How long will U2 be gone for?

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BoMac said:
Sometimes I wonder if you're like this in real life. I would hope not.

I don't think that there is anyone on here who's avatar seems so suited to his/her posting demeanor or tone. It just seems so apt!
 
I thought it was given away free? But from what I remember it was just leftover instrumentals, nothing really all that great. :shrug:

From what I remember, Reznor actually gave away two albums in 2008. The instrumental one was called GHOSTS, where the first "disc" was free and additional music had varying price points. The second album was called The Slip. That was a proper, ten-track Nine Inch Nails record with vocals and everything. It was also free, unless you got the vinyl package.

In both cases, Reznor gave the records away but had limited edition formats that were priced at levels that would cover the studio costs and make a small profit.
 
If Willie Williams' comments are indeed about new material:

("The band was supposed to be doing some recording then getting onto the stage around 8pm. The only slight claw in the flan was that around 6pm the heavens opened. The sky had been darkening for a while then, in a moment, it dumped an inconceivable quantity of water onto the stadium, and it just kept coming. It was like a monsoon, only heavier, and kept it up for hours. At a moment like that the crew instantly goes into “Poseidon Adventure” mode, covers being thrown on, flaps being zipped up and, at extreme moments like this, a huge blue tarpaulin is pulled out to envelop the entire stage area.")

Then that's quite interesting to me. It's quite clear now that there will be no 'quick follow up' mid-tour album. So i would have thought they would have dropped everything, and started working together as a band in late 2012/2013 - no point stressing themselves out with album work on top of a massive tour if they know they won't get it out.
If they are indeed persisting with new songs, either they are planning a sneaky release (even if it's a very small one) before may, or they plan on having the big follow up album come much sooner than usual, in late 2011/early 2012.
... Of course, they could just be messing around, but it would seem odd at this stage.
 
There's still this remote possibility: They could be planning to release an album right after the tour ends (late summer/early fall) and play the new songs in North America beforehand. Bono did say a while back that they are planning a whole new show for NA.

I would be really surprised if this actually happened.
 
That's an interesting possibility, i hadn't thought of that :hmm:
But yeah, like you, i would be surprised if u2 actually did this.
 
My reading of the 'no album' situation is that it was a combination of:

1. The Spiderman project totally bombing
2. No Line on the Horizon not gelling with the buying public and not being the album they thought it was

At this stage in their career U2 rightly or wrongly want to protect a legacy. Clearly with Spiderman not working and the need for a re-boot of the production, and inclusion of new songs, putting out a record in May had to be called off. By the sounds of it the Dangermouse record was almost cooked, but maybe needed 4-6 weeks of studio time before they did the South American leg, after which they'd have mixed it and got it out for May. With Spiderman bombing so badly, that 4-6 weeks of studio time didn't happen and Bono and Edge were in New York sorting out the mess.

So back to the legacy comment. To most of us the Spiderman musical being a disaster would be no big deal, but if they'd not stepped in to try and sort it out and pull the thing before it even opened it would have been a serious black mark on their legacy. Elton John delved into musicals as we know and has struck gold. U2 want to go retire whenever that is, with a credible body of work behind them, and a failed Broadway Musical is not part of that.

I'm not happy with the way the band have announced the 'no album' situation. It might have been better if they'd been honest and just said "really sorry, but we timed out on this..." instead we got Edge talking in riddles and talking as if they'd not even been preparing for a release and were just tinkering around for the last 18 months. We all know this is bullshit.

I really hope that after the huge success of the 360 tour, and lets be honest it's been a quality tour, they take a short break, and just scale things down, and focus on recording more, and less on touring. If they have tons of material, well lets hear it. They should get a record out now within 12 months and just not tour around it. With illegal downloads, who cares what it sells, just get some material out.

Something tells me they have one more brilliant album left in them, and with no pressures to tour,perhaps they'll just deliver it.
 
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