vertigojds

Wish I was there! Briefly pondered it (Monday is my usual day off from work) but then saw last minute airfare from NY to San Jose was $700, so… not so much… but I hope everyone there has an amazing time

I think it's fair to point out -- and be disappointed -- that ticket prices have gone up well beyond inflation or the cost of living in the comperable time period. The most expensive ticket for PopMart at Giants Stadium in 1997 (NYC area show) was $50. The most expensive ticket for Elevation in NYC in 2001 was $130, which is already a big jump, more than double the price in four years. The most expensive ticket for Vertigo in NYC in 2005 was $150. The most expensive ticket for 360 at Giants Stadium in 2009 and MetLife Stadium in 2011 was $250. Now, in 2015, the most expensive ticket is $350. To have the ticket price be seven times what it was 18 years ago seems ridiculous when you put it that way - I'm not making seven times what I was making then. And the cheaper tickets sell out a lot faster, so even if you're perfectly happy with a GA ticket or a $35 obstructed view ticket, you may not be able to get one as easily as you could get a $300 seat. Even GA is more expensive this time - for the 360 shows I saw in 2011 with GA tickets, the face value was $50. Now it's $85. So it's almost doubled in four years. I definitely have sticker shock. I'm very happy to be going, very happy that most of my tickets were under $100, but it could have easily not worked out where I didn't get the chance to get those lower priced tickets, I got lucky, which means someone else didn't, and it could easily have been me who was unlucky.

I go to the Garden all the time, and the majority of them have a GA floor. Sometimes a half GA floor, sometimes a GA pit, or other things, but I see no evidence from going to the Garden dozens of time s a year that they are averse to GA. Also, GA where people queue up hours and hours in advance is a SMALL subset of GA shows. They might have changed...I was thinking back to around late 90s/early 2000s, and then I moved away from NY for a while. There does seem to be more GA now than there was when I was growing up here, maybe they've warmed up to it when the world didn't end after they finally did it a few times? Because I know there were a lot of shows during that earlier time period where a band would have a general admission floor at every single tour stop except MSG, or they'd have only a small GA area and the rest seated at MSG where it was all GA elsewhere. Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, White Stripes. Even the Elevation tour at MSG on the first leg had some seats at the very back of the floor, which weren't there at other venues. I'm glad that's not the case anymore.

That looks like an amazing set. I love the idea of Miracle Drug into Bad, sonically that sounds like heaven. And I'm so happy to read that "California" got played - it's really grown on me since the album came out and it's one of my favorites on there now.

I did GA in Providence (near-ish to Boston) in 2001, and for Vertigo in 2005. I think you'll still have a great spot if you get there at noon. You won't be in the very front row, but I think you'll for sure be in the front half of people there, maybe even closer. The latest I ever arrived for a U2 GA show was around 1pm I think for the Pittsburgh 360 show, and even though my number was in the 600s, I was still in the third row center. That's the other thing to keep in mind - not everyone is going to want the same spot as you do. I'm always a little surprised to be reminded of that, because in my head everyone's all rushing to the same place, when in truth, a lot of people have different preferences. Some people like being near the b-stage more than the main stage, some people like the catwalk better than the stage, others like being more to the side where there's a little more breathing room than right in the middle. I'm always pleasantly surprised that it's never as crowded as I worry it's going to be. When they were there for the Vertigo tour, the FleetCenter (now it's called something else, can't remmeber the new name offhand) was a little bit different than the other shows on the tour. The local security gave out numbered wristbands when people arrived, and then sent them away until 5pm. They started giving them out at 9am, so the small group of people who had gotten there before 9 got the first wristbands, and then people throughout the day got higher numbers, but I actually was able to go to most of my work day then, just had to be back by 5. (Anyone showing up late lost their place in line.) That was a local venue policy rather than U2's policy. It might be worth keeping an eye to see if that venue does that again.

But in theory, wouldn't side assignments still be done when they scan the ticket for entry? So let's say I have one ticket purchased when they went onsale, and my friend has a GA ticket he got at another time - isn't there a chance that my ticket could be coded "north" and his could be coded "south" without it actually saying that anywhere on the ticket?

That is surprising if they don't - Springsteen does. Was also surprised to read the new tweet from atu2.com which says that "north" and "south" GA placement is determined by ticket scan, rather than it being your choice when you arrive. Not "if they don't"--they never have, ever (or, more accurately, they rarely do anything re organizing GA). And yeah, doing the scanning thing for North and South bites--what if two pairs of people are going together, but get scanned into different sides? I see why they can't let it be your choice (they have to balance both sides), but they could simply first allow people to choose, and when one side fills up, the rest of GA goes into the other side. Exactly. Or even if they were determined to split people into two groups, they could also do it in such a way that people who waited together aren't separated, like they did for the Vertigo ellipse lottery where if you won entry, the person you came with gets to go in also. Even if it was two separate lines without security keeping an eye on balance, I think people naturally would work to balance them - if you arrive for GA and there's one line that's ten feet long and one that's a mile long, you're obviously going to get onto the shorter one. I'm so so excited for the shows, but some of the excitement is being tempered by how badly the tour news and procedures have come out. The seating chart not matching the actual stage design, the Red Zones not being where advertised, "general admission" not being strictly GA, etc. I have GA tickets to a few of the NYC shows and I had them as solo tickets, and I anticipated that different friends or family might buy single tickets closer to the show and join me on at least one of the nights, but I don't know if we can go through with that plan now - I'd feel weird asking someone to come to the show with me not knowing whether or not they'd be allowed to stand next to me during it. It just seems a little like amateur hour. I know once the music starts all of these little things will disappear from my mind, and I totally realize that obsessing over my U2 tickets is a good problem to have.. but yeah, sloppy execution so far. But who am I kidding, all will be forgiven in small incriments beginning around 11pm tonight to total forgiveness by July 18th

That is surprising if they don't - Springsteen does. Was also surprised to read the new tweet from atu2.com which says that "north" and "south" GA placement is determined by ticket scan, rather than it being your choice when you arrive.

Can't decide whether I should keep my plans for tonight (had reserved movie tickets) or stay home and hope that the iHeartRadio thing is legit and the entire show. If I knew for a fact it was the entire show I'd be in for sure, but I'd feel bad canceling on people just to hear one song.

Thanks Max!

Maybe streaming tonight? I can't find any more details than the front page on my local radio station's webpage - no idea if it's just the opening song or the whole show or what, but apparently will be starting at 11pm: http://www.q1043.com/main.html

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere... I just saw that my local station (which is part of the iHeartRadio network) is going to be streaming audio from the concert tonight: http://www.q1043.com/main.html Any word if it's going to be the entire show or just the first couple songs or who knows? I had movie tickets for something tonight but if they're gonna play the whole show, I think I have to cancel and stay at home near a radio

As a veteran of past Springsteen tours, I think his GA policy works pretty well. I'm usually okay with whatever the artist chooses, whether it's strictly first come first serve, or some sort of lottery. The key thing is that all of the information be disclosed ahead of time. It sucks to plan for one kind of admission, and then show up and be told that it's actually going to be something entirely different. Fortunately, that hasn't happened to me for a long, long time, and I don't think ever at a U2 or Springsteen show. What I like about Springsteen's method is that it gives more people a fair chance at the best spots, even people who can't afford to take an entire day off from work to wait there. It might seem really complicated on paper, but when you're there, it's really simple. The cutoff time is usually 3pm. Everyone who arrives before that cutoff is given a wristband with a sequential number. Last time I did it for an arena show, I got around number 300 I think. Then, at the cutoff time, they pick a number. The day I went last, that number was 290. That meant that the person who was 290th in line was now #1, the person who was 291 was #2, etc. Then they let everyone in from 290 until the end of the numbers (which was probably around number 400), and then people with numbers 1-289 enter after that. Anyone who arrived after the cutoff would join a second line, and those people would not be let in until after everyone else who had arrived before 3pm got there. By having this two-tiered system, and doing the lottery drawing late afternoon instead of right before doors time, there was plenty of time to organize everything and have people move the line as necessary in an orderly fashion. His system gives credit to people who get there early over people who show up an hour before the show, but it also discourages people from showing up three days early. That was a pretty magic day for me when I went. I can't believe I was so lucky to end up being like the tenth person let in. Everyone who was standing around me with a similar number was also incredibly excited, and I think the energy was really special. The only kind of GA system I don't like is one where some fans try to rig the game to benefit themselves repeatedly at the exclusion of others. I saw a lot of this going on during the Elevation tour and Springsteen's first general admission tour which happened not long after Elevation, and I think the Vertigo tour's random ellipse selection and Springsteen's GA lottery are designed to combat that. What used to happen when they first had GA is that a select few fans who seemed determine to see most or all shows on the tour would travel from city to city. They'd arrive at the arena a couple days before the show, walk to the front entrance, grab a notepad and write "#1" and their name, and then return to their hotel room or wherever they were staying. Then they'd come back the next day early as the line was forming, pull out the piece of paper, and tell people that while those people may have slept outside the arena overnight, they had actually been there first, and basically just cut the line. Enough people kept doing this that the band started seeing the same faces over and over in the front row no matter what city they were in. To be clear, there weren't a huge majority of people doing this, but a very small, very hostile minority that felt entitled to be in the front row no matter what. That was almost 15 years ago and as you can probably tell from my post, it still annoys me to think about it. Most of the fans I've met over the years at U2 and Springsteen shows, have been kind and generous and fun to hang out with for the day and not at all like the people I just described. I don't like when a small group of people try to ruin it for the larger group, or feel that they have extra special privileges just because they said they do. I'd like to think I'm a reasonable person, and I don't think every person in line should have to be there for every single second, especially the futher away from the show it is. People absolutely should be able to run to the bathroom or grab a sandwich 12 or 6 hours before the doors open and not have to worry about losing their spot. But I have a problem with people who show up at a place the night before, put their name on a list, and then go back to sleep in a comfortable hotel room while others wait on the sidewalk, and then come back and say they belong in front of the people who actually stood or sat there waiting all those hours. Or people who show up by themselves and then let other people cut them five minutes before the door is open. But I think most of the fans these days are hip to those tricks and don't let other people get away with it. But all of that said - I'm looking forward to being in a GA line. I'm sure I'll have to run to the bathroom at some point or need to grab a bottle of water, and I'm not worried about losing my spot in line if I go and do those things. I'm the kind of guy that if I run and grab something, I'll bring back food for the people near me, and I'll be glad to hold my neighbor's spot if they need a quick break.

Not sure of the exact details yet - the good news is that's one of the last shows, so hopefully the GA lines should be running like clockwork after a few nights of practice. At Madison Square Garden there isn't a parking lot or any sort of public place to line up, as I remember from the Vertigo tour, people just had to line up by the sidewalk and try to stay out of the way of local commuters going to the train stations below. I remember it was raining the day I went, and every half hour, security sent someone around with a megaphone to keep saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, the U2 show starts at 8 tonight, and doors open at 6. The doors will not open early due to weather. There is no reason to wait here, you will not be let in early." Everyone ignored them of course and lined up peacefully. (The Garden hates general admission shows probably for this reason and tries not to have them whenever possible - I've seen a lot of tours hit NYC where every other city was general admission but the Garden had a seated floor. Fortunately U2 have enough clout to get to do their show the way they want!) Anyway if I had to guess, I think the NYC shows will see a little less camping out than other shows just because it's not really a friendly location for that. I'm going July 30th too, and I'm waiting to see how the first NY shows go before I decide what time to show up, but I'm sure I'll be there no later than noon and probably a bit earlier. But probably not the night before. I think we'll all have a much better idea of how GA in NYC will work after July 18-19.

I'm so sorry to hear that that happened to you. I just wanted to say I had a similar experience in 2009 around the time of the 360 tour - when the tickets went onsale, I had a job, but when the shows actually happened, I didn't. The show was amazingly cathartic and was a much needed night off from the day to day reality of being out of work. I hope things turn around for you sooner than later, and I hope you have the most amazing time the night of your show!

Anything from Pop and I'm a happy camper!

I pretty much agree with Mark too. I live in NYC, and I was able to get tickets to the NYC shows, so all of that worked out reasonably okay for me, but I can't help but feel that the whole process has been a lot more complicated, more frustrating, and less efficient than with previous tours. I did have daydreams of getting to see them in Dublin… it's been a lifelong dream of mine, and I thought this would finally be the time I'd get to do it. But when they didn't announce it with the rest of the dates, I was faced with the choice of, do I use my presale code for the NYC shows that are near me and guaranteed to be happening, or do I hold on to the code, hope that they're a Dublin show sooner than later, and that the show happens to fall during a time that I can actually attend. (I need a lot of advance notice at my job to get time off, and if they announced Dublin tomorrow for December, that probably wouldn't be enough.. which I'll be the first to say is crazy, but so be it.) I chose to use my code for NYC, because it seemed like the sure thing - I know I can definitely go to those shows. It's not the end of the world, it's just feels like sloppy planning on behalf of management. I also noticed they didn't really give priority to longtime members of U2.com the way they used to. On past tours I remember that people who had originally been Propaganda subscribers got to buy tickets first, then people who had been fan club members since U2.com was inaugurated, and then finally the newest subscribers last. And this time it seemed like they just lumped it into "people who signed up before the tour was announced" and "people who signed up after" which doesn't seem as fair to me. You could have subscribed the day "Songs of Innocence" came out and had just as much of an advantage as people who had been members for twenty years, and that doesn't seem right. The presale through Ticketmaster seemed poorly run compared to past tours as well. On the Vertigo and 360 tours (and the Vertigo tour, at least for me, was an indoor arena show, so the same limited supply of tickets as today), I had zero problem going to TIcketmaster the moment the shows I wanted went on sale, punching in my code, and getting exactly what I wanted. This time, even though I mostly got what I wanted, the website was glitchy as hell, as if Ticketmaster and management had anticipated and made plans to deal with it… or just didn't care. I was a little disappointed that they had very clearly advertised that they were doing two different shows, booked the concerts that way, sold fans on the idea of buying tickets that way, and then just quietly abandoned the idea a week before the tour was to begin. I find it really difficult to write anything critical of U2, so while it does feel good to get some of this off my chest, it's not easy for me to say any of this. You always want to think of your idols as being perfect, or as close to perfect as possible. I want to imagine that they care about each individual fan and each individual experience and work hard to ensure that every single person has a positive experience from start to finish. And I feel like once upon a time, that used to be true. I think a lot of what we're seeing is the result of U2 selling their management company to LiveNation, and having Guy Oseary take over from Paul McGuinness. I think the band used to be much more hands on about this kind of thing. And I think being that hands on was probably time consuming and taxing and annoying, and I can totally understand how when LiveNation basically backed up a dump truck full of cash at their house, they could be like, "Well, that's cool!" I bet after years of dealing with the logistics of all of this stuff, of barely breaking even on ZooTV and PopMart, and then seeing how much companies like LiveNation were offering to do all of the work and just write the band a big check to show up and play, I totally get how that would be appealing to the band. But it's different than what we're used to with them. Guy Oseary may be a fantastic manager from the artist's point of view, but his previous management acts like Madonna are not known for caring about the fan experience. A Madonna tour, as far as I can remember, has always been about getting as much money as humanly possible. I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but U2 always projected a different image. LiveNation has always been the same - they've never been about the fan experience. LiveNation (and their previous companies before they were "LiveNation") were always about getting the most money out of people. They and their predecessors have been leaders in raising prices across the board and creating all sorts of different "VIP" perks that were just new ways to monetize things that people didn't used to put a price on. I'm not surprised that the day LiveNation took over U2's touring, that U2's tours got more expensive, that the day to day management of those tours has been less responsive to fan concerns, and that they've been content to let the chips fall where they may and to heck with making Ticketmaster do a better job. It's what I expected. I just was hoping I'd be wrong. I don't think this makes U2 bad people. But it does seem to make them people that are less interested in the day to day business of touring. It makes them seem a little like every other artist who just takes the check and doesn't worry about where it came from. And again, given how above and beyond they went for years, I can understand the desire to just not have to deal with this stuff any more. But I'm disappointed that it's all gone this way. I hope that Dublin shows are announced soon, that presale codes are still valid, and that everyone here who wants to go is able to do so. And I hope for a fantastic tour. Despite what I consider to be business missteps on LiveNation/U2 management's part, I think the concerts themselves will still be amazing and I can't wait to see them.

Best of luck to all the short people! I'm only 5'7 1/2" on a good day, and I've never had a problem seeing the stage at a U2 show with GA tickets, so here's hoping that a) my streak of luck and good sight lines continues and that everyone here has the same luck as well!

Those are really great points, so maybe I didn't think it through as well as I thought I did I guess I was thinking just the existence of two different shows would be enough, and the casual U2 fan would be happy just going to one regardless of which it was. But that's a bit shortsighted on my part. I had thought both shows would feature a lot of Songs Of Innocence material, and one would maybe feature more of the 80s and 90s catalogue, and another more of the 00s songs, but that probably doesn't work as cleanly as I imagine. And when I think of other bands that have booked multiple nights for different shows, like Steely Dan for example, they announced in advance that one night they'd play their "Aja" album, another night the "Royal Scam" album, etc., etc. But I don't know that I'd want U2 to print out two set lists ahead of time and then be stuck to them because they promised one night they'd play these exact songs, and the other night a different exact set of songs. I can see it from their point of view. And I can see it from a casual fan who really wants to hear "Beautiful Day" or "Where The Streets Have No Name" but doesn't care about the other nuances and just wants to be sure to get what they always expect to hear at a U2 show. But it sure was a nice idea while it lasted

That's a great shot! Somehow, even after going to the shows and seeing the concert DVD I still can't get over how big this whole thing was, everything from the size of the stage to the size of the crowd. I did one show for Red Zone on the 360 tour, and I ended up standing near the rear of the section, probably about where the bridge ends in that shot. I was able to be right up against the rail and didn't have anyone behind me or even very close to my on the side. I went to that show with my mom, who's also a big U2 fan, but isn't as keen on waiting in line for hours and standing the entire show, so the Red Zone was the perfect compromise between my desire to be on the floor and her (very reasonable) desire not to stand for ten hours. They had folding chairs against the rail at the end of the section (not the one adjacent to the stage) before the show that we were able to relax on beforehand, and I guess someone came and took them away just before the band started? We had such a good time doing it that way that we're doing Red Zone again this tour for the show I'm going to with her. At first I had a little sticker shock at the price, but given that the lower level tickets for $300, paying $350 to be on the floor didn't seem as outrageous when put into that context. Of course, as a number in and of itself, it's pretty crazy! But it's gonna be great!

I think that is the best advice! I know I've been guilty for other shows in the past (U2 and other bands, mostly other bands) of buying a ticket, whether it was a Ticketmaster official seat or a resale seat, been very excited leading up to the show, and then checked the day before and discovered there was something better and/or cheaper now available that wasn't before. It took me a while to learn to stop checking and just go with it. If I had to guess, I think there may be some of the most expensive priced tickets available on Stubhub for less than face value for some shows, but it'll still be more than the cheaper tickets at face were. Scalpers probably won't be able to make a ton of money on tickets that are already priced at $300, especially for the middle or upper level seats that were sold at the highest price. I think the money for the scalpers will be turning the $50 and $100 tickets into $200 tickets. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that the stubhub prices will start to change once the tour has begun and people have more information about the shows. If the setlist for both nights in a single venue is similar as opposed to the two different nights as originally talked about, maybe some people will want to sell those second night tickets that they bought if they find out it's not as different as they had hoped. On the other hand, if the show gets incredible reviews and a lot of buzz (I know we're all hugely excited for this, but how much notice is the casual music fan taking right now?), that might increase demand among people who either hadn't heard about the tour when it went onsale or who now realize they can't miss it. If it was a show I didn't have tickets to but really wanted to see, but it was in my neighborhood, I'd probably wait until it got closer for ticket drops and fans reselling extra tickets. But if I was traveling to see the show as in booking a flight or train and booking a hotel, I'd probably buy ahead of time just for peace of mind. I'd hate to buy a nonrefundable plane ticket and then find out I couldn't get a ticket, or find that the tickets jumped in price and feel like I had no choice but to pay because I was already stuck with a flight and hotel.

Just curious... hoping I filled out the poll question right

I think that's a totally fair request and I feel the same way - I'm getting over my disappointment of there not being two separate shows (I liked the idea that I was maybe going to be seeing two shows twice instead of one show four times), but I'm hoping they're not exactly the same. That's only ever happened to me with them once, or almost once - I saw the June 17, 2001 show at Madison Square Garden and then the June 21, 2001 show at Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey, and they both had the same set (well, for the 6/17 show Bono sang a snippet of the Ramones "I Remember You" which he didn't do at the Jersey show, so I guess technically they were different, but not really). So I'm hoping that doesn't happen again. But given that they said things very clearly like "we're trying to make each night feel different" and the website advertised "pairs of shows!", it feels like they were advertising in a way to encourage people to see more than one, and that there would be some differences. So I'm hoping that there will be more variation this tour than in past ones. Eight shows in New York City within a two week period - hopefully they'll do more than switch two or three songs during that entire run. Wonder how many people are going to all eight? Or even to half? I still think it could have been very easy to do two different ones without it being chaos. They simply could have advertised them as "U2: The Innocence Show" and "U2: The Experience Show" (or whichever name they came up with) and that would have made it very clear that they weren't the same. I remember reading a couple interviews when the tour announcement first went up with them talking about being concerned about how to differentiate, but I really think it could have been a lot simpler than they made it seem.

Apparently they were outside 30 Rock today pre-taping some stuff for the Fallon show... don't know if that means all of Friday will be pretaped, or if they were just doing some skits and stuff to go with the show later in the week.

Forbes loves scalping and writing about it (based on previous articles I've seen about other acts I like, for example, they did a story about Billy Joel's residency at MSG), but I think they often miss the forest for the trees when it comes to this stuff. For that article on the Billy Joel prices, they went so far as to estimate that his tickets would scalp at high prices for the first 18-24 months worth of shows, and then start coming down, and suggested that it wouldn't be worth it for him to continue playing shows if the tickets stopped selling for five times the face value for scalpers. Call me crazy, but I thought the measure of success for Billy Joel would be whether or not he could sell out the shows, and how much the fans enjoy themselves. Billy Joel has always hated scalpers, and doesn't sell the first few rows of tickets so the best seats can't be scalped. On the night of the shows, his crew goes up to the worst seats in the house, look for real fans, and bring them down into the first few rows. I think someone who does that would be very pleased to find out that scalpers weren't making money off his tickets anymore.