We heard about this a couple of times over, and well frankly we passed on a story just due to time. Now that  USA Today reports that U2 was very interested in starring in their own Rock Band game last year, but for some reason decided against it. We thought about it again and well after we watched this video we are sold on the idea.

Bono and the boys have seen the success of the of The Beetles: Rock Band, or what looks like to be success, lets see what happens around christmas time.

“We definitely would like to be in there, but we felt some of the compromises weren’t what we wanted,” Adam Clayton told USA Today. “That could change. I love the idea that that’s where people are getting music, and we’d love to be in that world.”

The group was concerned about their digital portrayal, and rightfully so, but when Harmonix pulled it off with The Beatles, they were quick to become enthused again.

“What The Beatles have done, where the animation is much more representative of them, is what we’re interested in, rather than the one-size-fits-all animation. We didn’t want to be caricatured.”

So what are your thoughts ? Do you think they have the catalogue of songs necessary to make it happen?

U2 360º World Tour
Opening act: Muse

October 9, 2009
7 p.m.
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida

Address/Directions:
Raymond James Stadium is located at 4201 Dale Mabry Highway North, Tampa, Florida 33607 (see directions)

Field Ticket Early Parking/Entrance ONLY:
For those with Field Tickets (General Admission/Red Zone), early parking opens at 7 a.m. in Lots 1/3 (off of Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd).
Field ticket holders should line up to enter the stadium at Dock A (near Gate A).

Parking Lots Open:
Remaining parking lots open at 3 p.m.  – Lots 2, 4, 6D, 8, 9, HCC, 11, 12 and 13.
No advanced parking pass sales, pay as you enter (see map)
No camping or overnight parking

Parking Prices:
Cars - $25 in Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and HCC
Buses - $50 in Lot 8, 13 and 14
Limos - $50 in Lot 4 (as space is available)/campers-$50 in Lot 8, 13 and 14
Disabled - $25 parking is first come, first serve, Lots A and C

All Stadium Gates Open at 5 p.m.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Are cameras allowed?
A: Yes, lens no bigger than 1 inch, no PROFESSIONAL CAMERAS

Q. Are chairs permitted?
A. No.

Q: Are video cameras allowed?
A: No

Q: Can I bring in food or drinks?
A: No

Q: What can and can’t I bring in the stadium?
A: Please review the Security Policies provided.
Banners/flags larger than 8.5x11
Flashlights/fluorescents
Inflatable items including beach balls

Q: Can I tailgate in the parking lots?
A: Yes.

Q: Where are the disabled elevators?
A: Enter disabled gates at A and C. Review additional information about Disabilities Services.

Q:  Will there be concessions and restrooms on the field?
A: Yes, or near the field

Q: Is re-entry to the stadium allowed?
A: No

Q: Where do I park?
A: See the parking map. Additional information is available on the Parking and Directions site

Q: Where are my seats?
A: View the seating map

Q: Where is the stage?
A: The 360-degree stage will be near the south end zone

Q: Will concessions and restrooms be available for early arrivals?
Yes, and in the tunnels at the rear of the field.

Q: Are paper tickets permitted?
A: Yes, if purchased from Live Nation or Ticketmaster

Q. What are the policies in your parking lots?
A. Please review the Security Policies

Atlanta - Just after “Beautiful Day,” four songs into a thunderous, nearly sold-out show at the Georgia Dome, Bono took off his sunglasses. Beads of sweat dotted his face –  a vein stood out in  his temple. “Thank you all,” he told the audience, “for helping us build this—madness.”

And then he gestured up. Above him, all around him was the 170-ton, four-pronged stage, looking like a metal claw from the Planet of Giant Robot Crabs.

On the other hand, the sea of standing-room souls with general admission tickets on the floor of the Dome, the select few in the Red Zones (who bid for tickets to get at stage front) and the rest of us, packed to the Dome’s rafters, holding up cell phones like Bic lighters, had a strangely intimate connection to the four performers in the middle. This was due to many things, among them the in-the-round stage design, which lifted speakers and other hardware out of the way, and gave Bono, drummer Larry Mullen Jr., bassist Adam Clayton, and guitarist the Edge walkways and bridges to bring them right into the middle of the crowd.

It was also due to that determination to make a connection that is the hallmark of a U2 concert. While the show – and its seven-story accordionated video screen — was eye-poppingly huge, the emotion behind the performance was all human scale.

U2 moved between the human and the gargantuan through 22 songs (including five encores), kicking off the show with “Breathe” and “Get on Your Boots,” from the new album “No Line on the Horizon.”

The crowd was attentive to the new songs, but arms began punching the air when Bono told them to use their “Southern church voices” and the Edge launched into “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” from 1987’s “Joshua Tree.” Bono brought the band’s volume down, and let the audience sing the first verse.

“We’ve got old songs, we’ve got new songs, we’ve got songs we can barely play,” said Bono after a delicate duo version of “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” with the Edge on acoustic guitar. “We’ve got a spaceship,” he added, referring to his futuristic stage. “But it’s not going anywhere without you.”

Liftoff was achieved with “Vertigo,” the Edge’s hammered, chiming strings abetted by the shouted “Hello! Hello!” from the audience. Then with a shift of mood, the disembodied heads of the Brothers U2 nodded from the screen, as sequencers chugged through their techno remix of “I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight.”

The pacing of the concert made room for small moments and larger gestures. During “Sunday Bloody Sunday” the Hoberman video screen broadcast images of the protests in Iran. With “Walk On” the band invited a host of volunteers to step out on the circular catwalk surrounding the stage, each holding up a paper mask showing the face of jailed Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. It was a sweet and somewhat strange gesture.

Just before the first encore Bishop Desmond Tutu’s face looked out from the video screen and spoke to the audience, congratulating them for their help in buying drugs to treat AIDS and malaria in Africa. (U2 concerts have raised millions for those causes.

We have been getting interesting reviews from you the fans that have attended the show last night. We reviewed all of the comments and based on your feedback the show was considered to be graded as “B” and Muse ‘C”. The feeling we have been getting is that the new CD (yea Album) has not been much of a rally cry for new fans. Long time fans had to replay the CD a couple of times before the embrace of what was termed by the group as new direction. A departure from our expectation, a journey of growth to which one must take once or twice in their life time. Bono screamed out to the audience “Don’t forget about us” seem to say hey we all have to take a journey and sometimes its better go with a friend. U2 wants you to ride along.

Sources: Atlanta

Atlanta U2 Fans tonight we are about to launch our 360 view from your view. Yes we have selected 20 people from around the stadium to send live as it happens updates to our photo collection. The people selected are just like you fans, from all age groups. Remember to follow us on twitter.com/u2tourfanns  for real time updates.  Thank you Atlanta for making us feel so welome.

Notice to FTC: We have not taken any gifts to report this story.

Tampa fans will be getting a double dose of U2 this weekend, The boys from Ireland will be playing Raymond James stadium. Consider it a mile stone, its the 10th concert in Tampa. They first played Tampa in 1981. Does anyone remember a sports bar called the “End Zone” In 2005 Bono referred to “The Beginning Zone is more like it.”

U2TOURFANS STAFF 2009 DL True U2 fans remember the days when U2 was the opening act. !982 for the October tour U2 opened for J.Geils Band at Curtis Hixon Hall and came back the next year to be the headliner.  Right around 1985 U2 became the hottest band around the world. The Unforgettable Fire tour was a sell out at 11,200.

Now the sell out venues at 100K and invest millions of dollars for their fans. The opening torch has been handed to Muse for the Tampa show. Expect this to be the who’s who event of Tampa. Already  private parties have been popping up all around the venue.

It Might Get Loud

The second dose The release of It Might Get Loud is finally adding a Tampa movie theater to its tour.  The movie will open on October 9th( yes the same day as the concert)  only at the AMC Veterans.  The documentary piece explores the history of one of the greatest instruments ever invented…the electric guitar.  The flick opened in mid-August but is slowly tuning into more cities.

It might get loud press release 2009The film by Davis Guggenheim, will highlight the careers of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, U2’s The Edge, and White Stripes axe-grinder Jack White.  All give their candid input on the guitar and how they crafted their styles.  It Might Get Loud is being billed as a tribute piece to the electric guitar, but has insight on techniques from many other well-known guitarists.  Tons of footage from the above mentioned and others is captured in the movie.

U2TOURFANS: Normally we stay away from becoming the news story. However with all that has been going on over the last three months we have yet to really Thank you the fan for visiting and supporting our reporting team. Over the last couple of months we have increased our viewers by some unbelievable numbers. What we have come to find out about our readers was pretty amazing. We report the facts, stories that interest your our views and of course the fan. We have given you the reviews good and bad. Most all you have enjoyed th straight talk. We had 1 Million visitors over the last 30 days. Our viewers come from everywhere. We have watched our social media fan grow. On behalf of our team, a big Thank you goes out to each of you.  We have a busy week ahead concert in GA on Tuesday and then off to Tampa, nine more shows to the end of this leg. 

U2 performs Tuesday, Oct. 6 at the Georgia Dome.   There are still some tickets left for the 7pm show, and if you are planning to go, you can ride MARTA there and avoid rush-hour traffic that will likely back up the connector.

You can park your car at several of the MARTA stations and ride in.  Best bets for MARTA parking include Inman Park, West End, Lindbergh Center, Dunwoody or North Springs (see the MARTA rail map).

Once on the train, exit at either the W1 Dome or W2 Vine City stop on the west line. If you are coming from the north or south rail line, you’ll need to transfer trains at the Five Points Station and follow the signs to the Westbound platform .  If you get off at W1, the Dome has its own exit at the far western end of the platform .  Or if you get off at W2 Vine City, merely walk down Rhodes Street when you exit the station.  General Admission tickets will enter the Georgia Dome through Lower Gate C only — at the West Plaza on Northside Drive, which will be nearest the W2 Vine City station.

 Also, be advised that the following items are prohibited:
* Video or audio recording devices
* Cameras
* Laser Pointers or Glow Sticks
* Balloons or inflatable balls of any kind
* Backpacks or large bags
* Blankets, sleeping bags or folding chairs
* Weapons or fireworks
* Noise-makers, air horns, instruments, whistles or bells
* Skateboards, scooters, bicycles or “heelies”
* Banners or flags on poles
* Coolers, cans or bottles
* Food or beverage

The Devils are apparently ready to reach rock star status.

Word is that the team will be using the Irish rock band U2’s plane on their next three road trips.

Of course, the Devils have traveled first class on chartered jets for years. But using the plane in which Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen travel will be tickle some of the team’s rock fans.

“Pretty cool,” defenseman Paul Martin said. “Some guys are pretty pumped up. I actually got to see them when they were here. That was the first time I’d seen them. I’m not a huge fan of their music, but the live show is one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

Seating on the plane could be a problem.

“Who gets Bono’s seat?” Jay Pandolfo asked. “I’m going to see if I can pull that off.”

They’ll get to experience a little of the rock star life.

“At least we can pretend,” Martin said.

DURHAM — Natalie Baker flew 36 hours from her home in Melbourne, Australia, to Durham to indulge her two loves: the music of Irish rock band U2 and being with her U2 fan community.

She was one of dozens of ultra-devoted fans at this weekend’s conference at N.C. Central University to explore the music, work and influence of U2.

“Their music inspires me to make a difference,” she said Saturday morning with an enthusiasm that showed no hint of the exhausting plane trip from the previous day. “It inspires me to make a difference, even a small difference, and encourages me to look at the world in a different way.”

Baker said she’s attended a dozen U2 concerts all over the world in the past 20 years, and planned to be at Saturday night’s U2 concert at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

“You don’t think I’d come all this way and not be at that concert, do you?” she asked.

A friend she met at the airport, Michelle Hakim of Newton, Mass., said she’s been a U2 devotee for 30 years.

“I’ve had this bond with the band since I was young,” Hakim, a child psychologist, said, ”because they really opened up my consciousness to humanity and the world and what you can do to make it a better place in the global community. So I just felt this was a really good place to expand on that and be part of it.”

Also at the conference was Diane Yoder, representing the African Well Fund, a nonprofit that has raised $700,000 to build wells and other water and sanitation projects in Africa. Her inspiration: U2.

“A group of U2 fans met on the Internet about six years ago with the intention of raising money for a well in Africa,” she said. “We saw a special on TV where [lead U2 singer] Bono had gone to Africa. They visited a village in Uganda and talked about how a well only costs $1,000.”

That was the spark that ignited their effort.

One of the keynote speakers at the conference was Anthony DeCurtis, an author, music critic and contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine.

DeCurtis said U2 is the perfect band for today’s world.

“They remain inspirational figures, beacons of hope in impossible times,” he said. “Their belief that divides can be bridged by the strength of rhetoric and vision confounds the frustrations that we, or at least I, sometimes feel. They continue to believe that we can be better people, and that we can build a better world.”

In an earlier interview, DeCurtis said the band often takes risks that pay off.

For example, after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U2 scrolled the names of those who died on the screen during a performance in New York.

“That’s a risky move,” he said. “Everybody was wrought and so vulnerable, like a burn victim is vulnerable. Your skin is so sensitive that somebody making a wrong move can really set you off. And people were just so moved by it.”

During a reception after the concert, DeCurtis talked to Bono.

“There was a feeling that a lot those people who died were Irish cops and firemen, and that was their people, man. And I think they felt that they had earned the right to a statement like that, and that it was almost a responsibility. And that’s not what you would get from a lot of bands.”

DeCurtis said he’s attended at least a dozen U2 concerts over the years.

”There’s a sense of engagement with the world that I get from them in a particularly powerful way. And so when I go to their music, that’s what I leave with. I think it’s that sense that things matter — the music matters and all the things in the world outside of music matter as well.”

“Their music continues to be a call to action,” he said. “For this band, there is truly no line on the horizon — no line between earth and sky, between young and old, between the face of the poorest and the richest, between who are and who are aspire to be.”

Editor Note: Re produced from atu2.com- See orginal story on atu2.com

@U2 Presents Sunday Night at the (3D) Movies with Neil McCormick

@U2 (www.atu2.com) is proud to present a special screening of U2 3D to wrap up The Hype & The Feedback. Our showing will begin at 8:00 pm on October 4th at the Wachovia IMAX Theatre in Raleigh, NC. After the movie, stick around for a special live chat with Neil McCormick and some great giveaways from the @U2 prize closet. It’s a perfect way to unwind after the conference with your fellow U2 fans and friends.

U2 3D is a stunning concert film with performances recorded during the band’s 2006 concerts in South America. If you haven’t seen it, don’t miss this chance — there’s nothing like seeing U2 3D on the big screen at an IMAX theatre. Movie tickets will cost $11.95 for adults ($10.95 for college students and senior citizens), and there’s no extra charge for the after-movie festivities.

After the film, @U2’s Matt McGee will chat with Neil McCormick about his long history with U2, going back to his days with the band as students at Dublin’s Mount Temple Comprehensive School. They’ll also take questions from the audience in a casual setting. Neil is the author of the popular book, Killing Bono: I Was Bono’s Doppelganger, which is currently being made into a film, and collaborated with the band to write their official biography, U2 By U2. Neil is currently a music writer and critic for the Daily Telegraph, and began his journalism career writing for Dublin’s Hot Press magazine.

The Wachovia IMAX Theatre is located at the Marbles Kids Museum, 201 E. Hargett Street in Raleigh.

@U2 Sunday Night at the Movies with Neil McCormick

Sunday, October 4, 2009

• 7:00 pm: Shuttle leaves Four Points Sheraton in Durham for the IMAX Theatre in Raleigh (scroll up to reserve a shuttle space)
• 8:00 pm: U2 3D begins! (scroll above to buy advance movie tickets online from the theater) After the film, a conversation with Neil McCormick plus some prize giveaways
• 10:30 or 11:00 pm: Movie event ends, everyone is invited to nearby Irish pub called Tir Na Nog; if hungry/thirsty, order what you want off their menu
• 11:30 pm: first shuttle leaves Tir Na Nog headed back to Four Points Sheraton
• 1:00 am: second & last shuttle leaves Tir Na Nog headed back to Four Points Sheraton

Editor Comment: We share the reviews that come out of the local press - Its a collection of many different sources. Our views are not expressed within the story. This review sounds pretty bad, however its only a point. We suggest that you express your comments to the story.

“We’ve got old songs, we’ve got new songs, we’ve got songs we can barely play,” he cracked. “And we’ve got a spaceship!”

Yes, it was hard not to notice that. At a time when pretty much everything seems to be in contraction mode, U2 has rolled the dice with what has to be the most elaborately ginormous stage setup in rock history — a huge claw-shaped beast that looked like a vertigo-inducing theme-park ride.

It seemed impossible that any band, even one as outsized as U2, wouldn’t get swallowed up by such surroundings. But somehow, they pulled it off through sheer force of will. This business of being the biggest band on earth clearly matters a great deal to U2, and they’ve put this gargantuan spectacle on the road to achieve “intimacy on a grand scale.” There’s just no one better at enormity than U2.

Bono wasted no time hitting the heroic poses on the opener “Breathe,” a track from the current album “No Line on the Horizon.” While “No Line” is only so-so, its songs came across much better live — even “Get On Your Boots,” the actively annoying first single. Other recent-vintage songs to hit the mark included “Vertigo,” “Magnificent” and “City of Blinding Lights.”

As always, Edge provided letter-perfect guitar accompaniment. If Bono is U2’s preacher man, Edge is the one who built the sonic pulpit from which he holds forth.

Hammy theatrics that somehow work are a U2 specialty, such as the way Bono worked snippets of rock-era classics into U2 songs. A bit of “Amazing Grace” turned up during the encore version of “One.” And during “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” Bono pointed at the moon and sang the opening of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” (“When the night has come/And the land is Dark/And the moon is the only light we will see…”).

Sometimes, however, Bono should just leave well enough alone. Tossing his microphone to a guy in the crowd to let him sing a verse of “People Get Ready” might have seemed like a good idea; but it was an off-key disaster.

Still, that was one of the show’s miscues. For all the band’s pretensions, U2 is ultimately just so likable that it’s almost impossible not to be won over. When they went roaring into the encore version of “Where the Streets Have No Name,” that guitar riff pealing like a church bell, it was a perfect moment of blissful big-rock grandeur that you just don’t see much of anymore.

Raleigh Fans all agree this would be the last time they see U2 on the big stage. They all agree this was the biggest show of the year. Fans loved it, Muse was a solid up and coming band that U2 seemly has passed the torch to carry on big Rock and Roll

RALEIGH - U2’s much-anticipated appearance on NC State’s campus today will not only mark the end of Carter-Finley Stadium’s 11-year hiatus from holding special events, it will also bring more than 1,500 temporary jobs to workers.

U2TOURFANS FILE PHOTO 2009“We’re in this for one reason and one reason only – to boost the economy for the university and the city of Raleigh,” said Ray Brincefield, assistant athletics director for outdoor facilities at NC State. “It’s a great thing to be able to use our football stadium to aid the local economy.”

“Our mission was to employ people who would otherwise not have a job for that week,” he said. “There’s no cost to the athletic department or the university, and no tax dollars are being used to bring this show to Carter-Finley Stadium.”

Beginning the evening of Sunday, Sept. 27, hundreds of workers have been on hand, waiting for football practice to end so they can begin to cover the Wayne Day Family Field turf with a state-of-the-art aluminum decking specifically designed to protect the integrity of the field’s infrastructure – drainage, communications and irrigation systems, and more.

Then, beginning on Monday, workers began to bring in U2’s elaborate, in-the-round stage setup, which –- when assembled -– will soar vertically at heights parallel to Carter-Finley’s upper seating decks – or higher. Brincefield got a first-hand look at the construction on a recent trip to Massachusetts, where U2 sold out Boston’s Gillette Stadium.

“It takes about three days for hundreds of laborers and steel workers to erect this lighting and sound structure that will go over the stage – six cranes and 25 forklifts running all the time,” he said. “It’s pretty impressive.”

While construction is taking place, Brincefield will be on hand, working with Live Nation staff on pre-, concurrent-, and post-concert logistics. For example, the Carolina Hurricanes hockey club opens regular season play at the adjacent RBC Center on Friday, Oct. 2 – “production day” for the U2 crew.

“It’s really important for us to get out in front of everything and talk about logistics because nobody’s stadium – or situation – is the same,” he said. “ Their production areas, offices, their catering, lay-down yard, where they’ll park 128 tractor-trailers… all those things have to be laid out on a map before they even arrive.”

As the show draws closer, Brincefield and his staff will be putting in longer hours, supervising the installation of phone and data-access lines, merchandise locations and corporate sponsorships. All the while, the 12-person staff will ensure that the rest of the university’s facilities continue to run like clockwork.

“Hosting this concert is a really big deal for us, and it’s a huge changeover from football.,” Brincefield said “That being said, we’re certainly not going to cancel next week’s soccer match, or fall baseball because of this show.

“We’re going to have all of those things and make them work,” he said. “We just have to be wise with our time. When the lights go out at Carter-Finley stadium each night, that’s when we’ll leave.”

NC State also said that the giant concert will highlight NC State and U2 lead singer Bono’s shared passion for environmental issues.

U2TOURFANS FILE PHOTO 2009 NC State chancellor Jim Woodward said the university is delighted to host U2 not only because of the band members’ talent, but also because of their collective character and community-minded approach to performing and serving people around the world – a mindset similar to that possessed by NC State students, faculty and staff.

‘“U2 always has been tenacious and focused on and off stage,” Woodward said. “They make a difference – musically, socially, economically – and NC State is proud to be a part of that.”

As they have been at the Wolfpack’s first three football games this season, WeRecycle bins will be distributed throughout Carter-Finley Stadium during the U2 concert. The program, which began in 2003, is regarded as one of the nation’s premier stadium recycling efforts.

Fans turned in three tons of recyclables during NC State’s win over Gardner-Webb on Saturday and, with an increased stadium capacity to almost 64,000 for the U2 concert, it’s possible NC State fans could set a single-day recycling record at the stadium later today.

“We hope to never have an event at Carter-Finley Stadium without recycling,” Brincefield said. “This program continues to grow – we have had some great corporate sponsors and have been able to expand from inside the stadium to outside, then into Vaughn Towers and the suites as well.”

Following the performance, Live Nation Global – the concert promoter – will replace the Carter-Finley turf at their own expense, returning the field to ideal playing conditions in advance of NC State’s home matchup with Duke on Oct. 10. Concerns about potential issues with the turf were alleviated through careful planning and consultation with Live Nation executives, as well as NC State agronomics experts and the football coaches and staff.

But admittedly, replacing the field’s playing surface mid-season is a less-than-ideal scenario, Brincefield said.

“Coach O’Brien is a great guy with a lot of experience, and we didn’t make any of these decisions without him being involved,” Brincefield said, of concert discussions that dated back to mid-March. “We were able to make him feel comfortable that during the Duke game, nobody would even notice that we had this show the week before, so he was comfortable with us going through with this concert.”

Prior to U2, the last performers scheduled to play Carter-Finley Stadium were George Strait and Jimmy Buffet in 1998. However, recently completed stadium renovations put Carter-Finley on par with some of the best and biggest outdoor facilities in the country, and opened a window of opportunity for promoters to inquire about the stadium’s availability for performances.

For example, U2 has booked shows at grandiose facilities like Pasadena, California’s Rose Bowl and the Dallas Cowboys’ brand-new stadium in Texas, and selected Carter-Finley over other regional possibilities such as Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium – home to the Carolina Panthers – and Chapel Hill’s Kenan Stadium.

“One of our big talking points in the spring was that not only have our people’s donations and the stadium renovations paid off for our football program, but it’s paid off on a world level that a company like Live Nation Global would contact us and we would have the ability to turn them down – and they would continue to contact us,” Brincefield said.

“That says a lot – not necessarily for me and my staff, but for the alumni, faculty, staff and students of this university, our Wolfpack Club members and the construction teams that built that we have we have – a place that we can be proud of and one that is in demand.”

That doesn’t mean that Carter-Finley Stadium will be the next live-entertainment hotspot, hosting concerts on regular basis, Brincefield said.

“We’ve barely cracked open the door to being a host for special events – our mission is for our student-athletes,” he said. “No matter who calls or who shows up, no matter what kind of offer they bring, it starts and ends with our student athletes and we’ll work from there.

“If it’s a situation where we can make something work, then we’ll look further into it,” he said. “We’re not going to be this cracker-jack bunch that opens the doors to everyone just to make a little bit of money – that’s not our mission, and it never will be.”

In fact, in their line of work, the single thing that makes Brincefield and his staff the happiest is if they go completely unnoticed.

“We’ll probably all have shed 10 to 15 pounds and have worked so hard that we won’t know which way is home, but if we leave Carter-Finley Stadium on October 10 and nobody has noticed anything but the game play – nobody says anything about the field – we’ve done our jobs,” he said. “That’s how and why we exist.

“Besides, I don’t know if I can take the stress of tearing out turf and putting in turf right in the middle of the season again,” he said with a laugh. “There’s already a lot to do and we haven’t even started the process yet.”

Its been a day of noise around the internet. Party Pases ? What the heck is a party pass? Sounds too much like well we can’t say it but if you saw the movie ALMOST FAMOUS. Think about the line the “tour manager said”  Ok back to the story here is the deal from what we understand. Want to fill out the stadium ? Old school way was called papering, thats when you throw out a couple of thousand tickets for free. Yup for free this fills in the dead area’s and makes the band feel good.  Turn the page forward 2009 Party Passes you pay $ 30.00 for the right to stand up, the entire time, crowded, cowboy smelly boots and pushing around for the best possible postion. 

NOT A PARTY PASS - Party passes (or “peasant passes,” as our Blue Star guys like to call them) have been a point of concern for fans at JerryWorld events. Some of our co-workers who’ve bought the passes said the experience wasn’t great — jostling for a good position to see, standing the entire time, and dealing with the crowded decks definitely detract from the event. Remember we warned you. However if your cheap and on a fixed income and living in that double wide with your mother in law and sister well this is the deal for you. $ 30.00. Better hurry because on 5,000 of you cheap skates will get the ‘PARTY PASS”

Live Nation Press Release -

Dallas / Fort Worth (Arlington), TX – October 1, 2009 – Due to overwhelming demand for U2 tickets, Live Nation announced today they are releasing Party Pass tickets to the show at Cowboys Stadium on October 12th. These general admission tickets offer an excellent view and will be priced at $30 each.

The 360° Tour features a round stage positioned on the stadium floor with the band surrounded by their audience, the natural progression of their previous tours. By elevating the sound and lighting equipment, the walls that traditionally obscure performers from their audience are removed. This has also allowed greater capacity and a lower general ticket price.

 The stage is designed by long-time collaborator Willie Williams and architect Mark Fisher who have worked together with U2 since ZooTv. Advances in technology and digital communication have allowed Williams to create an overhead expandable cylindrical screen made up of 500,000 pixels.

 “The band has been moving further into the crowd with every tour.  Tonight they’ve arrived. Willie and Mark have spent five years perfecting this beautiful and extraordinary frame, once the crowd came in tonight, we got lift-off!” said U2 manager Paul McGuinness, of the band’s tour kickoff show at Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium.

 “U2 has always put on the most exciting live show. They’ve really raised the bar with this production they want the best for their fans and based on the reaction they have absolutely delivered” said Arthur Fogel, CEO Global Touring/Chairman - Global Music Live Nation.

The U2 360 Tour started in Chicago September 12th and will play 20 shows in North America. In 2009, in just 44 shows the tour will perform for over 3 million fans.

$30 PARTY PASS TICKETS ON SALE NOW

So how to you get up close and personal with your fans? Well if your U2 that’s pretty easy you build a massive round stage beneath a colossal contraption called “the Claw.” Then you invite 55,000 fans to the University of Virginia’s Scott Stadium to deliver a rock show on this scale that has never been seen before.

If you have been following along you know that the tour currently supporting the band’s 12th studio album “No Line on the Horizon,” the boys played on a The stage, designed to offer the crowd a view from any angle, looked a bit like one of those pincers that grabs stuffed animals inside vending machines at Big Lots. U2’s version, of course, was much, much bigger.

“We’re making a space jump,” Bono told the crowd, with a nod to the band’s vaguely alien-looking stage. “We built this thing and been to all kinds of interesting places. We built it to be closer to you.”

Somewhat surprisingly, Bono had a point. Despite the stage’s size, its innovative 54-ton cylindrical video screen gave a clear and intimate view of Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr.

At a few points in the show, Bono referenced Charlottesville’s ties to a certain founding father.

“We hold these truths to be self evident,” he sang during “Beautiful Day.” “A pledge of honor to America, to freedom, to the whole world.”

He also asked the crowd: “Where is Mr. Jefferson? Is he in the house?”

The show marks the third concert at Scott Stadium. In 2001, the Dave Matthews Band played, followed by the Rolling Stones in 2005.

Thursday night’s show drew fans from all corners of Virginia and beyond.

Twitter Fans at the concert posted comments such as “It’s remarkable;” Four people can draw 60,000 people and fill up a football stadium.”

After two encores, two hours, eleven minutes, and seventeen seconds, and “close to a full house,” according to Wilson, the spectacle was over. Immediately after the lights lifted and fans began pouring out, crew members started tearing down the stage.

During the middle of the show, Bono paused to introduce the band he has played with for years– but for Charlottesville, he tailored the intros to fit the college-town atmosphere: the Edge was the nerd, Larry Mullen, Jr was the athlete and team captain, Adam was the lady’s man, all while Bono still had “a lot to learn.” But if the greatest pop-rock tour of all time still has to find time to study, Charlottesville’s music aficionados might have quite a bit of cramming to do.

Tweeter Feedback:“Spectacle” may have been the buzzword of the night, but somehow the production that was U2, the famed four-piece pop-rock act that took the stage at UVA’s Scott Stadium Thursday, never quite became spectacular.“There was even less energy than in DC”

If U2 is just past their prime, then Muse can still look forward to theirs. The 360 Tour, however, hits them at very rich times in their careers. The song cataloges are long and getting longer, performance traits have been developed and worn in and the stage does a lot of the talking. “I feel like I have more to learn,” Bono said. “And I’m going to learn it with these three men.”

An estimated 55,000 people will attend the U2 concert Thursday night at Scott Stadium. In anticipation of increased traffic, many of the University Transit System bus routes will run on altered service hours.

The Central Grounds Shuttle and the Colonnade Shuttle will stop running at 5:30 p.m.. The Northline, Stadium/Hospital Shuttle, and the Inner and Outer U-Loops will end service at 4:30 p.m. The Green Route will extend its service between the Health System and U-Hall until 12:30 a.m.

The Charlottesville Transit Service Free Trolley Route will follow a similar detour to that used during home football games. The trolley will take Jefferson Park Avenue, Emmet Street and University Avenue to get downtown.

Several area roads also will be closed beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday in anticipation of the concert. Alderman Road/Maury Aveneue will be closed between Ivy Road and Fontaine Avenue, Hereford Road will be closed between Stadium and Edgemont Roads, and George Welshe Way will be closed between Emmet Street and Alderman Road. McCormick Road between Emmet Street and Alderman Road also will be closed, in addition to Stadium Road between Emmet Street and Alderman Road, and Whitehead Road between Alderman Road and Stadium Road.

The Central Grounds Garage will close to non-permit holders at noon, and all vehicles must vacate the garage by 3 p.m. All other permit holders should consult the UTS Web site’s Special Events page to note any further changes.

The numbers associated with the U2360° Tour are staggering: a 170-ton stage rightfully dubbed “the spaceship,” 200 trucks carting it around, 250 speakers, nearly 400 employees and $750,000 a day in overhead. But the band’s stadium show is more than a fantastic spectacle — it’s the biggest rock tour of all time, and Rolling Stone is onstage and backstage with U2’s Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. as they make history in our new issue, on stands today.

Explore three decades of U2 in photos.

Photograph by Sam Jones; Digital imaging and logo treatment by SplashlightSales for U2’s latest album, No Line on the Horizon, may not match their biggest blockbusters, but the foursome are out to “engage and try and do something different,” as Edge puts it, as well as prove their new material can stand up next to the classics. “I walk out and sing ‘Breathe’ every night to a lot of people who don’t know it,” Bono tells RS‘ Brian Hiatt of the No Line show opener in our cover story. “I’m a performer — I’m not going to hang on to a song that doesn’t communicate and add up to something. They’re great songs live, and I think it’s a great album.” But three-fourths of U2 (save the Edge) think “Get On Your Boots” was the wrong pick for a first single.

Look back at U2’s essential LPs in our album guide.

Read the full story in our new issue to go behind the scenes as U2 prep for their opening-night show in Chicago, tweaking “Your Blue Room” from the band’s 1995 collaboration with Brian Eno; and join them in Croatia as the Edge generates new effects presets on the fly and the band reflects on the significance of performing in the once war-torn nation for the first time since 1997.

Climb aboard “the spaceship” and flip through photos of U2’s massive stage show.

As Rolling Stone tags along in a private jet en route to Chicago, Bono also meditates on what it means to be a rock star in 2009, praising Jay-Z as “a pioneer” who’s interested in a “porous culture, where there’s much more crosstown traffic.” He adds, “In this age of celebrity and pop stardom, maybe it’s a sensible thing to question the values of being a pop star. Radiohead, Pearl Jam, a lot of people, who maybe had more sense than us, rejected it. But the thing that’s suffered from that stance was that precious, pure thing, what they used to call the 45.”

Triangle - September 30, 2009; Raleigh, NC - The Wake County Sheriff’s Office and a local Irish entrepreneur prepare to welcome international rock group U2 in grand style in anticipation of this Saturday’s concert at Carter Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC.

According to the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, the security plans for U2 are, “off the chain.”  In all the concerts law enforcement has worked at Carter Finley over the years, including the Rolling Stones, the Department has never seen such an intense security detail plan for a band.  In preparation for Saturday’s event, the Sheriff’s Office sent a team to U2’s concert in Boston earlier this month to get and idea of what to expect.  Most of the tight security detail work for U2.  The Wake County Sheriff’s Office will provide about half the amount of deputies that normally staff an NC State football game.  However, there are approximately 600 event staff working the concert which is expecting 65,000 - 70,000 people.

The U2 360 Tour features a 360-degree stage placed toward the center of the Carter Finley’s field.  (see attached photo)  The unique design has a large, four-legged steel structure called “The Claw” that holds the speaker system and cylindrical video screen and hovers above the performance area. The stage is surrounded by a circular ramp, which connects to the stage using rotating bridges. Fans with general admission tickets can be placed both outside of the ramp, as well as between the ramp and stage.

Raleigh based Irish businessman Niall Hanley is kicking off pre-concert events at Solas in Glenwood South where he’s hosting U2 tribute band “Vertigo” on Thursday, October 1st at 10:00 pm.  “Raleigh has truly arrived,” says Hanley who already attended U2’s concert stop in Dublin, Ireland in August.  “For a band of U2’s caliber to come to Raleigh  shows just how much our city has grown in its reputation as a brilliant place to live, work and visit.”  

U2’s show at FedEx Field Tueday night was an awkward, sometimes shapeless, frequently thrilling mix of new of and old. Perhaps in deference to the formidable Bono-quaciousness of prior U2 gigs in this town, where the Nobel Prize nominee has effectively become a part-time resident, U2 gave us a lunch-special version of the menu. It was among the shortest shows of the globetrotting U2 360 tour so far, whittling the tally of tunes from the six-month-old, still-not-platinum No Line on the Horizon to five and offering no additional classics in their place.

Martin Locraft 2009 Hey, Bono had a lot of guest-listers to thank: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Eunice Shriver. Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Sen. Pat Leahy, whom Bono dubbed “the John Wayne of D.C.!” Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Nancy Pelosi (reprise).

But despite Bono’s self-deprecating critique and his C-SPAN name-dropping, he and his three lifelong bandmates sounded stellar. For the last 12 years, you’ve never been able to bank that Bono’s ill-cared-for Vox would make the gig. Last night, he was supple and powerful, especially during the first hour. He cracked horribly during the brief “Amazing Grace” that bridged “One” (introduced via video-message by Desmond Tutu!) and the reliable gig-saver, “Where the Streets Have No Name.” But some songs benefit from a vulnerable singer.

Since you didn’t ask, we also got the tour’s most baffling inclusion, “Your Blue Room,” its final verse recited by a cosmonaut aboard the International Space Station. Oh, you can’t hum that one? It’s an ambient interlude from the 1995 album of soundtracks for imaginary movies that U2 and Brian Eno — oh, forget it. Getting a big crowd to sit still for the new stuff is a fight for every band with a large, beloved back catalogue. Adding a sleepy tune from a 14-year-old side project to the mix borders on the perverse.

Despite passing over some warhorses that have hardly missed a show in decades prior to this tour (“Pride,” “Bullet the Blue Sky”) the concert swam on the back of U2’s still-mighty anthems. “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” continues to find solace in the search. Adam Clayton’s clear-cutting bassline for “New Year’s Day” sent a jolt through the audience. And “Streets” remains a stadium-rock aria that U2 will, and should, be playing ‘til their plane goes down.

Martin Locraft 2009Hearing tens of thousands of voices joined in some of the most iconic rock songs of the past three decades is a visceral thrill, no question. But is it art?

Well, time was. U2’s prior U.S. stadium roadshows, 1992’s ZOO TV and 1997’s PopMart, were self-aware and satirical in ways no shows of that scale had been. The first was brilliant right out the gate; the second was more of a grower. But both had ideas to sell that were at least as big as their outsized productions.

The 360 Tour is grand pageantry with a groovy soundtrack, but it lacks a governing theme to make it more. U2 shows are preachier now than they ever were in the ’80s, but their ’90s humor is missing, and missed. After three months on the road, they’re still struggling to integrate their new tunes, shuffling them in the set or skipping them outright: Last night, they dropped No Line’s driving title track for the first time. Meanwhile, “Breathe” has the universal embrace that U2 has always aimed for, but stiffs in its role as the show-opener. These guys used to know how to make an entrance, too.

After waiting out the opening trio, the crowd came alive for a buoyant “Mysterious Ways,” as Bono implored us all to “shake your fat ass!” Maybe that’s why U2, now all in their late 40s, are touring beneath that scary, crawly battlebot: It’s slimming!

Actually, the sci-fi stage, which cradles a telescoping, 360-degree video-lattice in its four steel legs like an insect’s egg-sack, seems more suited to the my-boner-is-mightier-than-the-noble-Battlestar-Galactica vibe of opening act Muse. (Or “The Muse,” Bono called them. He’s the singer in the U2s.) When U2 played beneath a giant golden arch in ‘97 to skewer consumer culture, that made sense. So did the heart-shaped stage they built in 2001, when they wanted to reassure us that their decade-long dalliance with irony and pretend-decadence and drum machines was over.

Only it’s not over, not entirely, and thank God. One of last night’s best performances was “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight,” rearranged for the clubs to put Clayton’s hypnotic bassline up front. The performance got scowling percussionist Larry Mullen Jr. on his feet to orbit the stage’s outer ramps with a bodhran.

Then U2 shifted into an Irianian-themed “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” for which a turban-wearing fan clambered on stage to wave an American flag and share Bono’s mic for one verse — an apparently spontaneous occurrence, and stirring, unless you’ve a heart of stone. Disco to life-and-death in mere seconds. What other band could get away with it? Who else would try?

Later, Bono sent out “One” to anyone who’s lost a loved one to AIDS. And to Nancy Pelosi (again!). And to former President Bush. And to the Congress. Of the United States. Of America.

We get it, Bono: You’ve got phone numbers other pop stars, and most elected officials, don’t. But there oughtta to be a cap on the number of people to whom you can dedicate one song. Even “One.”

If there was, you might have time to play a few more. Like “Bad!” Or “Until the End of the World.” Maybe even something from the criminally underrrated Zooropa album.

Yeah, I know. But you played “Your Blue Room,” so I assume anything is possible. And anyway, isn’t that what you’ve always encouraged us to believe?

 Did you attend the show ? What are your comments ? What did you think ? How do you feel about the short set?

The space ship landed on FedEx Field and Dublins Boys proved that big is what they are about. The bigger the set the bigger the show.

In fact, if you ask lead singer Bono, the foursome has transcended band status altogether.

“The nation state that is U2 is a global force — yet, a democracy,” he told the crowd last night.

Of course it is, Bono. Now, you put those light purple shades back on and sing us another song.

Because when U2 wants to rock, U2 rocks; “Beautiful Day” was about as epic as epic gets — until they played the even bigger, bolder “Where The Streets Have No Name.”

For most the show seemed excessive, surreal.

APIThe round stage sat underneath this giant, futuristic, four-pronged claw. Directly above the stage was a circular video screen which expanded vertically and contracted again several times over the course of the night. A couple mechanized ladders let the band members walk out to a narrow outer platform that ringed the stage.

There was Bono, clad in all black, preening and preaching about global democracy and the fight against AIDs while standing in the middle of this evil-looking artifice. All the posturing and technological wizardry aside, U2 put on one of the best rock shows you’ll see today.

The genius of The Edge is that even though he blankets his guitar work in reverb, echo and delay, he still sounds organic. Whether plucked or strummed, his notes rang out and filled FedEx Field like few guitarists could.

U2’s two-and-a-half hour show was heavy on songs from their latest album, “No Line on the Horizon,” which is one of their least commercially successful efforts yet. Though the single “Get On Your Boots” is far from being one of U2’s best, live, it had spunk. And “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” worked much better recast as a disco tune.

The night’s most poignant moments came when the band dipped a little deeper into its songbook. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr.’s snare cracked like gunshots on “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” and bassist Adam Clayton’s notes were thick and fuzzy on “New Years Day.”

Here’s a technical question: When the video screen crept downward to form a cylinder just a few feet above the band members’ heads, could the folks on the top tiers see the musicians? No - not unless you looked at the screen.

Bono tossed out teases of songs such as “Blackbird” and “Stand By Me” sporadically through the set, and sang a verse of “Amazing Grace” near the end of the show. U2GIGS always posts the snips on their set list postings. We elect to keep it to a straight official song list.

APIHere is where we differ many people said that they heard two encores however really it was only one. However if you followed the show last night on tweeter, you will get a couple of different set list views. Note that U2.com reports only 1 encore. So we reviewed and re-set ours as well.

Bono emerged wearing a jacket that emitted miniature laser-like beams of red light, and sang into a glowing microphone that hung from the rafters. He spoke-sang his way through most of “With or Without You,” and closed out the night with the slow ballad “Moment of Surrender.” That last song drug on for too long — a poor choice to wrap up an otherwise bombastic show.

I am not sure why Bono elected to scream out “Don’t forget about us, now” Of course your fans wall remember, how could they forget the biggest show of all time.  

Onward the Band goes and the steel trucks roll down I95 heading South.