At U2 has been shut down

[DeVaul]

Originally Posted by lazarus

I don't know, seeing Best Thing, Get Out, and American Soul released as singles despite being the three worst songs on the album would be enough to disillusion anyone.

It was the tour tee designs

[Vlad n U 2]

Originally Posted by Hollow Island

He obsessed with another, completely mediocre, band iirc. I think they're a religious band, but not Christian Rock. I might be making that part up, though. Isn't McGee a religious nut?

Fairly sure he is/was a Republican.

[Hollow Island]

Did he just realize that U2 were left-leaning bleeding hearts?

That explains "no talking politics" rule that came in after Trump was elected.

[lazarus]

Wow, sure glad I was never a member of that forum.

more like M@G@U2, amirite??

[LuckyNumber7]

Originally Posted by lazarus

wow, sure glad i was never a member of that forum.

More like m@g@u2, amirite??

[lazarus]

Can’t wait for the 30th anniversary ZoolandTV tour!

[Hollow Island]

Originally Posted by lazarus

Wow, sure glad I was never a member of that forum.

more like M@G@U2, amirite??

you'd get banned for criticizing Trump or for calling racists "racists." it was hilarious.

[lazarus]

That’s nuts. Fuck him and anyone who was ok with that.

Good riddance. We may be a tough crowd here but at least most of us aren’t opposed to the core values of the band we’re here for.

[DeVaul]

Originally Posted by lazarus

That’s nuts. Fuck him and anyone who was ok with that.

Good riddance. We may be a tough crowd here but at least most of us aren’t opposed to the core values of the band we’re here for.

Yeah, we may be a bunch of assholes but we’re not dicks about it.

[Y2K]

I don't know that it's fair to label Matt McGee some kind of MAGA sympathesizer:

Worse, the live shows weren’t clicking for me, either. As I mentioned above, it was way too over-the-top political. And I don’t mean that in an I-disagree-with-what-they’re-saying way — I didn’t vote for our current president and think he’s an awful president (and worse human being). I mean it in the sense of … I was getting barraged 24/7 by politics, to the point where I had to rethink my entire approach to social media a couple years ago. I needed something else from U2 — an escape, something to take me away from all the B.S. going on in the real world. Instead, they hit me over the head with it for 3 hours during every show I saw on both the Joshua Tree 2017 tour and the Songs of Experience tour in 2018.

https://www.mattmcgee.com/what-happened-with-u2-and-me/

And for the record, he said that his new favorite band is Gang of Youths.

[DaveC]

we had at least half a dozen "U2 suddenly became way too political for me, don't shove it down our throats" posters in FYM in 2015-17. surprise surprise, they were all trumpists!

i'm sure this guy is different, though.

[tommycharles]

“During the whole 3 hours” is a bit rich - the one SOE show I saw, the politics was more or less restricted to the Acrobat intro and some visuals in SATS and Pride. It was there, because they’re U2 and they do that, but you weren’t beaten over the head with it.

[U2387]

Originally Posted by tommycharles

“During the whole 3 hours” is a bit rich - the one SOE show I saw, the politics was more or less restricted to the Acrobat intro and some visuals in SATS and Pride. It was there, because they’re U2 and they do that, but you weren’t beaten over the head with it.

Absolutely! Acrobat intro and SATS/Pride represented about 10 minutes of the entire show.

Though JT was definitely more overtly political- through the show and in the band members' stated intentions for the tour- you still weren't hit over the head with it for anywhere near the majority of the show.

The only thing that should've even been close to controversial with some people was the trackdown video explicitly mentioning lying Trump (putting aside the fact that there's nothing wrong with stating a well proven fact, lol).

The rest, if anyone has a problem, I've got to laugh, I really do. If people object to U2 pointing out America's bipartisan (though far from perfect) story of welcoming immigrants, of celebrating civil rights and equality, of upholding the dignity of workers and giving a damn about things that happen abroad (global health, poverty, refugees), two things are pretty clear:

1) They are a Trump supporters who are just fine with the fact that he is opposed to all of these previously non controversial values. Maybe you're a little uncomfortable with it being pointed out, but reality is reality.

2) They're projecting something onto the band that they've never been about. "I want to escape from politics at the shows...." Yeah, you're going to have to find a different band for that.

Nothing blows my mind more than older U2 fans who had no problem with the 1980s political U2 (far more controversial and in your face) all of a sudden taking issue with "being beaten over the head with politics" at shows.

I'd have far more respect for them if they were just honest and said they were right leaning these days and took issue with U2 being the left leaning folks they always have been. Leave aside the debate as to why their politics changed, etc, all good, it's a free world for the most part. But let's be honest here, it's not the band that's changed.

I often hear, mostly from 50+ male U2 fans after shows "great show, but it was too goddamn political." Everything is political. Bono is 100% right about that, and he made it as clear as he ever has in an interview around the time of the SOE release. I'd much rather they say "it was too goddamn liberal" or better yet "it seemed to attack my boy Trump by placing him in contrast to people like Reagan and Kennedy."

That way, we'd know where these critics stand. The fact that they don't frame it that way speaks volumes.

[Hollow Island]

Ah, U2. Classic escapist entertainment. It's a shame that they suddenly became political. If only they'd go back to the simple, fun days that were preserved for eternity in Rattle and Hum.

[lazarus]

Originally Posted by U2387

Absolutely! Acrobat intro and SATS/Pride represented about 10 minutes of the entire show.

Though JT was definitely more overtly political- through the show and in the band members' stated intentions for the tour- you still weren't hit over the head with it for anywhere near the majority of the show.

The only thing that should've even been close to controversial with some people was the trackdown video explicitly mentioning lying Trump (putting aside the fact that there's nothing wrong with stating a well proven fact, lol).

The rest, if anyone has a problem, I've got to laugh, I really do. If people object to U2 pointing out America's bipartisan (though far from perfect) story of welcoming immigrants, of celebrating civil rights and equality, of upholding the dignity of workers and giving a damn about things that happen abroad (global health, poverty, refugees), two things are pretty clear:

1) They are a Trump supporters who are just fine with the fact that he is opposed to all of these previously non controversial values. Maybe you're a little uncomfortable with it being pointed out, but reality is reality.

2) They're projecting something onto the band that they've never been about. "I want to escape from politics at the shows...." Yeah, you're going to have to find a different band for that.

Nothing blows my mind more than older U2 fans who had no problem with the 1980s political U2 (far more controversial and in your face) all of a sudden taking issue with "being beaten over the head with politics" at shows.

I'd have far more respect for them if they were just honest and said they were right leaning these days and took issue with U2 being the left leaning folks they always have been. Leave aside the debate as to why their politics changed, etc, all good, it's a free world for the most part. But let's be honest here, it's not the band that's changed.

I often hear, mostly from 50+ male U2 fans after shows "great show, but it was too goddamn political." Everything is political. Bono is 100% right about that, and he made it as clear as he ever has in an interview around the time of the SOE release. I'd much rather they say "it was too goddamn liberal" or better yet "it seemed to attack my boy Trump by placing him in contrast to people like Reagan and Kennedy."

That way, we'd know where these critics stand. The fact that they don't frame it that way speaks volumes.

You nailed it.

[LuckyNumber7]

I’ve seen every tour multiple times since my adulthood began at the end of the 2000s and I’ve never felt U2 was particularly American-political (“Ted Cruz in the house!”).

It was always my feeling that they weren’t even remotely political enough against Donald Trump, which irked me to no end.

[DeVaul]

Compared to what Roger Waters did, they were wimps. They did everything possible not to offend their fanbase, to the JT30 tour’s detriment IMO.

[tommycharles]

At the SOE show I saw (in Omaha NE), B made a quick comment about gun control, I think in the speech before One, and I thought it was one of his more well thought through comments, it was something like “as an outsider looking in, we just find all these guns really hard to understand.” It was a nice way to poke your audience into thinking about their beliefs a bit without saying “you stupid hicks” or whatever.

[pacemaker]

At the Pittsburgh JT30, I was standing behind three or four women who (trying not to be mean, but were very archetypal MAGA types) starting flicking the band off and yelling "Fuck YOUUUUU!!!!!" during Ultraviolet's tribute to women. America is, much like Mona Lisa Sapperstein, the wwwooooOOoOOoOOooorrrrssssssttttttttttttt.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by pacemaker

At the Pittsburgh JT30, I was standing behind three or four women who (trying not to be mean, but were very archetypal MAGA types) starting flicking the band off and yelling "Fuck YOUUUUU!!!!!" during Ultraviolet's tribute to women. America is, much like Mona Lisa Sapperstein, the wwwooooOOoOOoOOooorrrrssssssttttttttttttt.

it's ok. you can be mean when it comes to MAGA women booing other women. there's no sympathy left for these folks after yesterday. or even before.



anyway, i think JT, given it's gigantic stadiums and scope of it's markets, and the fact that it was before, say, throwing children in cages, was a plea to come together and recognize the humanity in the other side. this was back when we were explaining Trumpism as an "expression of economic insecurity" or something.

by the time e/i came around, and with smaller audiences and bigger Trump atrocities, i thought they were much more political and much more anti-fascist. i've seen every tour since 1997 and this was easily the most political i'd seen them, and i walked out of both shows ready to punch some Nazis.