Posted on 08/16/2009 3:21:44 AM PDT by beaversmom
LONDON, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- The Edge, a guitarist with the Irish rock group U2, said the huge stage the band plays on during its world tour is for the fans.
The stage has attracted brickbats, both because of its cost and the cost financially and environmentally of moving it around the world, the BBC reports. David Byrne of Talking Heads estimated on his blog that 200 tractor-trailers are required to move the pieces around Europe.
"It could be professional envy speaking here, but it sure looks like, well, overkill, and just a wee bit out of balance given all the starving people in Africa and all," Byrne said.
The stage's three pieces, built at a cost of 15 to 20 million pounds ($25 million to $33 million) each, provide unobstructed sightlines for fans, no matter how large and packed the venue.
"We're spending the money on our fans. I don't think there's a better thing you could spend it on," The Edge told the BBC in a backstage interview Friday before a concert at Wembley Stadium in London.
U2 is on its "360-Degree" tour that will take the band round the world. The Edge said any touring group will have a "carbon footprint."
I wonder how many kids in Africa Bono could have saved with that money. Or is it only American tax dollars that Bono thinks will save lives?
Here’s video about the stage:
U2 360 Stage Build - U2MIRACLE.COM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDNaEuVgfEo
It’s harder for aging rockers to fall off of large stages.
All that? For ME??? You guys rock!!1!
Oy! Frankie never ‘ad this, Eh, Bony??? Woo-hoooo!!!
Damn straight. Who's looking out for you? U2, that's who.
It's your money, my man. Spend it on whatever you like and don't let the collectivist fascists have any say.
Too bad they don't load the equipment on wagons and hire illegals to push the wagons from gig to gig. Think of the positive publicity that would gather.
Limo liberals!!!
Could it be that members of U2 are setting up their own little ‘estates’ onstage? You have the lead vocalist estate, the drummer estate, the bass player estate and the lead guitar estate...it’s like their own little neighborhood or universe.
However, it’s acreage seems to be expanding. Could it be that they can no longer stand the sight of each other? To an enthusiastic audience it looks like they’re oh-so cozy and hunky-dory up there...
“Ahhh, we should ALL live so ‘togetherly’...Imagine the music WE could make, changing the world as we bring to it a generously spread harmonious magic throughout the global community.”
Yeah, right! Even when it’s supposed to be just business as usual, there’s a point at which the working man and his closest associates’ relationships begin to change...I would not be surprised to learn that some members of bands like U2 actually hire bodyguards and lawyers to protect themselves from each other.
It is striking to then realize the “going under”, however willing or unwittingly, of audiences who can’t imagine the possibility of there being trouble in “Paradise”.
Save your money. Don’t go to the show.
'No Line on The Horizon' started at number 1 and after 23 weeks is currently dipping down to number 87 on the Billboard 200. I know they are still a popular band, and probably have no problem selling tickets, but I don't hear them very much on the radio- could just be that I'm not listening to the right stations. Still, it seems like David Byrne is doing them a favor by taking a couple of shots at them in this article.
How long before they lip synch?
They pulled pretty much every conceivable marketing and publicity stunt to hawk their new CD, No Line on the Horizon. But U2’s 12th studio disc, which was released March 3, still sold only 484,000 copies in its first week. These days, not many acts would consider that number a disappointment. Still, U2 aren’t just any act: The Irish quartet’s last disc, 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, shifted 840,000 units in week 1. What’s more, the ostensible heir to their biggest-band-in-the-world throne, Coldplay, moved 721,000 copies of last year’s Viva La Vida in the first seven days of its release.
So what caused U2’s middling sales? It wasn’t economics; fans could buy it digitally on Amazon.com for the ridiculously low price of $3.99. Nor was it due to a lack of promotional savvy. U2 opened this year’s Grammy ceremony and took up residence for five consecutive nights on Late Show With David Letterman. (The appearances did little to goose Letterman’s ratings, perhaps indicating lukewarm interest in the album.) No, the villain seems to be lead single "Get On Your Boots," which peaked — if that’s the word — at No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100. "They didn’t have a clear radio hit," says Jay Beau Jones, program director of Boston’s WBMX-FM. "When I first heard ‘Boots,’ I thought, It’s a good song. But when I first heard [Coldplay's] ‘Viva La Vida,’ I thought, Wow!" Second single "Magnificent," which sounds far more like classic ’80s-era U2 than "Boots" does, may provide renewed hope for Horizon, though. Says Amazon exec Craig Pape, "I was anxious for them to get that on the roster as a single. That stands out. I think the record will have long legs as people get exposed to more and more of the tracks."
Meanwhile the elite fly around the world in private jets and take limos to their multimillion dollar, gigawatt-hour-consuming stage to play cool music.
I'm also supposed to feel guilty for all those starving kids in Africa even though its all due to corrupt dictators running those places.
it’s the hippocracy (sp?)
don’t forget leaving Ireland to pay less taxes-
while lecturing us to pay more for Africa
you’all should be listening to country music anyways
real music, real people
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