Let's Speculate on Tour Schedules / U2 at Croke Next Year?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

dclawyer

The Fly
Joined
Jan 21, 2008
Messages
56
This has been grumbled about a bit since the news last week regarding the album delay, but let's really chew into it. Bono says 2009 is "our year." Whatever. But one thing is for sure, they aren't following standard op procedure for the last few drops, leaving the field wild open to anticipate their moves. Here is what we've seen on last few drops:

Fall album drop
Spring North America arena tour (guessing because only NorthAm has enough good sized indoor arenas to support a tour while the weather is unreliable?)
Summer Europe (weather reasons and to be commuting distance to Ez)
Fall North America arena tour (see above speculation)
Spring and late summer of following year some combo of Latin America, Asia, Down Under

So....if album drops in either Feb or March, will they keep specualtive plans to start the tour in NorthAm at end of March and go on tour so soon? Will they start the 1st leg of the tour in the summer in Europe and spend fall and next spring in North Am arenas before doing early summer in LatinAm/Asia etc? Someone already guessed NorthAm stadiums early summer, Europe stadiums late summer, NorthAm arenas in fall, etc.

Let the games begin....
 
After the ticket demand from the Vertigo Tour in North America and playing multiple shows in major cities I would be shocked if U2 didn't play stadiums. The US is in dire need of a major tour and U2 is going to sell out anywhere they set foot on next year.

Major stadium production tour starts May 2009 :drool:
 
If the album is released at the beginning of March, they could still tour North America in the spring, but start the tour at the end of April instead:

North America arenas end of April, May, June
Europe Stadiums in July, August
then maybe a summer break late August, beginning of September?
North America arenas end of September, October, November
South America, Australia and New Zealand stadiums early 2010

But if they need more time for promotion, preparation, ticket sales etc. between album and tour, I also wonder if they would start the tour in Europe :hmm:

I don't think they will move the European tour, for the reasons you mentioned..
 
i don't think we can worry about tours until they give us at least a single.
I am very worried about the tour schedule, as the original (fall drop, summer in Europe) was pretty much perfect for me, and I might be moving waaaay out of tour range by next fall. So I'd like to know when and where the tour will start, and when they will be in Europe and North America (compared to when I will be), and I'd like to know while I still have time to delay my departure from the parts of the world where they will tour.

However, the fact that I'd like to know means jack shit to U2, so I'm just gonna watch people speculate in this thread and try not to worry too much about something I can't control.
 
After the ticket demand from the Vertigo Tour in North America and playing multiple shows in major cities I would be shocked if U2 didn't play stadiums. The US is in dire need of a major tour and U2 is going to sell out anywhere they set foot on next year.

Major stadium production tour starts May 2009 :drool:

I was thinking about that solution, too! Cause if they do a stadium tour in North America, they wouldn't have to play multiple shows in major cities and could start in May instead of March.

And Willie Williams said they had already worked on ideas for two years. Made me wish for some big stadium production, not just for Europe :drool::drool::drool:
 
I know, I have some kids I used to coach in college who live in Ireland, I had it all set up for next summer. Now it might be a little more challenging, because I don't think they will be there then..... new album? help? holla?
 
exactly! i had a summer europe trip all planned out, paid the bucks to renew the fan club in the hopes they do pre-sale again, was prepped and ready to go for seeing them in the US in the fall...my anal retentive side that adores planning ahead is freaking out now!
 
1st leg: Eastern Europe.
2nd leg: North Africa, Middle East, India.
3rd leg: East Asia.
4th leg: Oceania.
5th leg: Rural South Australia.

I know, Botswana gets kind of screwed. You can't please everyone.
 
If the album is indeed on track for February/March, as long as they start rehearsing earlier than they did for Pop, they can hew to a similar tour schedule as for Pop - lack of prep time was the major problem for the early part of that tour. If they finish late October/early November, then they can rehearse up to the holidays and then resume after them (maybe doing a few promo shows in Feb) and have sufficient rehearsal time. They could conceivably start a slightly shorter first swing through N. America in mid-May through the end of June/first week of July and then still do Europe starting the second half of July, with a longer second swing through North America through the Fall right up close to the 2009 holidays (presuming they are doing arenas!).
 
The tour is my biggest question mark concerning this album delay. One wonders if U2 won't start their tour until, say, July or August given how they like to rehearse extensively before going on the road. Say the single is out in early February, the album is out in March....those two months will be filled with promotional appearances, perhaps a couple of mini-shows, Good Morning America, etc. They won't have time to properly rehearse for a tour that starts in April. We all know how much the band regretted not having enough rehearsal time going into PopMart.

Crazy theory: no touring at all in 2009. They wait until the Spider-Man album comes out in late 09/early 2010 and then they unleash a major world tour that lasts basically through all of 2010 to promote both the Spidey album AND the 2009 studio album.
 
They should start the tour in Europe in summer 2009 and then continue it in other parts of the world through fall 2009 and 2010.
 
U2 postponed their last Aussie tour because of young miss evans illness.

They came a bit later and it was better because Bono's voice was well rested.

U2 always forfill their promises on tours.


Sometimes it is better to wait.
 
The Irish Daily Mirror (yes I know - what a reliable source!) claims today that U2 have booked Croke Park for three dates next summer, with them starting an eighteen-month tour early next year in the US before going to Europe for the summer. Read it here: U2 Book Croke Park Dates? - Music news for Ireland | Entertainment.ie | Listings starting 11 September 2008. As a personal aside, I hope to God it's not true that they're playing Croke Park - the sound was awful the last time and has been at other concerts there since I've heard. The stadium just wasn't built for huge gigs and the sound flies around everywhere. I've vowed not to go back there unless someone I really really want to see is playing.

As for the speculation, it doesn't make sense to tour Europe at any other time other than the summer since most of the shows will be outdoors in Europe anyway and the weather will be atrocious in the winter (though it hasn't been too good here for the last few months either). So I think that it might be worth looking roughly at Radiohead's type of touring schedule, coming to Europe in early June after having spent a bit of time in the US and then heading back to the US after that leg was finished.
 
I think the tour is starting late March, early April in NA. I think the album release being delayed to an "early 2009" date has no impact on their original tour plans. The single hits in January. The album hits in Feb-Mar. The tour starts at end of March. This could be a great scenario. Mind you, this could all be off a month and still work with an end of April tour start up. Commerically, U2 are on to their 2nd single release when they begin touring (based on last two album releases). This time out could be a rush. U2.com subscribers could benefit from this (IF there is to be tour presales) before the wave of new memberships pour in.
 
Bono interview

A reader from atu2.com posts

@U2 Forum - U2 Fan Community

:hmm: Croke park booked for summer 2009, looks like another REAL worldwide tour since it will go on for a year and a half. And it bodes well for the album in Spring...
 
Leg 1: North America - Stadiums - March 2008-June 2008
Leg 2: Europe - Stadiums - July 2008 - August 2008
Leg 3: Middle East - Stadiums - August 2008
Leg 4: North America - Stadiums - September 2008 - November 2008
Leg 5: Southern Africa, Indonesia, Australia, China, Japan, select other places in Southeastern Asia - January 2009 - February 2009
Leg 6: Central America/South America - March 2009
Leg 7: Northern Europe(Iceland, Greenland, UK, Finland, Denmark, Russia, etc, finishing in Dublin) - Stadiums - June 2009 - August 2009

Nearly 18 months. Traverses the whole globe.
 
The tour will start in Las Vegas in May. Be there bitches.
Sadly, they wont play in Canada, since Bono hates it there.

true story.
 
A reader from atu2.com posts

@U2 Forum - U2 Fan Community

:hmm: Croke park booked for summer 2009, looks like another REAL worldwide tour since it will go on for a year and a half. And it bodes well for the album in Spring...

Oh, I hope this is true. I'd be thrilled if it was, but it's only "provisional" at this point. I'm glad they're planning on such things though.
 
Joshua Tree was released in March with a tour that started April 2nd.

How'd that turn out?

But every tour since Zoo TV has been significantly more complex than JT, with songs that require more rehearsing. It's hard to just roll out of bed and play The Fly or Lemon.
 
Back
Top Bottom