Tuesday, bloody Tuesday (U2 ticket scam story makes chicago sun-times)

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

U2 may have alienated its most loyal fans after a ticket fiasco that left many Chicagoans feeling suckered by the Irish supergroup.

Thousands of fans are complaining that a planned pre-sale for tickets to the May 7 and 9 United Center shows in U2's upcoming Vertigo tour was a scam that left many of them with no tickets or nosebleed seats that cost upward of $165 each.

The problem started a few months back when the group's official fan site -- www.u2.com -- asked members to pay a $40 subscription fee that included a guarantee of priority seating for the upcoming tour. Those who signed up were given a special code to enter at ticketmaster.com on Tuesday, four days before the general public's ticket sale on Saturday.

That code, many fans thought, would give them access to a large block of seats throughout the venue. But many u2.com members say the lower-priced general admission tickets were snapped up in less than a minute, leaving some to wonder why they bothered spending $40 for the pre-sale subscription.

more:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-u227.html

[Dr Strangelove]

1. U2

Sold out years ago, the Zoo TV tour was their way of anouncing "we are tools of the record company now"!

[fishwax]

2. Oh, but it's all irony ... wink wink nudge nudge yknowwhudimean?

Personally I still like U2, even their last several albums, but I've always found it interesting how some hardcore apologists for the bands and bono's various excesses over the last several years attempt to explain it away by saying that the whole zoo>>pop sequence was ironic playfulness with the trappings of commercial rock stardom. Adopting an ironic tone, you see, covers a multitude of sins.

It reminds me of the "product placement scene" in Wayne's World, where Wayne and Garth way-too-conspicuously eat Doritos and Pepsi, thus making fun of product placement, thus both making fun of product placement and cashing in on it.

[StopTheMorans]

3. they've got it all wrong. U2 may have alienated its most loyal fans

by making shitty music...