4U2Play said:
Just got back from Las Vegas 1 & 2, met an interesting guy in the ellipse who claimed to work for the New York company that does the staging....
... he told me at Vegas 1 that there will be some surprise guests for the Vegas 2 show, including the Killers, so I reckon this guy is somewhat reliable.
Anyway, regarding the 2006 Vertigo Tour, this is what he told me:
U2 will first play four dates in Mexico, probably starting in March.
The four dates in Mexico are:
Monterrey
Mexico City
Guadalajara
Cabo San Lucas (for a "benefit", he said, don't ask me where the hell they're gonna play in Cabo, maybe at Sammy Hagar's club, maybe on the beach).
Next, they'll play two more "benefit" shows in Central America... I asked him which two countries, but he wouldn't tell me... Costa Rica? Belize? No idea. (benefit for whom? tickets available to the general public? playing at a soccer stadium or a club?... no answers).
Next, they'll do 6 shows in South America:
Peru (Lima, one assumes)
Brazil (didn't tell me which city)
Chile (he said Santiago)
and three more shows that he did not give details about, sorry.
After that, there will be a break. U2 are deciding whether they will use the break to write more songs for their next album. If they do that, then future concert dates are on hold until they decide when and if to get back on the road... however....
.... if they decide to skip the songwriting and keep on rolling, they will then do a stadium tour of North America through the summer months, probably one show per city, maybe NY/CHI/LA get two each.
I asked him whether the stage setup for the North American stadium tour will be like that used in Europe in 2005, but he said, no not at all, it will be completely different and much better (he's a good salesman for his company, I think).
I also asked this guy which bands might appear as openers, but he said that it's too early to say for sure regarding the N.A. dates, but that the U2 team are in negotiations with some "major acts" for the Mexico/Central/South America leg. No, no, no, Ricky Martin and Menudo are not on the list, I already asked him, so calm down.
Yes, I asked him about Oz/NZ, Asia and Europe, but he said that his company is only contracted through the summer, so he doesn't know their plans beyond North America, beyond that is guesswork.
So, please take all this with a grain of salt, who knows whether any part of this will ever come to pass, just another rumor for the mill.
According to the age newspaper
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Achtung, baby! U2 aiming to crash Games finale
By Patrick Donovan and Peter Ker
November 8, 2005
THE kings of motor sport are idling, laughter is taking a holiday and there will be no new movies. But Irish rock singer Bono plans to crash Melbourne's Commonwealth Games party.
One of the world's biggest music acts, Bono's U2 is expected to play two shows at Telstra Dome next March in front of up to 80,000 fans on the same weekend as the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony.
After 18 months of negotiations, promoter Michael Coppel Presents is expected to announce the two shows for Telstra Dome on March 24 and 25.
If the dates are confirmed, several hundred thousand people can be expected in the city centre for the shows and sold-out Games events at the MCG and Vodafone Arena.
Blue-ribbon Games events such as the men's and women's 4x100 metre running relays, finals in the women's pole vault — likely to feature Australia's Tatiana Grigorieva — and sold-out finals of the netball competition are the pick of Games finals on those days.
The Age believes the rock shows are not of major concern to Melbourne 2006 organisers, who have had strong ticket sales for the nights in question.
But the prospect of adding tens of thousands of concert-goers to Melbourne's public transport system — which is expected to carry 70 per cent of Games patrons — is a headache for the State Government, which is already under fire for its public transport policy.
Adding to the pressure, much of Melbourne, including the Docklands precinct around Telstra Dome, will be mired in traffic restrictions on those dates.
The men's 50-kilometre walk travels through Docklands on the day of the first U2 concert, causing many streets around Telstra Dome to be blocked off between midnight and 3.30pm.
Games chairman Ron Walker played down concerns and denied that Games organisers had tried to get the band to play at the closing ceremony.
Most major events have observed an unwritten rule not to schedule events during the Games, from March 15 to 26. Even movie distributors such as Village Roadshow have opted to not release new films during the Games, despite the period coinciding with school holidays.
As well as sports events, the Games will include a multimillion-dollar program of cultural events throughout the city — including at Docklands.
The Grand Prix and the Comedy Festival are among organisations to have rescheduled around the Commonwealth Games. Plans for Moomba have shifted several times. It will now take place on Monday, March 13.
Rumours of the U2 tour increased after Bono phoned horse trainer Lee Freedman to congratulate him on Makybe Diva's Melbourne Cup win, saying he hoped to meet the mare when he was next in Australia.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/u2-aims-to-crash-games-finale/2005/11/07/1131212007979.html