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"So one of the reasons we invented this entity Passengers, is to allow U2 to be somebody else besides U2, I suppose." -- Brian Eno |
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"So one of the reasons we invented this entity Passengers, is to allow U2 to be somebody else besides U2, I suppose." -- Brian Eno |
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Maybe You Could Educate Our MindsAn open letter to U2 from @U2
@U2,
January 12, 2001
Dear U2,
We are troubled by the events surrounding this week's ticket sales. Historically, you come through on your promises and take U2 fans into consideration in your decisions; and we have repaid you with a sense of loyalty and devotion equal to any rock fans in the world, placing you among the world's greatest and richest rock stars. This week, we feel like we've been slapped in the face. For weeks we waited for January 9, the promised date of your tour announcement when we would learn everything we needed to know to help us open our wallets and spend money to see you play this year. But when the dust settled on your announcement, you left us with more questions than answers and you asked us to begin buying your concert tickets without giving us adequate information about what we were buying. And when the ticket sales began less than 24 hours later, the system in place was nothing short of a failure. You told us that all fans who registered through U2.com would be eligible for an advance ticket sale in North America via the Internet that would begin at 10 a.m. ET Wednesday. But you didn't explain how that advance sale would work until we began receiving emails in the wee hours of Wednesday morning when many of us were asleep. Worst of all, that email promised us a password which would grant access to the advance sale at Ticketmaster's web site -- but the password didn't arrive before the 10 a.m. sale. We jammed the Ticketmaster web site anyway, only to learn the hard way that the sale had been delayed by six hours. A message on U2.com said that you "anticipate" all U2 fans would get their password by that time, yet many fans did not. These fans were unable to even try to take advantage of your presale offer because the few available tickets sold out, according to a later report on U2.com, in a matter of minutes. Even fans who did receive a password ran into a wall of confusion when presented with ticket choices such as "General Admission," "Reserved" and "Golden Circle." You never explained what these meant, and unlike the PopMart Tour announcement, you have not offered a diagram of the stage and venue setup for the Elevation tour; we have no idea what kind of tickets we're trying to buy this week. In the confusion created by this lack of information, we find ourselves wanting to rely again on your generous offer to sell tickets via Propaganda. Yet even less information has been announced to fan club members about how those tickets will be sold. We know your intentions this week were noble: You wanted to offer your loyal online fan base a chance to purchase tickets without having to stand in line at the box office, or wait on the phone trying to connect with Ticketmaster. And we appreciate the idea. But the execution leaves much to be desired. What your organization created this week is a mad ticketing frenzy where there is no winner except for the scalpers, who are already capitalizing on this confusion and this unworkable sale system by selling tickets on eBay and other auction services at three and four times face value. The fact remains that there is more we don't know about the tour and tickets than what we do know! We want to buy these concert tickets, we want to help you sell out every arena in every city, we want to give you our cash...but by revealing so little about the tickets and venues and by failing to execute the pre-sale/password system as it was promised, you've made it difficult for us to do those things. We understand that there will be many more fans than there will be seats for your tour. We don't expect special treatment. But when you promise a special opportunity, we do expect a chance to act on it. We don't feel we got that this week. As you get ready to place additional shows on sale next week via the same system, there are things your fans want and need to know. We ask you to kindly consider the following:
Respectfully yours, @U2
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