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"I don't think that we serve U2 or U2 fans by trying to eliminate the other [Web] sites. I think there's room for all kinds of different things dedicated to the band from the bizarre to the ridiculous to the one that we're trying to put together." -- Edge, 2000 |
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The Exciting Power of a Rock Band
De Standaard,
June 27, 2009
[@U2 note: This is a translation, the original article is in Dutch and can be found here: http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=R72BP8H9]
"What U2 does is generous" -- People who work so closely with the super group, have a good insight into the value of the band. How visionary is U2? For architects like Mark Fisher and top technicians like Frederic Opsomer, working with U2 is Valhalla, that much is clear. "The advantage of the entertainment world is that people are prepared to take risks," says Opsomer. "Creative people in the rock world are rebellious and don't shy away from risks. The contrast with the ultraconservative world of architecture is huge."" It's a bold statement, but Chuck Hoberman and Mark Fisher, who both know the worlds of architecture and art well, share the sentiment, albeit with some nuance. Hoberman: "The entertainment business is indeed miles ahead of architecture, but they're not the same fields. Buildings are built for different reasons. I am an artist, an engineer, a designer. It's my goal to create magic: an experience, something subversive, a surprise. But one always comes across limitations, whereas the entertainment sector has a lot of talent and sufficient money." Fisher: "The architecture sector also has imagination, you know. It's just a different business model. Over here, we spend more than is even thinkable in architecture. With the money we'll have spent when the show in Barcelona premieres, one can build and equip a 400-bed hospital." U2's economic power is huge. Let's say each stadium show draws 80,000 people who spend 60 euros on average. That would mean a revenue of 4.8 million euros per show. By the end of October the band will have played 45 shows in Europe and North America and the number will be at 216 million euros. In 2010, U2 will be on the road a lot as well. But what drives the designers the most is not the revenue in itself, but rather what it generates. "In this show we're using technology as if it were a space program," Hoberman says. "What we're trying out here can be used anywhere else. That's what this band and I have in common: we're working on a vision of the future." What does Hoberman learn from this experience? "The challenge for me would be to make buildings that can transform. For ecological reasons, for example. I am, as it were, learning how to make a skin for a building." "What you can do with it?" asks Mark Fisher. "It's a kinetic structure. You can use it to build an exposition hall, for example. But it seems especially suitable for capturing solar energy." Fisher also feels connected to U2 in the conquest of the future. "This group has an exciting power that's used to innovate. That's valuable. This innovation is not meant to wage war, but to bring peace, to communicate, to encourage social cohesion." However, it is not the ultimate goal. Isn't the band running the risk of being overshadowed by the amount of attention the new screen will receive? Fisher is sure that won't be the case: "U2's quality is that they can sell intimacy, they can make people feel something. You ask me if that's the consequence of the stage design. To me, the answer is no. U2's greatest asset is Bono. Without him, we wouldn't be watching this band." "You know," Willie Williams says, "to me it's an extension of what it has always been about: communication with the audience. That has always been the most important for us. And now the group is in the middle of the audience. You can't go further than that, I think." What drives U2? "More than making money or being successful, U2 want to stay relevant," the band's longterm employee says. "And that's the reason why the approach has to be renewed every time." © De Standaard, 2009.
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