MERGED --> ALL QUESTIONS/COMMENTS about the ELLIPSE HERE + "Ellipse" GA Policy U2.com

[Mirrorball Girl]

This is what I found:

General Admission refers to seating or standing areas that are not assigned or reserved, and are occupied on a first-come, first-served basis...except any areas nicknamed the 'bomb shelter'.

I think it's bedtime...

 

[The OOTS]

You got me...
Down with the lottery!!

 

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

You got me...
Down with the lottery!!

It was fun debating with you. Cheers!

 

[jenniferheger]

Thanks The Fly. Why fix something that wasn't broken? The GA line in the past has always been something that I looked forward to. I have met some INCREDIBLE people in line, not to sound corny, but those times have restored my faith in humanity. There is such a purity and grace that everyone seems to possess. The 15 people we hung out with on Monday all went separate ways once we got inside because some got into the ellipse, etc. During Elevation, the GA line feeling eminated into the arenas. Maybe that is the energy that is missing from the first two shows I went to. Enough for tonight.

Walk on,
you have got to leave it behind.

 

[cmb737]

My wife, U2acrobat8, already posted most of our combined sentiments.

Regardless of the energy of the show, the great setlists...I have walked away from the two shows in San Diego with a negative feeling. It is immensely disappointing to not get in, regardless of when you arrive. To sit there with 6 or 7 people deep in front of you on the "bomb shelter" outside rail and 9 people total inside is disheartening. I am not going to debate the worthiness of people getting into the "bomb shelter" but the mix is not one that I can imagine U2 desires. Regardless, I am considering trying to get a refund on ALL of my future show tickets or persue trades for seats. Where did my favorite band go? I wasn't once inspired or weakened by their performances. I was sickened by their merch prices. The lottery is the biggest buzz kill in the history or rock and roll, and I am just not sure they are worth it. In addition, their setlists are way to short for the money people are paying. I may come around, and I hope I do, but I am just not excited about seeing them again this tour. I can't help it, its a downer. Argue away, but I have lost my U2 passion through these last few months.

 

[EPandAmerica]

She didn't even know a U2 song, give me a bloody break.

As pathetic as that is, that is precisely the point. This new system is not about seeing the same faces every night, it is about MARKETING the band U2. If you get some casual or even non fans in the oval and they go out and buy all the U2 albums they can get their hands on the next day, well then who is that good for? U2.

I have loved this band for close to twenty years and I won't stop, but that doesn't mean I can't see how their corporation is always thinking about $.

I really love to gamble so I am looking forward to Phoenix to see if I get in the oval or not. If I don't get in at least one night while I am there, I may trade my fall ga tickets for seats, but that is okay with me because I really don't want to spend 24 hours in line on the cement either.

 

[U2WOJO]

Good lord, all this crying about who is a better fan and "deserves" to be in the eclipse is utterly bs. To say someone "deserves" to be in the eclipse because they "know the songs" and thereby are a "better fan" is bs. Maybe the girl that did not know or did not want to have a conversation about it came out of the eclipse a huge fan of U2 because of the experience. I took a friend who was not particularly a fan to Milwaukee and did the floor for Elevation. We were 20 feet back from the tip and had a great time. He is now a U2 fan and is always bugging me for boots and can't wait to go again this time.
To act like not being able to line up for a day to assure acces to the eclipse is the end of the world and U2 has done you some great wrong is also BS. The regular floor area is a great time and a great experience. The mass of humanity jumping, singing, and being in heaven for a couple hours is an expeirence someone should figure out how to bottle and send to any part of the world where people can't get along. Maybe U2 should do a concert in the Middle East or something.

As far as the first come first serve, the band decided the eclsipse area was not first come first serve. Your GA floor ticket never got you into the heart, the fact that you were able to get a wrist band for that area is how you got into the heart. The system for getting that wrist band has changed, not the designation of the area inside the walkway.

Maybe we should go back to the assigned seats in front of the band, where a chump with a fat bankroll can pay scalpers whatever he needs to in order to get that front row experience. The only thing the "first come first serve" system does is replaces one unfair system that limits the access of MOST fans to the front row experience with another. Instead of money being the determining factor of who ends up in the front row, Elevation replaced it with someone willing to spend any ammount of time necessary to get access. Unfortunately most U2 fans (even the biggest or "best") will not camp out over night any more than they would spend a couple thousand dollars per front row ticket to be front and center. While the Elevation system was a great step at taking away the brokers ability to control access to the closest view and certainly better, the new system is a step further at finding a fair way to make sure there is an equal chance for a once in a lifetime experience for ALL fans of the band.

 

[Miroslava]

Just transfering a post...

I have GA's for Anaheim 2 but won't be able to line up early enough to get close. Assuming I won't make it into the BS, I would like any reviews from you GA'ers on the outer edges of the floor - thanks!

 

[beegee]

seven hours in traffic.

twenty hours in line.


i deserved a space inside that circle.

 

[*Ally*]

U2.com has started a thread on the Zootopia boards, asking for fans' feedback regarding the GA Lottery system. It's in the "non-member" section of Zootopia- people might want to go there and write about either their support or disapproval of the new system. or suggest ways to improve it.

here's a link- right now, there are about 65 pages of replies (i'd estimate about 75% of them are against the current lottery system).

http://www.u2.com/bbs/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=u2&Number=471370&page=0&fpart=1

please take a minute to post your thoughts on the GA lottery in the non-member area of U2.com, as well as on Interference. who knows if anyone in U2's camp will actually read it, but it's worth a shot.

here's the link again:
http://www.u2.com/bbs/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=u2&Number=471370&page=0&fpart=1

 

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

Good lord, all this crying about who is a better fan and "deserves" to be in the eclipse is utterly bs. To say someone "deserves" to be in the eclipse because they "know the songs" and thereby are a "better fan" is bs. Maybe the girl that did not know or did not want to have a conversation about it came out of the eclipse a huge fan of U2 because of the experience. I took a friend who was not particularly a fan to Milwaukee and did the floor for Elevation. We were 20 feet back from the tip and had a great time. He is now a U2 fan and is always bugging me for boots and can't wait to go again this time.
To act like not being able to line up for a day to assure acces to the eclipse is the end of the world and U2 has done you some great wrong is also BS. The regular floor area is a great time and a great experience. The mass of humanity jumping, singing, and being in heaven for a couple hours is an expeirence someone should figure out how to bottle and send to any part of the world where people can't get along. Maybe U2 should do a concert in the Middle East or something.

As far as the first come first serve, the band decided the eclsipse area was not first come first serve. Your GA floor ticket never got you into the heart, the fact that you were able to get a wrist band for that area is how you got into the heart. The system for getting that wrist band has changed, not the designation of the area inside the walkway.

Maybe we should go back to the assigned seats in front of the band, where a chump with a fat bankroll can pay scalpers whatever he needs to in order to get that front row experience. The only thing the "first come first serve" system does is replaces one unfair system that limits the access of MOST fans to the front row experience with another. Instead of money being the determining factor of who ends up in the front row, Elevation replaced it with someone willing to spend any ammount of time necessary to get access. Unfortunately most U2 fans (even the biggest or "best") will not camp out over night any more than they would spend a couple thousand dollars per front row ticket to be front and center. While the Elevation system was a great step at taking away the brokers ability to control access to the closest view and certainly better, the new system is a step further at finding a fair way to make sure there is an equal chance for a once in a lifetime experience for ALL fans of the band.

Ok, first, a lot of people here have arguments against the lottery other than that bigger fans deserve to be in the heart more than "lesser" fans. I understand that that position is easier to argue against, but please don't ignore the other arguments.

And you say that " Your GA floor ticket never got you into the heart, the fact that you were able to get a wrist band for that area is how you got into the heart." Well, exactly how do you think you got a wristband? You got one by being there first and having a GA ticket. Which is the definition of GA. So ticket + earliness = heart. The wristband was just a way to identify people, it wasn't the reason you were able to get into the heart.

And of course the ellipse is no longer GA. That's precisely the problem that people have with it. We all bought general admission tickets. And if you'll read the rest of the thread, you'll see that general admission as defined by ticketmaster (who sold us the tickets) means a first-come, first served system. So the fact that the band has altered the system so it's based on a random lottery, which is antithetical to a first come first serve system, is exactly the problem.

And for the millionth time, someone PLEASE distinguish the analogy that Mirroball Girl and I described over the last few pages from this lottery. Explain how that is fair, and then I'll believe that this is fair. It's amazing to me that all you have to do is say the word "equal" and everyone thinks this is fair.

 

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

As pathetic as that is, that is precisely the point. This new system is not about seeing the same faces every night, it is about MARKETING the band U2. If you get some casual or even non fans in the oval and they go out and buy all the U2 albums they can get their hands on the next day, well then who is that good for? U2.

That's actually a really good point. It seems like the sacrifice is pissing of a lot of people who already are huge fans, but that definitely makes sense.

 

[dr.dae]

Today I saw some tickets on ebay for the european dates with guaranteed access to the elipse...
Please tell me this is not true....

 

[Mirrorball Girl]

As pathetic as that is, that is precisely the point. This new system is not about seeing the same faces every night, it is about MARKETING the band U2. If you get some casual or even non fans in the oval and they go out and buy all the U2 albums they can get their hands on the next day, well then who is that good for? U2.

I have loved this band for close to twenty years and I won't stop, but that doesn't mean I can't see how their corporation is always thinking about $.

I can't believe I hadn't even thought about that before, but that makes a ton of sense. Well, I suppose priorities are priorities. They didn't get to be the biggest band in the world through pure luck.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

If marketing to newer fans is the case, then is it really worth it to alienate the hundreds of older fans who will be pissed off by this sytem?

Also, what if those "same faces" happen to get beeped in more than once? Will U2 feel the need to overhaul the system AGAIN?

I wish this was all just a huge April Fools joke and that the first come, first serve policy was back in effect.

 

[kellybelly]

Today I saw some tickets on ebay for the european dates with guaranteed access to the elipse...
Please tell me this is not true....

We met some guys from Belgium who had won tix to opening night and they said in Europe you can buy "elipse" tix for an extra 20 euros or whatever their money is over there!

 

[Miroslava]

We met some guys from Belgium who had won tix to opening night and they said in Europe you can buy "elipse" tix for an extra 20 euros or whatever their money is over there!

Not quite sure if that is accurate... sucks if it is though

 

[dezmaas]

I'm not sure it guarantees anything. For the Brussels show, there were 2 seperate GA tickets. One for a section at the front and one for the rest. I bought one of these. I assume only the people with these tickets will get a chance of the ellipse! I should hope so, we paid more for these tickets.

It should give me a better chance!

 

[tkramer]

That sounds a little shady to me...

 

[dezmaas]

It would be shady if rear GA ticket holders got into the ellipse ahead of front GA holders.

 

[Marmoset]

I have a question for those who saw a lot of shows from GA during Elevation. How serious was this problem of the 'same people' getting into the heart at show after show? Because from what I've read, it sounds like this is the most likely reason for the system that's being implemented now. That, and it's also possible they're worried about the lineups getting out of hand as far as starting ridiculously early - I'm sorry, but people leaving the previous night's show early to get in line for the next one (if this is true) just makes me sick.

I know that if I was in the band's position, I would get frustrated with seeing the same people at the front all the time. But without having been there, I don't know how big this problem really was.

This system most definitely solves that problem. But it creates new ones, unfortunately. I've been reading these threads mainly because it will be my first time seeing U2 on the floor and I want to get an idea of what to expect. I can understand the frustration some of you have with the lottery system, but conisder how lucky some of you are to have been that close to the band so many times already, and to have multiple opportunities on this tour.

Unfortunately there is no system that's going to make everyone happy. Of course I hope to get into the centre, but if I don't, I'll find myself a nice spot on the floor and have an amazing time!

 

[oceane]

I have a question for those who saw a lot of shows from GA during Elevation. How serious was this problem of the 'same people' getting into the heart at show after show? Because from what I've read, it sounds like this is the most likely reason for the system that's being implemented now. That, and it's also possible they're worried about the lineups getting out of hand as far as starting ridiculously early - I'm sorry, but people leaving the previous night's show early to get in line for the next one (if this is true) just makes me sick.

I know that if I was in the band's position, I would get frustrated with seeing the same people at the front all the time. But without having been there, I don't know how big this problem really was.

This system most definitely solves that problem. But it creates new ones, unfortunately. I've been reading these threads mainly because it will be my first time seeing U2 on the floor and I want to get an idea of what to expect. I can understand the frustration some of you have with the lottery system, but conisder how lucky some of you are to have been that close to the band so many times already, and to have multiple opportunities on this tour.

Unfortunately there is no system that's going to make everyone happy. Of course I hope to get into the centre, but if I don't, I'll find myself a nice spot on the floor and have an amazing time!

In any given region, there would be some fans going to pretty much all the shows and sleeping overnight, so often the same people got up front. I didn`t care because I don`t need to be front row and consider spending the night in line a waste of time. But behind those maybe 10-20 people, the crowd differed at every show, and it's not like the same 300 people were in the Heart at every show (although at the end of the third leg a lot of the people in the GA line had been there at least once already). But for most shows if you got there before noon you could get into the Heart.

So the problem was real, but not as bad as some people say, IMO. I also understand that the band would not want to see the same people up front, and I think it's nice to try to find a way to give a greater chance to more fans. But this system creates WAY more problems than it solves, and seems to make most fans bitter. Also, I don't think it solves the problems of the super-hard-core going to tons of shows and sleeping overnight, because these people will end-up monopolizing the front of the ellipse. But now there is even less possibilities of a good spot for the majority of fans who are willing to line-up for part of the day for one or two shows.

 

[tkramer]

Honestly, there wasn't much complaining about the GA line on the last tour. 99% of everyone I knew loved it. The folks who didn't just bought seats, and everyone was happy.

 

[tkramer]

In any given region, there would be some fans going to pretty much all the shows and sleeping overnight, so often the same people got up front. I didn`t care because I don`t need to be front row and consider spending the night in line a waste of time. But behind those maybe 10-20 people, the crowd differed at every show, and it's not like the same 300 people were in the Heart at every show (although at the end of the first leg a lot of the people in the GA line had been there at least once already). But for most shows if you got there before noon you could get into the Heart.

So the problem was real, but not as bad as some people say, IMO. I also understand that the band would not want to see the same people up front, and I think it's nice to try to find a way to give a greater chance to more fans. But this system creates WAY more problems than it solves, and seems to make most fans bitter. Also, I don't think it solves the problems of the super-hard-core going to tons of shows and sleeping overnight, because these people will end-up monopolizing the front of the ellipse. But now there is even less possibilities of a good spot for the majority of fans who are willing to line-up for part of the day for one or two shows.

I completely agree. You could argue maybe 30-40 people were going to over 20 shows per leg, but why punish the 95% of us who are going to one or two shows?

 

[oceane]

Exactly. That's the bottom line. No system will every make everyone happy, but there was never as much negative discussion about the GA lines during Elevation. People knew what they were getting into, knew what they needed to do to get a good spot, and yes, people who could not or didn't want to wait in line got seats for the most part, or were happy with being further back on the floor.

 

[XBL_AchtungBaby]

The biggest problem with the Elevation GA line, I think, is that it was never officially organized. You never knew from one venue to the other what the hell was going to happen. Most venues accepted the fan run line and some didn't.

Also, you ALWAYS had people jumping in front of you. It became a way of life, be it people cutting the line, people saving spots for people. You just had to accept it and live with it, even though it was frustrating.

Also, the same people were up front for every show. I would say at least half of those people did stay at the line most of the time. However, by the 3rd leg people did leave the line to go to a hotel during the night/day, but did come back.

Yes, people left shows early to get on GA lines (when shows were at the same venue back to back). I have never left a show early to get on a GA line, but did stay at a venue overnight when back to back concerts occured. Just got back on line after the show

Personally, I like that U2 is taking an effort in organizing the GA line, but I don't think they are taking it to its full potential. They need to eliminate the fact that people still will wait for hours/days on the line to get a good spot on the outside of the ellipse. If they are going to randomize the entry into the ellipse, they need to randomize everything (line order). This would guarantee people from having to stay on line for ever. People could get there early, but just to tailgate.

 

[Klink]

I like the line-up system. You meet cool people and share all kinds of neat experiences. Instead of using resources to deter fans from lining up and spoiling the GA experience, put those resources towards protecting those fans and making it fair and honourable. Help us don't discourage us.

Jon

 

[The OOTS]

I like the line-up system. You meet cool people and share all kinds of neat experiences. Instead of using resources to deter fans from lining up and spoiling the GA experience, put those resources towards protecting those fans and making it fair and honourable. Help us don't discourage us.

Jon

Ummm.....you can still line up as far as I know. They haven't taken away the experience you describe.

 

[Ody]

Those who are saying that the lottery is "equalizing" chances are not thinking quite logically. And has been stated by others, everyone has a "equal" chance of arriving there early and camping out.

Work and other commitments aside, you have to be willing to wait in line to get some things in life.

That includes tickets, rides at Disneyland, spots to see the Rose Parade, purchasing any goods or services at retail stores etc.

Just because demand is high, forcing people to take more radical means (i.e. camping out) to achieve their goals, DOES NOT make it less fair.

I suggest everyone that disagrees with the lottery policy inundate U2.com with emails, not just posts on the board, telling them how they feel.

I believe that we can tweak this policy if enough fans voice their opinions. U2.com is sensitive at the moment to fans' concerns, especially after recent fiascos.

 

[BEAL]

I think another strong contributor to this new lottery system was the fiasco in Boston. People were handpicked either by U2, NBC, HBO, or all together for the heart.

This caused a huge uproar and even had fans barking at Bono when they met him at the airport/hotel (Diamond could tell you better). Bono got so irritated that he yelled back at a few of these fans.

I wouldn't be surprised that from that day on there were discussions on how to change the GA lineups.

I think the whole point is with GA's, you're not guaranteed anything, no matter what time you show up. So just deal with it. It's supposed to be about the music...