A couple of questions about live shows/tickets

[SpiralStaircase]

Right, so as far as I understand it the new album is out in March, hopefully?

How long after this should we expect tour dates to be announced/tickets to go on sale?

Any opinions on whether it's likely to be arena dates this time, in the UK at least?

What's my best bet for getting tickets (actually ONE ticket cos my wife's made it clear she has zero interest in coming along!).

I've never seen U2 live and have to see them this time round.

Cheers

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Well IF the album is released in March/April you are probably looking about a mid summer start time for the tour.

I would think Europe would be stadiums since you guys don't have arenas like we do in North America.

 

[SpiralStaircase]

Well IF the album is released in March/April you are probably looking about a mid summer start time for the tour.

I would think Europe would be stadiums since you guys don't have arenas like we do in North America.

Well, we DO, but not as many. So I was thinking multiple dates in 2 or 3 arenas, like on the European leg of the Elevation tour.

 

[Galeongirl]

My guess would be:

Album out late march-early april
Tour announcement last time was right after the album launch I think, maybe a week later or so, so tour announcement early april.
The tour is most logically going to start in june in Arenas in the US, June and July.
Then Europe summer stadium tour, August-September
Then 2nd leg US arena tour october-november

The 2nd leg usually gets a later announcement than the rest, I assume tickets for the first US and EU legs will be going on sale half april ish.

Easiest way to get tickets is by being a U2.com fanclub member and being a member on U2 fora like this one. If you want to see multiple shows, buy the max amount of tickets for one show on a U2.com membership, then trade the rest of the tickets for other dates. That worked perfectly last time. Or make the deals in advance with other U2.com members, divide the dates you all want so everybody just has to focus on 1 date.
There'll be a trading forum on here opened once the tour is announced as well, so keep an eye on there. We only allow face value here anyway so the chances are lowered that you're getting ripped off.

 

[SpiralStaircase]

Thanks, Galeongirl, that's really helpful. Joined U2.com last night. I'll only be after 1 ticket for 1 show, can't afford the expense or the time to go to more, I don't live in any city they'll be playing.

 

[Galeongirl]

Then you'll be sure to have a ticket for that show. Since you're now a member you'll be in the first group. They usually have three groups, one for the longtime members, one for the members who signed up after the album dropped and the third for after the tour is announced. The first group gets access to the ticket sales a day earlier than the other two, two days before the general sale. So it saves a lot of nerves and drama. U2.com may be a shitty website and not always good for the fans, but at least ticket sales wise they are very convenient.

I'd also advise you to get accounts on ticketmaster and livenation in advance. Depending on the country tickets will be sold on that site.

 

[SpiralStaircase]

I've heard nothing about it, but read enough on here to know it's not a great thing to have joined - that said I AM looking forward to getting the book that comes with membership and of course having an advantage when it comes to getting tickets in the next few months. How come it's held in such low esteem?

 

[Galeongirl]

Because asides from the subscriber gift and the ticket sales, there's no true added value for the membership. And the gifts have been shitty soemetimes(Duals, for instance). And the site fails a lot, they're late on information, hardly update with new stuff. And the layout is pretty damn bad for a professional website.

 

[djparky]

Well IF the album is released in March/April you are probably looking about a mid summer start time for the tour.

I would think Europe would be stadiums since you guys don't have arenas like we do in North America.

hmmm well we do have alot of suitable arenas- just U2 never bother to use them in Europe-

here in the UK alone the O2 can hold 18,000, Wembley 15,000, Birmingham NEC is about 15,000 plus similiar size in Manchester, Glasgow etc- more than big enough for U2

 

[KUEFC09U2]

hmmm well we do have alot of suitable arenas- just U2 never bother to use them in Europe- here in the UK alone the O2 can hold 18,000, Wembley 15,000, Birmingham NEC is about 15,000 plus similiar size in Manchester, Glasgow etc- more than big enough for U2

Liverpool also has an arena now, ok not as big as Manchester but certainly modern enough for U2

 

[SpiralStaircase]

hmmm well we do have alot of suitable arenas- just U2 never bother to use them in Europe-

here in the UK alone the O2 can hold 18,000, Wembley 15,000, Birmingham NEC is about 15,000 plus similiar size in Manchester, Glasgow etc- more than big enough for U2

The O2 in London is 20,000, the MEN Arena or whatever it's called now is 21,000, the new one in Leeds is 13,500, as is the one in Sheffield. But it's maybe not the size of these (all of which compare to all but the hugest US arenas) it's that why waste a month in the UK when there's the US to go and play in, cos presumably that's where the key market is.

 

[SpiralStaircase]

Because asides from the subscriber gift and the ticket sales, there's no true added value for the membership. And the gifts have been shitty soemetimes(Duals, for instance). And the site fails a lot, they're late on information, hardly update with new stuff. And the layout is pretty damn bad for a professional website.

My god, you're right. I've been looking in more detail at the website today. I really liked Willie Williams' tour diary but found it badly designed cos I kept being taken back to pages I didn't want to see, some of the text is printed on top of other text, and in the "audio" list of U2 albums it reads "The Joshua ee". Don't remember that one.

 

[Galeongirl]

Yeah there's a ridiculous amount of mistakes on the site. Their discography for example has various dates and releases wrong, some lyrics are wrong as well. Really basic stuff.

 

[SpiralStaircase]

Yeah there's a ridiculous amount of mistakes on the site. Their discography for example has various dates and releases wrong, some lyrics are wrong as well. Really basic stuff.

I kinda jumped in to join, and come the announcement of a tour I'll be glad I did, but free gift notwithstanding (book looks excellent) I was kind of hoping for more. A four-page store. I was expecting downloads ffs!

 

[The_acrobat]

Announcement of U2's 360° Tour - U2gigs.com

The 360 tour was announced on March 9th, and the first show was on June 30th. That's 3.5 months. I'd expect a similar timeframe, especially if the album is released in March.

I really can't see U2 doing arenas in Europe, unless it's a purely creative decision. Financially, it makes much more sense to do stadiums in Europe for U2, because they know they can sell the tickets. With the new management team, I'm sure they'll want to milk every last dollar. Madonna did a mix of stadiums and arenas on her last tour in Europe, but she's not nearly as big as U2. I can't imagine U2 playing 2 shows at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, while drawing less than 40,000 people. 1 show at Camp Nou Stadium will hold around 80-90,000, so why not just do that?

 

[SpiralStaircase]

Announcement of U2's 360° Tour - U2gigs.com

The 360 tour was announced on March 9th, and the first show was on June 30th. That's 3.5 months. I'd expect a similar timeframe, especially if the album is released in March.

I really can't see U2 doing arenas in Europe, unless it's a purely creative decision. Financially, it makes much more sense to do stadiums in Europe for U2, because they know they can sell the tickets. With the new management team, I'm sure they'll want to milk every last dollar. Madonna did a mix of stadiums and arenas on her last tour in Europe, but she's not nearly as big as U2. I can't imagine U2 playing 2 shows at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, while drawing less than 40,000 people. 1 show at Camp Nou Stadium will hold around 80-90,000, so why not just do that?

Wishful thinking, maybe. Nevertheless - wherever they play in the UK, I'm bloody well going. And as it'll probably be the only time, I won't be getting a seat, it'll be a case of spending what I have to in terms of money and/or time to make sure I'm down the front