RadRacer
The Fly
First of all, I wanna say I love U2 fans, I love super fans and I love the admins and mods!
1. Lots of fans, however, were not able to get tickets on this tour. If you don't believe this, then go somewhere else. We have all heard about the plague that are ticket brokers. U2 shows everywhere sold out in a matter of minutes, and they are in possession of an abundance of tickets in any section of a venue. Their prices show anything but love for the music of U2.
2. Also, scalpers have never been a greater plague to a tour. A U2 fan getting rid of some extra tickets over eBay and making a variable profit (due to the nature of auctions), I don't consider a scalper. However, some of us have become scalpers, for one reason or another, and are not treating our brother and sister U2 fans in a dignified manner. The temptation to adopt those "unethical" strategies is enormous for someone who just can't afford to buy tickets at the scalper rate on his own budget - one could buy up any section you get and don't want on a general sale, sell them like a scalper to make enough money to afford the ticket you want from a scalper. It's a vicious cycle.
3. Nevertheless, there are a handful of people who have gotten their hands on 2 or more GAs to more than ten shows on a leg and, understandably, are very happy about that. They may be real fans, and I wish any real fan to have that much fun. I wish we could all see as much of U2 as our passion thirsts for. Now, read my first point, again. This harsh inequality between the haves and have-nots breeds discontent.
4. Fanclubs. This one is a sensitive issue. I would do what it takes to get U2 tickets, including pay the annual fee, if that's what everybody else has to do. However, what's a fanclub really to you? Most U2 fans don't bother with it until a tour comes around. That is seen in the fact that we had a debacle with the influx of fanclub members before the Vertigo tour.
Beyond that, however, I must say I dislike the idea of these kinds of fanclubs. I think it's wrong to measure the level of "fandom" of a fan through the amount of money he throws at the label "U2". And when fanclubs mess up and cannot accept the number of applicants before a tour, a real arbitrary divide begins between those who are privileged with presale codes and those who are not. They can both be the same level of hardcore fan, but one gets the short end of the stick. Or, worse yet, the slug-type of "fan" may actually get his hands on a presale code. These fanclubs haven't even shown their effectiveness in separating the real fans from the pure scalpers. Plenty of scalpers got in and got their presale codes.
1. Lots of fans, however, were not able to get tickets on this tour. If you don't believe this, then go somewhere else. We have all heard about the plague that are ticket brokers. U2 shows everywhere sold out in a matter of minutes, and they are in possession of an abundance of tickets in any section of a venue. Their prices show anything but love for the music of U2.
2. Also, scalpers have never been a greater plague to a tour. A U2 fan getting rid of some extra tickets over eBay and making a variable profit (due to the nature of auctions), I don't consider a scalper. However, some of us have become scalpers, for one reason or another, and are not treating our brother and sister U2 fans in a dignified manner. The temptation to adopt those "unethical" strategies is enormous for someone who just can't afford to buy tickets at the scalper rate on his own budget - one could buy up any section you get and don't want on a general sale, sell them like a scalper to make enough money to afford the ticket you want from a scalper. It's a vicious cycle.
3. Nevertheless, there are a handful of people who have gotten their hands on 2 or more GAs to more than ten shows on a leg and, understandably, are very happy about that. They may be real fans, and I wish any real fan to have that much fun. I wish we could all see as much of U2 as our passion thirsts for. Now, read my first point, again. This harsh inequality between the haves and have-nots breeds discontent.
4. Fanclubs. This one is a sensitive issue. I would do what it takes to get U2 tickets, including pay the annual fee, if that's what everybody else has to do. However, what's a fanclub really to you? Most U2 fans don't bother with it until a tour comes around. That is seen in the fact that we had a debacle with the influx of fanclub members before the Vertigo tour.
Beyond that, however, I must say I dislike the idea of these kinds of fanclubs. I think it's wrong to measure the level of "fandom" of a fan through the amount of money he throws at the label "U2". And when fanclubs mess up and cannot accept the number of applicants before a tour, a real arbitrary divide begins between those who are privileged with presale codes and those who are not. They can both be the same level of hardcore fan, but one gets the short end of the stick. Or, worse yet, the slug-type of "fan" may actually get his hands on a presale code. These fanclubs haven't even shown their effectiveness in separating the real fans from the pure scalpers. Plenty of scalpers got in and got their presale codes.
You're really off to a great start here arent you. 
) -- The Church. Twenty five years of sublime music and a new cd in the works. I'm a happy camper. 
