U2 tours vs PJ tours (carbon offsetting)...

clockistotime

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/2 ... 46050.html
(complete article posted below my 'rant')

just read this article about how U2's latest 360 tour takes about 44 hours to dismantle the stage (and all of its components), keeping residents up all night before moving on to the next tour date location. not to mention a 390-ton stage?!? what my question or issue is, is this... being the rock stars that U2 are, and being very involved in global issues such as world hunger, aids prevention and education and many more great causes, wouldn't outputting carbon emissions be a very big one on their list as well? i guess what i'm torn about is that it now almost seems ironic for this to happen. now don't get me wrong, i'm not bashing U2. i actually like U2 a lot, but i just found this out and it kinda puts me in a compromising position. see with Pearl Jam, they made everyone aware of this issue (carbon emissions) and took the next step to reduce their output and even spread information on how we too can offset our carbon emissions and even cut back on most or some of it. i did a little search, granted not everything on the internet is true, but one thing that i kept finding, rather not finding, was U2's own admission of this and solution or announcement at reducing their carbon footprint for this tour, or any. i guess i'm a little upset, since i thought they would definitely deliver on their part, they being concerned citizens for our world's issues. i dunno maybe i'm just rambling. maybe i'm wrong? maybe i'm just trying to find answers? maybe Ed can talk Bono and the gang to 'wise up' next time they run into each other.

well, here are some other links with articles discussing this too. see i'm not alone after all, haha.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 34827.html
http://thequietus.com/articles/02076-u2 ... -footprint
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/ju ... -footprint
this one doesn't agree with me, haha:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07 ... o-mars.php

here's the complete article below:

DUBLIN — Dubliners angry over the around-the-clock dismantling of U2's monumental concert stage mounted street protests Tuesday, snarling the Irish band's plans for the next stages of their European tour.

Residents around Croke Park stadium said their aim was to embarrass Dublin City Council and the Gaelic Athletic Association – which authorized the all-night noise – not delay Ireland's most famous musical export.

But U2 managers said the protests meant more than 50 trucks carrying much of the band's 390-ton stage, TV screens, lighting and sound equipment missed their intended morning ferry.

Some trucks did depart the stadium several hours late as protesters stood aside. But tour organizers said it was too soon to determine whether any of U2's tightly scheduled concert dates in Sweden, Germany and Poland would be affected.

"We should all not be talking to you and (should be) on a boat," the tour's production director, Jake Berry, told reporters as several dozen residents protested beside three road junctions outside Croke Park, Ireland's largest stadium.

Berry said U2 did not want to risk accidents by driving any heavily laden trucks past protesters straddling roadways outside the stadium. He expressed surprise at the protests, even though plans for them have been widely reported in Ireland since last week.

Berry said he wasn't sure whether Tuesday's lost hours – and potential problems fitting trucks on later ferry services to Britain – would jeopardize any upcoming concert dates.

"It affects the tour schedule. Read that any way you want," he said.
Story continues below

Croke Park Area Residents' Committee spokesman David Purdue said that no one was "interested in any way in delaying U2 in any shape or form."

"This is primarily to get Dublin City Council and the Gaelic Athletic Association to take notice of us and recognize the damage they're doing to the local community," he said.

Berry said singer Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. were told of the Dublin disruption about 5 a.m. Tuesday as their private jet landed in Nice, France, where they are staying in between European gigs.

He said the band felt "pure disappointment. It's just really put a damp squib (sponge) on something that was a fantastic experience and fantastic show."

The protesting Dubliners complained that the council and sports authorities should not have cleared U2 to dismantle its stage over a continuous 44-hour period starting at 1 a.m. Tuesday – just two hours after the last of three Dublin concerts concluded before roaring crowds of 80,000.

In practice, the schedule means the area will suffer heavy nighttime noise for more than a week.

Activists from the residents committee, which plans protests throughout Tuesday, said they were willing to let U2's truck convoy carry out the most critical parts of the stage, including a telescoping bank of television screens and the stage's disco ball-topped spike.

The U2 concert promoters, MCD Productions, delivered a legal letter to the protesters, warning they could be sued for any financial losses incurred by the promoters, U2 or others with a financial stake in one of the world's biggest musical ventures.

U2 has three "Claw" stages – one of which is being constructed, another being dismantled, and a third being transported or in use any given moment of the tour.

The band is scheduled to perform in Goteborg, Sweden, on Friday and Saturday; Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on Monday; and Chorzow, Poland, on Aug. 6. Tour directors declined to specify the next destination of the Claw being dismantled in Dublin.——

Stephen Flow

I really don't understand why they need all of that shit just to play music.

benjs

Stephen Flow wrote:

I really don't understand why they need all of that just to play shit music.

Me neither

The Stugots

That stage looks so immense and complex, I can't believe they made three of them.

Their private jet doesn't help much with carbon offsetting either.

U R A Crazy Breed

carbon offsetting is a scam...wake up!!..it's just another way for corporations/governments to take your money.


http://www.globalwarminghoax.com/news.php

facepollution

The Stugots wrote:

That stage looks so immense and complex, I can't believe they made three of them.

Their private jet doesn't help much with carbon offsetting either.

Yep, it's a bit fucking rich when self-righteous rock stars like Bono lecture people about giving to charity when they are busy wasting millions on private jets and ridiculously over the top stage sets. And that's before you take into account the environmental effects. Shame on them.

Calum

i never got the whole elaborate stage set up... everyone is there to hear music & see the band playing live.. who gives a poop on a stick what the background looks like..

mattcoz

U R A Crazy Breed wrote:

it's just another way for corporations/governments to take your money.

Of course it is, but that doesn't mean it's not a good thing to do.

dimitrispearljam

benjs wrote:

Stephen Flow wrote:

I really don't understand why they need all of that just to play shit music.

Me neither

yep.realy..whats the point?

benjs

Calum wrote:

i never got the whole elaborate stage set up... everyone is there to hear music & see the band playing live.. who gives a poop on a stick what the background looks like..

While a concert at one point may have been solely about the music, I'd say now it's about the experience... I can honestly say that, after seeing Phish, David Gilmour, and Radiohead, I now completely understand how lighting or other effects can really make something more of a concert... If Pearl Jam had lights like any of these three artists, I'd be a happy guy. That said, the nice thing about a Pearl Jam concert is that it doesn't really need a light show - the sheer energy they transmit to the venues they play is enough for me that the room could be dark except for one big spotlight on each of the guys and I'd be thrilled!

AndySlash

PJ tried lasers in 06. It didn't really work that well with them, IMO.

benjs

AndySlash wrote:

PJ tried lasers in 06. It didn't really work that well with them, IMO.

Yep, you're right, however I don't think they did a good job of using them. The light show was poor - it also does depend, you have to remember, on the personnel the band hires for lights.

RiotAct10

U R A Crazy Breed wrote:

carbon offsetting is a scam...wake up!!..it's just another way for corporations/governments to take your money.

scam or not, is it really necessary for U2, a band who "cares about the world" to be doing this? I understand that they want to put on a show, but I will take a random setlist of 25 songs by Pearl Jam on a normal stage any night of the week over the same setlist U2 plays every night, no mater how much rehearsal they have done or how "elaborate" the show looks.

100 Pacer

benjs wrote:

AndySlash wrote:

PJ tried lasers in 06. It didn't really work that well with them, IMO.

Yep, you're right, however I don't think they did a good job of using them. The light show was poor - it also does depend, you have to remember, on the personnel the band hires for lights.

Keely has been the band's lighting director for numerous tours and i thought she did a rather good job incorporating the green laser show into the production during Severed Hand. mind you, the production in general wasn't designed for a full-out laser show,...

and to touch on the carbon offsetting issue, keep in mind U2's current tour actullay utilizes 180 trucks as there are 3 stages in play during the tour (one being used by the band, one being built for the band in the next city, and one that was last used and getting torn down to be hauled out to the next show). sure puts things in perspective when you compare that with the 6 trucks and 6 buses PJ would typically utilize,...

Glorified_G

I just returned from Dublin and saw the Friday and Saturday night show. Yes, I agree the stage is elaborate and does take a lot to set up, break down, and transport. However, being that U2 is playing just arenas for this tour if you are a fan and you are stuck in the nosebleed seats, you are thankful for this stage and the 360 screen. It truly does add a lot to the experience and the tour; not matter where your seat is in the arena. U2 has always been about the performance, ZooTV and Achtung Tours were no different.

As for as the carbon footprint, we need to be very careful before we throw stones. I was at Eddies shows in Nashville at the Ryman, and personally saw him take a tour bus 3 blocks from his hotel to the Ryman and then didn't even take the tour bus back to the hotel that night. Left in someone's personal car. Taking a tour bus 3 blocks just to get you to the venue??

I think we as fans need to understand, yes performers like Eddie and U2 promote environmental issues but they are performers and have a job to do and can only do so much. We want them to tour, and tour in cities near us and it takes a lot to make that happen, and there is only so much that can be done from an environmental standpoint. Unless you want them to start doing virtual concerts?????

Gary Carter

100 Pacer wrote:

Keely has been the band's lighting director for numerous tours and i thought she did a rather good job incorporating the green laser show into the production during Severed Hand. mind you, the production in general wasn't designed for a full-out laser show,...

and to touch on the carbon offsetting issue, keep in mind U2's current tour actullay utilizes 180 trucks as there are 3 stages in play during the tour (one being used by the band, one being built for the band in the next city, and one that was last used and getting torn down to be hauled out to the next show). sure puts things in perspective when you compare that with the 6 trucks and 6 buses PJ would typically utilize,...

i loved the lasers during severed hand. it reminds of the who when they do it for baba. thuat's insane what u2 does for there tour

Keely can ya hit the lights

TMudrick

Calum wrote:

i never got the whole elaborate stage set up... everyone is there to hear music & see the band playing live.. who gives a poop on a stick what the background looks like..

I agree...Especially when Im paying 80 - 100 freakin dollars to sit in the last row of the arena where I cant even see the stage anyway!

facepollution

Glorified_G wrote:

I just returned from Dublin and saw the Friday and Saturday night show. Yes, I agree the stage is elaborate and does take a lot to set up, break down, and transport. However, being that U2 is playing just arenas for this tour if you are a fan and you are stuck in the nosebleed seats, you are thankful for this stage and the 360 screen. It truly does add a lot to the experience and the tour; not matter where your seat is in the arena. U2 has always been about the performance, ZooTV and Achtung Tours were no different.

As for as the carbon footprint, we need to be very careful before we throw stones. I was at Eddies shows in Nashville at the Ryman, and personally saw him take a tour bus 3 blocks from his hotel to the Ryman and then didn't even take the tour bus back to the hotel that night. Left in someone's personal car. Taking a tour bus 3 blocks just to get you to the venue??

I think we as fans need to understand, yes performers like Eddie and U2 promote environmental issues but they are performers and have a job to do and can only do so much. We want them to tour, and tour in cities near us and it takes a lot to make that happen, and there is only so much that can be done from an environmental standpoint. Unless you want them to start doing virtual concerts?????

I doubt private jets are vital - many other bands manage without them. In terms of the stage show, I'm sure they could throw up a few video screens to help those at the back see better - the huge stage show is all ego, it's like they have to better their last tour. Also, it's not like Ed could walk to the show, he would probably get mobbed, and maybe it was just easier to use the tour bus than get a car for the sake of three blocks.

bazzer

100 Pacer wrote:

Keely has been the band's lighting director for numerous tours...

You mean Kille, right? Just being pedantic... or wrong, not sure.

flyinwhole313

clockistotime wrote:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/28/dubliners-protest-u2s-all_n_246050.html
(complete article posted below my 'rant')

just read this article about how U2's latest 360 tour takes about 44 hours to dismantle the stage (and all of its components), keeping residents up all night before moving on to the next tour date location. not to mention a 390-ton stage?!? what my question or issue is, is this... being the rock stars that U2 are, and being very involved in global issues such as world hunger, aids prevention and education and many more great causes, wouldn't outputting carbon emissions be a very big one on their list as well? i guess what i'm torn about is that it now almost seems ironic for this to happen. now don't get me wrong, i'm not bashing U2. i actually like U2 a lot, but i just found this out and it kinda puts me in a compromising position. see with Pearl Jam, they made everyone aware of this issue (carbon emissions) and took the next step to reduce their output and even spread information on how we too can offset our carbon emissions and even cut back on most or some of it. i did a little search, granted not everything on the internet is true, but one thing that i kept finding, rather not finding, was U2's own admission of this and solution or announcement at reducing their carbon footprint for this tour, or any. i guess i'm a little upset, since i thought they would definitely deliver on their part, they being concerned citizens for our world's issues. i dunno maybe i'm just rambling. maybe i'm wrong? maybe i'm just trying to find answers? maybe Ed can talk Bono and the gang to 'wise up' next time they run into each other.

well, here are some other links with articles discussing this too. see i'm not alone after all, haha.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 34827.html
http://thequietus.com/articles/02076-u2 ... -footprint
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/ju ... -footprint
this one doesn't agree with me, haha:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07 ... o-mars.php

here's the complete article below:

DUBLIN — Dubliners angry over the around-the-clock dismantling of U2's monumental concert stage mounted street protests Tuesday, snarling the Irish band's plans for the next stages of their European tour.

Residents around Croke Park stadium said their aim was to embarrass Dublin City Council and the Gaelic Athletic Association – which authorized the all-night noise – not delay Ireland's most famous musical export.

But U2 managers said the protests meant more than 50 trucks carrying much of the band's 390-ton stage, TV screens, lighting and sound equipment missed their intended morning ferry.

Some trucks did depart the stadium several hours late as protesters stood aside. But tour organizers said it was too soon to determine whether any of U2's tightly scheduled concert dates in Sweden, Germany and Poland would be affected.

"We should all not be talking to you and (should be) on a boat," the tour's production director, Jake Berry, told reporters as several dozen residents protested beside three road junctions outside Croke Park, Ireland's largest stadium.

Berry said U2 did not want to risk accidents by driving any heavily laden trucks past protesters straddling roadways outside the stadium. He expressed surprise at the protests, even though plans for them have been widely reported in Ireland since last week.

Berry said he wasn't sure whether Tuesday's lost hours – and potential problems fitting trucks on later ferry services to Britain – would jeopardize any upcoming concert dates.

"It affects the tour schedule. Read that any way you want," he said.
Story continues below

Croke Park Area Residents' Committee spokesman David Purdue said that no one was "interested in any way in delaying U2 in any shape or form."

"This is primarily to get Dublin City Council and the Gaelic Athletic Association to take notice of us and recognize the damage they're doing to the local community," he said.

Berry said singer Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. were told of the Dublin disruption about 5 a.m. Tuesday as their private jet landed in Nice, France, where they are staying in between European gigs.

He said the band felt "pure disappointment. It's just really put a damp squib (sponge) on something that was a fantastic experience and fantastic show."

The protesting Dubliners complained that the council and sports authorities should not have cleared U2 to dismantle its stage over a continuous 44-hour period starting at 1 a.m. Tuesday – just two hours after the last of three Dublin concerts concluded before roaring crowds of 80,000.

In practice, the schedule means the area will suffer heavy nighttime noise for more than a week.

Activists from the residents committee, which plans protests throughout Tuesday, said they were willing to let U2's truck convoy carry out the most critical parts of the stage, including a telescoping bank of television screens and the stage's disco ball-topped spike.

The U2 concert promoters, MCD Productions, delivered a legal letter to the protesters, warning they could be sued for any financial losses incurred by the promoters, U2 or others with a financial stake in one of the world's biggest musical ventures.

U2 has three "Claw" stages – one of which is being constructed, another being dismantled, and a third being transported or in use any given moment of the tour.

The band is scheduled to perform in Goteborg, Sweden, on Friday and Saturday; Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on Monday; and Chorzow, Poland, on Aug. 6. Tour directors declined to specify the next destination of the Claw being dismantled in Dublin.——

Very good post.

blondieblue227

i saw CAKE a few weeks ago.
they gave away a tree on stage.
very cool idea.
maybe PJ can start doing that?

CAKE fans and their trees: http://www.cakemusic.com/gallery.html

U2 needs to get over themselves. but they've always been like that so....
hope pj never gets a stage like that.

YieldToNothing

Stephen Flow wrote:

I really don't understand why they need all of that shit just to play music.

because they are pretty weak musicians with pretty simple songs. gotta put on a show for the people to keep them interested.

that's not really u2 bashing...it just is what it is

flyinwhole313

YieldToNothing wrote:

Stephen Flow wrote:

I really don't understand why they need all of that shit just to play music.

because they are pretty weak musicians with pretty simple songs. gotta put on a show for the people to keep them interested.

that's not really u2 bashing...it just is what it is

Yield...I laugh at approximately 1/3 of the shit I see you write...you going to the Philly shows??? We will have a keg or 2 in our end of the parking lot...

clockistotime

flyinwhole313 wrote:

Very good post.

thanks for the kind words. i'm glad someone enjoyed it. i felt it was a good topic to bring up, and an important one too.