New Album Discussion 9 - Larry needs new arms, ba rum pa pum pum

[lazarus]

where do i sign up for the presale for tickets to that show??

limited run of shows at the Beacon Theater in New York is the big announcement - for Bono's Reading Rainbow.


side note... Beacon Theater? Owned by Madison Square Garden Corporation, the same folks who are building the Spheres in Vegas and London.

The Beacon is also the test venue for the "sphere immersive sound" audio system that the Spheres will use.

Damn, makes me wish Walter Becker was still alive so Steely Dan could do another residency here.

 

[Hollow Island]

What if the others are being dicks by trying to make their bandmate do something he doesn’t want to do? What if Larry’s reasons for not wanting to do it are valid?

What if Larry doesn’t want to do a Vegas residency because he’s a recovering gambling addict? What if he doesn’t want to do it because Bono makes him watch as he swipes his way through tinder AND NEVER FUCKING PICKS SOMEONE whenever he travels? He just spends hours and hours looking and asking Larry “what about her? Oh I don’t know! Nice eyes but I can’t see her rack!”

What if Larry desperately wants them to do a Vegas residency in their declining years like his idol and Celine and Adele and just wants them to wait? What if…what if…what if…

The thing is that they’d never *have* to play without a member unless it was a last minute crisis and there were extenuating circumstances that required them to play. If they play without Larry it would be a choice, not something forced on them by circumstance, and it would be very strange to abandon the working methods that have served them so well for almost 50 years. The subtext of planning to play gigs without Larry would be that members are expendable, and that notion is counter to their entire history.

They split the money four ways because rock history shows that money breaks ups bands. Rock history also shows that bands who go from requiring the agreement of all members to majority rule also don’t fare well. I hope they haven’t forgotten that.

 

[Hollow Island]

limited run of shows at the Beacon Theater in New York is the big announcement - for Bono's Reading Rainbow.


side note... Beacon Theater? Owned by Madison Square Garden Corporation, the same folks who are building the Spheres in Vegas and London.

The Beacon is also the test venue for the "sphere immersive sound" audio system that the Spheres will use.

 

[Hollow Island]

My biggest problem with your theory here is that literally no one from the band or the surrounding camp has said or even implied that they’re ‘thinking of being able to do it without Larry’

It’s all made up from a sarcastic quip from Larry and even that doesn’t state that they’ve been thinking of it.

On the other hand, you’ve got Bono outright stating that they’ve got a broken man who needs fixing and you’ve got Adam outright stating that he doesn’t think theres any such decision (to play without him) in front of them right now..

Stop making sense

 

[Hollow Island]

"We've got an offer to open this new amazing venue in Vegas next year. They want us to play a couple of nights a month, for a few months in exchange for a suitcase of cash. But its next-gen tech so would be cool to see what we could do with it."

"Great.. when is it?."

"Towards the end of 2023. I guess it might get delayed in to the start of 2024."

"OK, let's do it. Anyone think of a reason not to do it? Nobody has anything personal planned or any objections or good reasons we shouldn't? We don't even have to have the new album finished, so just wanted to check we're all good? Remember what happened with PopMart? Nobody has any surgeries planned or anything like that?"

At a very simplistic level, that's presumably how these things go?

Presumably. And if someone was unavailable for medical reasons, their friends would probably say “oh well, it would have been nice to play. Another time, then.”

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

what if we only posted facts and never discussed things that could be?!?!?!

this fucking forum would be 2 pages long.

 

[Irvine511]

Presumably. And if someone was unavailable for medical reasons, their friends would probably say “oh well, it would have been nice to play. Another time, then.”

As if this is the 8th grade talent show.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

as this (or perhaps the last) thread has shown - some people are not able to get the idea out of their head that Vegas is where old crooners go to sing in a smoke filled cocktail lounge until they die. perhaps larry is one of those people, while the rest of the band realize it's not 1982 anymore.

What if Larry desperately wants them to do a Vegas residency in their declining years like his idol and Celine and Adele and just wants them to wait? What if…what if…what if…

 

[Hollow Island]

As if this is the 8th grade talent show.

As if this was a rock band that has a history of not playing shows when members are unavailable for one reason or another

 

[Hollow Island]

Lol, do you think U2 opened Popmart in Vegas by accident and do you really think the public perception of Vegas and Vegas residencies has changed that much? Cities’ reputations are pretty much carved in stone. Perhaps a Vegas residency will lose its stigma one day but that hasn’t happened yet.

Did you somehow miss the jokes that were made at U2’s expense when it was announced they were doing a residency? Do you miss the jokes made whenever anyone does a residency there? You may like Vegas but I can’t believe that you’re so culturally ignorant as to be unaware of how Vegas is perceived. You’ve gotta be doing a contrarian bit.

 

[mikal]

That would be kind of crazy if U2 played in a city by complete accident.

 

[Hollow Island]

Nothing said by the band indicates that it’s likely U2 would schedule shows knowing a member would be unavailable, and nothing in their history suggests that it’s likely either.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Lol, do you think U2 opened Popmart in Vegas by accident and do you really think the public perception of Vegas and Vegas residencies has changed that much? Cities’ reputations are pretty much carved in stone. Perhaps a Vegas residency will lose its stigma one day but that hasn’t happened yet.



Did you somehow miss the jokes that were made at U2’s expense when it was announced they were doing a residency? Do you miss the jokes made whenever anyone does a residency there? You may like Vegas but I can’t believe that you’re so culturally ignorant as to be unaware of how Vegas is perceived. You’ve gotta be doing a contrarian bit.

Guy - PopMart debuted TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.

 

[Irvine511]

I missed all the Vegas jokes because I couldn’t hear them over the iPhone jokes.

This is an unprecedented situation, and not comparable to Sydney — 30 years ago!

Now, it could be that Larry shares the opinion that Vegas is only for Rod Stewart and Celine Dion and a way for the pre-liberation Spears family to keep making money off the family mule (poor Brit), and he’s using surgery as leverage to try and sabotage the whole thing.

Which is what appears to be being implied by some.

 

[Hewson]

what if we only posted facts and never discussed things that could be?!?!?!

this fucking forum would be 2 pages long.

fact.

 

[dan_smee]

At the risk of crushing some tin foil hats, is it possibly that the band want to do this, even Larry, but he recently found out he needed surgery rather than rehab for some injuries. Now it is unlikely he will recover in time, but they had to commit and they did. They don’t have any hard decisions to make yet because it’s likely the whole thing is delayed anyway and so they will wait a while longer before sending the fandom into meltdown. In the mean time - we pushed back our re-recorded songs until March and Bono is doing some more dates so that we don’t totally disappear and maybe we can capitalise on this goodwill for a while longer to sustain interest in new music and the shows late next year.

Or something like that.

 

[DeVaul]

That makes too much sense

 

[Irvine511]

At the risk of crushing some tin foil hats, is it possibly that the band want to do this, even Larry, but he recently found out he needed surgery rather than rehab for some injuries. Now it is unlikely he will recover in time, but they had to commit and they did. They don’t have any hard decisions to make yet because it’s likely the whole thing is delayed anyway and so they will wait a while longer before sending the fandom into meltdown. In the mean time - we pushed back our re-recorded songs until March and Bono is doing some more dates so that we don’t totally disappear and maybe we can capitalise on this goodwill for a while longer to sustain interest in new music and the shows late next year.

Or something like that.

Yes, but people are making jokes about Vegas on Twitter.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Vegas residencies are only for old, non-relevant hacks who are past their prime and could never get a song on the charts... like Jack Harlow, Silk Sonic or Luke Bryan. You know... old people.

Or perhaps those who aren't capable of touring with any level of success anymore... like Garth Brooks.

But it should not be a place that a hip and up and coming band that's totally not part of a dying genre ... like U2... should partake in, because one time almost 30 years ago they started their tour based on trashy irony in Vegas as a joke (that nobody got).

Because a city's reputation is set in stone, unable to change, you see.

I've been to the city in the last calendar year, so my opinion doesn't count because I just like hanging out at the Dunes with Sammy, Frank and Dean-O - so I'm biased.

 

[DeVaul]

i've been to the city in the last calendar year, so my opinion doesn't count because i just like hanging out at the dunes with sammy, frank and dean-o - so i'm biased.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

[emoji3531][emoji3531][emoji3531][emoji3531][emoji3531][emoji3531][emoji3531][emoji3531][emoji3531]

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Ocean's Catorce

 

[gvox]

Adam literally just said that it would be hard, but they would do what needed to be done.

They will play without Larry if they must.

That's not actually what he said in its entire context..

 

[womanfish]

There are several differences with this proposed U2 residency to how residencies were and were perceived early on. From my understanding residencies for the most part have been long, like years, and associated usually with a hotel, and the artist would do several shows a week, some even daily. Celine Dion has been at Caeser's for over 12 years and done 1,000 shows.

This is NOT that.

We're talking about doing a dozen shows in the same city over 2-3 months at a stand alone arena. And not just any arena, but a game-changing performance arena that I think most people would look at U2 opening it as something that would actually elevate their status.
This isn't U2 playing the main ballroom at The Sands every night before the dinner buffet starts.

And yes Vegas has changed a lot. I used to go back in the 90's/early 2000's to play cheap blackjack and do some stuff I shouldn't do. It was still more rough around the edges and fun and you could get drunk playing blackjack at the 2 dollar tables for 20 bucks over a few hours.
Now? It's become an entertainment destination more geared toward families than it ever was before. A lot of younger, more popular artists are doing these short 2-3 month stints, and it's nothing like the residencies that came before that were over multiple years.

 

[JWR1992]

Pretty underwhelming news today but hey we are less than 95 days away from SOS [emoji3]

 

[gvox]

Right? He just said it.



Reads to me like he's saying it would be tough, they don't want to and don't think they need to, but will if they have to.

You know I aint picking on ya.. lol..

but I'm just gonna pull this out for emphasis:


if it were something we had to face

But I don’t think that’s the decision we are facing at the moment


I mean he really shoots it right down here, for me.

And it is a decision they would have to face, if not at the moment, at least really friggin soon.. in order to be able to plan (snicker) a residency/tour/whateveryawannacallit for next November.

Uh uh. No way. If they had something actually in the books with tickets sold etc etc.. and someone got injured..maybe...MAYYYYBE they'd use a sub. In the most remotest of maybes. Even then... I'd put money on them postponing.

 

[gvox]

At the risk of crushing some tin foil hats, is it possibly that the band want to do this, even Larry, but he recently found out he needed surgery rather than rehab for some injuries. Now it is unlikely he will recover in time, but they had to commit and they did. They don’t have any hard decisions to make yet because it’s likely the whole thing is delayed anyway and so they will wait a while longer before sending the fandom into meltdown. In the mean time - we pushed back our re-recorded songs until March and Bono is doing some more dates so that we don’t totally disappear and maybe we can capitalise on this goodwill for a while longer to sustain interest in new music and the shows late next year.

Or something like that.

This is what Im talking about, really.. Bono goes out and does some more shows... and its see ya in 2024.

 

[DeVaul]

Ocean's Catorce

perfect

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

You know I aint picking on ya.. lol..

but I'm just gonna pull this out for emphasis:


if it were something we had to face

But I don’t think that’s the decision we are facing at the moment


I mean he really shoots it right down here, for me.

And it is a decision they would have to face, if not at the moment, at least really friggin soon.. in order to be able to plan (snicker) a residency/tour/whateveryawannacallit for next November.

Uh uh. No way. If they had something actually in the books with tickets sold etc etc.. and someone got injured..maybe...MAYYYYBE they'd use a sub. In the most remotest of maybes. Even then... I'd put money on them postponing.

Don't mean to bug ya, but you don't think that sounds like a guy who, pardon the gambling pun here, is hedging his bets?

i.e. I don't think there will be an issue, but if there is, we'll deal with it when it happens.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

And yes Vegas has changed a lot. I used to go back in the 90's/early 2000's to play cheap blackjack and do some stuff I shouldn't do. It was still more rough around the edges and fun and you could get drunk playing blackjack at the 2 dollar tables for 20 bucks over a few hours.

Now? It's become an entertainment destination more geared toward families than it ever was before. A lot of younger, more popular artists are doing these short 2-3 month stints, and it's nothing like the residencies that came before that were over multiple years.