ATYCLB 20th Anniversary Box Set

[DeVaul]

Unfairly maligned and arguably the band has overcorrected ever since. Yes, there were some rough shows at the start and a few technical hiccups, but the band and show itself got better over time.

The handful of shows you’re referring to was on the 3rd leg of the tour/2nd stretch across the US- 3 shows across 4 nights in St Louis (50% empty), Tampa (62% empty) and Jacksonville (70% empty). I agree that 3 ugly shows in somewhat minor markets overall wouldn’t prompt a recalibration and future retcon, but...

The overall US tour numbers were still a mess. Worse than you may remember! Based on the ticket sales info on the tour Wikipedia page, Popmart saw about 20% vacancy across the U.S. tour dates; that translates to 350,000 unsold tickets. 10 shows out of 37 had more than 35% unsold. I would love to have heard the conversations in the aftermath, because clearly they care about their popularity and scale.

 

[DeVaul]

You're right, though. They've certainly never played an empty house since then, even on 360, which was a massive tour behind an unpopular album. If Pop was a flop, then what was No Line?

In a word? Incidental. The U.S. demand in particular had been built up over 2 consecutive arena tours behind very successful mainstream albums. The band hadn’t played stadiums in the US in over a decade so the lead of the story was the return and the stage design, along with a classic Paul McGuinness footnote about the availability of cheap seats in the midst of economic turmoil. The album was just an excuse; certainly the moody, ruminative songs were not designed for a stadium. This was their Stones moment - they could’ve played this tour with no new material and still sold all the tickets.

 

[pacemaker]

Popmart in Philly was my first U2 show (and first "real" concert in general), and I remember thinking to myself something like, "Why isn't this stadium overfilled and going completely bonkers like on the ZooTV VHS?!?!?"

The only stadium show I've been to that has come close to feeling like one of their official releases was Hawaii '06. Otherwise, Popmart Philly, 360 Charlottesville and JT30 Pittsburgh, crowd-wise, were far from sold out. All were amazing though.

 

[Irvine511]

360 Charlottesville was pretty much sold out to my memory.

 

[DeVaul]

Nowadays Live Nation calls it a sellout even when it ain’t. Not sure if the show has to hit a certain percentage of seats sold to qualify for the tag but the short answer is “marketing bullshit.”

 

[Hewson]

Nowadays Live Nation calls it a sellout even when it ain’t. Not sure if the show has to hit a certain percentage of seats sold to qualify for the tag but the short answer is “marketing bullshit.”

If they sell every ticket they sell, they consider it a sell out.

#STINGlogic.

 

[DeVaul]

if they sell every ticket they sell, they consider it a sell out.

#stinglogic.

View attachment 12721

 

[Hollow Island]

I finished that ATYCLB retrospective on u2.com and Bono...man, he's a problem too.

He said that at the end of the 90s they discussed if U2 should stick around and what they should do in a new decade. He asked himself "what do U2?" and the answers were hooks and big choruses, which U2 got away from in the 90s

 

[nathan1977]

I was thinking about this for some reason recently.

The Joshua Tree tour made the band some money (approx $5M), but they reinvested it all in R&H.

No clue how LoveTown did, but it wasn't stadiums and was really meant to just be a continuation of the JT tour. While it undoubtedly made money, it probably wasn't a huge cash cow for them.

ZooTV famously didn't earn much in terms of profits.

By all accounts PopMart had the same problem, if not worse. (There were reports in the late 90s that they were actually hurting financially.)

By Elevation I'm sure the band were tired of doing all that touring and not making real money (at that point their biggest profit had come from the sale of Island to Polygram). Were one feeling uncharitable, one could read the Elevation and Vertigo tours as primarily designed to make money for the band (arenas with a simple staging for the US, which required much less overhead and cost to the band, their promoters and financial partners). That the tours were wildly successful allowed them to dream big again with 360...and probably for the last time.

 

[lazarus]

They have enough money to dream as big as they want to, repeatedly. They got $100 million from Live Nation, not to mention money they already had from previous investments. Bono alone has a ridiculous amount.

 

[zoopop]

U2 we’re making $ in the 90s. From record sales, contracts (I think they signed a big 4-6 album deal in the 90s), and song royalties. Pop mart was a big hit from a financial stand point I’m sure T

 

[DeVaul]

They’d likely be approved just about anything if the suits believed they’d sell enough tickets. I’m interested to see what post-vaccine demand will be like in general.

 

[pacemaker]

I’m interested to see what post-vaccine demand will be like in general.

I think demand (for live music in general, not just U2) will be ravenous, but logistics might become an issue. With bands jockeying for a piece of the "Fresh-Outta-Lockdown" pie*, and booking agencies/venues/production companies/etc being overwhelmed as a result is a real concern that the industry is (hopefully) taking into consideration because they just want to start making money again.

Then there's also the economics of the patronage, and if anyone will be able to afford to go to all of the live music they want to be able to see. So maybe "Intention" is a better word than "Demand". I, for one, am glad I no longer work in "The Biz". The onslaught of bands ready to tour will also potentially give promoters a lot of power they never really had before - and most promoters are complete pieces of shit. One in my city has, for example, seemingly figured out how to get local bands to pay-to-play at a closed venue for holiday live streams. It's gross.

I wouldn't think any of the logistical issues would apply to U2, but their decisions could cause ripple effects that clash with the ripples of other big acts, and negatively impact the touring abilities of small bands.




*Fresh-Outta-Lockdown Pie sounds like it could be the title of Van Morrison and Eric Clapton's next duet.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Proven high revenue performers like U2 won't have an issue once we're back to normalish. Acts that play smaller venues, on the other hand, will struggle as many of these smaller venues have gone under. It will take years for these types of venues to get back to and running.

 

[AndrewCowley]

Dust off the claw, give it a Zoo TV theme, and go big. Don’t forget, Ed Sheeran broke their record.

 

[DeVaul]

Dust off the claw, give it a Zoo TV theme, and go big. Don’t forget, Ed Sheeran broke their record.

Only took him 130% more shows to beat them by, uhh, 5%

 

[lazarus]

Surely Larry, if no one else, won't just sit back and let that ginger troll keep the title.

 

[DeVaul]

They haven’t broken 80 shows on any of 3 tours since 360. I don’t think there’s enough kinesio tape to keep Larry behind the kit for more than that at a clip.

 

[MrPryck2U]

Wow, a few days ago, ATYCLB celebrated its 21st year. Walk On will always be my favorite. That tour was my favorite.

 

[monkeyskin]

Pretty wild that if you judge an artists career to start with their debut album, this album is now in the first half of U2’s career. It was the first new release from them I bought, and now I feel like the guy in Last Crusade who chose poorly.

 

[ferball415]

Wasn't expecting a Donovan reference here but appreciated.

 

[DeVaul]

pretty wild that if you judge an artists career to start with their debut album, this album is now in the first half of u2’s career. It was the first new release from them i bought, and now i feel like the guy in last crusade who chose poorly.

 

[ferball415]

[on zeppelin] What we taught U2 was that they were less important to us than albums they made 35 years ago in another country, and they learned it so well, that they've hardly written a good song in 20 years.

 

[ascender_RS]

I see U2 Songs have posted that the expected release for AB's 30th Anniversary will be a double vinyl LP with an exclusive poster.

I guess the cupboards (that the public will ever be allowed to see) are well and truly bare by this point.

 

[DeVaul]

I see U2 Songs have posted that the expected release for AB's 30th Anniversary will be a double vinyl LP with an exclusive poster.

I guess the cupboards (that the public will ever be allowed to see) are well and truly bare by this point.

“You’ll put it up… like a fly on a wall!”

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I see U2 Songs have posted that the expected release for AB's 30th Anniversary will be a double vinyl LP with an exclusive poster.

I guess the cupboards (that the public will ever be allowed to see) are well and truly bare by this point.

to be fair - what hasn't already been released from Achtung Baby? Short of releasing the actual Salome Tapes in an official basis, they've put a ton out there.

 

[gump]

Considering that U2 fans are now freaking old, who do they actually expect to put a poster on their walls?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Considering that U2 fans are now freaking old, who do they actually expect to put a poster on their walls?

the new fans they're getting from Sing 2. duh

 

[ascender_RS]

to be fair - what hasn't already been released from Achtung Baby? Short of releasing the actual Salome Tapes in an official basis, they've put a ton out there.

Only thing I could think of would be some pro-shot stuff - an indoor show from the first leg maybe?

I do wonder how much video footage actually exists from that era that's useable - they did seem to have cameras following them around absolutely everywhere.

 

[Hewson]

the new fans they're getting from Sing 2. duh

What if the poster is of Adam and his uh "instrument"?