Who should open for U2 for the next tour?

[Professor Plumb]

Sam Roberts!!!

At least for Canadian dates anyway...but then this might help his exposure abroad too.

Don't walk away Eileeeeen...!

 

[saltwaterkiss26]

I'm thinking we might see Switchfoot for part of the tour in the States

They're tiny, but they are on the DATA bandwagon.

Seconding. They're fans, too. ('Every step brings us closer to a God who isn't short of cash / Hey Bono I'm glad you asked' - Switchfoot, Gone)

Switchfoot story time (switchfoot.com):

"If I'm content as an artist to write a hit song or have a platinum record, then I'll have failed a lot of my fellow human beings," says [John] Foreman. "We have the best jobs in the world because we play music for a living and love doing it, but we didn't get into this to try and sell something. For us, it's about communicating and connecting with people on a different level."

That stance earned the Switchfoot vocalist/guitarist and his bandmates (brother/bassist Tim Foreman, keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas and drummer Chad Butler) an invitation to attend last December’s Nashville summit for DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade for Africa), the charity organization founded by U2’s main man Bono to promote AIDS awareness and debt relief for developing nations. “It was incredible,” says Foreman, who’s worked with Sudanese refugees in the band’s hometown of San Diego. “Here’s a guy who has all the money, fame and notoriety that anyone could ever want, and he’s passionately talking to us about a bunch of poor people in Africa who will never buy his records. Listening to him speak was definitely a life-changing experience.”

When the meeting ended, Foreman walked over and handed the U2 frontman $40. “I told him I owed it to him for sneaking into a U2 show in London a couple of years ago,” he says. “He laughed and told me he did the same thing when he was younger. We spoke for a while and then he gave the money back, saying he felt he had already been compensated. To be honest, I was relieved because it was my last $40 and I needed the money to get home.”

They're great live too. Opening for U2 would definitely give them a serious career boost.

Of course, I guess one can always fantasize about the big names opening... R.E.M., Coldplay, Oasis, White Strips, etc... But Switchfoot sounds fine to me.