U2 on youtube live right now...
primussucks
Posts: 2,364
from the Rose Bowl
http://www.youtube.com/U2official
http://www.youtube.com/U2official
Summerfest 7/8/95
Missoula 6/20/98
Alpine Valley 6/26/98 & 6/27/98
Alpine Valley 10/8/00
Champaign 4/23/03
Alpine Valley 6/21/03
Missoula 8/29/05
Chicago 5/16 & 17/06
Grand Rapids 5/19/06
Summerfest 6/29/06 & 6/30/06
Tampa 6/12/08
Chicago 8/23/09
Indy 5/7/10
Alpine Valley x2 2011
Wrigley 2013
Milwaukee 14
Telluride 16
Missoula 6/20/98
Alpine Valley 6/26/98 & 6/27/98
Alpine Valley 10/8/00
Champaign 4/23/03
Alpine Valley 6/21/03
Missoula 8/29/05
Chicago 5/16 & 17/06
Grand Rapids 5/19/06
Summerfest 6/29/06 & 6/30/06
Tampa 6/12/08
Chicago 8/23/09
Indy 5/7/10
Alpine Valley x2 2011
Wrigley 2013
Milwaukee 14
Telluride 16
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
*Space Oddity*
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Are you watching?
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where a band's stage is more important than their music?
The U2 tour opened across the pond, and has been slowly working its way west across America. Tonight it lands in Pasadena, California. And if you think the most important story in the Los Angeles Basin is the proposed football stadium, or gang warfare, or anything with substance, you'd be wrong. Because the entire mainstream media has been hoodwinked by Paul McGuinness and Live Nation. The biggest story in L.A. this weekend is the U2 concert.
Fewer than 100,000 of the nearly 13 million residents will attend, but the hype would have you believe that every resident is focused, that U2's show is akin to last fall's Presidential election.
And the story is not the music. Who gives a shit about music? The story is the STAGE!
Having finally popped for one of those new-fangled HD screens, my trusty cathode-ray Sony having finally bit the dust, I fire up the thing at every opportunity, trying to get my money's worth. Figuring, based on my cable bill, it costs about twenty five dollars every time I hit the on button, trying to lower my cost, however irrational that may seem, on Friday I found myself watching the local news, which is now like viewing a high school production. Did you know that Jennifer is dating Adam? Yup, you can check them out at tonight's dance! After the football game!
Really, the news when I turned in was high school football. Not a game, but a tragedy. Which I'll mercifully refrain from detailing here. But then, these two besuited anchors, who despite their cheeriness looked like they both needed a good fuck, to shock them into reality, started waxing rhapsodic about the U2 show.
Yup, there are only 20,000 parking spaces. Take the train, take the bus, take a helicopter. LEAVE NOW!
Actually, they're promoting tailgating. Get there around noon, to be sure you don't miss a note. Wait a second, they have football games at the Rose Bowl all the time, they sell out and the whole county doesn't take a massive shit. Why, if U2 is there, is it such a crisis?
Credit Colonel Parker. That's what Arthur Fogel and Paul McGuinness have built here. A massive story that an unquestioning press is buying hook, line and sinker. It's almost balloon-boy redux. Hell, like little Falcon said, THEY'RE DOING IT FOR THE SHOW!
And the linch-pin is the stage.
It gets a full page in today's L.A. "Times". In color.
A paper so thin it almost floats away, with a pop critic that lives in Alabama is devoting an entire page to the inner-workings of U2's stage set. This is like dedicating a full page to the "Hannah Montana" TV set.
But it's pretty impressive. It's 170 feet tall. Modeled after the inane Theme restaurant at LAX that no one ever goes to. You see the picture and you…want to go.
We've been trained that everything is national. That there are no more local stories. But whereas no one cared about the national roll-out for U2's latest album, this city by city unveiling of their traveling show is making headlines. It's like the circus has come to town.
In today's "New York Times", there are album reviews? Why would I read them? Like I'm going to trust these critics? Like online isn't the bible here?
In other words, the U2 camp is savvy enough to know that music is no longer the selling point. You've got to deliver spectacle. Bigger and better.
And since, unlike Madonna, they don't want to prostitute the music, don't want to dance and employ changing sets, they're utilizing the old concept of the Fillmore East light show and pumping it up with STEROIDS!
How many ways is this tour wrong?
After touring all summer, it is still not in profit.
The carbon footprint supersedes a whole field of cattle, never mind jets and cities.
It's inefficient.
But it has achieved its goal.
Which is getting people to pay attention.
The missteps with U2 this year have been legion. When people were paying attention, at awards shows, the band played the lame "Get On Your Boots".
And taking the money instead of the hype, playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates instead of the Yankees, U2 made a deal with BlackBerry as opposed to Apple.
But they got it right with the live show. They've accomplished the one thing integral to success in today's music business, getting everybody to pay attention.
Not enough people listen to the radio. No one watches MTV for music. Writing on records is too voluminous to follow.
But everybody seem to be interested in their stage set.
News organizations focus on the new and novel. People don't want to be left out. And fans, aware of previous extravaganzas, don't want to miss out on this one time event either.
So, even though the TV station said falsely that the gig had sold out in four hours, at the same time other news outlets were stating that the band hoped to fill the Rose Bowl and set a new attendance record, the goal has been accomplished.
You've got to spend money to make money. By laying out so much dough, erecting something so fantastic, U2 has managed to focus every community it plays in upon them.
But what do they do next? Take over Manhattan? Play on the moon?
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
I haven't been to many Stadium shows and it was my first U2 Stadium show and I LOVED IT. I actually thought the performance was spot on and I enjoyed the set list. It flowed very well.
6/7/2003 (***1/2)
7/9/2006 (****1/2)
7/13/2006 (**** )
4/10/2008 EV Solo (****1/2)
6/25/2008 MSG II (*****)
10/1/2009 LA II (****)
10/6/2009 LA III (***** Cornell!!!)
dude just take a look will yeah!!!
i love slagging on the u2 machine but i will hands down give em kudos for this stage and this free live youtube concert
nothing tops that shit. like it or not you gotta give credit to the "experience"
i think someone on here said previously...the show is like going to disneyland
and everybody loves disneyland
what a load of crap, teh guy has done alot for africa. he has been nomintaed for 3 nobel peace prizes.
http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/26-bono
http://www.looktothestars.org/news/548- ... 6m-for-red
you might not like teh guy but come on. i say if the guy wants to put on a show let him. and i say if U2 wants blackberry to help out let him. i have no problem with pearl Jam and teh Target agreement.
Even Pearl Jam realizes it maybe time to work with the corporate medium as long as you're STILL true to your music and live concert.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)