I'm reposting this that I wrote for a different thread:
Even though everything is in the rumor stage at this point, ever since I read that link to the Hot Press message board where the person in Ireland said The Edge's daughter has been diagnosed with cancer or leukemia, it sadly seemed to be a more plausible reason than what Paul McGuinness has stated. The Rolling Stone article mentioned a family illness and now AOL it specifically mentioning that it is in Edge's family. The reality is that Paul M would never publicly mention anything that is private to the members of the band. He was being honest in stating the routing of the tour is causing the delay in the announcement, but it seems strange that if the band felt they need an additional 3-4 weeks before starting the tour, that they would scrap the entire routing that presumably was already worked out. It would be far easier for them to start the tour in late March in whatever city in the east where they already had booked, then just tweak things with the cities that followed. What we are hearing now is that the tour is to start in the Southwest, thus causing every date on the first leg to be changed and causing the third leg into having to be rerouted as well.
I hope I'm wrong about all this, but here goes. We all know that Edge has a home in Malibu. If his daughter truly has cancer, I would think he would seek out the best specialists in the world, many of which are located in Los Angeles at hospitals like Cedar's Sinai. The AOL report said Edge was at this relative's bedside, which could be in LA, not in Dublin, for all we know. The band would be able to rehearse in LA, allowing Edge to stay in LA throughout the entire first quarter on the year before the tour started. U2 use LA as a hub city for all the shows they play in the Southwest, flying in and out of LA for shows in Phoenix, San Diego, Las Vegas and so on. By routing these cities in late March and into April, it would then allow Edge even more time to be based out of LA. He really would be able to commute to and from shows as far east as Texas and north to Vancouver. I think if we don't see Eastern US dates on the first leg, it could be because of this reason. That tour itinerary that was leaked listed U2 as performing at the NRJ Awards in Cannes this month and at the Brit Awards next month, as well as at the Grammys and Roll and Roll Hall of Fame. The Rolling Stone article mentions they still will perform at the Grammys, in LA, and at the Hall of Fame, but carries no mention of the other 2. Perhaps, if Edge is in LA, he would not want to travel that far for performances so soon. I think if that big Tsunami aid concert planned for Cardiff on January 22nd goes ahead and there is no U2 on the bill, then maybe it does in fact mean that Edge is in LA.
The reality was that U2 was going to announce the tour on January 10th, according to one report, so they were very close to a finalized itinerary and something has thrown that into flux and caused them to shift the starting point clear across the country from what was intended, if these reports are true. I don't believe the NHL lockout has caused them too many problems, as both Duran Duran and Motley Crue had no problem announcing arena only tours of the US that run at the same time as the U2 tour. Granted, those bands will play 1 night only in venues, unlike what U2 will do in many cities. This latest report now mentions that the length of the tour could be shortened. If that does in fact happen, I would think that would only happen for a serious matter.
Hopefully these rumors of a family illness are indeed false and it is just a case of U2 getting the jitters before a tour. They have done this in the past. The 2002 summer tour was pretty well planned until the band decided to pull the plug at about the time they had to give a firm commitment to it. Also, in the fall of 1984, on The Unforgettable Fire tour, after playing some initial dates in New Zealand and Australia, the band delayed the start of the European leg due to the feeling they needed to spend more time working out the new songs, which also led to rerouting the tour. The 1998 leg of the Popmart tour also lost several locations that the band had listed as being planned to play in the 1997 tour program, such as Southeast Asia, New Zealand and Hawaii.
We may never know the exact reason and in reality, if it truly is a family illness, it is not our business to know, unless like with Bono in 2001, they make a point of telling the public.
