Songs of _________________; New album discussion #7

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You fuckers are cold, but what do I expect when it dips into the teens?
 
https://variety.com/2022/music/news/u2-management-irving-jeffrey-azoff-full-stop-1235395117/
U2 is joining forces with Irving and Jeffrey Azoff’s Full Stop Management after nearly 10 years with Madonna and Red Hot Chili Peppers manager Guy Oseary, sources tell Variety.

A rep for Full Stop had no comment; the news was first reported by Hits.

While the group played two stadium dates last year, they have largely been off the road since their massive “Innocence and Experience” trek in 2017-2018, and it seems likely a new album is in the works if not nearly done. The band has not released a new album since “Songs of Experience” in December of 2017. Earlier this week, singer Bono announced a book tour in support of his forthcoming memoir, “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story,” which arrives on Nov. 1; he will tour North America and Europe throughout November.

Given Full Stop’s strength in the touring business — they manage Harry Styles, who has been on a wildly successful global tour for nearly a year — it seems likely that was a factor in the Azoffs’ favor, along with the company’s close relationship with longtime tour promoters Live Nation.

Also rumored — and reasonably so — Irving Azoff’s participation in a new Las Vegas venue, the Sphere, which would make a fine home for the 360-concert model that the band has employed on its many worldwide stadium treks.

However, the news does come as a surprise. In July, U2 singer Bono told Variety of Oseary, “Trustworthiness is an old-school term, and whilst the manager-client relationship does not require a Hippocratic oath, Guy O. takes this very seriously. That’s one of the reasons we work so well together. He is a most trustworthy person. In the early days, the temperature could get raised as we would debate different aspects of how we go about our business. But in recent times, not so much. He feels like family.”
 
Wow.

Azoff and Jim Dolan are besties. Dolan is building The Sphere.

The last time this happened was just before they launched the innocence and experience era.

So perhaps they're ready to launch again, as rumored.

And it's also an acknowledgement that, uh, the innocence and experience era of U2, while containing some incredible highs, was largely riddled with poor business decisions.
 
That’s a surprise… I just assumed they’d be with Oseary for the foreseeable. I wonder what’s happened…
 
“Given Full Stop’s strength in the touring business — they manage Harry Styles, who has been on a wildly successful global tour for nearly a year…”

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Once again I’ll refer to GAF, an expert at dipping into the teens.
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https://www.billboard.com/pro/u2-manager-irving-jeffrey-azoff-split-guy-oseary/

U2 are in discussion with Irving Azoff, Jeffrey Azoff and Brandon Creed’s Full Stop Management after splitting with manager Guy Oseary last week, according to sources with knowledge of the deal. The talks are ongoing and no final decision has been made by either side.
The talks follow news that Azoff is now involved in booking the MSG Sphere at the Venetian, part of Azoff Company’s long-term consulting deal with MSG properties. U2 is scheduled to open the MSG Sphere at the Venetian in November 2023, which Billboard first reported in July.

Oseary had managed U2 under the Live Nation-owned Maverick artist management collective for nearly a decade. In 2020, he left Live Nation but agreed to continue to provide consulting services to CEO Michael Rapino, whose company now has 450 artists under management.

Azoff and Full Stop’s management clients include Harry Styles, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Lizzo, among many others.

Oseary did not respond to a request for comment; a rep for the Azoffs and Full Stop declined to comment.

Despite switching management, U2 will continue working with Live Nation chairman of global touring and talent Arthur Fogel for all their touring plans, according to one source.

Live Nation will also produce frontman Bono’s upcoming Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story book tour, which was announced Tuesday. The 14-date Stories of Surrender tour will be will be co-produced by Penguin Random House and run through theaters in 14 cities across North America and Europe, starting Nov. 2 at the Beacon Theatre in New York and wrapping at the Teatro Coliseu in Madrid on Nov. 28.

U2’s last big tour, the Experience + Innocence Tour in 2018, grossed $126.2 million from 924,000 tickets sold to 59 shows. Before that, the Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary Tour in 2017 grossed $390.8 million with 3.3 million tickets sold to 65 shows. For nearly a decade — until Ed Sheeran topped it in 2019 — the band held the record for the highest grossing tour of all time with its 360 Tour from 2009 to 2011, which generated $736.4 million sales from 7.3 million tickets sold to 110 shows.

U2 is the second-highest grossing touring band of all time behind The Rolling Stones, according to Billboard Boxscore, topping $2.22 billion earned with 28.3 million tickets sold. The two bands are the only acts ever to surpass the $2 billion-sales mark.
 
Hopefully the message from management is a resounding "Hey you're a legacy act now, time to embrace it and act like it."
 
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