Alan Cross interview with Daniel Lanois / 360 Degree Stage Set-Up / Updated 01-22-09

[flyvariax]

you shoulda been there in the early 80s when all those crazy U2 fanatics brought in their 8track recorders to bootleg the live set

geekdom back then

Haha, classic
You can just picture it!

 

[Muldfeld]

A teeny bit of the Daniel Lanois interview transcript

The Music Geek Blog - Explore Music

This guy's driving me crazy by stretching it out so much, but I don't blame him if he needs the hits.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Interesting read, if not much.

 

[dan_smee]

mmm, acoustic drums??? surely not!

 

[gvox]

This Allan Cross is really milking the shit out of getting people to go to his blog, huh?

It looks like he's got a good formula going on until the March release. He better milk it while it lasts.

LMAO

You wish you were Alan Cross. He's a legend, kiddo.

 

[subnet]

^ and he hails from the 'Peg, nothing better to do in that town but listen to rock music and drink loads of beer

j/k

unless, of course, I'm spot on

 

[last unicorn]

Interesting concept, though I really have no idea how they are going to pull that off.

I hope they don't sell less tickets because of that stage. Tickets are already difficult enough to get.

 

[gvox]

^ and he hails from the 'Peg, nothing better to do in that town but listen to rock music and drink loads of beer

j/k

unless, of course, I'm spot on

And Barrie has what else to do outside drink and listen to rock music, exactly??




(only half serious, there is Mt St Louis and Horseshoe if you like snow...)

 

[Acrobat08]

Interesting concept, though I really have no idea how they are going to pull that off.

I hope they don't sell less tickets because of that stage. Tickets are already difficult enough to get.

not if you go to a ticket broker

 

[lauramullen]

ETS works good too, but they might not use them because of Live Nation.

 

[yenlard]

Why not? I've seen them at both Dodger Stadium and the Coliseum. The renovated Coliseum (with the narrower playing field) was the perfect venue for a stadium show . . . albeit with a dearth of parking spaces.

where are they going to hang all the shit?.................have it magically hover above the grass?

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

ugh, The Rogers Center (aka Skydome)

 

[gvox]

ugh, The Rogers Center (aka Skydome)

Sweet merciful Christ, no.

 

[pudgie_child]

So for all of us in New England...Gillette Stadium?! I mean, it's huge but how can they set anything up in it, ya know? What other venues in the area are there?

You guys in New England are screwed with such a poor pro football stadium. The upper deck is so high and distant from the field that you might as well stay at home if that's where your tickets are. It's not a problem exclusive to New England, though. Anyways, you can pray that they play Fenway Park or Boston College instead (assuming they go outdoors in N.A.).

 

[chrissybaby]

Hi could someone repost the original mp3s please. the download limits have exceeded, i do know that they are ysi links!

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Sweet merciful Christ, no.

I miss Exhibition Stadium

How many does that BMO Field hold? I'm thinking Rogers Center is a shoe in though...

 

[gvox]

I miss Exhibition Stadium

How many does that BMO Field hold? I'm thinking Rogers Center is a shoe in though...

I was thinking BMO too, although it only seats approx 20,000. So basically just an open-air ACC. With a 360 stage, they wouldn't get much more than that in there..

According to wiki the largest crowd ever was 21000+ for Canada vs Jamaica soccer..and the only major tour that's been there is Genesis..

 

[pudgie_child]

where are they going to hang all the shit?.................have it magically hover above the grass?

That is a problem they would face in every stadium. If that was your concern, then your post should have specified that you think they'll play indoor arenas. Otherwise, you seemed to exclude certain outdoor venues for no good reason.

 

[eas]

Part I of the FULL interview:


Alan Cross<FONT color=#000000 size=1><SPAN lang=EN-CA style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black">: I was up this morning at ten after three downloading the U2 single.

DL: Oh! How was it?

AC: It’s not bad! It’s got some interesting sounds; I think that there was some pretty good production behind it.

DL: Ok. [Laughs]

AC: There was some really interesting sounds in that song. It’s kind of like when I first listened to “Achtung Baby” and heard “The Fly” and you think “This is the band that gave us “Pride in the Name of Love” and “With or Without You?” There are some really sophisticated sounds happening here.

DL: Yeah it’s a hell of a groove, and some of the sounds were provided by The Edge himself. The main guitar parts.

And then there are some nice bits of processing in there, there is a little [makes a laser-like sound that goes “dew dew”]—like a little sound that sort of scoots by, like a high speed sound effect, that’s one that was born through the process of studio manipulation, and it’s one that stuck. So that’s one of the little sounds, courtesy of Daniel Lanois.

AC: That’s got to be one of Adam’s best grooves in a very long time, no?

DL: I think the groove was fantastic. I like the fact that it’s got a nice interesting mixture of technology and hand-played drums.

AC: Now I want to ask you about the drums. Are those electronic drums or is he triggering samples? They don’t sound acoustic…

DL: Oh, that’s an acoustic drum kit on there!

AC: It is?

DL: Absolutely, but there is a separate track that features kind of a bass drum loop that we did of Larry, and it runs along side of the main kit and is featured in certain sections of it. I quite like the marriage of hand-played and the electro combination. I think is very special.

AC: Making a U2 album is never a simple process. They are an industry into themselves. You can measure part of the Irish GDP based on U2 output!

DL: [Laughs] I’ll take your word for it!

AC: So, putting together an album is a very intricate sort of a thing. You guys started working in


It cut off, sorry, check out Alan Cross Twitter

 

[Edge_Orchestra]

I hate stadium gigs. I just hate 'em.

No guarantee that they are doing Stadiums in the US, as of yet.

Like Def Leppard once did, they could do 'in the round / 360' in arenas too.

This would be great in a lot of ways and put the band smack dab in the middle. In that, there would be no real 'horrible' seat.

Could be interesting. Time will tell. Although shooting the DVD for it will be more work for the film crew but that is their problem!

 

[Edge_Orchestra]

i wonder if Alan got Eddie Vedder to comment on the new U2 single or album, that would be cool if he snuck in some soundbytes

supposedly Ten re-release has been 100% re-mixed

Not to go to off topic here...

The PJ "Ten" re-release is a remaster of the original mix and another disc remixed by long-time PJ Producer Brendan O'Brien.

To bring it back on topic...
O'Brien is an Irish name. U2 are from Ireland. And I quite like the idea of U2 playing in a 360 / center / close to the center of the arena/stadium setup.

 

[PowerSurge]

So now this Cross guy is splitting the interviews into multiple parts to drive more traffic to the site.

Geez....that irks me. Just give us the damn interview. He's milking the everliving shit out of this. Who does he think he is? Barbara Walters?

I can't wait till March 3rd so I can totally ignore this douche and never have to talk about him again. Horrible.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

So now this Cross guy is splitting the interviews into multiple parts to drive more traffic to the site.

Geez....that irks me. Just give us the damn interview. He's milking the everliving shit out of this. Who does he think he is? Barbara Walters?

I can't wait till March 3rd so I can totally ignore this douche and never have to talk about him again. Horrible.

You must be the only one on here that actually hates him.

 

[gvox]

Some people need to get out more.

 

[Slapnutz]

Damn those greatest hits fans. How dare they use there hard earned money to buy tickets to a concert and not be a real fan.

No one should be allowed to go to a U2 concert unless they are as big a fan as I am.

Sarcasm. Bit over the top there, don't you think?

I'd hate for you to be surrounded by a bunch of morons pushing you out of the way as they take repeated trips to the toilets and talk so loudly amongst themselves you find it hard to get into the songs. Meanwhile, in the distance, ants perform on stage...

Ah, who am I kidding?

 

[ultraviolet625]

No guarantee that they are doing Stadiums in the US, as of yet.

Like Def Leppard once did, they could do 'in the round / 360' in arenas too.

This would be great in a lot of ways and put the band smack dab in the middle. In that, there would be no real 'horrible' seat.

Could be interesting. Time will tell. Although shooting the DVD for it will be more work for the film crew but that is their problem!

I'm hoping that they won't do stadiums in the U.S. However, a 360' stage in an arena would be awesome. As you said there would really be no bad seat.

 

[MrBTH]

I'm hoping that they won't do stadiums in the U.S. However, a 360' stage in an arena would be awesome. As you said there would really be no bad seat.

Lanois' quote is relating to stadiums. He mentions that there will be "no pillars", a redundant comment if he were referring to U2 touring arenas.

He also mentions the its 360degree but that they will still be favouring one end.

Basically it will be the same format as Elevation/Vertigo indoors which had audience behind the stage, only applied to stadiums.

I still cant imagine how they are going to manage it with "no pillars" to block sightlines.

 

[digitize]

Obviously, they'll use anti-gravity techniques in the stadiums so the equipment will float. On top of that, they'll have four layers of chairs hovering on top of GA on the floor. Edge will float around the spacey lighting, pretending to be from another planet.

 

[BWU2Buffs]

Obviously, they'll use anti-gravity techniques in the stadiums so the equipment will float. On top of that, they'll have four layers of chairs hovering on top of GA on the floor. Edge will float around the spacey lighting, pretending to be from another planet.

Hmm -- could they use some like monster sized poles grounded on the oustide of a stadium, perhaps on a flat bed truck with massive cables going across the stadium for the anti-gravity sh** to hold all the speakers and video stuff?

Attached is a goofy, lousy rendition in Paint cuz I gots no PhotoChop )-:

The stadium is shown as the crappy tan; burgundy circles on the outside of the stadium would be clearly marked, "danger, do not attempt to climb" and the the grey circle inside the stadium would represent the elevated speaker area and below it, a stage, in the round, that spins -- though really slow so nobody gets like sick.

Over the course of the show, every angle from the stands gets to see the back of Larry's noggin two times!

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Everytime I think 360 degree stage set up I think that the stage is continously moving 360 degrees so that everyone gets a glimpse of U2.