No, no, no, you're all wrong.
U2's weakest spot is the Northwest - granted, you've only really got Portland, Seattle, Spokane, Boise and Vancouver B.C. to draw from, but it is still a huge chunk of the country.
We didn't even sell out our SINGLE Elevation shows in Seattle and Portland - I'm not sure about Vancouver though.
As far as popularity; U2 is NEVER played on the radio, at least in Seattle - Beautiful Day wasn't played until AFTER it won the Grammy's! I have never heard Stuck, Walk On was a rarity, and Elevation was so-so. The only station that plays U2 consistently is a mid-life crisis adult contemporary rock station.
I absolutely HATE IT, but that's just the way it is up here; as you can see we take the cake.
P.S. Hawkfire, Washington hasn't gone Republican in years, it is a very liberal area, especially Seattle, where all the people are - we even voted for DUKAKIS, and yet this is a very weak spot for U2.
In contrast, Phoenix and Salt Lake City are HUGE U2 havens, and both are extremely conservative...you can't find a more conservative metropolitan area than Salt Lake City.
Your correlation is nothing more than a relation between more people and more ticket sales...California and the East Coast are where the majority of Americans live!
[This message has been edited by Zoocoustic (edited 11-30-2001).]