[U2] Centraal topic 16

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Why U2 really are better than The Rolling Stones AND The Beatles

Daily Mail, March 04, 2009

Paul Connolly


You may have noticed that U2 are about to release a new album. They seem to have taken over the BBC to announce the fact (they’ve even been on Radio Five Live, a station more used to 'Boro than Bono).

They’re unquestionably the biggest band in the world and yet they first tasted success in the Eighties, a decade derided these days for being responsible for ra-ra skirts and Johnny Hates Jazz. Indeed the continued success of U2 underlines a highly significant yet overlooked aspect of that most maligned of decades: that the Eighties were much better for music than the vastly overrated Sixties.

You might already be spluttering about The Beatles this and The Rolling Stones that and wondering what Boy George ever did for music. But I can prove empirically that bands from the Sixties were creative for a shorter period of time than their Eighties counterparts.

For instance, let's take a look at the Rolling Stones' recorded output. They released their first album, The Rolling Stones, in 1964. When did they make their last half decent album? 1978's Some Girls?

At a push, 1980's Emotional Rescue. That gives them a creativity span (CS) rating of 16 years at the most.


How about The Beatles? Even including the mostly dreadful solo outpourings of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr, that leaves their last acceptable effort as Wings' 1978 album, London Town, which came a decade and a half after The Beatles' 1963 debut, Please Please Me, a CS rating of 15.

OK, so we've dealt with the creative lightweights of the Sixties; let's move on to the Eighties and U2.

Their first album was 1980's Boy. Their last album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, sold in excess of 10 million, and saw them on tour playing to more people than ever before.

U2 are still critically adored and commercially vast. The release of No Line On The Horizon gives them a CS rating of 29, not far short of double of that of The Beatles.

Now take Depeche Mode (CS rating 28), whose imminent new album Sounds Of The Universe is being acclaimed as a career high.

There are others too who easily creatively outpunch the Sixties icons, including The Cure (CS rating 25), New Order (CS rating 21) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (CS rating 18).

So why have Eighties bands so clearly outlasted their more lauded Sixties counterparts?

Simple. They were all born out of the embers of punk and new wave and they've retained that restless, adventurous, questing spirit.

Punk may have become a debased cultural currency now (and it was responsible for some terrible bands at the time) but its enduring ideals have been responsible for some of the finest music of the last 30 years.

Bands from the most ridiculed of decades are still pushing on, unafraid of change and trying something new, making some of the best music of their creative lives. The Rolling who?

(c) Daily Mail, 2009.

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Op woensdag 4 maart 2009 22:12 schreef DrowningMan het volgende:
nice stuff....
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Op woensdag 4 maart 2009 22:33 schreef Ruzbeh het volgende:

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Wat een complete fucking onzin. Wat is een CS rating, en waarom doe dat ertoe? Kom op zeg. U2 is een topband. Maar om te zeggen dat U2 beter is dan The Beatles EN The Rolling Stones... en dan ook nog zeggen dat de jaren 60 'overrated' zijn. Deze pipo weet duidelijk niks af van de jaren 60. The Beatles hebben NOOIT een slecht album uitgebracht. Sterker nog, The Beatles hebben alleen maar topalbums uitgebracht. U2 in tegendeel...

Het is sowieso erg flauw en dom U2 met The Beatles te vergelijken. U2 is een topband. Klaar. Die domme vergelijkingen hoeven niet.

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Op woensdag 4 maart 2009 22:52 schreef LeonH het volgende:
Beatles hebben inderdaad veel invloed gehad op veel wat er na hun kwam.
U2 heeft bij ieder album schijt gehad aan alles en iedereen en gingen gewoon hun eigen weg, door zichzelf nieuwe sounds aan te meten. Dat vind ik persoonlijk geweldig.

The Rolling Stones is leuk en aardig, maar altijd hetzelfde riedeltje. Ondanks dat ik hier de Four Licks DVD heb vind ik die band persoonlijk overrated. Is daar überhaupt nog wat fatsoenlijks vanaf gekomen sinds Anybody Seen My Baby? Vind ik misschien nog wel de beste RS plaat vindt eerlijk gezegd...

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Op woensdag 4 maart 2009 23:08 schreef Gert het volgende:

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De Stones hebben in de paar jaar voor en na 1970 wel een paar gewéldige platen gemaakt hoor, zowel in artistiek als vernieuwend opzicht.

U2 vind ik niet zo vernieuwend meer. Wat is er dan zo vernieuwend aan Horizon..
Vind het wél een ontzéttend goede plaat hoor, daar niet van.

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Op woensdag 4 maart 2009 23:08 schreef Gert het volgende:

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De Stones hebben in de paar jaar voor en na 1970 wel een paar gewéldige platen gemaakt hoor, zowel in artistiek als vernieuwend opzicht.

U2 vind ik niet zo vernieuwend meer. Wat is er dan zo vernieuwend aan Horizon..
Vind het wél een ontzéttend goede plaat hoor, daar niet van.

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Paul McGuinness has been talking to Hot Press about the imminent announcement of U2's world tour, which is likely to include three Croke Park stop-offs in July.

Hot Press, March 04, 2009


"This is going to be a very big tour, the biggest shows we've ever done," he reveals. "We're going to play stadiums only. Football stadiums. That excludes, for instance, baseball stadiums because the production that we've designed is 360 degrees. It's a stage with the audience on all sides."

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Op woensdag 4 maart 2009 23:13 schreef DrowningMan het volgende:

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Het nieuwe album opzich misschien niet. Fez vind ik wel vernieuwend trouwens. Maar wat denkje van Pop en Zooropa; zeker vernieuwend

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Op woensdag 4 maart 2009 23:14 schreef Clayton1 het volgende:

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Als je nu NLOTH nog niet helemaal geluisterd hebt ben je in mijn ogen geen echte fan.

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Op woensdag 4 maart 2009 23:42 schreef Clayton1 het volgende:

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Terwijl je hier op op het forum zit kun je de cd op ook opzetten.Dus tijd genoeg om te kunnen luisteren.
maar het was meer als grap bedoelt hoor.en hij is gelukt.Magnificent

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Op woensdag 4 maart 2009 23:13 schreef DrowningMan het volgende:

Fez vind ik wel vernieuwend trouwens.

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Op donderdag 5 maart 2009 21:02 schreef Clayton1 het volgende:
Vandaag op de radio.
20 en 21 juni Goffertpark

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Op donderdag 5 maart 2009 21:02 schreef Clayton1 het volgende:
Vandaag op de radio.
20 en 21 juni Goffertpark

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Paul McGuinness has been talking to Hot Press about the imminent announcement of U2's world tour, which is likely to include three Croke Park stop-offs in July.

"This is going to be a very big tour, the biggest shows we've ever done," he reveals. "We're going to play stadiums only. Football stadiums. That excludes, for instance, baseball stadiums because the production that we've designed is 360 degrees. It's a stage with the audience on all sides."

Will the stage be in the centre of the arena?

"Not quite in the centre, it will be towards one end of the field in a typical football stadium, so the places we're playing will be tiered football stadiums; no flat fields, no festivals, no baseball stadiums. Only big, tiered stadiums."

As with previous U2 productions, there's a heavy emphasis on new technology.

"Well, yeah. I mean the engineering to do this, obviously it has to be a freestanding structure that has to support sound, lighting and video. And that's never been done before. Some people have performed in the middle of a field or maybe in a stadium on a one-off basis, but this is a touring production designed by Mark Fischer and Willie Williams, as usual. We've been talking about it for years, and this is the time we're going to do it. It will be necessary to tell people a bit about the production before the tickets go on sale because otherwise they're going to say, 'hold on, that seat is behind the stage'. Now, it's not behind the stage. There is no behind. So we'll be playing to very large capacities and that gives us an opportunity, or we think it's an opportunity, to scale the house in quite a radical way. So I think, when the tour is announced, which will probably be on March 9th, certainly we are going to start in Europe, and basically do six weeks in Europe, take a logistical break and then six weeks in North America. The large capacities give us an opportunity to scale the house and have some seats at very low prices, and there will be higher prices as well. But the breadth of the scaling will be wider than anyone has ever done in our business. That's kinda news."

Asked about all the Croke Park speculation, McGuinness says: "It's always best to know when you are going to announce it, because there are so many things affected by this, like hotels and airlines, and there's speculation on those commodities which have nothing to do with us. So we try to be disciplined about it, otherwise there can be unforeseen circumstances. Also, sometimes with sports facilities that we are looking to use around the world, we have to wait for sports leagues to resolve. Sometimes if a team loses, such-and-such a stadium becomes available. And all those things are a part of the planning so it's better to build up to it."

It's Hot Press' understanding that U2 will initially announce two Croke Park shows on July 24 and 25, with the option of a third on July 27 if, as expected, those sell-out.

Fans hoping for something a little more intimate will be heartened by McGuiness' observation that: "The new O˛ in Dublin is not what I would call an arena, it's an amphitheatre in layout, but it has the same capacity as an arena, and it's an amazing facility. And this tour is exclusively outdoors, there will be no indoor shows, but I look forward to a tour when we will be indoors again."

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Op vrijdag 6 maart 2009 00:09 schreef snowgoon het volgende:
Hmmm.... Alleen stadions volgens de band manager
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En maar 6 weken door Europa! Dat is kort

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Op vrijdag 6 maart 2009 08:58 schreef Luni het volgende:

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Boeiend, als ze maar in Nederland komen en natuurlijk niet in die galmbak.

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Op vrijdag 6 maart 2009 09:42 schreef snowgoon het volgende:

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De kans dat ze nu in die galmbak staan is nu 1 op 2 in plaats van 1 op 3

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Op vrijdag 6 maart 2009 11:27 schreef Young_David het volgende:

U2 - Beautiful Day Live Letterman 4th Night [HD - High Quality]

Ik dacht dat ze deze week bij Letterman allemaal nummers van hun nieuwe album gingen spelen

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Op vrijdag 6 maart 2009 11:56 schreef Gert het volgende:

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Ja kut zeg, dit soort verrassingen. Dadelijk spelen ze vanavond nog Boy/Girl of Rejoice of zo.

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Exclusive: U2 To 'Kiss The Future' On Global Stadium Tour
U2 reveal "Kiss The Future" tour details.

March 06, 2009 09:00 AM ET

Ray Waddell, Nashville
Kiss The Future, U2's world tour in support of the band's new album "No Line on the Horizon," will play stadiums around the world, beginning June 30 in Barcelona, Billboard can exclusively reveal. Details of the tour will be announced March 9.

It’s a groundbreaking tour with production that includes a 360-degree audience configuration, ambitious staging, and a cylindrical video screen. “We’re very excited about the idea to go on the road with this album,” the Edge says. “It’s an album that I think is going to translate so well to the live context. The songs we’ve tried in rehearsal are sounding fantastic, so that’s got everyone really fired up.”

U2 will be playing in a setting unique among all previous tours, by any artist. The tour will be global and lengthy. U2 will stay in Europe through Aug. 22, then hit American shores on Sept. 12 with a show at Soldier Field in Chicago; they’ll play in North America until Oct. 28 and plan on working the globe until the fall of 2010. In addition to its production firsts, the tour is destined to become one of the highest-grossing tours ever; at $389 million, the band’s 2005-2007 Vertigo tour is second only to the Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang trek.

After playing arenas in North America and stadiums elsewhere on their last few tours, U2 will play stadiums everywhere this time out. “This is going to be completely different, and that’s what makes it exciting, finding something new to bring to the touring culture,” says the Edge. “It’s hard to come up with something that’s fundamentally different, but we have, I think, on this tour. Where we’re taking our production will never have been seen before by anybody, and that’s an amazing thing to be able to say. For a band like U2 that really thrive on breaking new ground it’s a real thrill.”

As they have for well over a decade, LiveNation global music chairman Arthur Fogel and his team will produce and promote U2 worldwide. Committing to a global stadium tour is “obviously a major undertaking on a bunch of different levels,” says Fogel. “On the last tour it basically broke down indoors in America and stadiums outside of America. Both shows were pretty different and they were both incredible, but I think the general feeling, and certainly mine, was the experience of U2 in a stadium is special and unique, and it would be great for North America to experience that the way the rest of the world did the last time around.”

Playing in a 360 configuration will increase the capacity by about 15%-20%, depending on the stadium. The configuration opens up myriad opportunities for scaling ticket prices, an important consideration for Fogel and the band. The top ticket price will be slightly higher than last time and the bottom price will be lower, with the floor seats — the closest to the stage — the lowest priced. In fact, playing larger capacity venues allows for more conservative pricing overall. Field level is going to be $55, and there will be 10,000 tickets a show, every show, at $30, Fogel says. The price points are $250, $90-$95, depending on the market; $55, and $30.

On-sales will begin in Europe in mid-March, and North American on-sales will start in late March/early April. U2 will also resurrect it's random upgrade program first seen on Elevation in 2001, where random fans purchasing GA tickets will be moved closest to the stage.

The basic layout of the tour is Euro July/Aug., America Sept.-Oct, a total of 40-45 shows this year; more stadiums in America in June/July next year, then Aug/Sept in Europe, then tentatively South America in the fall of 2010 for potentially as many as 90-100 shows over the next two years.

This will be the first tour under U2’s 12-year multi-rights deal with Live Nation, though the band’s relationship with Fogel dates back to a show at the El Mocambo in Toronto in 1979. “Arthur and I are great friends and I’ve been very interested in the Live Nation project for years now, and we’ve been very supportive of it,” says U2 manager Paul McGuinness. “We obviously intend to go on performing for a long time to come and that’s what the deal reflects. U2 always had parallel careers as recording artists and a touring act and it was always fundamental to our way of thinking that the two should be complimentary.”

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Op vrijdag 6 maart 2009 16:46 schreef Luni het volgende:
Nou Live Nation organiseerd de tour, dus ga er maar vanuit dat ze in die galmbak spelen.

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Op vrijdag 6 maart 2009 16:46 schreef Luni het volgende:
Nou Live Nation organiseerd de tour, dus ga er maar vanuit dat ze in die galmbak spelen.

Volgend jaar aan het einde van de zomer komen ze weer naar Europa, het zal me niet verbazen als ze dan het einde van dit jaar weer met een nieuw album komen

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Op vrijdag 6 maart 2009 15:37 schreef DrowningMan het volgende:
heeft iemand ergens een downloadlink van dat nummer Winter op de linear film?

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'Wereldtournee U2 begint in Barcelona'

LOS ANGELES - De wereldtournee van de Ierse rockband U2 begint op 30 juni in de Spaanse stad Barcelona.

De tour zal vooralsnog zo'n negentig tot honderd optredens omvatten tot in het najaar van 2010, meldde het muziekvakblad Billboard vrijdag. Maandag wordt het programma van de stadiontour van U2, in het kader van hun nieuwe album No Line On the Horizon, officieel bekendgemaakt.

De meeste optredens zullen in Noord-Amerika en Europa plaatsvinden, met wellicht een uitstap naar Zuid-Amerika. De agent van de rockband reageerde niet op een verzoek tot commentaar over de onthulling van Billboard.

Album
U2 is druk doende met de promotie van het album, onder meer met een optreden op het dak van het BBC-hoofdkantoor in Londen vorige week. De eerste cd van U2 sinds 2004 kwam vrijdag op de eerste plek binnen in de Nederlandse Album Top 100.

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Op zaterdag 7 maart 2009 11:18 schreef Roel_Jewel het volgende:
http://www.nu.nl/muziek/1(...)nt-in-barcelona.html
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Nog steeds geruchten uiteraard

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Op zaterdag 7 maart 2009 11:18 schreef Roel_Jewel het volgende:
http://www.nu.nl/muziek/1(...)nt-in-barcelona.html
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Nog steeds geruchten uiteraard