#15 - the rose bowl

august will be the last month of the sky is big in pasadena.  

i have accepted a position at salford mennonite church in harleysville, pennsylvania.  we will be moving in september, so august will be my farewell month to the city of pasadena.  when we moved here from virginia i posted a list of the ten things i would miss most about harrisonburg.  i figured that would be a good way to end our time here, so each day i will be doing one final rundown of life in this great city.  i have prepared two lists - ten things i won't be sad to leave behind, and twenty of my absolute favorite things about pasadena.  i am going to start with ten positives and ten negatives, alternating back and forth each day.  concluding with my top ten things about life in pasadena.

 

 

# 15 - the rose bowl

iconic in every way, this looming stadium is tucked away in the arroyo seco.  its precarious environment doesn't prevent it from hosting huge events throughout the year from college football to international soccer to major concerts.  we were fortunate to check out a ucla football game during our time here, but the highlight rose bowl event for me was the incredible u2 concert that was streamed on youtube and eventually released as a concert dvd.

rose bowl aquatic center at night

while walking back to my car after the recent arroyo verde awards, i noticed that there were bright lights and noise coming from the aquatic center.

i thought, "seriously?"

it was december after all - cold enough that i could see my breath - and yet the pool was packed.  many seemed to be playing or practicing water polo, while others were just swimming laps.  the pool was creating a good amount of steam in the air, and it made for quite a sight.

august theme day: bright colours AND cd sunday: u2's how to dismantle an atomic bomb

a lot going on today, so i hope you can keep up.  for starters, today is the first of the month which means that today is theme day.  today's theme of bright colours is captured perfectly by the massive 360 stage from u2's rose bowl concert from last year.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

you might be wondering why i would post a photo that is several months old - well, for starters, this week u2 begins the second leg of their 360 tour - a stretch of shows that was originally canceled after some emergency back surgery.  which is exciting news for those of us in southern california who have tickets to the anaheim shows which were originally scheduled for early this summer.

second, today is a sunday which means that i am continuing my top 20 favorite album countdown.  today's album happens to be u2's how to dismantle an atomic bomb.  this album is one of my favorites for a variety of reasons.  for starters, i think it captures both the political and entertainment personalities of the band quite well.

while i struggled to connect with the somewhat predictable lead single, "vertigo", i do think it is an amazing song for a live stadium concert.  the rest of the album is filled with songs that i believe will stand as examples of u2's brilliance.  songs with deep spiritual and emotional meaning like "miracle drug", "crumbs from your table", and "yahweh", set the depth of the album.  but by far my favorite track is the beautiful "city of blinding lights" - which is quite possibly my favorite u2 song.

i know with u2 you either love 'em or hate 'em.  bono is certainly in the same polarizing category.  and their self-proclaimed title of the biggest band in the world certainly causes some to run the other way.  for whatever reason, this has been a band that i've loved for a long time.

1. u2 - the joshua tree
2. dave matthews band - crash
3. cake - comfort eagle
4. blue rodeo - five days in july
5. the beach boys - pet sounds
6. coldplay - viva la vida
7. weezer - pinkerton
8. mates of state - re-arrange us
9. radiohead - ok computer 
10. nickel creek - this side

another shot of the rose bowl from above

i posted a similar picture of the rose bowl from above way back when u2 was about to play there. this photo is more of a winter scene with some snow on the mountains and empty parking lots.

rose bowl and golf course

a slight haze on the horizon prevents this photo from being truly epic. click on the image to get a full sense of the area. you may be able to find the colorado street bridge, city hall, vista del arroyo hotel, and many other local landmarks.

bcs national championship aftermath

i took this photo from the colorado street bridge overlooking the still illuminated rose bowl after thursday evening's national college football title game. the streaking car lights in the foreground are from the 134 freeway bridge.

the tide rolls through pasadena

while i am neither passionate about college football, nor someone willing to spend hundreds of dollars to get in to the national championship, i was excited about the big game being here in pasadena at the rose bowl. and while i was not at the game, i did have several friends who were there in person - one of whom, my friend angela, sent me this photo from her seats at the game. what a view!

of course those of you who watched the game know that the alabama crimson tide knocked off the texas longhorns. i guess cows can't swim, or maybe crimson out shines burnt orange... i dunno.

more skywatch friday as usual can be found right here.

football floats

the two teams involved in this year's rose bowl game had their own floats in the parade. i think ohio state's float was a tiny bit better, and where i was watching the parade there were far more ohio state fans around than oregon. maybe that is why they were victorious on the field.

rose bowl court of champions

along the south side of the rose bowl is a massive wall listing every rose bowl champion throughout history. i'm not a huge college football fan, but it is never the less a very cool part of this historic building.

u2's red 360 monster lights up the pasadena sky

last in a series of u2 concert photos from the rose bowl on sunday. you can see my facebook photo album here.

more skywatch friday found here.

zoo station

i like this photo for a number of reasons - good shot of the rose bowl crowd, demonstrates how much the center screen changed throughout the concert, haze from the smoke machines are blowing all over, the lighting REALLY illuminates how looming and massive this structure is. compare it to monday's photo for a good comparison of how much our view changed through the night. gotta love u2.

guest photo: it might get loud

yesterday's comments revealed that i had missed out on getting a picture of the traffic signs around the rose bowl warning of loud music. fortunately my friend debbie snapped a shot and passed it on to me to use today. thanks deb!

the whole u2 at the rose bowl show can be seen right here, although i must admit that the recording really doesn't do justice to how loud the crowd noise was. of course, a traffic sign is not a great warning to the surrounding area, and some people were not impressed.


if you want to see more of the massive stage, see my facebook photos here.

let me in the sound! let me in the sound!

just got home from the u2 concert at the rose bowl. as you can see from this photo, our seats were pretty far back, but we had a great time soaking the incredible spectacle that was this concert.

if you watched it on youtube, please leave a comment and let me know how it was!

i'll go crazy if i don't go crazy tonight

a close-up version of friday's skywatch offering.

tonight is the big u2 concert! i can't wait. i should have some photos from the concert in the upcoming week. stay tuned!

hello, hello... u2's stage rises into the sky at the rose bowl

needless to say, those of us who will be attending the largest event ever at the rose bowl this coming sunday, are getting very excited. and don't worry if you don't have tickets - you can stream it on youtube! the incredible 13 story stage is not yet complete, yet already rises into the pasadena sky above the rose bowl's seating.

el-e-va-tion!

more skywatch friday (although probably less u2 based) can be found here.

roller hockey at the rose bowl parking lot

i snapped a picture of some people playing hockey - southern california style - over at the rose bowl. click on the image for a close up.

rose bowl neon

remember when i posted neon every friday? maybe i should bring that back...

fireworks at pasadena's rose bowl

from saturday night's display. our vantage point above the rose bowl gave us a view of a good portion of the san gabriel valley and the fireworks that were being set off around the entire area.

rounding the rose bowl

here's the peloton during one of their final laps of saturday's stage 7 race in pasadena. the amgen tour of california was won by levi leipheimer who you can see in this picture riding with his teammates. he's one of the last riders at the front with the blue helmets, riding next to lance armstrong (in the yellow helmet).

breaking away

the lead pack of riders had stretched out a sizable lead by the time they hit pasadena during yesterday's stage 7 of the tour of california. this photo is of that group of 10 riders who ended up crossing the finish line ahead of everyone else at the rose bowl. the race concludes tomorrow in escondido, ca.

more to come tomorrow.