Day 61 of my U2 360 tour brought me to Philadelphia. Growing up in Baltimore, I’ve been to Philadelphia many, many times, but never to this part of the city. I am staying at the wonderful Hotel Palomar in the arts district – many shops and restaurants all around. The staff at the Hotel Palomar is fantastic! They upgraded me to a one bedroom suite complete with refrigerator, microwave, sleeper sofa, 2 flatscreen tvs, a separate bedroom and living room and a huge bathroom. They framed an 8×10 picture of Elvis and Cilla and left them treats, beds and bowls. They left me bottled water and fruit. It is a great hotel!

After unpacking, organizing and having lunch, I took a cab to Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing to see Soundgarden. I bought a fanclub GA, so we were let into the venue before the regular GA. My friend Emily joined me in line. We got to the front rail on the left – Edge side. Basically the same place I was last year when I saw Soundgarden at Lollapalooza. I was talking with a guy named Andrew who also saw Soundgarden at Lollapalooza last year. He is the lead singer of a band called Shadowplay who are recording their first album right now.

After a crazy and an annoying opening band, Mars Volta, Soundgarden took the stage at 8:45. They played my favorites Spoonman, My Wave, Fell on Black Days, Rusty Cage, and Black Hole Sun.  They were great and seemed really excited that the Philly audience was so enthusiastic. Chris even said something like, ‘Finally a real crowd.’ Philly concerts are always the best, which is why the U2 show tomorrow night should be great.

About halfway through the show after Fell on Black Days (my favorite Soundgarden song), I moved off the front rail. I just couldn’t take it anymore. The audience was getting a bit rowdy and crowd surfing. I thought I would move back or to the side to have some room. I kept walking back, but it never cleared out. It was jammed with people everywhere. I think it was more crowded that U2 GA. Festival Pier is just basically a parking lot – no seats anywhere, just a big concrete area.

Please watch my video of my great day in Philadelphia with Soundgarden http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dCm30Yrcqk Now I’m going to hopefully get a good night’s sleep in my wonderful suite and rest up for the U2 show tomorrow!