U2start.com | Trolling: A What If Scenario

Now that I’ve got your attention, I want to propose a fictional scenario / tell a story. At some point, Bono, The Edge, Adam & Larry all got on board with the online fanbase, albeit anonymously...kind of like a star donning a costume at ComiCon to walk the floor amongst the fans. They started trolling the fan sites; Interference, @U2, U2Start, and even the forums at home (that is U2.com). What they started reading was generally good information, nice U2 sites about how the fans love the music, but wish they’d play such and such, and man that was a great performance of ‘Bad’ last night, etc. etc. etc. Heck, they even downloaded some old recordings for nostalgia sake. But then something happened…..they started to contribute. “I’m new to this site, but I really think that U2 has lost their touch….what do you guys think?”…..”Would it really be that awesome if they played RHMT?”…..”I actually like Bono with blonde hair…am I the only one?”…..”I think it’s all about the drums.”….btw that was Adam, The Edge, Bono and Larry respectively….also you’ll notice in his profile that Larry only has like 5 posts, has been a member for 9 years and was last online like 7 years ago while he was bored waiting for Bono’s surgery. But here’s where it got interesting…..those posts started a fire in U2 fans, and the back & forth of various opinions caused them all to doubt the direction they were going. We got into their heads. So they started trolling more, and pressing buttons and asking the tough dividing questions (except Larry, again last online 7 years ago). And worst of all (this is the big aha moment) none of the 4 of them knew the others were trolling. So there’s The Edge in his kitchen posting to U2Start his planted, opinion starting questions, and there’s Adam in Jamaica going “you’re off your rocker mon!” and Bono’s off in NYC apartment quickly asking the general opinion on his guitar skills before going off for a quick bike ride. Larry’s just walking his dog because he doesn’t care (you’re the best Larry). SOE was actually completed in 2014 and ready for release as a quick follow up to the release of SOI, say maybe a Christmas 2014 release, you know like a 2 for 1 deal. We’ll give you innocence for free, but you gotta pay for experience (oooooo thought provoking). The subsequent 2015 tour would truly have been an iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE event, split over 2 nights, or in the case of many 4 nights (Seriously Toronto? Get your $%^& together….now go into the corner and think about what you did while they go to Montreal for 4 shows…and also, no eXPERIENCE for you). We influenced them so much that they unnecessarily struggled over SOE for years! Then in October 2016, they were hanging out to celebrate Larry’s Birthday, and The Edge goes “you know, I don’t think we’ve lost our touch, i+e was pretty incredible…I mean c’mon, Two Hearts?, and a U2 show without One that actually worked?”, and Bono goes “I always wished we got to play RHMT but how can we fit that in? It’s not like it was 30 years ago when we wrote it”, Adam goes “you know Bono, you’re 2015 blonde hair was way better than my 1993 blonde hair” and Larry goes “wait whaaaaaaat” cos he finally logged back on, got caught up on his inbox, and went “where have I heard those comments before?” and BOOM, Larry sits them all down and explains how they got into their own heads, through the fans, and that they should get SOE out already. But first, let’s go out, play RHMT, prove that we haven’t lost our touch, let Bono rock his hair a bit more, and get out of our own way (see what I did there to end it

).