Easy on our pockets Bono

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VertigoGal said:
it really doesn't "bother me tremendously" or anything. I'm a huge fan of U2 and for the most part I think Bono's a good guy, intelligent, and means well. on the other hand I do think they are charging too much for a lot of things, so I don't really know what to think. I've defended them plenty of times, I was just taking the opposite position this time because I do understand why people are annoyed with them. I didn't mean to upset anyone...:huh:

I think the problem is that you keep saying "people" or "the general public" are annoyed with them when really, it seems only you have a problem with Bono not saying exactly how much he donates from each tour. I've never heard anything like that from any people or the general public.
 
Thanks for the replies. Does anybody know where I can buy an official programme at a reasonable price?

Cheers and lets ease of Bono`s Charity givings a bit. After all, he could sit in his mansion and do nothing like most of the rock stars today.

Anyway. Has anybody seen the Coldplay video to speed of sound? How much are they trying to be U2. Sorry Chris Martin but your no Bono. Also getting sick of a few writers saying that they are the biggest band in the world. They are nowhere near U2. Coldplay could`nt match what U2 did at Live 8 and thanks to The Sun for highlighting Coldplay as "pretenders to the throne" when commenting on Theirs and U2`s performance.

Cheers
 
antmccarthy said:
Thanks for the replies. Does anybody know where I can buy an official programme at a reasonable price?

Cheers and lets ease of Bono`s Charity givings a bit. After all, he could sit in his mansion and do nothing like most of the rock stars today.

Anyway. Has anybody seen the Coldplay video to speed of sound? How much are they trying to be U2. Sorry Chris Martin but your no Bono. Also getting sick of a few writers saying that they are the biggest band in the world. They are nowhere near U2. Coldplay could`nt match what U2 did at Live 8 and thanks to The Sun for highlighting Coldplay as "pretenders to the throne" when commenting on Theirs and U2`s performance.

Cheers

first thing I thought when I saw the vid:yes:

why don't you go start a thread on this in Bang&Clatter, they will looooove you!

(dont do that btw, they will more likely stone you...apparently there are like 21 threads on U2 vs Coldplay :wink: )
 
I don´t think the ticketprices are mostly U2´s fault. They´ve gone up across the board. Less then a decade ago I could get a ticket for a A-list concert for 45 guilders, now its 45 euro, a multiplication of 2.2. Which leads me to suspect that its the current monopolies of whoever sells tickets like Ticketmaster or Mojo concerts in my country. In a way its our own fault as well. When concerts are sold out people are willing to pay double and tripple that from touts and Ebay. Small wonder the ticketmasters around the world start thinking: hmm, if they are willing to pay that much extra from touts, we might as well go the extra mile ourselves.
So ticketprices will go up as long as everybody is fanatical enough to go regardless the cost. For the love of music we should organize a general boycot until prices come down. But since there will always be those fanatical enough to go regardless and when they continue to go the rest of us don't want to feel left out, well, you catch my drift.
And thus the directors of the ticketmasters around the world continue to laugh their asses of at our expense saying: $ucker$!!!
 
blueeyedgirl said:

Going back to the original post, about U2's seemingly high prices and how people are comparing them to the Stones, Madonna etc etc, I think what hasn't been highlighted is that these artists haven't made a career of being humanitarians, changing the face of how music and business is done and so forth the way U2 have built a career on. We therefore expect so much more from U2. We personally feel let down when U2 don't live up to our ideals of how U2 should be.

Why does the band that blew me away with their music when I saw them in 1984 (and it only cost $19.95 :up: ) feel they need all the tricks and gimmicks to impress us?

$19.95 to see U2 in 1984...:drool:

Too bad I really wasn't old enough to see them then. If only we could go back in time...

I have paid very high prices to see Madonna in concert - otherwise U2 is the only act I have paid very high prices for. I like a lot of the Stones and McCartney's music, but I won't pay the big bucks to see them because I don't feel like their music is really part of my generation and I wouldn't fully appreciate it for the money. If somebody wanted to take me to their shows for free of course I would go.

I still think U2 charges fairly reasonable prices compared to these other acts even though they are still up there in the same league with them. For $50, you at least have the "chance" to get into the ellipse and be up front & center close to the band. Granted, most of these tix end up selling for a lot more. For McCartney, Madonna, and the Stones, $50 won't even get you into the arena, or at best might get you a nosebleed seat.

Obviously, there has been plenty of demand to keep prices high on this tour. IMO, this has been the hardest of their tours to get face value tickets for - and that's even with TONS of shows! Given the amount that the U2 tix have sold from brokers & on ebay, U2 could actually make an argument that they didn't charge enough on this tour. Had they charged more, the shows most likely still would have sold out, brokers would have less profit margin, and therefore more money would have gone into U2's pockets rather than the brokers' pockets. I'm pretty sure that's why Madonna & McCartney do the $300 thing up front. The brokers end up losing out big time with them.

It may not be humanitarian, but I'd rather see U2 pocket the profits than ticket brokers or scalpers.

U2 could lower the prices, but the tickets would become even harder to get, more would be sold second-hand, and these second-hand tickets would still sell for just as high. I'm not sure there's any way you could "really" drive prices down unless scalping was just flat out made illegal - and this became enforced.
 
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My first and foremost complaint:

I don't like the fact that I'm a hardcore and loyal U2 fan and have been for quite awhile, yet still haven't managed to score U2 tickets at U2 prices. I have to score scalped tickets from pain-in-the-ass overpriced ticket brokers and they're not even guaranteed.

That sucks ass. U2 should email their fans telling them and only them of a certain presale, not announcing on their website where any non-U2 freak can go and make money off of us desperate and loyal fans!
I hope the ticket brokers lose money over non-sold U2 tickets after the show is done. $1000 for nosebleed seats can kiss my ass.
Seriously, something needs to be done about this. And for the fake tickets as well.
 
I agree something's gotta change, but the internet/ticket brokers have taken away most people's chance of getting tickets at face value for any good show. I'd like to go back to the way it used to be when standing in line for hours or camping out overnight meant you'd get a ticket, and even had a chance for front row.

I'd pay $300 to see U2, I'd rather they got the money instead of the brokers, too.

My city tried to organize a centennial celebration with a free Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. 50,000 tickets were put up and within a few hours all were gone, mostly snatched up by you-know-who's. Our Mayor was shocked and rightly so, but it certainly is nothing new. They then distributed more tickets locally and even that turned into a fiasco as people were not informed of the numbered random drawing policy and waited in line thinking they'd have first dibs. One guy was first in line with a smile on his face til they told him he had to let 500 people go in front of him :ohmy: Life just ain't fair, is it?

Karin (who is waiting for those ba$t*rd brokers to start sweating and let some of those Nov. shows go for a couple Benny's and a song)
 
I wonder if internet ticket brokers really have in their posession MORE tickets this time around than in past tours...b/c you have to take into account the HUGE demand for U2 tickets from everyone. When I was in line at TM to get general sale tickets, I couldn't believe the people showing up that I'd known for years and never even realized they were U2 fans. They weren't even that hardcore of fans, but there's not many people that won't try for U2 tickets even if they aren't *hardcore* fans. So it leads me to wonder if the majority of people DID score well with ticketmaster, but being on Interference so much, we tend to focus on the more hardcore fans and people who've been into U2 for so long without realizing how many regular (as in, rock fans in general) adults and young adults are out there also buying tickets.
 
LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:
there's not many people that won't try for U2 tickets even if they aren't *hardcore* fans. So it leads me to wonder if the majority of people DID score well with ticketmaster


I agree lots of people may try for tickets, and I think if they aren't 'hardcore' they may be happy with Row U upper plaza. I, however..would turn down those tickets and try for better at a later time, which usually means getting from a broker. :(
Most of the big show tickets sales are wristband/random drawing, and if you don't get within the first 2-300 (at least it's been my experience) forget about getting a ticket at all. You've got people buying on the internet, phones and standing in line all over town...they sell out fast. I've had brokers approach me and ask if I'd buy extra tickets. They try to recruit as many people as they can... leading me to believe their numbers are huge.

And what makes me the maddest, is that in my town the casinos buy up blocks of tickets (whichever venue they are playing will hold many of the best seats) and then later pass them out to high rollers looking for something to do on a Friday night :mad: You can always tell who they are..the stoic look on their faces and the fact they don't stand up ever during the show.
 
antmccarthy said:
I have just arrived back from the U2 Cardiff gig. By far the finest U2 gig I have seen. Sound was quite poor but this was down to the venue (I think) and anyway the performance more than made up for this.

I have a gripe. And please read.

I bought the album HTDAAB when they released it. £15 which is fair enough.

To stand any chance of seeing U2 live I was expected to fork out £20 to subscribe to the farce that is U2.com. Previously a great free website.

When I eventually got tickets they were £109.58 for me and our lass.

We drove from Leeds to Cardiff to see the gig.
And we stayed overnight in Cardiff for the gig.
Both having taken 2 days off work.

When we got to the stadium after having a few enjoyable pints of Guinness I noticed that there was no que at the official programme stall. I always get a preogramme when I go to a concert.... Well not at this one! £15

I have U2 in my blood but this one small thing made me think about how much the band are trying to capitalise on us the fans lately. Why??

U2 have always been (up until now) a very fan friendly band.

When I saw U2 in 1997 (Popmart) at Roundhay Park in Leeds they failed to sell out the venue. So fans were able to buy tickets from the touts outside for less than the face value. I remember Bono thanking the fans that night for "sticking with them".

During last nights gig Bono preached that we should text donations for charity. Would have hapilly bought a preogramme if the profit from each one went to charity.

U2 are one of the richest bands in the world and they don`t need all this extra money.

Please ease off our pockets in the future and never forget Popmart.

You know, I at first sympathised with your post, but then I thought about the staging and production of the tour.

When does 'the tickets are too expensive' give way to 'I can't see the band on stage from this distance because they didn't bring a huge fucking jumboscreen behind them for this tour'? I qualify as a 'poor college student' but I did the work and managed to snag a GA ticket to see U2 for one night of the tour in my home city. I didn't buy a programme, I didn't buy a tour shirt, but I did wait outside for the better part of a night and a day to get close to the band.

This is a live touring band that gets the choice of the newest and greatest touring equipment in the industry, and if the fans keep clamoring for new and exciting live shit and sparkle and dazzle - they're gonna pay for it.
 
Re: Re: Easy on our pockets Bono

Canadiens1160 said:



When does 'the tickets are too expensive' give way to 'I can't see the band on stage from this distance because they didn't bring a huge fucking jumboscreen behind them for this tour'? I qualify as a 'poor college student' but I did the work and managed to snag a GA ticket to see U2 for one night of the tour in my home city. I didn't buy a programme, I didn't buy a tour shirt, but I did wait outside for the better part of a night and a day to get close to the band.


Shut up student. And go find an iceberg to hug.

I dont care if you forked out for your ticket. I had to pay for the extra Diesel to make it down to Cardiff. 3ltr car isnt cheap to run on the UK motorways. Especially when there are so many coaches and busses full of students clogging them up.

And before you start Effing and blinding with your poor language. I could well afford to go to the concert. And that was because when I left school I got a job instead of sitting round on my hairy arse and sponging off posh mummy and daddy.

You Gobshite. You give students a bad name.


(PS) I look forward to seeing U2 with the huge screens and lemons again. That was the greatest tour ever. Long live U2 and Ireland and Roundhay Park (Leeds`s Phoenix Park)
 
antmccarthy, your last posts here are rude and uncalled for. We dont call other members names here. That's called a personal attack and its against the Rules.

I'm closing this thread, its over a year old anyway.
 
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