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theedge111

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U2 In Vancouver for a Month!!!

@u2.com has a great story stateing that U2 will spend a month in Vancouver rehearsing for the tour. AWESOME!!!:hyper: :hyper:
 
Here's the story:

Tom Harrison

Bono on the seawall? The Edge doing the Grouse Grind? Larry Mullen Jr. trying to decide which Starbucks to go to?

The Province has learned that U2 -- the biggest band in the world -- will take over GM Place for a month of rehearsals before the first date of its Vertigo 2005 tour, March 28 in San Diego.

The North American tour -- by far the hottest ticket in music today -- takes in 13 cities, including GM Place, April 28 to 29.

All the dates sold out in advance. Vancouver was typical: A first show sold out in eight minutes. The second was added and went clean almost as quickly.

Tour promoter ClearChannel Entertainment and its vice-president, Shane Bourbonnais, would not confirm the Vancouver rehearsal. However, a formal announcement is expected to be made in the next few days and trucks started rolling into the lots outside the stadium yesterday.

Vancouver has hosted tour pre-production before. Sarah McLachlan, Cher and Janet Jackson have all prepped tours at GM Place.

A source close to U2 said: "This is a great city, geography-wise. It's close to where the tour launches. And Vancouver's a cool city."

Meanwhile, the city's excited about the lads being here for more than three weeks before they head to southern California.

At the Irish Heather in Gastown, proprietor Sean Heather loved the thought that he could see the Dublin quartet quaff a pint or two in his pub -- particularly with St. Patrick's Day coming March 17.

"Oh yeah, that would be interesting," exclaimed Heather, who's had experience with the big bands.

When REM was recording here in 2003, Heather often served them, sometimes sending chips to the Georgia legends at Bryan Adams' Warehouse Recording studio. He also hosted a brief drop-in by U2 two tours ago.

U2 might show up at the Gastown venue again, "because of its proximity and because we pour the best pint of Guinness," said Heather. "I would be thrilled, as an Irishman, to get them through the door."

These are good times for U2 -- which has had more than 40 hit songs in its 26-year career. The latest album, How to Dismantle an Atom Bomb, has sold millions worldwide and its lead single "Vertigo" -- from which the tour gets its name -- scored three Grammys earlier this month.

On March 14, Bruce Springsteen will induct U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

While here, the band might also take in some of the Celtic Fest.

St. Pat's will be commemorated with a concert at the Commodore by Victoria's Ecclestons with Irish Dancers, and on March 18 to 19 by Spirit of the West.

"That would be amazing if they did show up," said Jeff Herrera of House of Blues, which is producing the Commodore shows. "That would make a good story, for sure."

But at the moment, nobody can say for sure. Not ClearChannel. Not Universal, the distributor of U2's records. The local Universal representative knows nothing, except that at 600,000-plus sales in Canada, the new record is U2's biggest yet.

Grant McDonagh of Zulu Records had REM come by his store to play an acoustic set. No such plans for U2 are in the works yet, but he remembers seeing them in the U.K. in 1979.

"It might have been their second gig," said McDonagh, who saw The Stranglers, Joy Division and other happening bands, but U2 stood out.

"They were amazing."

That was months before the first album was released and the band played the Commodore.

© Vancouver Province, 2005.
 
This is great! I'm happy for all U2 fans in Vancouver.

However I must say, the band itself might not spend that much time there in the end. Last time for the Elevation rehearsals, although the tech crew was in Miami Arena for 3-4 weeks, the band only showed up about a week before opening night. They don't necessarily need to be on the real stage the whole time to rehearse the music.

Still, it was amazing since I happened to be in Miami at the time, and got to see the band outside the arena, and hear the rehearsals very well and even have a look at the screens from outside the night before opening night. It was soooo awesome...:drool:
 
Wow, I wish I was lived in Vancouver. Or better yet, I wish U2 rehearsed in Red Deer, AB.

Oceane, you're right. U2 doesn't have to rehearse in a stadium for a month. They can easily rehearse the songs in their Dublin HQ or anywhere else. They will only need a few days to get the acoustics right for the building. Most of the rehearsing is going to be for song transitions, backing track transitions, set list plans, and general song execution.
 
I just read that article this morning, my mom woke me up to tell me about it :)

Wonder if I'll be able to catch them?:wink:
 
U2 to rehearse in Vancouver!

hey! this is just so awesome cuz i live 10 mins away from gm place....but i was wondering if u can actually get into these rehearsals? if not...what are the chances u'll get to bump into bono and they boys? thanks!
 
I have a source that says that right now it is just the roadies in there practicing taking up and taking down the staging. The band will probably be there for a little bit in March to synch up everything... Still great news for us Vancouver fans!:wink:
 
boosterjuice said:
Wow, I wish I was lived in Vancouver. Or better yet, I wish U2 rehearsed in Red Deer, AB.



Or even better yet, 45mins west of you in Rocky Mtn House!:lol:
 
i agree, they probably won't be there the entire time, but maybe a little more than expected if the show is a return to spectacle like many believe. If there are a bunch of tricks and effects, I could see the band taking a little more time to rehearse them before hitting the road.
 
You guys in Van better be good hosts for the by's. The Stones have a strong relationship with Toronto so if you don't piss em off and give 'em a hell of good time, they might come back before every tour.:D

Maybe they might even decide to film there for the DVD if they become really comfortable in GM place. I can dream can't I ?:wink:

And was that article correct in 600,000 plus sales for the new cd in Canada? That is a huge number for our market, roughly equivalent to a 6 million number in US market, I think? I bought 3 copies myself but sheesh!:ohmy:
 
If it is just roadies setting up and down the stage, someone from Van needs to get inside and confirm the design for us. :yes:
 
theedge111 said:




Or even better yet, 45mins west of you in Rocky Mtn House!:lol:

:lol:

maybe they could rehearse at the new movie theatre they got built there. but something tells me that they'll stick with gm place.
 
daaaaaaaaaaaamn.... so cool..

we'd better be on the ball for updates on sigtings and appearances and whatnot =D
 
boosterjuice said:


:lol:

maybe they could rehearse at the new movie theatre they got built there. but something tells me that they'll stick with gm place.


Hey our new theatre has 2 screens :lol: , i can't believe you know about it
 
Originally posted by mucca
Damn it they just had something on the news about this and I missed it!

You didn't miss much. I saw it on CTV. It just showed footage of the crew unloading the trucks. Said U2 will be in town at the beginning of March for 3 weeks. Spoke to a "fan" who were apparently outside of GM Place trying to get a glipse, but the one fan they showed looked more like a business woman in the area and just said that it was great that they were in town. Seemed pretty uninterested. Then the voice-over mentioned the quick sell-out in Vancouver.

Nothing we didn't know already.
 
Is Matt Good a U2 Fan? Too much to think about...two fav. artists and all.

Sincerely, Matt's only US fan.
 
melsbud said:


You didn't miss much. I saw it on CTV. It just showed footage of the crew unloading the trucks. Said U2 will be in town at the beginning of March for 3 weeks. Spoke to a "fan" who were apparently outside of GM Place trying to get a glipse, but the one fan they showed looked more like a business woman in the area and just said that it was great that they were in town. Seemed pretty uninterested. Then the voice-over mentioned the quick sell-out in Vancouver.

Nothing we didn't know already.

I actually caught it, turns out what I missed was just them saying what was up next....

LOL I hope the "fan" didn't make U2 change there minds about coming.
 
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