U2 listeners forty and over

[Purplereign]

Well Jimali if it makes you feel a bit better... I was mad to sell 4 tickets to see U2 at Croke Park last tour but I had to cos none of my 3 friends I bought them for couldnt make it and because of them pulling out, I lost interest and dropped out... looking back now, Im still kicking myself for not going... sighs... duh!

errr . . . could you not have gone on your own? maybe made some new U2 friends you could play with on this tour??





how are all you over 40's handling ticket anxiety?

 

[itsmekath]

<<anyway, Im 41, fan since 1985 when I had a college friend tell me all about seeing U2 play at "The Longest Day" in Milton Keynes (anyone here who went to that show?>>

Yes, me, me...I was at that show! It was pissing rain...REM was there that day as well....ah, memories!

 

[Liberty]

I saw them on the Tom Synder late, late show. Broadcast, United States. At that time in history. Cassettes were all the rage, and there was no internet.

.

\
I remember this show too. I later acquired a VHS copy of it that I played to death during my teenage years as a U2 junkie (I'm 40 now).

 

[dougal55]

errr . . . could you not have gone on your own? maybe made some new U2 friends you could play with on this tour??





how are all you over 40's handling ticket anxiety?

yes I could have gone on my own but i so wanted my friends to be there as it would have been a blast looking at my friends faces when they see U2 for the first time... so as they didnt go, I lost the enthusiasm of going.. how sad is that eh?

This time I wont be alone this year as I plan to have 3 of my best friends with me Zagreb this coming August...! yep its somewhere different for a change... I have seen U2 live numerous times in both Ireland and UK and only once in Germany (nod to Dortmund during ZooTV tour) so wanted a complete new experience this year...bound to be a fab gig in Zagreb by my reckoning...

as for the ticket anxiety, actually Im pretty cool about it...I have had pretty good success rate of getting tix from the first U2 gig at Wembley in 1987 all the way through to now... my one time biggest anxiety was getting tickets for the Slane Castle gig in 2001 (first one).. gosh I was frantic and worried leading up to the public sale... but unbelievably and inexplicably (f**k!), I got through and got 4 tix.. I still count my blessings there... sheesh.. its one very reason I dont like ordering tix on the public sales, its just too much hassle...

so Im going with my presale code for the Zagreb show for now and try my luck for the others... Im not overly worried about it all.. just anxious to see U2 live on stage once again... this coming August!

 

[xana dew]

41 here. I first saw U2 on MTV. It was the New Years Day video. I was instantly impressed with the originality of both the song and the video. That great guitar, those snowy landscapes. A rock band on horseback! What? I was an instant fan.

My first show was on 10 April 1985 in Hampton, Virginia on the UF tour. I was 16. I begged (and begged) my overprotective mother to let me go, and thank God she finally gave in. My crappy "friends" actually ditched me at the show, so I snuck up through the GA crowd and ended up roughly 7 rows back, right in front of Adam. I saw my first U2 show all by myself. I was gobsmacked. I had never seen anything like it before in my life. I can still remember them playing The Unforgettable Fire and Wire. Snapshot memories and images, really. I managed a ride home, and when I got in I woke up my little brother. I was out of my mind with excitement. "You'll never believe what I just saw!" He's been a big fan ever since.

I've seen every tour since, but not as many shows as I would have liked (greedy bugger). I still love U2 with all my heart, and I always will.

 

[dazzledbylight]

just saw the thread

have to post another time, just read pg 1 .... look foward to reading the rest!


WOW!!!
T Synder/U2 ...i used to watch him, but wow never saw that! going to do that now! THANKS!

 

[dajzilla]

GREAT idea for a thread! Anyways, i'm 44 and I remember very, very well the first time I had heard of U2. This is kind of funny. To me anyways.

So, one day I ride my bike up to the local record store to buy Van Halen's WACF album (may have been Van Halen II. I love Van Halen but U2 is my all time favorite band. VH and U2. What a contrast huh?!) so while I'm walking through the music shop I spot U2's "Boy" and, for whatever reason it caught my eye so I picked it up and turned it over and saw that they (U2) were like Van Halen (say WHAT?!) in that they had a singer, bass player, drummer and one guitarist. I know, I know, a lot of bands were/are like this but to me, at the time ( I was 13) I thought to myself "Well, maybe they're like Van Halen? So, I bought "Boy" and was instantly shocked at how awesome (and different) they were from VH.

That is how I became a U2 fan. It was 1980. "Boy" had JUST been released. Weird way to discover a band. I bought it because thought they might be like Van Halen. LOL!

NLOTH is one amazing album. U2 is the greatest rock and roll band to ever walk the earth. Thank GOD for U2.

 

[ultraviolet7]

46 here.
Got hooked back in 83 when I heard NYD on the radio.
Became devoted after seeing the Red Rocks show on TV.
By TJT I was an addict. However if after R&H they had put out another album in that line I would have gone off them.
U2's 90s are my favourite period by far - a band that got better and better with time and changed over time as I did. My life has been punctuated by U2's music.
With Zooropa and Pop I was revelling in the fact that a band my generation was at the helm of musical innovation.
I hated the infamous "two crap albums in a row" Bono promised not to make (i.e. ATYCLB & HTDAAB) Yeah, the 00s were a letdown. However NLOTH is miles better.
I saw U2 first time live in 2006. Why is rather a long story.

 

[RedRocksU2]

Nice post.
I'm interested to know what you think about NLOTH.
< 41 here

 

[MsPurrl]

Okay, y'all--I may be oldest interferencer/PLEBAn--I'm 62!

And I am looking forward to singing, dancing, laughing, and crying with 60,000 of my closest friends and family members at (hopefully) Soldier Field and Charlottesville.

The more I listen to NLOTH, the more I like it. My favorite song is "Magnificent" (I hope they open the shows with it), and I think that GOYB is the weakest song on there.

 

[RedRocksU2]

yeah, but it adds some different fun to the album...no?

 

[ultraviolet7]

Nice post.
I'm interested to know what you think about NLOTH.

I don't find NLOTH an innovative or groundbreaking album as the 90s material was, however I can see a shift from the "trying to please a wider audience over the top" previous two albums. In a way NLOTH is like Zooropa, something like a crossover album with a difference: Zooropa showed a contrast between a brand new U2 (Numb, Daddy, Lemon) and the U2 we knew (Stay, The First Time). NLOTH also shows a contrast, but now there is no brand new U2, in one corner we have tracks like NLOTH, Magnificent, MOS, UC and F-BB which recall the 90s (though not in such an extreme manner) - I'd say they sound like a more generally digestible version of Passengers and in the other corner some 00s leftovers with all their vices. Needless to say I would love to see the 00s trend dropped altogether in the next release and new stuff worked on the base of Magnificent et al.

I like about NLOTH:
-The Passengers feel in some parts of the album.

-The Salomesque feel of the intro to Magnificent. Best stuff I've heard from U2 since Pop.

-NLOTH, Magnificent, Moment of Surrender, Fez-Being Born.

-The feel of Cedars of Lebanon,

-Bono's rawer vocals on some tracks.

-The spiritual stuff he's talking about (however this is not new - Pop dealt a lot with spirituality).

-The return of the album experience. This is an album I can listen to as a whole (with perhaps a couple of skips) as opposed to the previous two in which I distinctly picked two or three tracks and that was all I listened to and not very much either. One Step Closer was perhaps an exception - a track that could have fitted this album.

-Interesting sounds back again and a hint of experimentation. Tracks like Fez-BB, Magnificent and No Line On The Horizon have renewed my hope that U2 hasn't lost its edge (literally!).

- Almost no over the top stuff such as City Of Blinding Lights, Miracle Drag, Crumbs Off Your Table, Yahweh, Walk On, Beautiful Day.

I've already posted somewhere else what I don't like about NLOTH but to make it simple i just C&Ped it.

I don't like:

- Abuse of the whoaing - it's all over the album.

- Steve Lillywhite producing. His style is completely off the feel of the album: proof are Crazy and Breathe, the only stuff that still has an over the top feel (though more subdued) in the lines of the previous two albums. Stand Up Comedy is a bit different because it doesn't have that over the top edge and is a good track, however like the other two it doesn't fit this album. I would love to hear an Eno/Lanois produced version of Breathe.

- The mandolin sound on White As Snow - doesn't fit the character of the song.

- Lines like "Force quit and move to trash/Restart and reboot yourself/Tidying the children’s clothes and toys/You’re smiling back at me, I took the photo from the fridge" indigestible from a guy that is capable of "She wears my love like a see-through dress/Kicking darkness till it bleeds daylight" and most of the stuff he wrote in the 80/90s. However there are some good lines on this album.

-This trend of linear storytelling such as in Cedars of Lebanon and White As Snow. Bono has the rare talent of writing lyrics that can be interpreted in multiple ways, why be blatant when he's so good at the not so obvious poetry?

-The continuation of the "shopping for a wider audience single" trend we've seen this decade. In the past the singles chosen were an integral part of the albums, as if the singles hadn't been sought after as such. They screamed "this is U2, take it or leave it". Lately they scream "this is U2, we are a nice band - please like us". Bono and Edge are saying whenever they can that U2 is a "punk band". This is definitely not punk attitude.

-In the last few years (this decade) U2's been trying too hard to make the ultimate album. U2 has already made the ultimate album - 18 years ago. My guess is that if they relaxed and didn't try so hard we would get to hear even better stuff - and perhaps even get an ultimate album contender.

 

[MsPurrl]

yeah, but it adds some different fun to the album...no?

Yep--I'm still not as enamoured of it as a lot of people are, though.

 

[Purplereign]

I don't find NLOTH an innovative or groundbreaking album as the 90s material was, however I can see a shift from the "trying to please a wider audience over the top" previous two albums. In a way NLOTH is like Zooropa, something like a crossover album with a difference: Zooropa showed a contrast between a brand new U2 (Numb, Daddy, Lemon) and the U2 we knew (Stay, The First Time). NLOTH also shows a contrast, but now there is no brand new U2, in one corner we have tracks like NLOTH, Magnificent, MOS, UC and F-BB which recall the 90s (though not in such an extreme manner) - I'd say they sound like a more generally digestible version of Passengers and in the other corner some 00s leftovers with all their vices. Needless to say I would love to see the 00s trend dropped altogether in the next release and new stuff worked on the base of Magnificent et al.

I like about NLOTH:
-The Passengers feel in some parts of the album.

-The Salomesque feel of the intro to Magnificent. Best stuff I've heard from U2 since Pop.

-NLOTH, Magnificent, Moment of Surrender, Fez-Being Born.

-The feel of Cedars of Lebanon,

-Bono's rawer vocals on some tracks.

-The spiritual stuff he's talking about (however this is not new - Pop dealt a lot with spirituality).

-The return of the album experience. This is an album I can listen to as a whole (with perhaps a couple of skips) as opposed to the previous two in which I distinctly picked two or three tracks and that was all I listened to and not very much either. One Step Closer was perhaps an exception - a track that could have fitted this album.

-Interesting sounds back again and a hint of experimentation. Tracks like Fez-BB, Magnificent and No Line On The Horizon have renewed my hope that U2 hasn't lost its edge (literally!).

- Almost no over the top stuff such as City Of Blinding Lights, Miracle Drag, Crumbs Off Your Table, Yahweh, Walk On, Beautiful Day.

I've already posted somewhere else what I don't like about NLOTH but to make it simple i just C&Ped it.

I don't like:

- Abuse of the whoaing - it's all over the album.

- Steve Lillywhite producing. His style is completely off the feel of the album: proof are Crazy and Breathe, the only stuff that still has an over the top feel (though more subdued) in the lines of the previous two albums. Stand Up Comedy is a bit different because it doesn't have that over the top edge and is a good track, however like the other two it doesn't fit this album. I would love to hear an Eno/Lanois produced version of Breathe.

- The mandolin sound on White As Snow - doesn't fit the character of the song.

- Lines like "Force quit and move to trash/Restart and reboot yourself/Tidying the children’s clothes and toys/You’re smiling back at me, I took the photo from the fridge" indigestible from a guy that is capable of "She wears my love like a see-through dress/Kicking darkness till it bleeds daylight" and most of the stuff he wrote in the 80/90s. However there are some good lines on this album.

-This trend of linear storytelling such as in Cedars of Lebanon and White As Snow. Bono has the rare talent of writing lyrics that can be interpreted in multiple ways, why be blatant when he's so good at the not so obvious poetry?

-The continuation of the "shopping for a wider audience single" trend we've seen this decade. In the past the singles chosen were an integral part of the albums, as if the singles hadn't been sought after as such. They screamed "this is U2, take it or leave it". Lately they scream "this is U2, we are a nice band - please like us". Bono and Edge are saying whenever they can that U2 is a "punk band". This is definitely not punk attitude.

-In the last few years (this decade) U2's been trying too hard to make the ultimate album. U2 has already made the ultimate album - 18 years ago. My guess is that if they relaxed and didn't try so hard we would get to hear even better stuff - and perhaps even get an ultimate album contender.

Nice post . . . I don't happen to agree with some of it but that's the nature of the beast really isn't it (I love the 'woah's and the mandolin and the different characters the band seems to be trying to explore). . . but I just love that we all get something different from this album and that, in this little thread at least, no one gets slammed for having a different viewpoint!

Totally agree with you that this is an 'album' as opposed a collection of tracks which Bomb and, to a lesser degree, ATYCLB seemed to be . . .and this one seems to have grabbed me, nay, seduced me more than the last two by a long shot. Can not wait to hear more of this album live . . . the next few months are going to be awesome

Catch you round

 

[ultraviolet7]

in this little thread at least, no one gets slammed for having a different viewpoint!

We're older and wiser...

Can not wait to hear more of this album live . . . the next few months are going to be awesome

Catch you round

I don't know whether this tour is coming to this part of the world (South America) - I certainly hope so, but then someone told me that seats (where else can an oldie like me go? ) would be $250. I definitely can't afford that

 

[Purplereign]

We're older and wiser...

most of the time anyway

I don't know whether this tour is coming to this part of the world (South America) - I certainly hope so, but then someone told me that seats (where else can an oldie like me go? ) would be $250. I definitely can't afford that

we're in the same boat . . . not sure if they are going to make their way to Oz either . . . but I'm saving my pennies and will be cashing in on some 40th birthday promises from friends and family if they do . . . I spent around that to get to see them during Vertigo tour and yes, its a tonne of cash, but it was the best $200 I had spent in a long time

 

[ultraviolet7]

most of the time anyway

Well, I would like to think that I'm not older all the time...

we're in the same boat . . . not sure if they are going to make their way to Oz either . . . but I'm saving my pennies and will be cashing in on some 40th birthday promises from friends and family if they do . . . I spent around that to get to see them during Vertigo tour and yes, its a tonne of cash, but it was the best $200 I had spent in a long time

Yes, birthday/Xmas pressie...good idea...but I'd have to get quite a few folks to pool for this...Frankly I would have never thought that buying a ticket for a concert would involve fund raising!
Rock has become an entertainment for the rich.

 

[Purplereign]

^ I think U2 at least try and keep the mix of ticket prices reasonable, its just that there are always so many bods trying to get tix that its pretty much open slather for the cheaper GA seats . . . do get a little bit cranky when I see corporate boxes full of fat uninterested execs and their bimbettes faffing about and not paying attention, but eh, that's life really isn't it?

Am saying little prayers for all of us that the opportunity arises to see this tour at some point

 

[ultraviolet7]

^ I think U2 at least try and keep the mix of ticket prices reasonable, its just that there are always so many bods trying to get tix that its pretty much open slather for the cheaper GA seats . . . do get a little bit cranky when I see corporate boxes full of fat uninterested execs and their bimbettes faffing about and not paying attention, but eh, that's life really isn't it?

Am saying little prayers for all of us that the opportunity arises to see this tour at some point

Yeah, maybe so. It's probably a mix of things: the economy in this country ($250 is about half an average salary), unruly crowds which easily get out of hand and therefore rule out GA for a 5'4" 100lb gal like me (it's either be squeezed to death or not see a friggin' thing), and the fact that attending rock concerts has in the last few years become trendy among the yuppie community.

I've been to rock concerts for almost 30 years now and I can't recall a single time I had to queue for more than half an hour for a ticket and prices, while on the expensive side, were more or less accessible. Most of the time tix were even available on the day of the show. For Vertigo I had to queue overnight 2 and half months in advance to get an acceptable seat (not the best by any means, since 5 minutes after opening time ALL of the best seats were gone), and yes it was corporate execs plus bored bimbos. Maybe we should consider going bimbo, just to be taken to 360º. U2 slutting tee-hee

 

[Purplereign]

Yeah, maybe so. It's probably a mix of things: the economy in this country ($250 is about half an average salary), unruly crowds which easily get out of hand and therefore rule out GA for a 5'4" 100lb gal like me (it's either be squeezed to death or not see a friggin' thing), and the fact that attending rock concerts has in the last few years become trendy among the yuppie community.

I've been to rock concerts for almost 30 years now and I can't recall a single time I had to queue for more than half an hour for a ticket and prices, while on the expensive side, were more or less accessible. Most of the time tix were even available on the day of the show. For Vertigo I had to queue overnight 2 and half months in advance to get an acceptable seat (not the best by any means, since 5 minutes after opening time ALL of the best seats were gone), and yes it was corporate execs plus bored bimbos. Maybe we should consider going bimbo, just to be taken to 360º. U2 slutting tee-hee

sexy boots on . . . .we are go

 

[dazzledbylight]

still haven't read the rest of the thread (cept p1) , but i will (a lot of time in the WTAHAN )

here's my story.

i'm about to be 56.....
I can still rock out with my younger (late 20's & 30's) PLEBA friends when we go see UF play

I'd been reading New York Rocker - one of 2 maga(zines) that started out soon after the bands of CBGB's emerged: Television/ Patti Smith Group/ Blondie/ The Ramones etc.... 75 ish to chronical Punk/ New Wave in NYC, and later out into the (our NY/NJ/Conn) Tri-State/ later on- the whole USA & Great Britain/ Europe etc over the years.

So there I was picking up a ? Oct or November 1980 issue.
When I get to the section for Live Reviews I read about U2 for the first time.
The Editor ( Andy Schwartz) effused (paraphrase); '... these guys are full of passion, and they play anthemic songs. If they can stay together i think they're destined to make it to Stadium Level....'

Now, most of my previous to u2 Ultra-favorite Bands have always had anthemic/ passionate music & passionate interactions with their audiences: The Who/ Bruce Springstten-E St./ Patti Smith Band .
SO this pronouncement put me on alert for them!

Unfortunately I missed U-2's (how they first had their name ) live debut in the USA .

As far as I can make out from my calendar notes of '80- oh yeah,
1] it was a kind of a drag in the 2nd half of the year for me in some major ways, WHILE
2] at the same time I & friends were seeing our CBGB's fav bands go up the ladder of increasing audiences/bigger Venues - and that was also the around the time Tom Verlaine resurfaced after Television broke- so we were very busy with all that. Plus Bruce, and The Who (getting back together was it? or playing for the last time? ack! must look through calendars!) LOL

I never saw any ads for U2 in say, The Village Voice, or (RIP) the Soho Weekly News during that fall 80 either.

I think the same sort of elsewhere attention operated in/ thing happened in 1981 re CBGB's Bands + Bruce + WHo etc. AND we had seen The Clash at Bonds & Irving Plaza before that.

But I and friends did hear IWF/OOC at the time it hit the radio-- still had pretty good FM rock radio then (altho The Pix radio station that played more New Wave & punk than any other NYC commercial station was going to be changed in ?late 80 or 81.
THERE was also a cool Interview the Editor of NYR did the day after he had seen U2/them (pre-USA tour) at London's Marquee Club. I was very impressed with certain aspects of their approach to music/ playing live etc.

posting this part will continue in a min

We got the IWF/OOC single & later Boy. I actually wasn't that impressed with the Album over all>>> except I thought IWF & OOC were *magic* !. But I wasn't going to discount them b/c I trusted NYR's editor's opinion. I would just have to wait for their next tour.

I got October, and again while i wasn't totally impressed wit the whole album - ireally loved - I Threw A Brick and another track. Again - I'm not sure they toured the USA or or the East Coast, at least in 1982 .

Well, 1983 rolls around. War hits the record shops. THIS was the breakout album for me - what I considered their first REALLY GOOD album! My friends & I were definitively on the look out for their tour.
BUT then it turned out I had to give up MY seat to the Pier 86 show! : ( i still regret that! drat!)
But it didn't matter in that way (wanting to see them) in the sense that I was DEF going to see them the NEXT Time/Tour!

AND I was in the area earlier that concert day to take a Circle Line boat trip - which a friend had given me as a freebie prize.
I deliberately picked that afternoon- IN CASE -because the Circle Line was RIGHT NEXT TO The Pier 86 place I might catch them rehershing-- AND I DID! Edge started playing the Piano for NYD, and Adam added in his Bass, and then we speeded to fast & loud to hear any more! because of boat height I also could see them -- little figures in the distance - on the stage!

I (w friends) finally got to see & hear the whole band in Dec 1984 at radio City Music Hall-- it was an Amnesty International Concert Fund Raiser-- IF there was a supporting act I don't remember!

In fact I don't have that many clear memories of the show, except us getting up out of our seats a lot to dance and sing our hearts out! I think Bono had on a whitish shirt, dark pants and ? went out into the audience.

ANd so I've been seeing them EVER SINCE that show (Except I didn't see the Pop Tour- I'm a very visual person and I really didn't like the way they looked for the tour. )
They became a part of my Rock Pantheon way back.

Hoping of course to get to one, may be 2 shows this year!

 

[dazzledbylight]