"It's cold outside, it gets so hot in here ... and I hear the children crying, and I know it's time to go" is a lyric that has been on my mind all week. Eleven o'clock seems to be a theme as there were a few surprises thrown at fans in the eleventh hour that has left a bitter taste in people’s mouths.
The first major surprise is the announcement of the new start date and location of the third leg of the U2360 tour. Fans who already made their plans to travel to Anaheim for the start of the tour were informed that plans had changed and the tour would be beginning in Salt Lake City. This underscores the frustration we, the buying public, have against U2 and Live Nation about this tour. This has been a topic that has been widely discussed over the past few months, and this decision has only sparked that debate once again in fan circles. Just a few nights ago, M2 and I were discussing this very topic, and he reminded me that these tour-related changes have been going on with U2 since at least 1987 with the end of the Joshua Tree tour in Hampton, Virginia. It wasn't until the last minute when U2 added the two additional nights about a week later on December 19 and 20 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, specifically to add footage for Rattle and Hum. The same issue happened in 2001 when fans thought the end of the Elevation tour would be in Las Vegas, only to have the band end the tour in Miami a few weeks later.
For the U2360 tour, I am trying to reconcile why U2 chose to change their opening night of the third leg. M2 said "This may give the band a chance to work out some new songs or other show elements in a smaller market before heading to Southern California." That is a valid reason. Perhaps they can get into Rice-Eccles Stadium a little earlier to do more rehearsals. Maybe they wanted to visit Utah in a warmer month and give fans in the Salt Lake area a treat. Or, perhaps the transportation schedule required one more city to better arrange where the three stages needed to end up during the third leg. Or maybe Live Nation wanted to see one more show to better their bottom line. Whatever the reason, fans planning to see opening night of leg three were sadly mistaken and are now scrambling to change their plans, spending more money on travel and lodging.
If it's any consolation, this happened with Billy Joel's shows at the old Shea Stadium in New York City. Tickets went on sale for the last ever concert at Shea, only to have the show sell out so quickly that an additional night was added the following night. So, people who bought tickets specifically to say that they were at the last show found out they were really at the second-to-last show. And, yes, there was quite a bit of anger there too.
The next surprise came in the form of an e-mail from Ticketmaster stating that more Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark tickets were being canceled. According to Roger Friedman’s blog, Edge said that a meeting took place between Michael Cohl and Julie Taymor, and that it will open by the end of the year.
I don't know about you, but I'm really interested in finally seeing this. Once all parties involved can convince the buying public that it really will be opening, I'll finally feel confident enough to book my travel to New York City. At this point, lack of confidence is going to be Spider-Man's true foe.
And now ... some random spotting ...
U2's music has been playing quite a bit at the Vancouver Winter Olympics thus far. It's fun to hear "Vertigo" or "Elevation" during a hockey match in between face offs.
Bono was in New York City this week, visiting Rodarte's Fashion Week party on Tuesday.
Is it just me, or does Edge look like he's a very giddy fan after spending some time at a party with Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor in New York City? I swear Edge has the same grin in this photo as I do after a U2 show.
A member of the @U2 forum also spotted Edge dining at Butter in New York City on Friday.
Still waiting for your copy of Artificial Horizon? I am too. After calling Fanfire, I was told that apparently the discs have just arrived at their distribution warehouse and that fans should start seeing them shortly. When asked to define shortly, the woman on the phone couldn't. Ah, Fanfire, I love you so.
And finally, on a serious note: this is still one of the most beautiful songs Bono has ever written, and he gifted it to Roy Orbison. "She's a Mystery to Me" was the last official release Roy Orbison had prior to passing away. Here’s the official video for it.
Until next time ...
©U2/Lawrence, 2010.
