|
 |
|
|
|
|
"I guess I did my grieving for my father, keening, in front of 20,000 people singing U2 songs. They really carried me, those songs and my three mates." -- Bono, 2002 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"I guess I did my grieving for my father, keening, in front of 20,000 people singing U2 songs. They really carried me, those songs and my three mates." -- Bono, 2002 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
My Fan Year - #4
@U2,
January 29, 2005
So how was your week? When I decided to write a column on @U2, I promised myself I'd avoid being topical -- Matt covers current affairs in Off the Record, so why should I talk about the most up-to-date happenings in U2dom? But then, I didn't expect the band to be offering me a topic on a silver platter. I tried to resist, I really did. I started a column that had nothing to do with $40, server crashes, eBay...but I just couldn't do it. I must admit, a part of me considers this an opportunity to play to our strengths here on this lowly site. There's an old Bloom County comic strip that comes to mind. The editor of a daily paper is mobilizing his troops to report a bizarre story-something to do with Opus the penguin pummeling street mimes with an olive loaf, I believe. The editor calls for editorials ("I want moral outrage!") and a 20-inch headline ("Mystery Man Mugs Mimes With Meat-Millions Make Merry!") before turning to the comics reader with a smile and confessing, "Bad newspapers live for this kind of thing." So do writers for U2 fansites. At least I do. Think about it. We've written any number of stories in praise of U2 or in their defense. But there's nothing unique in that -- any paid propagandist (to coin a term) can do the same. But when U2 screw up in an absolutely monumental fashion, who's gonna break the story? U2.com? This is a job for the fan sites! In some weird way, this week is making me feel the U2-love stronger than ever. See, no matter what Bono says about "two crap albums and you're out," I've never worried about this being their fate. I don't think they are in danger of disappearing in a cloud of musical floptitude. (And by the way, didn't he used to say it was one crap album? I'd check the news archive, but our search engine can't pull up every instance of Bono saying "crap.") I fear instead they'll become merely competent, dull. This week has silenced those fears! A band that can get its most loyal fan base to talk class-action lawsuits may be a lot of things, but "dull" ain't one of them. The whole concert industry has been poised to have some sort of catastrophe strike it for some time now. For years the air has been filled with low-level grumblings against the MasterchannelClearticket behemoth and its artless stomping on the joys of experiencing live music. But why has the crisis happened now, of all times? Because U2 are an epic band. Nothing they ever do is small. For a fanclub presale to be so spectacular a failure, you need U2's participation. I'm looking forward to how the participation of U2 fans will affect matters. We are not an apathetic bunch; our loud chorus of boos has already been heard by the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, Billboard and many more. I'd like to think this may finally prompt serious investigation of the ChannelMasterTicketClear monopoly; are congressmen and senators getting a few of your angry postcards? Here's to yet another chance to test that assertion someone keeps making: "The world is more malleable than you think." © @U2/Pancella, 2005.
|
|
|
||||||
|
||||||||
