[U2] Centraal topic #33

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Op zondag 24 oktober 2010 14:04 schreef DS4 het volgende:

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Of het geld tussen de reeksen door verdienen, zuinig leven en met dat potje de concerten af.

Overigens lijkt het mij op zeker moment wel te gaan vervelen. Ging vroeger ook makkelijk naar alle concerten in de buurt, maar ALLE concerten?

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Op zondag 24 oktober 2010 16:50 schreef roelofjan het volgende:
Nieuwe single in December, nieuw album begin 2011.

Songs of Ascent lijkt dood.

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Op zondag 24 oktober 2010 17:28 schreef bartajax het volgende:

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Dat album is Songs of Ascent volgens mij.
En er komt volgende maand een EP met 3 live nummer van de afgelopen tour; Wide Awake in Europe

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Op zondag 24 oktober 2010 15:23 schreef itchycoo het volgende:
Ik denk dat ik na 3-4 U2 concerten achter elkaar wel genoeg gezien heb (voor die tour dan he). Het is leuk om exclusieve nummers te horen (als ze weer eens Bad of Every Breaking Wave o.i.d. spelen) maar voor de rest is de setlist 90% hetzelfde.

Ik ben nu in Amsterdam vorig jaar gegaan en dit jaar dan in Brussel met een aardig vernieuwde setlist, voelde niet aan als "dit heb ik al eens gezien". Te meer ook natuurlijk omdat ik in A'dam halverwege het veld stond en in Brussel helemaal vooraan in de FOS.

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Op maandag 25 oktober 2010 11:12 schreef AgeEll het volgende:

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precies, als j naar dezelfde tour gaat, gaan dingen j vervelen en wacht je op die 'speciale' nummers en ga j j vervelen bij one ofzo.

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Op maandag 25 oktober 2010 15:03 schreef itchycoo het volgende:

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Ik weet niet of je de berichtgeving van u2gigs bij een concert wel eens gevolgd hebt ,maar daar zijn ze elk concert ongeveer aan het klagen in wat voor slechte staat With or Without You tegenwoordig gespeeld wordt.

En dan is het vaak hopen dat ze het "Shine Like Stars"-slot spelen. Net zoiets als het "Hear Us Coming" stuk bij One.

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Talkshowkoningin Oprah Winfrey heeft zanger Bono naar verluid een eigen programma aangeboden bij haar nieuwe zender, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Oprah zou het aanbod gedaan hebben tijdens een benefietetentje in New York, waar de presentatrice met de zanger in gesprek raakte.

Ze zou zijn leven en gedachtengangen interessant genoeg vinden om een eigen serie of talkshow mee te vullen, zo liet ze Bono weten.

Of Bono toe heeft gezegd, is niet bekend. Maar dat Oprah's aanbod serieus kan zijn, staat buiten kijf. In januari 2011 gaat Oprah's zender OWN van start, en dan heeft ze opeens 24 uur per dag aan televisie te vullen.

Ze is dan ook constant op zoek naar interessante programma's en steekt dat ook niet onder stoelen of banken.

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Niet het team van Brian Eno en Daniel Lanois maar Will.i.am van The Black Eyed Peas gaat een groot deel van het nieuwe U2 album produceren.

Will.i.am ziet de Ierse rockers als een groot voorbeeld en ging onlangs met ze lunchen, met een verregaande samenwerking als resultaat dus.

Will.i.am werkte eerder met U2 samen op hun meest recente album 'No Line On The Horizon' (2009) waar hij de productie van het nummer I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight voor zijn rekening nam.

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Op donderdag 23 december 2010 20:28 schreef CoExist het volgende:
U2.com subscribers kunnen een gratis track downloaden via U2.com
Dit is alvast een voor proefje van U2: Duals.

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Amazing Grace/Where The Streets Have No Name - U2 & The Soweto Gospel Choir

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Op maandag 3 januari 2011 14:05 schreef w8jij17 het volgende:
Deze al bekend?

The Official Killing Bono Trailer

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Op vrijdag 18 februari 2011 20:49 schreef bartajax het volgende:
http://www.kfm.co.za/kinteractive/streaming/streaming.asp

Live stream van het concert in Cape Town

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Dear U2, Principle Management, Live Nation, U2.Com,

I send you this message today on behalf of the paid subscribers of U2.com. Recently, many of us have become dissatisfied with the way that the website is run. When U2 partnered with Live Nation in 2008, Bono said "With regards to U2.com, we feel we've got a great website, but we want to make it a lot better. We want a closer, more direct relationship between the band and its audience and Live Nation has pledged to help us with that." However, since the commencement of that partnership many fans have begun to feel ostracized from the band. Not only has the cost of subscription increased, but many paid members now feel as if they are not getting value for the money that they are spending.

Some features of U2.com are universally admired by the fans. The amount of content in the free site’s Discography and Lyrics sections are second-to-none when compared with official websites for many other artists, and the ongoing Willie’s Diary is enjoyed by every paid member. But this is not enough to warrant the high cost of a subscription, even with the pre-sale access codes taken into account_74615. Fans have many concerns over the way that U2.com is being run, and the feeling of connection with the band that we all love and admire has changed from one of closeness and intimacy to one where we are simply being used for our money.

Primary among our concerns is the customer service of the website and the U2.com shop. Though we understand that it is near impossible to make every single customer happy, too many people are having negative experiences. One of the problems is that the coupon discount is unable to be applied to new items in the U2.com shop, such as the Artificial Horizon vinyl and the Rose Bowl DVD and Blu-Ray releases. Perhaps the best – and certainly the most universal – example of problems with customer service is the fiasco surrounding Artificial Horizon. Many people were upset that a release which was supposed to be exclusive to paying subscribers was made available for commercial release on vinyl through the U2.com shop. When the orders for the vinyl release closed further problems ensued. The demand for the product far exceeded expectations, and so orders were backlogged for weeks; sometimes for months. When the product finally did arrive, customers found that the vinyl discs were warped and unplayable. It was an unpleasant experience for all who were involved.

Unfortunately it is not the only example where customer service has been lacking. Orders from the U2.com shop have not been shipped out for weeks, or even cancelled altogether. When people call to see what has happened with their orders the responses that are given are both generic and uninformative. New members are unable to access the areas they paid to see, and sometimes the accounts are even reset. The number of complaints in Zootopia is proof enough of this. Further complaints have come from the manner in which the dates for upcoming concerts on the tour have been released. While we understand that it is an attempt to thwart scalpers, the result is that many fans are not informed of the presale in time to use their codes for the dates that they wish to see. It also leads to fans not using their codes in case a concert closer to home is announced at a later date; the prime example of this is Britain and Ireland last year, where many residents did not buy tickets for concerts in Spain, France, or Germany as they were certain that dates in the UK and Ireland would be announced. They were not, and many fans were left disappointed with unused presale access codes, something which could have been avoided entirely if they had been made aware that if they wished to see U2 play it would have to be on the continent. Another example is the closing concert on the forthcoming leg in North America. No less than four cities have held the title of being the last night of the leg, which has always been considered to be a special occasion by band and fan alike. As a result, many fans have bought tickets to concerts that are labeled as the last of the leg (sometimes on multiple occasions), only to find that it changes later. While it may help to stop some scalpers, the practice of announcing dates intermittently simply doesn’t work; not when it is at the expense of the fans who helped U2 to become what it is today.

Another major concern is the content of the free gift each year, which for many people is an encouragement to join U2.com. In years where no tour is being held, it is often the reason why subscriptions are renewed. Prior to the partnership with Live Nation, the gifts were well received. U2.COMmunication was a unique memento of the Vertigo Tour, which allowed fans to have some tracks from both concert films on the tour, as well as video that was unavailable in any other way. Zoo2 and U2 Go Home allowed fans to have a legitimate CD copy of what are generally thought to be two of U2’s best video releases; the latter, considered the best free gift to date, also gave fans a free T-shirt, with a choice from several designs. And of course, further back in time there were the Hasta la Vista, Baby and Melon CDs. But since the joining with Live Nation, the quality of these gifts has been reduced drastically.

The primary problem is that, by joining U2.com, paying members are promised exclusive content; this includes Willie’s Diary, some video, and interviews. Many fans associate the exclusive content with the material on the free gift as well; and since the partnership with Live Nation, this has not happened. No track on Medium, Rare & Remastered was unreleased; fans already had them from The Complete U2, the remastered albums, and various singles. Only three tracks on Artificial Horizon (four if you include the “Unknown Caller” download after purchasing the vinyl) had not been heard before, and one track, “Fast Cars”, had been included on the previous free gift. They were not universally enjoyed but they were tolerated as interesting collections, even if most of the content was already owned by the people receiving them.

U2 Duals has crossed the line of tolerance. With the previous releases, the consolation was that the material was at least somewhat exclusive by virtue of having been released as B-sides. Four of the songs on U2 Duals (“The Wanderer”, “When Love Comes to Town”, “Miss Sarajevo”, and “The Saints Are Coming”) were released – sometimes multiple times – on widely available studio albums and compilations. Most of the others are available on iTunes for a dollar. As a result the fan outcry and outrage over this year’s gift has been considerable, spawning numerous lengthy discussions on Zootopia and various U2 fansites. Many longtime fans have reached the point where they no longer wish to renew their subscription to U2.com, and many are prepared to boycott the website entirely. The article on U2 Duals states that the release was curated by the band; but we have a hard time believing that they could sanction a release which has left so many people disillusioned. We are tired of feeling like we are being used for our money and getting nothing of value in return; the exclusive content being offered simply isn’t enough for what we have to pay to get it.

The REM subscription costs $12 a year and members receive several exclusive tracks. The Coldplay.com subscription is free, and the newsletters they send out often contain contests where members can win items used by the band, and they frequently give away unreleased songs and remixes. Pearl Jam’s fanclub, described by many U2 fans as one of the best that there is, gives streaming radio access, a magazine in PDF and hardcopy formats, free tracks for both download and vinyl, limited edition t-shirts, and a coupon that allows a user to download a free ‘bootleg’ Pearl Jam concert of their choice, in addition to all of the other perks that U2.com offers (full website access, some exclusive video and interviews, and pre-sale codes), for $40.

$50 is a lot of money for many people. They pay it year after year because they love the band and they hope to get the exclusive content that they are promised. The content that is currently offered is the bare minimum, and it is not enough to entice people to continue to renew their subscription. There is a lot that could be done to improve the U2.com experience and justify the expensive $50 price of membership.
· Prompt responses from customer service regarding delayed or cancelled orders;
· Allow the U2.com shop coupon to be used on newly available products;
· Return to announcing all of the concert dates on a leg at once. It may not thwart the scalpers but neither does the current practice, and keeping the fans happy is more important;
· Occasional posts or interviews by the band with members, as they used to do on the old Popmart website on MSN; or an option where users can submit questions that will then be answered by the band members;
· Competitions for signed albums or singles – perhaps even exclusive packages to concerts that include airfare, hotel rooms, and backstage passes;
· Full-length videos instead of the abbreviated clips that are currently shown on the website;
· A free gift that is comprised only of material that is actually exclusive: songs that have never before been released, and never will be released in the future, whether they be live, remixes, demos, or discarded album tracks;
· More exclusive downloads; the holiday MP3 of “Amazing Grace” / “Where the Streets Have No Name” was a joy, and other downloads would be most welcome;
· Allow fans to download a ‘bootleg’ concert of their choice. We know that U2 record every single thing that they do, whether it be a concert, a soundcheck, or even a jam in Bono’s basement. They’ve said for years that they would like to make that content available to fans, and it was one thing that was heavily teased during the initial link-up with iTunes. Pearl Jam has proven that it can be done, so surely U2 can do the same.

We know how much Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry care about their fans; Larry taking the time to personally sort out the ticket debacle at the beginning of the Vertigo Tour is proof of that. U2 became a success largely because of their live set, in which each member strives on a nightly basis to connect with the audience. It worked. The relationship between band and fan was one of the closest and most intimate connections that could be imagined. In recent years this connection has faded, and many people who have been fans for years, even decades, now feel ostracized and closed off from the band that they have followed and loved for so long. The people who are being hurt are not the casual fan; they are the ones who have supported U2 from the beginning, and who have been members of the fan club since the days of Propaganda. In the end, as U2.com is their website, the responsibility for the faults lies with the members of the band, and if any changes are to be made the onus is on them to do so. We cannot believe that they will allow the treatment of their fans to continue in such a manner. Bono once thanked us all for supporting the band through the early years, and for “giving us £500 each day”. We will all be more than happy to continue doing so; we’d just like to get some value from that money, so that we can say we continue to have a special and intimate relationship with U2.

Sincerely;

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Op zondag 6 maart 2011 12:57 schreef Spies het volgende:
Iemand gisteren de docu gezien over The Joshua Tree?

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Op dinsdag 1 maart 2011 19:43 schreef Ternerito het volgende:
Ach kom op, wat is nou 40 dollar. In euro's is het bij mij net afgeschreven en bleek het 29 euro te zijn. Voor dat geld krijg je een nieuwe presalecode die mij een hoop ellende met de normale voorverkoop bespaart en een CD die in ieder geval niet in de winkel te koop is. 29 euro valt dan best mee. Sommige kunnen ook echt azijnzeiken...

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Op zondag 6 maart 2011 16:50 schreef Iemand91 het volgende:
Vanavond is de docu weer op Nederland 3 om 23:45 uur.

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Op zondag 6 maart 2011 13:21 schreef itchycoo het volgende:

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Dat is gegeven dat je het doet voor de CD en de presalecode. Als je dat geld betaalt om actief deel te (blijven) nemen aan de community en alles werkt maar mondjesmaat heb je mijns inziens genoeg redenen om te klagen.

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Op zondag 6 maart 2011 12:57 schreef Spies het volgende:
Iemand gisteren de docu gezien over The Joshua Tree?

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Op maandag 7 maart 2011 19:21 schreef Ternerito het volgende:

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Deze keer niet, wel een aantal malen gezien. Zat Bono niet naast Daniel Lanois in die docu? Vond Bono altijd een beetje dom overkomen naast Daniel, soms keek die zo appelig uit zijn ogen...naja kan aan mij liggen...die indruk bleef achter bij mij...