U.S. Tour 2009: Speculation, Rumors, and Conjecture

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They could do a North American stadium tour in the Fall if they played outdoor cold-weather markets first and reserved warm-weather and indoor cold-weather markets (i.e., Toronto, Detroit, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Montreal, Indianapolis) for later in the tour.
 
WildHoneyAlways said:
It was the second leg of the NA tour. Most of it was done in domes. They would have a hard time starting an outdoor stadium tour in the US in the fall due to weather, the NFL, etc.
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Yeah, I don't see the NFL problem being one at this point given that there's only a handful of places that actually use natural grass at this point.

I do see your point about weather and such though. Given that it's U2 and if the album is even a marginal success in the media then I don't think it'll be a problem them to start a stadium tour whenever, wherever.
 
It'll be a problem for those have real turf though. When the Police played Wrigley Field 2 summers ago there was endless bitching about the condition the playing surface was left in. It was in such dire shape that it was completely redone in the off season.
 
WildHoneyAlways said:
It'll be a problem for those have real turf though. When the Police played Wrigley Field 2 summers ago there was endless bitching about the condition the playing surface was left in. It was in such dire shape that it was completely redone in the off season.
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I'm trying to think of the places with actual grass. San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Miami all spring immediately to mind. Cleveland. Kansas City. San Diego, Denver...Tampa, Green Bay, Carolina, Jacksonville, D.C.... For these cities, possibly others thats just off the top of my head, they could play in the baseball stadiums assuming their teams aren't in the playoffs. Plus I doubt all of these places are necessary to play as well, especially if it is stadiums.
 
Chicago has grass. Soldier Field was in terrible shape almost all season. Baseball stadiums are unlikely due to the playoff.

I would think they would have to divide the North American tour up if they start in the fall. Call me selfish but i have no desire to see a show wearing a hat, mittens and a big winter coat. lol
 
It's getting a bit tiresome hearing people in the US complain about how 'few' U2 shows are played there. The lions share of shows are played in the US, so get over yourselves, jump in a bus/train/plain.

I'll be thrilled if U2 even come to Australia after missing out on Elevation. I will fly interstate if need be, and I won't complain about it. Melbourne/Sydney will sell out five (stadium) shows between them, and may be bipassed. If St Louis is bipassed because only 17000 tickets will sell, then so be it.
 
WildHoneyAlways said:
Chicago has grass. Soldier Field was in terrible shape almost all season. Baseball stadiums are unlikely due to the playoff.

I would think they would have to divide the North American tour up if they start in the fall. Call me selfish but i have no desire to see a show wearing a hat, mittens and a big winter coat. lol
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yeah, knew i forgot chicago. baseball playoffs...not all those teams are going to be in it. giants? no way, i mean, it'll be tough because they'd have to book around that etc. we'll see what happens.
 
WildHoneyAlways said:
It'll be a problem for those have real turf though. When the Police played Wrigley Field 2 summers ago there was endless bitching about the condition the playing surface was left in. It was in such dire shape that it was completely redone in the off season.
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The are only 2 venues with grass fields that would maybe get 2 shows this time around:

1. The L.A. venue (likely Dodger Stadium, the Rose Bowl, or the Coliseum)
2. Soldier Field (which should switch to FieldTurf based on the piss poor condition of its playing field)

The Cubs were going to renovate the playing field at Wrigley Field, regardless of the Police shows, to install a modern drainage system.
 
Just an imagination:

June-August (or Sept), Europe, stadiums

September-November, US & Canada (maybe Mexico) Stadiums: East Coast (NY, DC, Boston, Philly) plus Chicago, then Canada (dome stadiums in Toronto and Montreal) and then Miami, Atlanta etc etc Tour could finish in California on November.

NY/NJ, 2-3 shows (Giants?)

DC, 1 show

Philadelphia, 1 show

Boston, 2 or 3 shows (Gilette or Fenway)

Hartford, 1 show?

Chicago, 2 shows

Detroit or one city in Ohio, 1 show

Minneapolis, 1 show??

Toronto, 2 shows

Montreal, 1 show

Miami, 1 show

Atlanta, 1 show

Texas, 2 shows (Houston & Dallas? Austin?)

Phoenix or Tempe, 1 show

Las Vegas, 1 show

Salt Lake City, 1 show? (they soldout Rice Stadium back in 1997)

Denver, 1 show

Seattle or Portland/Eugene, 1 show

Vancouver, 1 show

Los Angeles, 1 o 2 shows

Oakland/SF, 1 o 2 shows

Hawaii, 1 show

Mexico City, 1,2 or 3 shows

Vox
 
The rumor posted recently about playing a smaller number of cities and doing about a week of shows in each for North America would definitely mean arena's. With Stadiums, U2 would probably struggle to fill 6 or 7 stadium shows in New York City, let alone anywhere else in North America where the maximum would likely be 2 or 3.

But with Arena's, doing a week or even two weeks of shows in a single city becomes possible.

If U2 decide to play a total of 75 to 80 shows in North America, they could get to that number by playing an average of 7 Arena shows in the 11 largest markets in North America. So it would look something like this:

New York City 15x
Boston 10x
Philadelphia 6x
Washington DC 6x
Miami 5x
Chicago 7x
Los Angeles 7x
San Francisco 5x
Montreal 4x
Toronto 6x
Seattle(IF you add in fans from Vancouver and Portland) 5x

On the Vertigo Tour, U2 did the following in those cities:

New York City 10x
Boston 7x
Philadelphia 4x
Washington DC 2x
Miami 2x
Chicago 6x
Los Angeles 6x
San Francisco 4x
Montreal 2x
Toronto 6x
Seattle/Portland/Vancouver 5x

All of those shows soldout the day they went on sale(except the last two in Chicago) indicating that more shows could have been added in each of those markets. Add in the fact that these are the only cities U2 plays this time based on the rumor, and the extra demand that would produce in these cities would allow U2 to arrive at the 75 to 80 show number by just playing these 11 markets.

It would certainly make it easy on U2, but would be very difficult for a lot of U2 fans across North America who live faraway from these big markets.
 
Strongbow said:
If U2 decide to play a total of 75 to 80 shows in North America, they could get to that number by playing an average of 7 Arena shows in the 11 largest markets in North America. So it would look something like this:

New York City 15x
Boston 10x
Philadelphia 6x
Washington DC 6x
Miami 5x
Chicago 7x
Los Angeles 7x
San Francisco 5x
Montreal 4x
Toronto 6x
Seattle(IF you add in fans from Vancouver and Portland) 5x

It would certainly make it easy on U2, but would be very difficult for a lot of U2 fans across North America who live faraway from these big markets.
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That is very unlikely to happen.

I don't think U2 would have trouble selling out stadiums, even in smaller markets, in 2009 (assuming they don't go too crazy with ticket prices). This is a band that, thankfully, has ALWAYS toured in medium-sized and even small markets, at least in regards to North America. Many of these markets have come out for the band in force. Remember, for instance, that U2 had to play TWO shows at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on the Popmart tour to satisfy demand.

It would be a shame if they bypassed markets of this size, and, fortunately, there isn't any credible evidence to suggest that they will.
 
U2Fanatic4ever said:
^according to the italian fans who spoke to sam o'sullivan, adam at hanover quay they said the US leg would be indoor arenas (at least for the fall leg).
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Thank the Lord!!! I hope this turns out to be true. Not that I wouldn't LOVE to see U2 in a stadium setting, that'd be great. But even more importantly, I'd like U2 to come closer to me than Chicago, and that may not be possible with a stadium tour.
 
they've had two very successful tours in a row playing indoor venues in the US. don't see why they'd go back to the stadium format when the last example of this in the US was Popmart (i'm personally not a fan of watching concerts on a video screen when i'm at the actual venue but more power to those of you who love the stadium shows).

and i'm sure someone out there knows this: have they ever started a MAJOR tour in the US during the fall period? just curious.
 
Due to the economy they may do a "barnstorming" tour of the US int he fall and come back in 2010 for Stadiums. Remember that Chile is rumoured for October next year(19 months from now).
 
bratty_cat said:
they've had two very successful tours in a row playing indoor venues in the US. don't see why they'd go back to the stadium format when the last example of this in the US was Popmart (i'm personally not a fan of watching concerts on a video screen when i'm at the actual venue but more power to those of you who love the stadium shows).

and i'm sure someone out there knows this: have they ever started a MAJOR tour in the US during the fall period? just curious.
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when you say major tour, do you mean the 1st leg? Cuz according to what is rumored now about them starting this tour in Europe during the summer then the US would be the 2nd leg of the tour. Then the US would probably get 2 more legs but those would obviously be in 2010.

If you are speaking of 1st leg (opening a tour) in the US it's been in the Spring/early Summer for these tours: JT, ZooTv, Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo.
If you are speaking of a major leg of a tour in the Fall then the 3rd leg of these tours happened in the US: JT, ZooTV, Popmart, Elevation and Vertigo.

U2 opened their tours in Europe for these tours: Boy, October and War. They opened the Unforgettable Tour in New Zealand and Australia.
 
Hallucination said:
:laugh: What's wrong with St. Louis? Why could they not sell out a Stadium? Honestly I think that's bull. There's roughly 3 million people living in the greater St. Lousi area. To suggest U2 coudln't sell out a stadium in St. Louis is a bit silly I think. If Edmonton, Alberta, Canada can sell out a 65 000 seat stadium with roughly only a million people living in the area than St. Louis sure as hell can
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STL was upwards of 2,000 short of a sellout in 2001. One of only 3-4 shows on the entire tour not to be sold out by showtime.
 
RUMOUR - U2's new tour will be a "feat of genius"

Mods please feel free to merge/move where you like, was not sure on which of the plenty of threads to add to :reject:

U2's spectacular promise

The Irish rockers have been secretly creating a technologically-advanced stage set for when they hit the road later this year, and have promised fans something spectacular.

Frontman Bono, 48, said: "It's fair to say what we've planned for our outdoor shows has never been done before and that we've been working on it for a long time.

"It's a feat of engineering genius."

Before they go on their proposed tour, U2 will debut their new single ‘Get On Your Boots' - taken from their upcoming album ‘No Line On The Horizon' - at this year's BRIT Awards on February 18.

Ged Doherty, Chairman of the BRITs committee, said: "We're thrilled to confirm U2 have chosen the BRITs for their first global TV performance of their new single."

The band has not yet announced any live dates. The group's new album is to be released worldwide in March.

(C) BANG Media International

From here U2's spectacular promise - Yahoo! News UK
l
 
So if theyre planning something really spectacular for the outdoor shows, whats it going to be like for the indoor concerts, since that is what the US will be getting for the first leg.....
 
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