Good news for U2 fans..

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

Who cares?

I care a wee bit because they've made a big deal about not doing it in the past. So what's changed? It just seems like yet another sign that the main motivation at this point is the money--if it ever wasn't. I say this as a huge fan.

 

Edit: When they were called on it with the iPod thing (granted, they weren't paid for the ad per se), Bono said something about Apple making beautiful machines in a world full of ugly things. What's he's going to say about Research In Motion? Probably some fluff about connecting the world together.

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

But maybe Blackberry's sponsorship is part of what's making those $30 and $55 possible. If it's less money out of fans' pockets, maybe it's not a bad thing.

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

I'm sure. But wouldn't a corporate sponsorship have lowered ticket prices in the past? Again, what has changed?

[Sir Stewart]

I'm sure. But wouldn't a corporate sponsorship have lowered ticket prices in the past? Again, what has changed?

 

Why isn't lower ticket prices a viable answer? Especially considering the state of the economy.

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

I'm sure Live Nation "encouraged" them to pick up corporate sponsorship, and I have no doubt that the whole U2 camp has in the backs of their minds what a financial disaster Popmart was. A band embarking on a stadium tour in this economy is either bold or stupid (I'm giving them credit for being bold...I hope we can say that a year from now). I can see why longtime fans would feel uneasy about this decision. I just am a lot less bothered by it than I am many of the other business decisions U2 has made in the last few years.

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

Why isn't lower ticket prices a viable answer? Especially considering the state of the economy.

Of course it's a viable answer, but I imagine it always has been. They have been reluctant to use sponsors in the past. I guess it makes a certain amount of sense IN THIS ECONOMY.

 

I just am a lot less bothered by it than I am many of the other business decisions U2 has made in the last few years.

And I see it as just another one of those same business decisions. Another brick in the wall.

[scribex6]

I'm not up on all the name calling but it just struck me as, "really! of all the bands out there, U2 are listening to Coldplay and the Killers?"

 

To be fair, The Edge has also cited the Fleet Foxes, The Arcade Fire, The Secret Machines, School of Seven Bells and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as bands who he's been listening to. In the latest Rolling Stone, he specifically cites the Fleet Foxes as an influence on "White as Snow."

 

I think Bono cites the Killer and Coldplay because they're among the few rock acts with the same kind of ambition as U2.

[Sir Stewart]

WZLX just had a caller on the line saying two 18-wheelers are unloading band equipment into the back entrance of the Somerville Theatre.

And, tix for Watchmen are not available for tomorrow on the theatre's web site, and that's been playing in the big theatre.

 

Perhaps it was already a foregone conclusion, but it's still fun to investigate...anyone gonna be there just to be there tomorrow?

[aricandover]

WZLX just had a caller on the line saying two 18-wheelers are unloading band equipment into the back entrance of the Somerville Theatre.

And, tix for Watchmen are not available for tomorrow on the theatre's web site, and that's been playing in the big theatre.

 

Perhaps it was already a foregone conclusion, but it's still fun to investigate...anyone gonna be there just to be there tomorrow?

 

 

from WXRT's website

 

U2 3 NIGHTS LIVE

 

 

Part One: Live from Los Angeles

MONDAY NIGHT (8-9pm)

An inside look at the new CD, No Line on the Horizon. The band will play selections from the album and discuss the recording process, as well as sharing the concepts and ideas behind their latest work. The night

[John Smith]

Yeah, why anyone would voluntarily subject themselves to going to Norman, OK is beyond me.

 

Don't the Longhorns play FB there every other year?

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

WZLX just had a caller on the line saying two 18-wheelers are unloading band equipment into the back entrance of the Somerville Theatre.

And, tix for Watchmen are not available for tomorrow on the theatre's web site, and that's been playing in the big theatre.

 

Perhaps it was already a foregone conclusion, but it's still fun to investigate...anyone gonna be there just to be there tomorrow?

 

I heard rumblings about that possibility a day or two ago, but at that point it just sounded like all the other rumors, which is why I didn't mention it here.

 

The band signed autographs and talked to fans for a long time in L.A. last night. I'm tempted to drive out there, though that's a long haul for me.

[bleedorange]

Don't the Longhorns play FB there every other year?

 

Nope. That game is played in the Cotton Bowl every year during the State Fair. For college football fans, one of the greatest atmospheres for any game.

 

Granted, all the other sports play there each year. But they have no choice in the matter.

[John Smith]

Nope. That game is played in the Cotton Bowl every year during the State Fair. For college football fans, one of the greatest atmospheres for any game.

 

Every year? How did OK agree to that? The cotton bowl is hardly neutral ground.

[John Smith]

Part Two: Live from Chicago

TUESDAY NIGHT (8-9pm)

The members of U2 spin their favorite records live on 93XRT at an undisclosed location.

 

The Sun Times says that the undisclosed location is the Metro.

[bleedorange]

Every year? How did OK agree to that? The cotton bowl is hardly neutral ground.

 

Well, it has been played in Dallas since about 1910 (I think 1912) and in the Cotton Bowl since the '30s. Dallas is actually closer to Norman than to Austin by about 10 miles or so. And as someone who lives in Fort Worth, I can attest that there is just as big of an alumni base for Oklahoma as there is for Texas in the DFW area.

[OOO]

My brother was hanging around outside the Metro today and just met Bono and Adam Clayton.

 

Apparently, a pregnant lady asked him, "Bono, can i get a picture with you for my future kid?"

And he said: "You can't get pregnant from just taking a picture with me"

Then he took the picture and kissed her belly

[Analogman]

U2 Tops The Billboard 200

U2 scores its seventh No. 1 on The Billboard 200.

March 11, 2009 11:07 AM ET

Katie Hasty, N.Y.

 

U2 scores its seventh No. 1 on The Billboard 200 as "No Line on the Horizon" bows in the top slot. The Interscope album moved 484,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, the best sales week for an artist since Britney Spears' "Circus" arrived at No. 1 in early December with 505,000. U2 is now tied with Led Zeppelin for the second-most No. 1s by a band, behind only the Beatles' 19.

 

U2 first topped the Billboard 200 in 1987 with "The Joshua Tree," spending nine consecutive weeks at No. 1. The group followed it with four No. 1s in a row: "Rattle and Hum" (1988), "Achtung Baby" (1991), "Zooropa" (1993) and "Pop" (1997). The band returned to No. 1 again in 2004 with "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." That album was released during Thanksgiving week of 2004 and bowed with 840,000.

 

U2 dislodges Taylor Swift from her longstanding position at the summit, bumping "Fearless" (Big Machine) down to No. 2 with 52,000 on a 29% sales decline.

[Sir Stewart]

ATYCLB was not a #1? Huh.

[Sir Stewart]

This Boston Q&A is freakin fantastic.

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

Yeah, the performance sounded great, too.

[John Smith]

U2 holds 1,000-seat concert in Mass. city

Recommend Comments

 

March 12, 2009

 

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

SOMERVILLE, Mass.---- U2 shook a small city, and riled up a core of rabid fans, when it gave a private concert in a venue a tiny fraction of the size of the stadiums it plans to fill later this year.

 

The Irish rock band played the 1,000-seat Somerville Theater in Davis Square on Wednesday night as fans swarmed the area, looking for a way into the show or for just a glimpse of the musicians.

 

RELATED STORIESSecret's out: U2 at Metro tonight

 

The group played five songs, four from its new album, "No Line on the Horizon." U2 started off the set with the new song "Get on Your Boots." It also played "Vertigo."

 

U2 was big in the Boston area before it was big everywhere, and played the Paradise club in Boston in 1980 during its first North American tour.

 

"This is where it all began for us, Boston, Mass.," said lead singer Bono, who along with the rest of the band, took written questions from the audience after the performance.

 

There were several days of rumors and speculation before the location for the concert was revealed. Tickets were long gone by showtime, many through local radio stations.

 

Socrates Cruz, 24, a musician from Cambridge, said he spent almost the entire day calling radio stations trying to win tickets. He didn't succeed, but decided to go to the scene anyway.

 

"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't come," he said.

 

Elena Viveiros, 45, of Somerville, said she had "zero hope" of getting into the show but wanted to experience the energy outside the theater. She carried a radio on her hip so she could hear a live broadcast of the concert.

 

Some fans were luckier.

 

JoAnn and Steve Lagasse, of Haverhill, said they'd seen the band all around the country. When they learned that tickets were going to be available on the radio for the Somerville concert, they each picked a station and started dialing.

 

"I bawled, I started crying, in fact I couldn't even speak for a while when (Steve) told me we won," JoAnn Lagasse said.

 

The theater is one of the small venues U2 is playing as it promotes its new album. The band is touring this summer, starting in Europe and ending in the United States, including a Sept. 20 concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

[Sir Stewart]

Couple weeks on - 'Get On Your Boots' is more tolerable within the confines of the album, but I have a theory that those lyrics were placeholders that Bono forgot to re-record. "Women are the future/what a big revelation" (or whatever). The other rockers are the standouts so far - 'Stand Up Comedy' has a tight groove with lyrics that strut like GOYB's want to. 'Magnificent' is just fantastic. The title track is so good - I don't get why this one wasn't being played on the media blitz tour. And I'll defend the enjoyable, pedestrian 'Crazy Tonight' alone for the line "the right to be ridiculous is something I hold dear."

 

I'm addicted to U2 - have been for about twenty years. So as I listen to their new one (again) I have the creeping feeling that I could be listening to something else, something I'm unfamilar with instead. Is U2 like mac & cheese? I can hear clearly that they're trying, they're not just putting out an album to launch a megatour behind that features the hits the crowd needs. These songs are vibrant - who else could get away with having a longassed career that is represented heavily on classic radio, then playing a hugely hyped theatre show (the Somerville Theatre ain't no club, no matter what you're hearing) consisting of four new songs and one song that's barely five years old - and not getting shit for it? This album is not as good as U2 says it is, but it's pretty good. So I guess why not play it to death for a few weeks.

[LenF]

I can hear clearly that they're trying, they're not just putting out an album to launch a megatour behind that features the hits the crowd needs. These songs are vibrant - who else could get away with having a longassed career that is represented heavily on classic radio, then playing a hugely hyped theatre show (the Somerville Theatre ain't no club, no matter what you're hearing) consisting of four new songs and one song that's barely five years old - and not getting shit for it? This album is not as good as U2 says it is, but it's pretty good. So I guess why not play it to death for a few weeks.

 

I mentioned earlier in this thread that the odds are against them ever creating another superior album such as War, Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby. However, what I think gets them by is that they still tend to put out albums that generally sound good and build their setlists around new material rather than just playing an obligatory new song or two.

 

They also can still create a classic song. Beautiful Day is a great rock song and is up there with any single song they have ever created. While I am not a fan of their hyper rave-ups... Vertigo is another song that feels just as comfortable as I Will Follow, New Year's Day, With or Without You, or Until the End of the World as setlist standard. Because of time and legacy, we know U2 all too well for them to ever really floor us again, but that doesn't mean they can't continue be a great band.

 

That being said, I would love for them to dig up a deep cut or two on this tour.... Exit, God's Country, Surrender, Seconds, Utra Violet... any of them would all fit nicely into a stadium setlist.

[Sir Stewart]

Well said - and I've been really into Ultraviolet the past few days. So good, still.

As far as the continuing quality of output - I suppose it could have something to do with the fact that they are unique - I know this conversation's been done a hundred times here - but there really is something intangibly massive about the fact that these same 4 guys have been huge for three decades, without a breakup, member leaving, reunion BS that has affected every other band in their realm. That alone creates a foundation no band could ever relate to - perhaps it really feeds them.

[auctioneer69]

Couple weeks on - 'Get On Your Boots' is more tolerable within the confines of the album, but I have a theory that those lyrics were placeholders that Bono forgot to re-record. "Women are the future/what a big revelation" (or whatever). The other rockers are the standouts so far - 'Stand Up Comedy' has a tight groove with lyrics that strut like GOYB's want to. 'Magnificent' is just fantastic. The title track is so good - I don't get why this one wasn't being played on the media blitz tour. And I'll defend the enjoyable, pedestrian 'Crazy Tonight' alone for the line "the right to be ridiculous is something I hold dear."

 

I'm addicted to U2 - have been for about twenty years. So as I listen to their new one (again) I have the creeping feeling that I could be listening to something else, something I'm unfamilar with instead. Is U2 like mac & cheese? I can hear clearly that they're trying, they're not just putting out an album to launch a megatour behind that features the hits the crowd needs. These songs are vibrant - who else could get away with having a longassed career that is represented heavily on classic radio, then playing a hugely hyped theatre show (the Somerville Theatre ain't no club, no matter what you're hearing) consisting of four new songs and one song that's barely five years old - and not getting shit for it? This album is not as good as U2 says it is, but it's pretty good. So I guess why not play it to death for a few weeks.

 

Yes, the album really does bear repeated listening (although "Boots" is an awful Frankenstein of a song and "Moment of Surrender" is plain boring) and I really like a lot of the songs too. "Magnificent", the alternative version of "NLOTH", "Breathe", "Fez", and "Unknown Caller" are all very welcome additions to their catalog and it's obvious they still really care about what they release.

 

I'd bet I speak for many when I say that while we still love U2 the music we are sick of U2 the corporation. The roll-out of "New Line On The Horizon" would make Proctor & Gamble or a seasoned political campaigner envious. As a U2 fan all the way back to 1982, while always respecting their ambition, I never thought they would be charging $50 for their fanclub (5 times the price of a CD), releasing 4 or 5 versions of "NLOTH" (by the way not one of those included any new songs), jumping into bed with the heinous Live Nation ($11 beers at the show anyone or $4 water), moving their business for tax reasons from their home country or selling the rights to their tour to the highest bidder (to Blackberry as well - after all the Apple BS a few years ago.)

 

U2 as musicians and people have carefully cultivated their reputation as one of decency and integrity but the way U2 the corporation have acted the last few years mean that this reputation is increasingly sullied.

 

I am glad that they will be offering $30 tickets in the forthcoming tour but this will only be possible because they are only playing stadiums and indeed, designing a stage that will let another 10 - 15 thousand tickets be sold per show. Someone smarter than me could probably confirm that this ltter move will give U2 a greater gross income per gig than any band before them.

 

(On a minor note, as shown at Presidential show in DC, Bono can no simply let the music speak for itself. His pre-song and mid-song ramblings detract from the music and have only gotten unnecessarily longer as he ages.)