The Purple Tunnel of Doom - Lean on Me!

I received tickets to the 2009 Inauguration of Barack Obama from a lottery held by my congressional representative. So I made the trip to Washington D.C. from California. The tickets I received were in the Purple section.

Long story short - the line for the purple section was wrapped through the 3rd street tunnel, then later closed due to security concerns. Purple ticket holders were not allowed entrance.

This was taken after about 3.5 hours in the tunnel - the guys standing on the left started leading people in song, this was one of several. I think the main reason nobody was hurt in this massive crowd was that everyone was in such high spirits. Also because we thought we still had a chance of getting in - even though they were actually slim at this point.

Here's a great write-up on what happened:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01...

And a post on my blog with pics and more vids from the belly of the beast

http://blog.brianvoss.com/2013/02/oba...

• Category

  Travel & Events

[Chodaa]

what where youre doing in that tunnel?

[Brian Voss]

I added some detail to the description.

[zack24hcaz]

To those asking what this is, it was Barack Obama's inauguration. This is the "Purple Tunnel of Doom" because these people had the purple tickets, they weren't guaranteed anything. They were in the tunnel waiting to move forward for hours, and many people were exhausted or sick of waiting in the tunnel. A group of friends (on the left standing on the thingy) thought it'd be fun to try and cheer people up. This is the result.

[Steve Cho]

This was in a commuter tunnel in Washington DC during Obama's first inauguration. The crowds were so big, that the logistics were a mess. People with "Purple Tickets" were told to travel through the tunnel to get to their section, but the exit was a cluster f*ck because you try and fit over a million people in our nation's backyard.

[posalec]

Holy.

[jlkirtland]

Fox News Report: "Hundreds videotaped singing socialist chants and mocking America's founding capitalist principles. Socialist agenda forced onto innocent civilians in tunnel by Karl Marx's extremists."

[slushpup9696]

i got such frisson from this

[cyberage100]

That's where them hypocrite actors should be stuck forever!

[Beth Or Liz]

Wow what idiots!

[curlymolly70]

I love the fact that the punchline was lost on those two people

[curlymolly70]

That is some fucking witty shit right there friend!

Here, have +1 internetz, I share

[dude8746]

Wow. I have never had a YouTube comment make a difference before. Thanks.

[TheResidentSkeptic]

I see what you did there. Karma for you. :-)