amazed and thrilled by the experience. Sidenote : none of us had a clue Bono would take things as far as he did during the shows. Imagine our surprise when we heard his speech at the beginning of ONE during the first show of the tour !!

Hi donna, good to see you here. You're shy ? Well let me introduce you ... here's the woman I've worked with for over a year now. She started working with friends on a campaign in Vancouver, about the time me and my friends started one for Brussels. We ran into each other in the Zoo, and joined forces. Turns out we were both inpired by the same speech : Bono accepting the TED-award. She's my back-up. I'm hers. We keep each other motivated and whine at each other when we get frustrated. We meet in Portland, and are looking forward to meeting again in Hawaii :-)

thanks for the warm welcome :-) I'll start writing ASAP ! Hoping you'll find something you can use. haha, well look who's in your siggy, Apple. lol.

Thanks :-) and great to hear you guys are active too !!!

Hi all, I am Tina, 36, Belgian. And actually a big U2-fan. I've come here, because I noticed some of you are setting up some kind of charity for 'coldplay causes' ... and I noticed on some other board that the banner 'Zootopians united against poverty' was mentionned. I'm the one who made that thing, and send it into the world. Along with friends from all over the world, we've set up succesful and less succesfull (:-)) campaigns for ONE - MPH at U2-shows, using that banner to get the issues in the press. In case you haven't heard, the last 10 U2 shows have been postponed. It gives us more time to set up campaigns. We are currently working on Japan and Hawaii. The last one will be the biggest, with numorous pple who have campaigned throughout the tour, who will be there. A fine gathering to look forward too :-). Anyway, I really really love what you guys are doing. Inspiration is a thing of beauty ! I just want to say, if you need a hand, or want to know more about we've been doing, just buzz. There's no reason why we can't work together. We can dream of the world we want to live in. Dream out loud ! Love Tina