We have received news that the GA procedures for the upcoming Boston shows will be the same as they were in May. The important thing to note this time is the venue’s name is now the TD BankNorth Garden (or The Garden, for short). All signage has been changed at the venue.

In regard to the rules of GA…here’s what the procedure is according to the folks at The Garden:
(note: the item regarding cameras is being reviewed as cameras WERE allowed in May after U2’s folks agreed to let fans bring cameras in). We’ll update the blog post once that determination has been made.
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U2
General Admission Floor Seating Information
October 3 & 4, 2005 - TD Banknorth Garden

The General Admission “GA” line will queue along the West Walkway of the TD Banknorth Garden as indicted by the signs stating “GA Ticket holders Line.” The GA line will exclusively enter the TD Banknorth Garden through the stair tower entrance north of the Boston Bruins Pro Shop.

GA ticket holders may begin lining up at 8:00 AM on the day of the show. (Please do not attempt to line-up over night; this queue area is not TD Banknorth Garden owned property.)

We will have TWO lines. One for U2 Fan Club members and one for anyone else holding a GA ticket. Each person will need a fan club card or a fan club ticket to get a wristband in the fan club line. BOTH lines will enter the building at the same time. This will be the same procedure used for the shows in May of 2005.

Upon arrival, each GA ticket holder will have a sequentially numbered wristband placed on his or her right wrist. Wristbands will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis. Once a GA ticket holder has their wristband, they may remain in the line or leave the area. BUT, all GA ticket holders with wristbands must be lined up in sequential order by 5:00 PM (this will be enforced).

Only GA ticket holders who have their ticket in their possession are permitted in the line.

Only GA ticket holders may hold and secure their place in line. “Place holders” will not be permitted after 5:00 PM line-up begins.

The wristband must remain on the GA ticket holders right wrist at all times. They also must be in possession of a valid ticket. Any GA ticket holder found with a tampered wristband will have that wristband confiscated, and the GA ticket holder will lose their sequential place in the line.

Guests will be permitted to have a reasonable amount of food and non-alcoholic beverages while in line (no bottles, cans or food will be allowed in the building). Sales and/or vending in the line will not be permitted. Please help us keep the area clean by using trash receptacles.

A limited number of porta-toilets will be available.

GA ticket holders will be admitted into the TD Banknorth Garden in sequential order once the doors are opened (scheduled for 6:00 PM for GA ticket holders we may open earlier if the band allows). All patrons will be searched; tickets will be scanned, marked and torn upon entry.

All GA ticket holders will then be directed to a table where line wristbands will be exchanged for a GA floor wristband. All GA ticket holders will pass through an “ELLIPSE” GATE SYSTEM that will scan their tickets and select at random ticket holders for “Access” to the “ELLIPSE” inner stage viewing area. Ticket holders randomly selected will be provided an “ELLIPSE” wristband.

Upon receipt of your wristbands GA ticket holders will be directed to the designated aisles that access the GA floor area, and, if in possession of an “ELLIPSE” wristband, directed to that special viewing area. Access on and off the floor will be restricted to these aisles as a well as a floor level portal.

Note: The floor level portal at the rear of the floor will be the most convenient restroom and concession area for GA floor ticket holders. It will be clearly marked.

Please take note that TD Banknorth Garden policy strictly precludes the following from entering the facility:
No backpacks / large bags / brief cases
No cameras of any kind
No outside food and beverage
No bottles or cans
No audio or video recording devices
No laser pointers

These guidelines are subject to change. For the latest information, please visit http://www.tdbanknorthgarden.com/. Thank you and enjoy the concert.

I was reading an article about Kings of Leon and came across an interesting section in the article: “Although the band was humbled by some of the enormous crowds they were forced to try and win over on their tour with U2, they’re excited to play to a crowd that’s there for specifically their music. “I think the crowds will be a little bigger,” joked Followill. “I think it will be a little more fun, more our type of a crowd. With the U2 gig we were forced to win over a crowd of angry U2 fans every night. With our own tour it’s a little better to be able to have people dig us for our own stuff.”

The consensus I’ve heard from Kings of Leon as a North American opener has been fairly dismal - some fans I’ve talked to really enjoyed them but most did not enjoy them at all. I’m not a fan of KOL, even coming from Tennessee myself - but it did occur to me reading this how hard it must have been for them to stand up in front of that impatient, GA-weary U2 crowd night after night without feeling the love. Any of us who have performed in front of an audience have felt those bad nights - but can you imagine that experience for an entire tour? It’s one thing singing to an empty room, another altogether to sing to a huge crowd of people who could care less what you’re performing (or worse, hate it altogether). Be nice to your opening band, folks. It’s not their fault they aren’t U2.

Jennifer Lopez wants to create a new perfume that smells like the top of a baby’s head.

If she calls that perfume FREEDOM, I am so outta here………

The Salt Lake Tribune had this small blurb about the upcoming U2 concert - “Bono, meet Kanye: The hottest Utah concert of the year, U2’s sold-out Dec. 17 show at the Delta Center, just got hotter. The opening act that night will be multiplatinum hip-hop star (and Bush-basher) Kanye West. West, who will interrupt his own North American tour to open U2’s last four fall dates, could probably fill arenas on his own. But aging rock audiences and youthful hip-hop audiences aren’t one and the same. It’ll be interesting to see how West goes over with the U2 crowd.” No big deal, this echoes Matt’s comments in a recent Off The Record column, as well as comments from a number of U2 fans. But what’s with the aging? Since when do rock audiences have to be aging? (Anyone been to a Green Day show lately? Foo Fighters? Nine Inch Nails?) Since when is late 30s and early 40s ancient? (If you’re sensing a little rebellious resistance here, I meekly raise my hand.) It’s not an age thing for crying out loud. It’s a musical style thing. Hip-hop is not rock. That’s why it should be interesting.

OK…I admit it…i nearly imploded when I saw the setlist from Minnesota and noticed Crumbs From Your Table was played. We knew the band had been rehearsing it for quite a while (going back to the first leg), but given the nature of the third leg, never knew when they’d throw it in.

Given that, we only have A Man and a Woman, as well as One Step Closer left off of HTDAAB for the band to play live.

Thinking about it - there’s only a handful of songs from their last 8 past studio albums (well, excluding Passengers) they haven’t played live: Red Hill Mining Town, Heartland, Acrobat, Wanderer, Some Days are Better than Others, Grace (used only as an outro-song), Playboy Mansion, When I Look at the World, and a handful of others they’ve only done snippets of (e.g. Peace on Earth, etc.).

I’ve heard rumors they’ve practiced Stay (Faraway, So Close) - jury’s out on when they’ll add it to the set. From the .mp3 floating around from the Crumbs performance, I’m right there with the fan who screamed “OH MY GOD! CRUMBS!” I hope to be like that too next week in Boston. All bets are off on what the setlists will be for the next 8 shows between tonight in Wisconsin, 2 in Boston and 5 in New York. If I were a betting woman, what are the odds that A Sort of Homecoming might be in the setlist for the shows in New York? Oh wait - I said all bets are off earlier, didn’t I?

I’m not sure how many of you have read the article from the Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages, but something struck me funny reading it….were U2 really pot smokers in the early 80s?

The article quotes longtime Sam’s/First Avenue DJ Roy Freedom: “They asked me and [fellow DJ] Kevin [Cole] to come back to the dressing room, because they hadn’t met any American kids on their tour. I think they thought this was going to be their only shot in America. We smoked pot with ‘em and talked about music and had a good time.”

That quote could be taken several ways: did Freedom & Cole smoke while the band didn’t? Did the band not inhale? Was the whole band involved?

What was also telling was the following quote: “They were like the nicest Catholic school boys you could meet,” recalls Wilson. “They talked about chess; they were really into chess. They gave us their beer. They didn’t drink.”

We know not everyone was catholic, the band did enjoy a drink, and we also know that Bono’s the chess enthusiast in the group.

It’s interesting how foggy people’s memories get…I know U2 themselves have had a lot of things said about them, most of which they don’t comment or give a rebuttal about. However, given the band’s reputation and Adam’s history on such substances, this topic is a more sensitive one - so these quotes shouldn’t be thrown around lightly by people remembering the past. It’s also telling that the journalist for the Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages didn’t bother to ask any kind of follow-up question or do some homework on the topic before this went to print.

Nominees for the American Music Awards were named today, and I’ve scanned this article four times and I don’t see U2 mentioned anywhere.

(Incidentally, don’t you hate scanning for U2 mentions? It’s such a tiny word. Sometimes, while scanning for U2 mentions, the number 112 or the word LIZ will throw me off.)

And if you want to think, Well, U2 are not AMERICANS, so they have no business being nominated, um, a little band named Coldplay was nominated.

Not that any of this matters, of course.

Have you heard U2’s New Year’s Eve show from 1989 in Dublin? Have you ever wondered what made Bono suddenly go “Oh, no he isn’t!” out of the blue towards the end of the show?
I have. And then the other day I was talking to a Brit who’s been living in America, and she mentioned that one of the things she misses most is Christmas pantomimes–plays, usually with plots out of fairy tales, performed with lots of audience participation. There are some stock phrases and running gags that are in many different shows–one of them is yelling “He’s behind you!” to the hero if the bad guy is sneaking up on him, and another is getting into an argument with one of the comedians:
Comic: “Oh no he isn’t!”
Audience: “Oh yes he is!”
Comic: “Oh no he isn’t!” etc.
This converstation was the first I’d ever heard of Christmas pantomimes–in my part of the world, “mime” has a completely different connotation. But now I’m guessing Bono got caught up in the Christmas-season experience of being on stage at this concert. If you listen close you’ll hear some of the audience answering him back the way they should: “Oh yes he is!”

Bono
Originally uploaded by Delineated.

Bono attended and spoke at the premiere tonight of “Leonard Cohen - I’m Your Man” during the Toronto International Film Festival. Flickr user Delineated was there and shared a half-dozen shots of Bono in @U2’s Flickr Pool!

Thanks D!

Is this a sign of things to come on the third leg? Was Bono’s message specific for the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, or have they been forced to eliminate COEXIST from their performance?

(See @U2’s story about the COEXIST controversy here.)

Quite the powerful performance of Love+Peace for the MTV/VH1 special - a song and stage performance that still proves to be the showstopper for the Vertigo tour.