The kind folks at the United Center in Chicago have posted a link on their website to inform everyone of the rules of the GA line - here’s what they have to say:

U2 General Admission Line Management Policy
May 7, 9, 10 & 12, 2005

The United Center welcomes all guests with General Admission (GA) tickets to begin arriving and forming a line no earlier than 12:00 pm. The United Center asks that all guests adhere to the following policies. GA ticketholders violating any of the following policies may be asked to surrender their line position, tickets, and may be removed from the United Center.

**The GA line will begin on Honore Street, and will turn down Adams Street. The GA line will enter the arena through Gate 5 (southeast corner).

**GA ticketholders may begin lining up no earlier than 12:00 pm on each date of the show and must have a ticket for that evening’s performance.

**Please be respectful of other guests in line at all times. No profanity, running, pushing, line jumping, horseplay, or other such unsafe behavior.

**Scalping or re-selling tickets will not be permitted.

**Alcoholic beverages will not be permitted in line.

**You must be present to get a space in line. Guests will not be allowed to “hold” a place in line for other guests planning to arrive later.

**Backpacks, large bags, and outside food and/or beverages are not allowed into the United Center, so at 4:30 pm, the United Center will ask all guests to return all such items to their vehicles.

**Wristbands giving access to the main floor area (GA area) will be distributed to guests as they enter the arena once the gates are open. Floor access will be permitted through sections 109-110 only.

**Guests will be randomly selected to receive a second wristband to access the Ellipse portion of the U2 stage.

**Due to the nature of GA lines, the United Center staff will not settle disputes over line position. Disputes over line position will result in all involved parties going to the back of the line.

**Once you are in line, you will not be allowed to leave the United Center property. If you choose to leave you will forfeit your place in line, and the United Center can not guarantee you will receive another place in line.

**Once inside the arena, no pushing, moshing, or body surfing will be permitted.
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions, comments or concerns during your visit, please contact the nearest United Center staff member.

SOURCE: http://www.unitedcenter.com/test/U2GAlinepolicy.pdf

Stunning!

Adam Clayton possessed superhuman speed to such an extent that he could not be perceived by others while travelling at superhuman speed. He appeared by others to be invisible.

WHO KNEW??

Thanks to Steve Morse and Bruce Mohl of the Boston Globe for putting a special highlight on official musician fanclubs, and how they’re servicing their fans by offering ticket presales, and the concerns faced because of them.

The Business and Money section of the Boston Globe focused on a guide to tickets - whether it’s sports tickets, concert tickets, or anything in the city and how scalping is a force in the free market. This was a section I couldn’t put down today, especially given the Chicago Sun-Times’ interview with Larry Mullen, Jr., which was published today (5/1).

Some highlights from Morse’s story:
Sebastian Clayton, Adam’s brother who runs U2.com, said “We weren’t expecting the amount of members who joined,” and that the system was overwhelmed when tickets became available in January. Sebastian says, “We were left in the lerch and weren’t able to fill everyone’s order.” The story also states that Sebastian said “the problem was fixed after U2 tacked on another leg to it’s tour.”

Full story

It’s interesting that now as U2 hits the major cities within the next 4 weeks - Chicago, Boston and New York City - that both Chicago and Boston newspapers are still reporting about U2’s tour ticketing woes.

I don’t know why the media are still beating this story into the ground. Especially given the fact that U2 are playing a total of 7-8 times in each of these major market cities when it’s all said-and-done.

Now - instead of focusing on the fanclubs, let’s focus on stopping scalpers charging an ivy-league college tuition for tickets. Surely, there must be something we can do to put them out of business!