Paul McGuiness says U2 might come back to the States in 2006 - with the Eurigo show

[NHChris]

Gillette for a concert is more in the 60,000 seat range. The stage goes in the closed end of the stadium, no seats would be sold from sections 114 around to 127 and corresponding upper levels.

And don't discount the Fenway possibility if any of the US stadium tour rumors were to become reality. Though its capacity would be in the low 30,000s, there is a real possibility the band would get a bigger up front payday for 2 shows there as opposed to Foxboro.
Word is that U2 would have been this year's Fenway act instead of the $tones had U2 been doing stadia in the US.

Yes, you're right about the reduced seating at Gillette. I was simply taking the stated 68,754 capacity and adding another four-thousand or so for the field (which itself is too many). Of course there are fixed seats that would not be sold, and the 'capacity' would be closer to your number than to mine.

Anyway, for those who know the New England Patriots and the Kraft family (owners of the team and the stadium), 'Beautiful Day' was pretty much New England's Theme Song after their first Super Bowl win. You think Bob Kraft would allow the Red Sox to steal 'his' band? It was bad enough that the Ritz-Carlton Hotel stole U2 away from The Four Seasons Hotel.

If there is one thing that Patriots' owner Bob Kraft is: He's smart, and he surrounds himself with smart people. Those smart people will no doubt keep their antennae up and do what they can to bring U2 to Foxboro rather than Boston.

In the end, of course, it's not Kraft's call. The band will play where it wants to play. But if Fenway Park ends up being the venue, it won't be because Kraft and Gillette Stadium were asleep at the switch.

Also, any stadium tour will be happening while baseball stadiums are 'active.' Football stadiums will be dark. So U2 will have to dance around the MLB schedule for shows they plan to do at baseball stadiums. The converse would be true, of course, if U2 announced their tour before the 2006 MLB schedule were announced.

In the end, it's all conjecture at this stage.

Chris in NH

Butt-head: 'Heh-heh. Beavis...he said 'Stage' heh-heh.'

 

[AtomicBono]

here is what I suggest - it should make everyone happy
u2 world tour 2006
u2 will perform 4 shows in each city over the course of a week
-night 1 - intimate club gig - bono will crowd surf at least once during the 3 hour show performed for members of u2.com only - in which the band will play the entire playlist of Zooropa and Pop
-night 2 - open air amphitheater - preferably a free show in a natural setting *may be filmed. many B sides will be performed
*break* - humanitarian issues/rally mini set list performed
-night 3 arena show - u2 rare and unreleased performed
-night 4 stadium show - vertigo played at least 4 times - plus acoustic banjo performance

this should work - don't you think?

It works for me...

 

[ShellBeThere]

It works for me...

me too! I love nurse chrissi's fantasy-scenario posts, I must say...brightens the board...

cheers all!

 

[starsgoblue]

Chrissi forgot to add that the intimate night 1 would include much COS

 

[beli]

It could be

Australia/Japan/New Zealand in January/February 2006 - that is still on right?

Nothing has been confirmed. Its all just gossip at this stage. On the last tour U2 said they were coming and then changed their minds and cancelled. I'm not going to believe it until tour dates are officially announced.

 

[cmb737]

I love this talk about U2 competing with Pink Floyd. If Pink Floyed does re-unite...it would smash all tour records of all time. Did anyone see the pollstar headline when it was announced that Floyd was playing Live 8? It simply said "Pigs Fly."

For those that aren't aware of the signifigance of this band, remember they had an album on the Billboard top 200 US charts for over 740 weeks....that's over 14 years. FOURTEEN FUCKING YEARS. Released in '74 on the charts till '88. All of the time from U23 till Rattle and Hum. It is estimated that one in ten people in this country own Dark Side of the Moon. 1 of every ten people you see walking around every day. All day, every day.

Has U2 ever had one for over 3 months - or 6?

The scale of this would be something no one has ever seen. I think it would be bigger than the Beatles...because the Beatles if united, probably wouldn't tour. That and two of them are dead. (btw...who ever thought Keith Richards would outlive 2 Beatles?)

 

[swanny]

It's apples to oranges. And musically, U2 can't hold Radiohead's jockstrap. I love em both for different reasons. But RH isn't worried about hits, etc. No compromises with them. And I prefer RH live.

 

[timothius]

I'm not going to believe it until tour dates are officially announced.

And even then....

Bono may lose his voice...

And even then...

There may be a bomb threat...

And even then....

 

[beli]

And even then....

Bono may lose his voice...

And even then...

There may be a bomb threat...

And even then....

lol. I can handle bomb threats, I work in risk management. As for Bono losing his voice I will bring a backpack full of honey and lemons.

I'm ready. Come on down, U2

 

[timothius]

I'm ready. Come on down, U2

It's like they are up with the sun.

It really would be nice to have some warning on whats going to happen especially considering rumours are in the Jan-Feb region - so close to Xmas it would be nice to know how we may like to divvy up our holidays etc etc.

I mean I'm willing to sacrifice a bit too see them, but I would like to keep it within the bounds of reason (coming from somone who just spent a weeks wages on tickets to see one band 3 times in 3 days just this month).

So yeah, hurry up and announce something.

 

[Hewson]

Has U2 ever had one for over 3 months - or 6?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say just maybe Joshua Tree was in the top 200 for at least 3 months.

We're well aware of Dark Side's chart longevity, but for someone to say Pink Floyd reuniting would rival a Beatles reunion (again, if one were possible) is folly.
Its like saying If Elvis and Buddy Holly were both resurrected, Buddy would be as big a deal as Elvis.
Sorry, not even close.

 

[quadcaster]

so hang on... the U.S. could be getting 3 legs? not very fair is it when the UK only had one, and only 5 shows at that

and australia hasnt even had a leg anounced yet

we had so better get loads of shows, especially cause we missed out on the elevation tour

 

[cmb737]

we had so better get loads of shows, especially cause we missed out on the elevation tour

I don't seeing loads of shows happening for Australia...yeah...7-10..but loads? I mean that is a lot for your population...

 

[MTEdge]

Seeing a tour of a re-united Pink Floyd would be much bigger than a re-united Beatles comeback. To suggest otherwise attributes too much to the lore that the Beatles were a concert band -- which they were not by any stretch of the imagination. A better point of comparison is how well a Pink Floyd reunion tour would do versus a new Beatles studio album.

FWIW, Pink Floyd is a bigger concert draw than U2 or the Rolling Stones. No two-ways about it.

 

[ouizy]

It is going to be VERY interesting to see Roger up on stage with the Floyd at Live 8 after all this time. I am assuming they are already rehearsing together now which in essence must simply be fantastic.

if a tour emerges from this reunion, I would have to say that it would be the most important reunion rock has ever seen.

The only one to come close was the Stones, but they had their day during Steel Wheels. now for the original members of the Floyd, I mean jeezzzzz.

That would / will be the best show of the decade.

 

[fullautoreverse]

I don't seeing loads of shows happening for Australia...yeah...7-10..but loads? I mean that is a lot for your population...

yeah because we only have about 12 people in oz, just like loads of land and these 12 people...

the kangas can come tho, 12 people and 40,000 kangas..rockin

 

[smileplease]

Never have I read such rubbish about Pink Floyd in my life.

Yeah, ok they're popular with 35plus Americans who helped keep some of their albums in the US Billboard chart for a long time, but there's other countries out here guys, and as popular as they are, you can't compare them to U2.

No other band or musical artist has ever achieved such critical acclaim and popularity than U2. 25 years on, they're still selling out stadiums in Europe and arenas in the US etc while producing another number 1 album acclaimed by the critics. I can't think of anyone that has achived that in the history of music.

If you walked down the street and asked people to name five Pink Floyd songs, 99 out of 100 couldn't. Yes they're popular, yes they're important. But bigger than the Beatles? No chance. Bigger than U2? Forget it.

 

[Hewson]

Seeing a tour of a re-united Pink Floyd would be much bigger than a re-united Beatles comeback. To suggest otherwise attributes too much to the lore that the Beatles were a concert band -- which they were not by any stretch of the imagination. A better point of comparison is how well a Pink Floyd reunion tour would do versus a new Beatles studio album.

Yes the Beatles were not known for their concert tours, but if Lennon and Harrison were still alive and they announced a concert tour and Floyd announced one at the same time (we can even include Barrett, suddenly functional again, in the mix if you want), the response for the Beatles would be overwhelmingly greater than that of Pink Floyd.
Yes Floyd's concerts are legendary extravaganzas and the Beatles concerts in the day were poor sounding short shows, but believe me the Beatles would outdraw Floyd by enormous margins.
In fact to add fuel to the argument, a Led Zeppelin reunion with any of the previously rumored drummers (Jason Bonham, Dave Grohl, Tommy Lee) would be a bigger concert draw than a Floyd reunion.

 

[Hawkfire]

I'd disagree STRONGLY with a Led Zep reunion equalling a Pink Floyd reunion. Especially outside the U.S. Page & Plant tour couldn't even sell out U.S. arenas in the mid '90s. Pink Floyd doesn't even need Roger Waters OR Syd Barrett to sell out STADIUMS around the world. While they may be peers in the U.S. in terms of band stature, outside the States Floyd is equally as big an act whereas Zeppelin was never quite as popular, even in their native England. Floyd always retained their UK heritage a bit more, and toured more extensively in Europe and other non-US destinations (and, thus, sold more records).


With Waters back, and Floyd not having toured at all since '94, the frenzy for tickets would be unbelievable for any such reunion tour. It is all conjecture anyways, the odds of Floyd mounting a tour (with or without Waters) are HIGHLY unlikely as much as I'd love to see it happen.

 

[NHChris]

I liked Pink Floyd in the day; 'Comfortably Numb' is perhaps my favorite song. But a Pink Floyd concert would be--at the same time--a hugely popular draw...and a hugely lame show. The members of Pink Floyd do NOT have the stage presence or the ability to levitate the fans like U2 does. We get on our little soapboxes here and complain about the few fans at a U2 show who aren't out of their seats or dancing away and jumping up and down. Well, at a Pink Floyd show you would have that en masse: Lots of fans politely listening, but pretty tepid and nowhere near as energetic as at a U2 show. That's because Pink Floyd doesn't get airplay. People aren't as familiar with their back-catalog stuff enough to instantly recognize more than a few songs.

The 'My-Dog-Is-Bigger-Than-Your-Dog' argument between U2 and Pink Floyd is silly. I agree that both bands represent only slightly varying degrees of 'huge.' But I suspect the U2 show would be the better one, just by virtue of the more energetic fan interaction. And as we all agree, fan interaction is a big part of what makes a show great.

Chris in New Hampshire

 

[Blue Room]

I STILL dont get how even if Floyd reuniting and IF they did tour would have ANY effect on a U2 tour. Its not even close to the same fanbases (maybe a small percentage of the same fans). So I think its really a moot point, who cares which would be bigger. The point is both would still be a big draw and I dont think either would effect the others ticket sales to any significant degree.