(01-05-2005) U2 Postpone World Tour - Rolling Stone*

[u2sangel]

For them to cancel it must be serious!I hope whoever is ill will be ok!

 

[Tip Top Prince]

I am far from thrilled.

If there aren't east coast shows in March, I am so majorly screwed. And I can't be bothered explaining why on a public forum.

This is horrific. And Tip Top Prince, if you dare to comment on this, I will flame you so severely that you will think Hell is cold.

So in other words, you seriously doubt the validity of the claim, because it messes up your plans? Talk about self-absorbed.

Similar to when you doubted the new album leak was really the new album, because YOU couldn't download it.

 

[KristenF]

It's very strange to wake up today and read this thread, because not long ago I had a very vivid dream that someone close to U2 had cancer. I won't mention who it was , as I don't want rumours to get started. Nor would I suggest that I have any type of psychic ability, or that it was anything more than a bad dream. It's just a little unsettling.
Whatever is going on, I hope everything turn outs ok.

 

[ulove2]

I truly hope there is no serious problem with any of the band or their family members, but maybe they do just need some time to get back into tour mode....Bono looks like he has been boozing it up for a while and may need to whip his butt back into shape.....I certainly hope it is something that simple.

 

[annecatu2]

My guess is that they've found out someone (an elderly parent or in-law?) is dying and doesn't have much time left. That time, of course, must be spent with that person rather than with us. I would say that Bono's father was different because 1) they were in the middle of a tour and 2) it was Bono's choice to handle things that way.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i feel the effect of htdaab disappaiting quite quickly.
i think that atyclb owns this new album.

u2 will tour, i think theyre rethinking the venues.

thats all.

db9

while i doubt this is the reasoning behind the delay... he does have a point... how to dismantle an atomic bomb slipped from #3 to #14 on the billboard charts this week.

 

[Popmartijn]

while i doubt this is the reasoning behind the delay... he does have a point... how to dismantle an atomic bomb slipped from #3 to #14 on the billboard charts this week.

And after 6 weeks it has sold twice as much as ATYCLB sold in 9 weeks. Thus, after Christmas 2000 ATYCLB had sold 1 million copies in the USA. After Christmas 2004, HTDAAB has sold more than 2 million copies.

 

[TwoAmericas]

I don't think it has anything to do with a "family illness."

I think U2 feel it's not enough time to rehearse to go on tour. They rather let the new singles sink in for a few weeks (SYCMIOYO and ABOY), hope the album sells more, and then go on tour. This way, their popularity will really peak and demand for the tour will rise.

March 1 seems way too early to go on tour. I think the best time to go on tour is early April.

Remember what happened to Pop. They released the album in March and a month later they went on tour. It was a disaster. They should just take their time and hope that they get more airplay with the new songs and the album stays hot, which will help the tour.

 

[Jamila]

I don't want to speculate about the reasons for this delay nor do I want to criticize anyone posting here.

All I want to do is to support U2 and their right to make their own decisions.

There is a perfectly good reason why this tour has been postponed. The tour will take place when U2 is ready to tour.

Until we have some further clarification about the causes for this delay, all I will do is to WISH U2 AND THEIR FAMILIES WELL!

U2 has given us SO MUCH - shouldn't we be a bit more generous and understanding of them and give them the time they need to sort things out?

U2 - MY BEST THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE WITH ALL OF YOU!

 

[Peter]

6.01.2005
U2, 2005, Happy New Year.
Happy New Year to all U2.Com readers! With the New Year comes more info on the tour announcement.

Rest assured that U2.Com will be letting you know all the details and dates for the 2005 U2 tour as soon as they're available.

The tour announcement has been put back, as Paul McGuinness, U2's manager, explained.

'We've postponed the announcement of the tour because the routing is still being worked on. As soon as we get everything confirmed over the coming weeks, we'll let you know.'

In the meantime, we'll be keeping you posted on two new singles coming up - 'All Because of You' in the US and Canada and 'Sometimes you Can't Make It On Your Own' in the rest of the world.

U2.com

 

[Peter]

the ANNOUNCEMENT has been put back...

 

[doctorwho]

while i doubt this is the reasoning behind the delay... he does have a point... how to dismantle an atomic bomb slipped from #3 to #14 on the billboard charts this week.

That's true... it dropped to a mere 95,000 copies sold - blech. And it did drop to #14... of course, ATYCLB was #22 at the same time point in 2000. And ATYCLB spent only 2 initial weeks in the top 10 (a third came much later).

DB9, for his bizarro whacko reasons, doesn't like HTDAAB. I am utterly confused by this as ATYCLB and HTDAAB are similar albums. It's like hating R&H but adoring JT. It's like hating "War" but adoring "Boy". It doesn't make sense. But then, Diamond never makes much sense.

Regardless, an album that slipped to #14 would not cause a delay in the world tour. If that's the case, U2 never would've toured for "Pop".

 

[doctorwho]

6.01.2005
U2, 2005, Happy New Year.
Happy New Year to all U2.Com readers! With the New Year comes more info on the tour announcement.

Rest assured that U2.Com will be letting you know all the details and dates for the 2005 U2 tour as soon as they're available.

The tour announcement has been put back, as Paul McGuinness, U2's manager, explained.

'We've postponed the announcement of the tour because the routing is still being worked on. As soon as we get everything confirmed over the coming weeks, we'll let you know.'

In the meantime, we'll be keeping you posted on two new singles coming up - 'All Because of You' in the US and Canada and 'Sometimes you Can't Make It On Your Own' in the rest of the world.

U2.com

I have problems accepting the family illness reason. Why would an illness occurring now delay a tour starting almost 2 months from now? One can argue that practice time is now diminished due to the illness. Fair enough - however, how can U2 then feel that starting the tour a month later is enough time? What if it's an extended illness?

My thoughts are exactly what McGuinness stated. U2 are less than 2 months from starting a world tour. Given that the holidays just ended, it wouldn't surprise me if U2 have yet to finalize a lot of the dates, venues and maybe even stage designs and set lists.

While there was a LOT of speculation about tour dates, nothing official was ever stated (other than the Miami show). Therefore, I don't see how anyone's plans can really be upset. From my perspective, nothing has changed - tour is just a little later. Nothing bad with that.

 

[God Part III]

Oh my. I hope it's not that serious. And I can't wait another month! Are the European dates still the same?

 

[Dreadsox]

Who knows, maybe it is because they want to do an outside tour....rather than small stadium....

If they were coming to Boston in March....the Fleet Center was the only place they could do it....

If they are coming towards the end of APRIL...into MAY....Outside is completely possible.

 

[dazzledbylight]

my prayers are winging their way

 

[lady luck]

I think we must not act selfishly... dates are unknow, let's just wait without getting disappointed or stuff like that!

dunno if the "family illness" is a true story, but I think we just have to wait!

 

[Teta040]

Oh no. I do hope everything is OK. I'm not throwing out the illness rumors because there was a very strong rumor a couple months back that Norman, Bono's brother, (and only sibling) was having health problems. If you have seen a recent pic of him, it would be easy to believe. He was a pallbearer at his father's uneral, of course, in '01 and there is a good look at him in that pic. I'd hate for Norman to go at such a young age (he's 8 yrs Bono's senior)..it would be devestating for Bono. Then he realy WOULD be an "orphan". I know, he's middle-aged and all that and should be prepared for that kind of thing, but those of us who have lost family young can relate. And we can hear for ourselves these days just what an effect Bob's passing had.

I'm not one of those on here who have had the good fortune to meet Norman when he ran the Tosca in Dublin, but many fans have, and they all say he was the sweetest person. I'm sure there are people on here who have. Whether the rumors are true or not, I'm going to prsy for him and his own family tonight.

It can;t be becuase the band were scheduling a round ofsunami-related apperances--these would be in Jan, this month, so that wouldn't disrupt a tour. I hope this is the reason.

What I am REALLY hoping is that it's becuase the band are quitely working on the Propaganda site logistics--I hope the Big Cheese of FanFire, whoever he or she is, has woken up with a horse's head (or plastic equivalent thereof) in their bed recently. The problems with the fans were unexpected. I hope the band are smoothing out the potential ticket problems...I hope this s the REAL reason

 

[Teta040]

Holy smoke, Kristen F. Just read your post and this freaks me out. I believe in "psychic ability". Actually, as a Christian I have another name for it, but it is real. It has happend numerous times in my family, and with regards to U2, it has happened several times for me over the years. Regarding strange dreams, hunches, thoughts, etc, it tends to happen to people whom you are very close to, you feel very close to, have known for several years, or both.


Regarding U2, I've been a fan for almost their whole career, and starting in the late 90's, I've had strange hunches. I have "predicted" the births of every single one of their children born since Larry's first kid in 1996. Sometimes it happened a a couple of days before the news announcement, sometimes a few weeks, even a month or two, sometimes even if someone was pregnant. But it would happen like this: unexpectedly, in the middle of work or at home or shopping or whatever it was I'd be doing, I'd start to ask myself a question over and over, "What if one of the guys had a kid, or had another kid?" And a few hours later, I'd have a sort of daydream of this or that band member holding baby in thier arms. I'd be unable to get this thought out of my head the rest of the day. And a couple of days after, the annoucement either came that Ali was pregnant, or that Larry or Edge had had another kid. And I was always correct about the sex of the baby too. This happened to me 7 times, between 1996 and 2001. When the band's club date in NYC was postponed a couple days in 2001, I said to myself it was becuase Ann was going to go into labor. Larry is very secretive about his private life, but sure enough, as we now know, that's how it turned out. I also correctly "predicted" that she would show up at the gig the next day. (!!)

Granted, I've been a fan since 81 but I only started getting these "hunches" in 96...

I don't want to say this, but today I had the VERY strong desire to put on SYCMIOYO, only that song, after not listening to the CD for 3 weeks. AT ALL. This happened right when I woke up this morning, and I heard on the radio at work around noon that the tour had been put off. And when I put it on, Norman popped into my mind.

Everyone is wrong sometimes, though, and I sure hope my "first time for everything" moment is now.



Regarding personal feelings...we had no idea when the dates were. Everyone was reading the "rumors" thread in Tour News and making plans accordingly. Even if a local promoter sort of "confirmed" it, don't ever take it in gold until it is announced. I haven't. Though I too would be affected by a March date switch, (I'm planning for Albany, Boston and NYC--I live in Albany) I am not that disappointed. We'll get better shows in the autumn anyway, as the band have had more shows under their belt and have had time for the songs to grow and evolve live.

If we open up the paper and read about Norman, or one of Ali's family members, dead, I hope everyone feels great about their spoiled travel dates. If one of your family died, it's funny how things can vanish in an instant?

 

[HelloAngel]

Personal attacks are not allowed. Please try and take it privately over email as I do not want to be forced to close this thread.

Neither of you know each other, and so thusly insulting each other isn't going to right any wrongs here. Move on or move out.

 

[Teta040]

At theOneRing.net, we Tolkien fans have a saying,oft repeated by those wise in ancient lore:

Don't feed the trolls.

 

[U2girl91289]

If it's a family illness, then I hope that whoever is suffering gets better or doesn't suffer any more. If they're postponing anything because of tour plans or something technical, then just let the boys do what they have to to make the tour as amazing as possible. I have yet to go to a U2 concert, but I am completely willing to wait as long as necessary for whatever is going on in personal lives to get better or until they are absolutely 100% ready to tour.

 

[Axver]

Personal attacks are not allowed. Please try and take it privately over email as I do not want to be forced to close this thread.

Neither of you know each other, and so thusly insulting each other isn't going to right any wrongs here. Move on or move out.

Just take Tip Top Prince aside and tell him to stop trolling me. Thanks.

 

[isabelle_guns]

Well, at least they can do this since the tour hasn't started yet. Imagine if something like this happened in the middle of the tour. That would suck for us and U2!

that's a good point, better to fix things now than in the middle of things.

 

[isabelle_guns]

In a way I am glad 'cause this will give me more time to prepare however, I wish the tour was prosponed for different reasons.

 

[Bacedge]

unfortunately there is an illness in a close family member, hopefully the lord will send his angels and everything will be alright please God

 

[Nerfherder]

If it's a family illness, then I hope that whoever is suffering gets better or doesn't suffer any more. If they're postponing anything because of tour plans or something technical, then just let the boys do what they have to to make the tour as amazing as possible. I have yet to go to a U2 concert, but I am completely willing to wait as long as necessary for whatever is going on in personal lives to get better or until they are absolutely 100% ready to tour.

I completely agree with you. This will/would be my first time seeing U2 live, but I'm willing to wait as well. I just hope whoever is sick gets better soon. :-/

 

[Bono's shades]

I hope everything works out OK for whoever is ill.

 

[bonosleftone]

Quit being so skeptical. U2's official site is not some great beacon that posts news on time, no bands official site is that "on point"

As for Rolling Stone being "not good journalists" that's all speculatory. Regardless of their opinions, they've always been great about posting truth in regards to news. It's not like its The Sun in England or another tabloid.

Deal with it, the tour is postponed, be thankful its not cancelled for something more serious.

On this same note, if U2.com was that much more reliable, don't you think they'd have debunked this news by now? Rolling Stone is one of the biggest music publications in the world, U2 fans are not the only ones who care about a U2 tour as well, there's lots of revenue involved for lots of different segments.

 

[bonosleftone]

AP:

U2 have postponed the announcement of dates for their world tour in support of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The band had planned to announce the U.S. and international dates on Monday, but that has been put off indefinitely, according to
manager Paul McGuinness.

"We've postponed the announcement of the tour because the routing is still being worked on," McGuinness said in a statement. "As soon as we get everything confirmed over the coming weeks, we'll let you know." A band spokesperson would not comment on media reports that the postponement was due to a family illness.

In December, McGuinness said that the tour was slated to kick off on March 1 in Florida and hit 35 U.S. arenas before heading overseas, and it's possible that the tour could still follow that plan.

The band spokesperson would also not comment on whether the change in tour plans would affect U2's attendance of the Grammy Awards ceremony on February 13 — they are nominated for three awards for their single "Vertigo" — or their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 14.

The next U.S. single from the band will be "All Because of You." The video for that song debuted Tuesday night during the Orange Bowl.