Vertigo Leg 5

[u2wedge]

Another question is when does the clock start ticking for the next tour? At the end of the November shows, or are we still on our 4 year rotation from when the tour was 'supposed' to end?

And it usually takes more than 10 shows for the band to really hit their stride... it will be an interesting situation for them and it'll definitely be cool to see them pull it off. Is Hawaii still on the itinerary? I've only heard them talk about rescheduling the Aussie shows.

 

[Precious3]

Bono said on the interview he gave on Aussie TV that it will be bigger and better because the 'person whi has the suck family member' will be on fire coz they wont have this black cloud hanging over them. So yeah sounds great

 

[wtonis]

Bono said on the interview he gave on Aussie TV that it will be bigger and better because the 'person whi has the suck family member' will be on fire coz they wont have this black cloud hanging over them. So yeah sounds great

...i would call this propaganda.. Edge has been on fire throughout the tour so far..

 

[DubbalinGirl]

I dunno. I think there are a lot of unrealistic expectations here. Maybe none of you have had sick relatives/children, but I have, and the LAST thing you are thinking about is work. And purely idle speculation here, but if it is Edge's daughter, what if he's a bone marrow donor for her? Then there's a physical toll on him as well, and I don't think he'll be hopping up to play guitar for kicks. There are a zillion different scenarios surrounding a debilitating illness that point to no time to even think about new material.

C'mon guys, it's unrealistic to think that the sick person's relative/bandmember is going to have the time or inclination to do anything BUT take care of the sick person. This isn't a "break" it's a forced interruption to deal with bigger issues in life. It's astounding how many people are losing sight of that.

 

[4U2Play]

I dunno. I think there are a lot of unrealistic expectations here. Maybe none of you have had sick relatives/children, but I have, and the LAST thing you are thinking about is work. And purely idle speculation here, but if it is Edge's daughter, what if he's a bone marrow donor for her? Then there's a physical toll on him as well, and I don't think he'll be hopping up to play guitar for kicks. There are a zillion different scenarios surrounding a debilitating illness that point to no time to even think about new material.

C'mon guys, it's unrealistic to think that the sick person's relative/bandmember is going to have the time or inclination to do anything BUT take care of the sick person. This isn't a "break" it's a forced interruption to deal with bigger issues in life. It's astounding how many people are losing sight of that.

Excellent post.

I'm not normally a pessimist, but I'm rather doubtful about them returning at all this year.

Assuming Sian is really sick, how can anyone know what the outcome of her illness will be, or when?

I suspect that Bono's comments about playing in November are pure speculation at this point, pending Edge's status.

U2 might be softening the blow a bit by announcing a 'postponement' rather than an outright cancellation of the rest of Leg 4, but hopefully I'm wrong about all this and everything gets back to normal.

 

[Blue Room]

I dunno. I think there are a lot of unrealistic expectations here. Maybe none of you have had sick relatives/children, but I have, and the LAST thing you are thinking about is work. And purely idle speculation here, but if it is Edge's daughter, what if he's a bone marrow donor for her? Then there's a physical toll on him as well, and I don't think he'll be hopping up to play guitar for kicks. There are a zillion different scenarios surrounding a debilitating illness that point to no time to even think about new material.

C'mon guys, it's unrealistic to think that the sick person's relative/bandmember is going to have the time or inclination to do anything BUT take care of the sick person. This isn't a "break" it's a forced interruption to deal with bigger issues in life. It's astounding how many people are losing sight of that.

Exactly! I dont know where this speculation came from to begin with and then there are people saying new material is likely? If anything its the other way around.

 

[Carek1230]

Excellent post.

I'm not normally a pessimist, but I'm rather doubtful about them returning at all this year.

Assuming Sian is really sick, how can anyone know what the outcome of her illness will be, or when?

I suspect that Bono's comments about playing in November are pure speculation at this point, pending Edge's status.

U2 might be softening the blow a bit by announcing a 'postponement' rather than an outright cancellation of the rest of Leg 4, but hopefully I'm wrong about all this and everything gets back to normal.

I feel this is a pessimistic post. Not to mention wrong. First, no one ever said and nothing will ever be said who was ill and frankly I am tired of reading and hearing people ASSUME and discuss who it was or which band member's child or whether it is illness or demise......the band want it kept private so respect that and leave it at that. Second, it had been repeatedly addressed in writing online and verbally that the 10 remaining dates are being POST PONED not cancelled and that all ten dates will be re-scheduled and will be made up in fact Bono's interview indicated the shows would be very special. Don't doubt that. U2 are tight, they deliver on their promises and they are dedicated to their fan base. They will not let us down. Also for the HAwaii show Ticketmaster already lists it as DATE TBA and tickets from the April 8th show are still being mailed out now with notices that they can be used for the re-scheduled show. So......... it will happen. Just be patient, sit back and wait for the announcement. It will come and it will be soon.

 

[Halup]

I dunno. I think there are a lot of unrealistic expectations here. Maybe none of you have had sick relatives/children, but I have, and the LAST thing you are thinking about is work. And purely idle speculation here, but if it is Edge's daughter, what if he's a bone marrow donor for her? Then there's a physical toll on him as well, and I don't think he'll be hopping up to play guitar for kicks. There are a zillion different scenarios surrounding a debilitating illness that point to no time to even think about new material.

C'mon guys, it's unrealistic to think that the sick person's relative/bandmember is going to have the time or inclination to do anything BUT take care of the sick person. This isn't a "break" it's a forced interruption to deal with bigger issues in life. It's astounding how many people are losing sight of that.

I agree with some of your statements but disagree with others. Yes, I do think it's silly and entirely baseless that people assume U2 will release new material to specifically coincide with November tour dates. They are planning to release the Milan dvd, as told to me personally by Hamish Hamilton, at the end of the year, so this will coincide with the new dates, but it's entirely coincidental.

I do believe that preliminary work will begin on the next U2 album during this time between the new dates, though. We're talking the better part of a year before the new dates occur. Just days ago, Bono said he is looking forward to writing new songs during this time. I consider writing songs as the beginning of working on a new album. Whether Edge, Adam or Larry gets involved remains to be seen.

If the family illness that caused the tour dates to be postponed is with Edge's daughter, he successfully played 111 concerts in 2005 and then went along with scheduling these 18 additional shows in 2006. He's done remarkably well considering these things happening in his personal life and I think playing live was probably a great outlet for him to take his mind away from things. His wife Morleigh also went ahead with her own career, staging a series of dance performances in Venice, CA just 3 months ago.

We have no idea what is happening, but it may not be as grave as some people seem to think. The timing of these last 10 days may have just been at a bad time and it could be an entirely different and much more positive matter in 1 month. Who really knows?

My own belief is that Bono will be active writing new songs, as he stated he plans to do this just a couple days ago and he had said he was eager fo U2 to make a new album in 2006. I also believe that Edge, if he is the member of U2 whose issues caused the postponement, would do some songwriting as a release from what he is going through, all the while taking care of his ill daughter.

I don't think we will see any newly written or recorded U2 songs until fall of 2007 at the earliest with spring 2008 being more likely. The only exception to this is if they do the James Bond theme song, the recording of which would not have to even be done for another 5-6 months from now.

I truly feel that U2 are committed to going ahead with the 10 remaining concerts, even though there is a big gap in time between them.

 

[04072511]

Its amazing how a topic can change so dramatically from the original post!

 

[lauramullen]

Yeah, I know. Has anyone heard anything about the Hawaii show. I would think that they would still play it after the Austrailian shows.

 

[DubbalinGirl]

We have no idea what is happening, but it may not be as grave as some people seem to think. The timing of these last 10 days may have just been at a bad time and it could be an entirely different and much more positive matter in 1 month. Who really knows?

No, we don't know what's happening but do you have any idea what this looks like if/when the bandmember logs in here and sees that some people are/were expecting new material while he was in the midst of a health crisis? I just read this discussion and see that between the "we were robbed of our shows" mentality and the "use this time to give us new material" mentality, you're all acting like this is the common cold, when in reality "someone" is very ill, ill enough to put 4 people's lives on hold abruptly. I'm astounded I don't see more compassion.

I'm with Blue Room, I think Bono's talking the party line now and the postponement is just to cushion the blow of a later cancellation, but that's just MHO.

 

[Westport]

I'm with Blue Room, I think Bono's talking the party line now and the postponement is just to cushion the blow of a later cancellation, but that's just MHO.

I've always thought the timing and the announced length of the delay was rather bizarre given the potential seriousness of the illness. Granted, we don't know much of anything about who is ill or what the illness is...something just seems wrong.

 

[deirdre]

It's just a guess, but the idea that nothing will come out of the 7 month break seems unlikely.

I don't expect anything at all after the 7 month break,I hate to even call it a break , it's not really a break, it's just a sad fact of life that one of their family members is ill and I wish them nothing but the best and a speedy recovery.
I believe they will fulfill their tour obligation with the 10 shows that they had to postpone...and those shows will be awesome.. and I admire their dedication for doing so.

Cheers to U2 !!

 

[Westport]

I don't see anything new coming out of this...at least not in the short term but it is true that artists in general seem to be more inspired during the dark days of life than the happy, joyful ones...so you never know.

 

[AtomicBono]

I agree with some of your statements but disagree with others. Yes, I do think it's silly and entirely baseless that people assume U2 will release new material to specifically coincide with November tour dates. They are planning to release the Milan dvd, as told to me personally by Hamish Hamilton, at the end of the year, so this will coincide with the new dates, but it's entirely coincidental.

I do believe that preliminary work will begin on the next U2 album during this time between the new dates, though. We're talking the better part of a year before the new dates occur. Just days ago, Bono said he is looking forward to writing new songs during this time. I consider writing songs as the beginning of working on a new album. Whether Edge, Adam or Larry gets involved remains to be seen.

If the family illness that caused the tour dates to be postponed is with Edge's daughter, he successfully played 111 concerts in 2005 and then went along with scheduling these 18 additional shows in 2006. He's done remarkably well considering these things happening in his personal life and I think playing live was probably a great outlet for him to take his mind away from things. His wife Morleigh also went ahead with her own career, staging a series of dance performances in Venice, CA just 3 months ago.

We have no idea what is happening, but it may not be as grave as some people seem to think. The timing of these last 10 days may have just been at a bad time and it could be an entirely different and much more positive matter in 1 month. Who really knows?

My own belief is that Bono will be active writing new songs, as he stated he plans to do this just a couple days ago and he had said he was eager fo U2 to make a new album in 2006. I also believe that Edge, if he is the member of U2 whose issues caused the postponement, would do some songwriting as a release from what he is going through, all the while taking care of his ill daughter.

I don't think we will see any newly written or recorded U2 songs until fall of 2007 at the earliest with spring 2008 being more likely. The only exception to this is if they do the James Bond theme song, the recording of which would not have to even be done for another 5-6 months from now.

I truly feel that U2 are committed to going ahead with the 10 remaining concerts, even though there is a big gap in time between them.

I think that's pretty accurate. I'm sure they'll work on new material at some point; when you're a musician it's just what you do. However, I doubt they'll release anything new in 2006 except possibly the Bond theme. It all depends on if the sick family member has a speedy recovery or not...

 

[silvrlvr]

Before people go speculating about whether Edge would be a bone marrow donor, here are a few things to think about.

The most ideal bone marrow donor is a brother or sister -- meaning Levi. You might remember the case of the woman who got pregnant a few years back so that her daughter, who was sick, would have an ideal match. In fact, from what I remember reading in People magazine at the time, that worked and the young woman and her sister are both doing well.

However, in the past few years, treatments have advanced so that another course of action is harvesting stem cells from whole blood. I'm oversimplifying, and my apologies to any medical experts out there, but essentially, blood donors who match a list of criteria are given medication so that their stem cells grow. Blood is drawn, the blood is cycled so that the stem cells can be harvested, and then a transfusion takes place, generally over a week's time, allowing the stem cells to generate in the recipient and take the place of the leukemia affected cells. This kind of treatment is much less invasive, for both donors and recipients. Results can be seen over the course of a few weeks.

It means you don't have to perform a painful procedure on a child, and it also eliminates the searching for a non-family match. It's not to say that bone marrow transplants aren't used, only that this isn't the main course of action nowadays.

Back to the Vertigo tour: I agree with an earlier post that U2's business model has changed significantly since the 1990s. They can't just toss together a new album, especially coming off ATYCLB and HTDAAB. Too much is at stake. And, an "album" in the traditional sense isn't their only option.

What they could do is a) issue a live album from the Vertigo tour b) issue another EP on iTunes, like the Brooklyn Bridge EP c) release the IMAX film with/without an album d) issue something in conjunction with the RED campaign, i.e. available only to people who sign up for an Amex card e) some combination of the above.

November isn't all that far off, to be honest. If we get one of the above between now and then, that will probably be enough to keep the momentum going until the last 10 concerts take place.