Ok - it gets *real* tough to come up with blog headlines - it’s even tougher when the corny-factor gets cranked up because you don’t want to sound like everyone else jumping on this story.

@U2′er Scott Calhoun, along with a ton of other fans across the vast world wide web, has mentioned about a rumor floating around that U2 may be following suit as Prince with playing the O2 arena for multiple nights over a stretch of a month or so. (And, when I say following suit - I don’t mean Bono will be wearing Prince’s slacks that are missing the cloth from the back end, if you know what I mean.) Paul McGuinness has also gone on record to say,”It’s (the O2 Arena) got great potential for U2 and because it’s under cover you can do a run of shows in the autumn.” (Man, is he full of quotes this week or what?)

On the one hand, how cool would that be for U2 - the touring expenses would be minimal as the gear can stay in one place, crew can easily venture from point A to point B, and fans who have been saving up all their vacation time can stay camped outside the O2 for a month or so.

Oh wait - didn’t the band have an issue with the same fans in the same locations night after night, city after city from the Elevation tour? I can only imagine what the Sharpie Army will be like outside the O2 trying to self-delegate GA numbers if they do GA.

I remember reading somewhere that after U2 did something similar in Australia for the LoveTown Tour, that they didn’t quite enjoy that experience. Maybe it was because they were so far away from home? Dude - I’ll have to pull out ye olde Propagandas and other magazines around that time. I thought they had said they didn’t want to set up residence like that again for a concert tour. Anyone else recall reading or hearing an interview where they referred to this?

Somehow, it doesn’t surprise me if U2 are seriously considering this because from a financial perspective, it makes *total* sense. I wonder how many different setlists would have to circulate given that there will be people attending multiple shows over that time frame. I also wonder what would inspire the band to keep it fresh if they were looking at Night 17 out of 23 in the same city.

Seriously - could this be a precursor to them taking up shop in Las Vegas for an extended run like Celine Dion? I hope not!

Oh wait - it’s still in rumor stages…*oh good!*

Many of you were contacted by Live Nation back in October with a bunch of questions about how much you’re willing to pay for U2 tickets and merchandise, what kind of ticketing you prefer, venues, etc. And we wondered if the survey had something to do with U2’s next tour.

Well, no and yes.

The New York Times reported a couple weeks ago that Live Nation is gearing up to challenge Ticketmaster head-on with its own ticketing system. The article says that Live Nation’s contract in the U.S. with Ticketmaster ends at the end of 2008.

And here’s why Live Nation wants to handle ticketing:

Live Nation’s chief executive, Michael Rapino, has also sought tighter control over the relationship with fans. In particular, Mr. Rapino has pressed for Live Nation to control customer data from ticket buyers as part of a strategy to sell fans additional merchandise.

Yep, to get some more money out of our wallets. Shoulda known…….

Several alert @U2 readers have let us know that LiveNation is currently sending out a survey asking them their thoughts about U2, specifically about a future concert and how much someone would be willing to shell out for tickets and merchandise. The U2 Survey Sweepstakes Grand Prize winner will receive one pair of concert tickets to any LiveNation venue in 2007 or 2008.

LiveNation’s email states:

Take our U2 survey for a chance to win tickets to a future Live Nation concert!

We want to hear your thoughts and experiences about U2. Your feedback helps us to create unforgettable live music experiences for you, the fan.

Please click on the link below and answer the brief questions to be automatically entered into the drawing!

What’s interesting is that the rules of the survey states “Entrants agree that the Administrator may disclose to third parties all personal information obtained from Entrants and use such information for marketing and other purposes. ”

Only those LiveNation emailed will be allowed to take the survey. For the full rules of the sweepstakes, check them out here.

Is this a hint that the band’s testing the waters for a potential 2008 tour? I guess we’ll need to wait and see.

When @U2 received a press release today announcing an auction for U2 tickets, we immediately questioned it’s authenticity, as:

A) U2 aren’t on tour
B) It could be a while before they are

But digging deeper, we learned that the “Half Way to St. Patrick’s Day” celebration is a charity event, and the proceeds from that auction (and the event itself, which takes place in pubs across the US) will benefit childhood cancer research at the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

Furthermore, the charity contacted me and offered this link, which explains that Bono’s cousin Simon is actually one of the event organizers and offers the disclaimer that the tickets are “pending announcement of tour dates and locations.”

So…that said…happy bidding!

The auction ends September 17.

I just recently celebrated my wedding anniversary and as couples will do when celebrating such an event, heading out for a special meal as part of the day’s activities seemed appropriate.  After going over our options, we opted to head to a sushi restaraunt.  Yum!

Knowing we had a bit of a drive in front of us, I thought it would be appropriate to grab some music that meant something to both my wife and I for the ride.  So I grabbed our copy of the September 21, 2005 show from Chicago.  It was the last show in Chicago on the Vertigo tour, and it was the only show on the tour we were able to catch this time.

That performance, while being an excellent overall show, had a few standout moments for me.  The first truly special moment was during Electric Co. when Edge took his solo while walking around the ellipse.  He was sporting the biggest smile I’d seen him have on stage in a very long time, and it just added to the appreciation of the moment to have him walk past us at the tip of the ellipse with such obvious joy while playing.  We knew that if Edge was that loose, we were in for something special.

The next moment came during Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own.  We all know what that song means to Bono, and this happened to be a night where not only did he get deep into that song but he almost got lost in it as well.  When he got to the line “I don’t need…I don’t need to hear you say” he choked up and nearly lost it but recovered quickly and carried on to the end without any other issues.  That made a powerful song feel that much more powerful to both my wife and I as we had each lost someone very close to us in our family over the past year.

Those of you who read Matt’s Off The Record column may also recall that he posted a Youtube link in one of his columns which had this show’s version of Bad.  It was special because Bono wove in all of The First Time within the Bad rhythm.  If you can find it out there and have not seen or heard this yet, I’m urging you to check it out because it was awesome.  I can remember standing there during that song and thinking to myself that this is one of those versions that happens once in history and I was there for it.  It was amazing.

The final moment is the moment that inspired the title of this entry.  The band closed the show with 40, like they should every show if you are an old-school U2 fan like I am, and it was a solid performance of that song.  As Bono left the stage, he hung his hat on the microphone stand and waved to us all.  After Edge and Adam also left the stage, Larry finished up with his drumming while we all continued to sing.  When Larry finished, I think he surprised everyone when he walked up to Bono’s microphone stand, put Bono’s hat on his head, stood there for a moment and then walked off the stage. 

It was almost a declaration that while Bono is the voice of the band, we were instructed to never forget that U2 exists because Larry formed a band and no matter what had transpired since that time, it was still Larry’s band.  It was a really cool and unique moment, and a great way to close a show in a city that the band loves to play in. 

The channel SkyArts did a programme last week about the support slots that the Scottish band Franz Ferdinand did with U2 during their South American leg of the Vertigo tour. U2 spoke/were spoken about in four different segments, which you can see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp5uxACIqB8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GswUyZpyMX4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7reSIurCanE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeaXkrFnGew

The videos were taken on my camera phone, so I’m sorry that the picture quality is so appalling. The sound quality isn’t too bad though. You can hear what they’re saying at any rate, which I guess is what matters….