I can't imagine them not giving energy and spontenaety to the band-- but I also can't imagine them sitting down in "protest" if they were asked to move back so newer people could be up front.
And here the nail was hit upon the head. The band never ASKED anyone to move. They simply manipulated and treated the fans, who were following the rules that the band enacted to begin with -- "first come/first served" -- with a complete lack of respect or regard.
First of all, the first two girls on the queue had driven to Boston from Alabama and the show was going to be their first and only show on the tour. The next two girls on the queue were from Los Angeles and had seen the shows at the Pond in Anaheim over a month earlier, but no other shows.
There was ONE, count him ONE, person who was following the entire tour around... a guy named Christian. There was another girl named Amy who went to many shows, but not all, and she often sold posters for the tour merchandisers in order to finance her travels, so she missed half of the show anyway. And she was never in the front rows.
There was another handful of us that went to a number of shows. At that point I'd been to approx 10 shows, and by the end of the tour I'd gone to about 20-22 shows. Out of a tour of 115 shows... going to 20 is hardly "following the tour to every city." On top of that, going to 20 shows or so was something that many fans had done many tours in the past (myself included). And we were never criticized for it in the past, nor made to feel anything but welcome. So now that the band decided to change their minds and attitudes, their most loyal customers are supposed to read their minds?
The tour was 10 weeks old at the point of the Boston DVD shows. And up through that point every single show's G.A. line had followed standard G.A. procedures... first in line is first in the door. Period. Then 10 weeks into the tour, and on arguably the most important night of the tour, the band (
and yes, it came directly from the band, I have had more than one conversation with Bono about this) decides to change the rules without any notice and without any show of respect for the human beings who had already lined up for close to an entire day. No notice was posted at the front of the line that said "usual G.A. procedures will not be followed tonight, so queue at your own risk." No message was posted at the band's website. Bono & U2's staff has access to the email addresses and cellphone numbers of several of the longtime/multi-show fans. And yet no attempt to communicate with us like adults, like human beings, LIKE PAYING CUSTOMERS, was made. Instead they made a decision to simply disrespect and manipulate. Period.
Most of the people who sat down that night weren't even the people who were the first 75-100 people on the queue (who were the ones who were most "injured" by the disrespectful decisions made by the band). I never queued for long anymore at that point. I think I was about 275 on the line that day, I didn't bother to get in line until about 3pm and that was mostly just to hang out with other fans. But you can bet your sweet arse that I was one of the people who sat down -- because I was supporting the people who'd been treated so poorly, the people who were paying the band's wages.
I've had dinner with Bono, I've had drinks and lengthy conversations with Bono. He could very easily have grabbed hold of me, or called my cellphone or emailed any other fan he knows by name and said "Listen we are having some concerns on this tour from seeing the same people up front at too many shows. Do you think you could spread the word to please let the local fans have all of the close spots and those who go to lots of shows stand back at most of the shows?" But that never happened. Instead the fans were treated no better than cattle, manipulated ~
thwarted, in fact ~ and had the rug pulled out from under them by the very persons they were patronizing, respecting and showing great affection toward. That is CRUEL on the band's behalf, if you ask me.
Bono expressed his surprise in that inteview that was mentioned on here, for the fact that it was the night of the filming that the sit-down took place. Hey, THEY chose the night to screw over the fans, not us. It's not like we sat around for a few weeks and plotted to screw up their filming. They picked the night to bend people over and give it to him up the backside. If you screw people over, they are going to react, and people who feel empathy for them are going to react on their behalf. Period. The fans didn't choose the night of the filming. The
band chose the night of the filming.
And yes, what was mentioned on here by one poster was true. To add insult to injury, after people who had barely waited an hour or two were plucked from the rear of the line and taken into the building in front of the people at the front of the line, who'd queued 22 hours, and placed all along the first row to two rows deep along the heart, the band's security told the people in front, while still outside, that those who'd just been taken inside were only being used as volunteers to help the film crew focus the lights. They were told those people from the back and middle of the line were NOT going to be inside when the doors opened officially. When, in fact, those people were all along the front rows all along the heart when the doors opened officially. And further than that, when those who were at the front of the line learned that those taken in early were inside and taking up the spots they had queued for, they were told if they didn't "shut up" they would be taken out of line and thrown out of the Fleet Center altogether.
I am surprised that more people don't see the real irony in this situation. This has GOT to be the only business in the world where the best, most frequent customers are treated the poorest, and one-time buyers are given more respect and even priority. Airlines have frequent flyer programs, grocery stores have preferred customer cards, credit cards have cash back programs. And U2 put together a "get to the back of the line jackass!" program. Is there not something wrong with this picture?
goes on for a while... so, what's he looking at? Fan with a "Smile Larry" sign? Sign requesting his drumsticks (worked for me)? Who was there and has a clue... just curious...
, like achtung_meggie said..
