Will the next tour be in stadiums or arena's in the United States?

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Ok, but you're not exactly a casual fan. Most casual fans don't by from ticket resellers or scalpers. They buy straight from ticket master and if they can't get anything in their initial attempts, they give up.

Id say that's not entirely accurate. And in a large affluent market like Toronto or NY, probably the reverse. Resellers and scalpers here make their dough off last minute/late casual fans - sometimes just fans of concert/music events in general, not necessarily the artist - not hardcores. Hardcores got in on the ticket drops/advance sales and are typically pretty averse to paying a premium on tickets.
 
Ok, but you're not exactly a casual fan. Most casual fans don't by from ticket resellers or scalpers. They buy straight from ticket master and if they can't get anything in their initial attempts, they give up.

I received 3 of them through the fan club and the rest through Ticketmaster. :shrug: If you want to see an act that is popular of any kind you need to be proactive and ready to purchase when they go on sale. If you do that you can get tickets, especially if you only want to see an act once and they are playing multiple shows. That does not just apply to U2 obviously.
 
I received 3 of them through the fan club and the rest through Ticketmaster. :shrug: If you want to see an act that is popular of any kind you need to be proactive and ready to purchase when they go on sale. If you do that you can get tickets, especially if you only want to see an act once and they are playing multiple shows. That does not just apply to U2 obviously.

Actually its rare that you have to be proactive and ready to purchase a ticket when they go on sale. Last year there were always tickets available for most Bon Jovi or Rolling Stones concerts every day until show time from ticketmaster. Paul Simon and Sting are going on tour this month or next, together, about 20 shows, and almost every show still has tickets available. I've been able to get Coldplay and even Pearl Jam tickets for shows at the last minute as well through TM.

But getting tickets through TM for U2 in arenas has never been that easy.
 
Depends on your market. In large markets like LA and NYC, most shows sell out quick. Are there last minute ticket drops? Yes, but most people don't know about them.

Thus, many people are forced to go the StubHub route.

In U2's case, arena shows are going to be stupid hard to get tickets for in their large markets. I was shut out of GA for Vertigo in LA even with a fanclub presale code.
 
Yeah, Vertigo GA was not easy to get when it came to arenas. You literally had to be clicking for the tickets within the first ten seconds they went on sell. Otherwise, by the time you refresh late and a minute had past, they were all gone. Personally, I only tried for them once in the public onsale and snagged them with ease, but it's a very limited supply compared to demand when you consider that there's like a tenth of the available GA tickets that there are compared to the stadium shows (not to mention that a bigger percentage of the GA tickets for arena shows are handed out to celebrities, etc.).

Post-Elevation, those tickets are damn hard to get and the arena shows themselves sell out in a couple minutes almost everywhere. Hell, now that I remember it, I got the GA tickets for the second Vertigo San Jose night simply because I knew they'd put up a second show the same day as the first (which I already had a seated ticket to) once it sold out in the public onsale. Sure enough, show #2 was added like ten minutes after the first went on sale and presumably sold out. Demand is that insane.
 
If you want GAs for an arena tour, that's the time when shelling out for the fan club membership might be worth it.

(Only if you live in a city not named LA, NYC, London or any other major world city. :wink: )
 
If you want GAs for an arena tour, that's the time when shelling out for the fan club membership might be worth it.

(Only if you live in a city not named LA, NYC, London or any other major world city. :wink: )

I totally would and I know the process works fine now, but I can't get over the shit that happened during the Vertigo Tour. We basically paid 50 bucks (or whatever it was) for a membership that got us nothing but a really tacky keychain. A lot of fans lost money since they freaked out and bought expensive seats since there were virtually no GA tickets available in the presales.

And once again, you can't trust U2.com when it comes to arenas. Their excuse last time was that the arenas/Ticketmaster refused to put certain tickets up for sale. Whose to say that they won't go ahead this time and do the exact same thing ("sorry, U2.com, but we're only going to allot 10 GA tickets for this venue's presale since we plan to resell most of them on another one of our websites for $400 each")
 
I was going to say I got my GA ticket through the presale, but I actually did not. But to be fair, I wasn't trying to get GA for that first Seattle show. That might have been the only ticket of the 6 shows I saw on the tour that I got using the presale. But oy, that seems like so long ago, I don't know if I can remember how/where I got my Vancouver GA.

I ended up later buying a GA ticket (face value, even!) for Seattle on Craigslist and giving away my cheap ticket to a friend.
 
It's all up in the air obviously, but if they're not starting a tour until summer won't that mean they'll have to start in Europe again? They pretty much have to do stadiums in Europe for lack of feasible arenas right? And they're not going to do an autumn-->winter tour outside right? North American arenas can be done any time of the year, barring increased negotiating necessary in fall and winter because a lot of venues host two sports teams at that time.
 
But getting tickets through TM for U2 in arenas has never been that easy.

It was no problem for me and this includes getting tickets for the Chicago market. I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here??? Is there one? When an act plays 4-6 shows, you can get a ticket if you are paying attention, even casual fans. Getting tickets to ALL of the shows may be more difficult. But diehards find a way typically. But your whole argument is that the casual fan loses and just wont be able to get one. BS. If they go on 3 weeks after the onsale date and expect to find one you are right. But if they go online when they go onsale, and U2 is playing at least 4 shows even in a major market, odds are they will get tickets to at least one of the shows.
 
It was no problem for me and this includes getting tickets for the Chicago market. I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here??? Is there one? When an act plays 4-6 shows, you can get a ticket if you are paying attention, even casual fans. Getting tickets to ALL of the shows may be more difficult. But diehards find a way typically. But your whole argument is that the casual fan loses and just wont be able to get one. BS. If they go on 3 weeks after the onsale date and expect to find one you are right. But if they go online when they go onsale, and U2 is playing at least 4 shows even in a major market, odds are they will get tickets to at least one of the shows.

Well, then maybe you are just lucky, but everyone above just described the difficulty they had in getting tickets and they are not casual fans.

The fact of the matter is, if there are 180,000 people in the Chicago area that want to buy U2 tickets, and U2 play 6 arena shows with a max capacity of 120,000 tickets over 6 nights, over 60,000 people in the Chicago area are getting shut out of the show.

An Arena can an only hold 18,000 to 20,000 people for a show while the stadium can hold 60,000 to 70,000. If you simply do the math, you can see thousands of people getting shut out of the shows.

That's great your personal experienced worked out so well, but that's not the average experience for the majority of fans. When the band plays a limited number of arena shows they will be locking casual fans out of the show. That's simply a fact based on the number of fans in the market and the number tickets available for arena shows where capacity is heavily reduced compared to the stadiums.
 
They are undercutting the market some in some major markets by playing arenas. I have never said they were not. But MOST people can get tickets if they want them bad enough.

:lol: Lucky, please, no I'm proactive and know what I'm doing from years of concert going. Most diehards are the same. You are pointing to a handful of people that said they had some difficulty. That is hardly a large sample. Go back and look at the Vertigo tour threads. Does not seem like most fans here did NOT attend shows if they were able. ALOT of people on this board were able to attend.

If they play arenas, I guess you are not going because you will not be able to log on and get a ticket. Too bad, I will be there regardless, guaranteed. I'm not all that worried about it. Enjoy your stress for no reason. :wave: Honestly, I could care less about the casual fan. From my concert going there seem to be plenty of them there anyway, even arenas and they are more interested in grabbing another beer vs watching the show. So if they can't attend I wont be losing sleep over it.
 
Yeah, I'm having a hard time understanding exactly what Steve's overall point is...or at least why he feels the need to keep arguing it over and over.

Fact: the next tour will be played in arenas. There's no use talking about stadiums cause it's not gonna happen.
(and I realize that this is a revision of my first post in this thread in which I said "Both". It won't be both. :wink: )

And if you're a U2 fan savvy enough to be reading this thread/forum and/or participating in it, you're gonna be there.
 
Just saw this through backstreets.com

On the 2014 tour dates, fans will be able to use new technology to enjoy Springsteen's legendary live concerts. Fans around the world can purchase a special USB wristband, both online and at the tour venues. Starting with the first 'High Hopes' show in Cape Town, South Africa on January 26, they will be able to pick one show of their choice to download on their USB wristband (approximately 48 hours after the show).

Not sure about the hardware - USB wristband? - but I sure hope U2 can do something similar and make multiple live shows available and in a timely manner. Certainly fan club members were given a treasure trove of material with the U22 and Ground Up packages, but I would throw money toward show audio.
 
I really would prefer it if they just did stadiums again (which they surely will outside of the US to some extent). The presales and ease of acquiring the GA tickets...the fact that it allows far more people to see the band...the fact that the band can play to more eyeballs/ears faster than arenas, thus ending the tour a lot sooner...it's really less of a hassle for fans whereas Vertigo and most of the Elevation Tour were so much extra trouble.

Lord knows how shitty it will be if they decide to do a "limited" tour and only play arenas. There certainly won't be enough tickets to meet demand if they only play like one Bay Area show and two nights in New York, etc. A lot of people will be shut out entirely if that's the case.
 
I mean, it would be fucking amazing if they did something like what R.E.M. did over their final tours...just playing smaller venues that they really liked in cities they wanted to visit. While it would be a major pain to get tickets, it would be phenomenal to see them playing 5,000 seat amphitheaters, for example. They'd save a hell of a lot of money/time that way with a really stripped down production.

I also don't get why they'd go the arena route to begin with. They already know that it will leave a lot of extra people in the cold and not make nearly as much money as the stadium shows and that they'd have to do more nights to make up for the smaller venues...if the band really just wants to do some intimate shows and have a good time, then they shouldn't worry about trying to meet demand at all and simply play even smaller venues. Because, again, playing arenas just isn't going to satisfy the demand in the first place.

Ok, now I'm realizing how stupid this all is given their LiveNation deal. They sure as hell are going to play as big of venues as possible (stadiums or multiple arena nights) in order to fulfill that lucrative contract and make a shit load of money. Start queuing up outside your NHL rinks, people.
 
Major markets are going to get multiple shows. As in, not less than 4 nights. Some possibly even longer..

Agreed. It's still just so weird that for guys that are so rich and have nothing left to prove that they want to continue to grind the ax only for the dollar. I mean, time is your most important asset, yet they're willing to spend four nights in arenas to make the same amount of money they could do in one stadium show. It's extra annoying because the last two tours were long enough as it is and then were dragged out into perpetuity thanks to some medical issues...it's just frustrating because at the end of the day history and the band would probably have rather they had done a few more albums than had the honor of doing three more nights in Montreal or whatever. I would personally prefer the last two tours were half as long if it meant we got an extra album out of the deal. It seriously gives them an excuse to not record anything. These tours take like two years thanks to the reschedulings and then the group goes into hibernation for a year after that.

I dunno. Just so frustrating to be a fan of a band that takes a half decade to put out a single record and one that can contain tepid tracks like "Ordinary Love" or "Crumbs For Your Table" (or shit they needlessly kept working on like "Stand Up Comedy"). Does it really take a couple years to craft some cheesy MOR ballad?
 
Yeah, I'm having a hard time understanding exactly what Steve's overall point is...or at least why he feels the need to keep arguing it over and over.

Fact: the next tour will be played in arenas. There's no use talking about stadiums cause it's not gonna happen.
(and I realize that this is a revision of my first post in this thread in which I said "Both". It won't be both. :wink: )

And if you're a U2 fan savvy enough to be reading this thread/forum and/or participating in it, you're gonna be there.

Isn't it obvious???? Steve is still sore about losing his starting job to Elvis Grbac and eventually getting cut from the KC Chiefs roster.
 
From a recent billboard interview with Paul Mcguinness, very interesting!

For a band so focused on touring, to have the most successful tour in history by every metric has to be satisfying. [U2’s last tour is the highest-grossing, most attended tour ever, according to Billboard Boxscore.]
Yeah, they love performing. You’ll be amazed and impressed by the new tour, which they’ve been working on the design and concept throughout this record project. It will blow everyone away yet again. They’re on fire.
 
They are undercutting the market some in some major markets by playing arenas. I have never said they were not. But MOST people can get tickets if they want them bad enough.

.

Some? I'd say potentially locking out half of the people that want to see you in a given market is NOT "some". Oh, yes, you have indeed implied repeatedly that Arenas would NOT have any impact on the ability of fans to get tickets. Repeatedly. You know, I got like tickets to 8 Vertigo concerts SO ANYONE can get tickets to 8 vertigo concerts.

Sorry, it does not work like that, and the number of tickets sold for arenas on Vertigo vs stadiums on 360 is representative of the number of people that CAN get locked out when U2 decides to play arenas.

If U2 only plays one arena concert in Dallas, most fans in the Dallas metro area are not going to be able to see U2 on the new tour. In fact, I'd say that would be true if they played two arena shows in Dallas. Why? On 360 U2 played to 70,000 people at one show in Dallas.

Now how many people who went to that Dallas show as well as those who were not able to, are going to be accommodated by two shows in an 18,500 capacity arena?

Trust me, you do care about casual fans, because without them, all your efforts in getting tickets would not be nearly as successful.

Go back and look at the Vertigo tour threads. Does not seem like most fans here did NOT attend shows if they were able. ALOT of people on this board were able to attend.

One is by definition a die hard if they look at, register and especially post at this forum. This forum represents a tiny, tiny, fraction of the number U2 fans that are out there. There are NO casual fans in the Vertigo Tour Threads. Casual fans don't go on band message boards. In fact, only a fraction of the die hards do.

If they play arenas, I guess you are not going because you will not be able to log on and get a ticket. Too bad, I will be there regardless, guaranteed. I'm not all that worried about it. Enjoy your stress for no reason. :wave: Honestly, I could care less about the casual fan. From my concert going there seem to be plenty of them there anyway, even arenas and they are more interested in grabbing another beer vs watching the show. So if they can't attend I wont be losing sleep over it.

Good Lord, why would you say something like that. Yes, there were some tough shows to get into on Vertigo, but I succeeded. I'm a die hard fan and will spend the money or time necessary to do that. One of the Vertigo shows I saw was the 2nd night in Dublin Ireland.

I stated that casual fans will get locked out of arena shows(provided there is not a major decrease in popularity), and anyone who knows the stats and understands math should be able to see that. I never said that was a good or bad thing, I'm simply stating it was a fact and for some reason you decided to dispute that.
 
I mean, it would be fucking amazing if they did something like what R.E.M. did over their final tours...just playing smaller venues that they really liked in cities they wanted to visit. While it would be a major pain to get tickets, it would be phenomenal to see them playing 5,000 seat amphitheaters, for example. They'd save a hell of a lot of money/time that way with a really stripped down production.

I also don't get why they'd go the arena route to begin with. They already know that it will leave a lot of extra people in the cold and not make nearly as much money as the stadium shows and that they'd have to do more nights to make up for the smaller venues...if the band really just wants to do some intimate shows and have a good time, then they shouldn't worry about trying to meet demand at all and simply play even smaller venues. Because, again, playing arenas just isn't going to satisfy the demand in the first place.

Ok, now I'm realizing how stupid this all is given their LiveNation deal. They sure as hell are going to play as big of venues as possible (stadiums or multiple arena nights) in order to fulfill that lucrative contract and make a shit load of money. Start queuing up outside your NHL rinks, people.

If the band don't feel they will be able to top 360 this time out, it actually might be good strategy to go indoors and underplay the market. That way, on the next tour they will be in better position to top the records set by 360.

Also, R.E.M. was forced into smaller venues on their last tours because their fan base abandoned them.
 
Why do we even care so much about whether or not Joe "yeah I really like that It's A Beautiful Day song" Bloggs can get a ticket anyway?
 
Yeah, I'm having a hard time understanding exactly what Steve's overall point is...or at least why he feels the need to keep arguing it over and over.

Fact: the next tour will be played in arenas. There's no use talking about stadiums cause it's not gonna happen.
(and I realize that this is a revision of my first post in this thread in which I said "Both". It won't be both. :wink: )

And if you're a U2 fan savvy enough to be reading this thread/forum and/or participating in it, you're gonna be there.


Well, I pointed out that with a return to arenas, many U2 fans will get locked out, provided the band popularity has not dropped. That seemed to really get Blue Rooms attention and he disputed that.

Understand?
 
Why do we even care so much about whether or not Joe "yeah I really like that It's A Beautiful Day song" Bloggs can get a ticket anyway?

Because if Joe can't get a ticket, johnny Die Hard might not be able to get GA on the floor at list price. Essentially, low supply, higher demand means casual fans get locked out and die hards might have trouble getting the type of tickets they want.

Can you imagine what would happen if they played arenas in Brazil or Mexico?
 
Don't worry Steve - if you fail to score GAs, we'll be here to help. As I recall it on Vertigo there weren't too many pleas for tickets that weren't successfully matched to honest fans who sold their extra/unwanted ticket(s) for list or sometimes even less. You'll be fine.

As will be, likely, any die-hard fan savvy enough to be reading and participating in this forum/thread..

Wait..I already made that point.
 
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