1. Originally posted by popmarter:[..]
    "And in Berlin last year I asked a few crew members at the airport what about U2 in 2019, and they were like "right now it's unemployment".

    So what point are you trying to make ???are you agreeing they are solely employed by U2 ?
    As in their contract ran out at the end of the tour - if monitor engineering crew were solely employed by U2, it wouldn't be a very stable income.
  2. Haha funny to think that the tour crew are all full-time employees of U2 the entire year
    LOL
    They are all freelancers, except a few maybe, and if they finish their job by the end of the tour, they’re going to work for someone else (if they’re know and recommended).
  3. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    Exactly. Only a handful like Joe O'Herlihy, Dallas Schoo, Brian Murphy and the likes are fully employed whether there's a tour ongoing or not. But the rest of them, roadies, production team etc have their own things going on.

    Tbh I have no tangible proof of this but it's like that for any and every band out there.


    I don't believe any of the road crew are employed full time. For a lot of them though U2 is their primary focus.

    I saw Joe O running sound for the Cranberries back in 2003, asked when U2 would be touring. He said in the next year or tow. He was listed in their program also as head mixer. He also did sound for REM on the Monster tour back in the day. U2 does seem to employ him in the studio now as well though. So it might be different now.

    Dallas worked for Little Steven on The Rising tour for Bruce. He used to be Jimmy Buffet's guitar tech also (when U2 were not the road). Dallas also seems to now be employed by U2 for the studio as well. So he may be more fulltime now than he used to be.

    So "most" do other things while U2 are not touring.
  4. Originally posted by Blue_Room:[..]


    I don't believe any of the road crew are employed full time. For a lot of them though U2 is their primary focus.

    I saw Joe O running sound for the Cranberries back in 2003, asked when U2 would be touring. He said in the next year or tow. He was listed in their program also as head mixer. He also did sound for REM on the Monster tour back in the day. U2 does seem to employ him in the studio now as well though. So it might be different now.

    Dallas worked for Little Steven on The Rising tour for Bruce. He used to be Jimmy Buffet's guitar tech also (when U2 were not the road). Dallas also seems to now be employed by U2 for the studio as well. So he may be more fulltime now than he used to be.

    So "most" do other things while U2 are not touring.
    Thanks for the heads up about Joe and Dallas previous involvement with other artists - I had no clue! But thanks also for reinforcing my point that these 2 probably are full time now as they do studio stuff with them too. And I wouldn't be surprised if they got paid a fixed amount whether they work with the band in a certain month or not (studio or live). I doubt U2 have done much together in, let's say, June 2019, but I wouldn't doubt Joe, Dallas and a few others got paid regardless.


  5. At the end of the day there is no right or wrong on this sort of thing. It's all just subjective opinions of the listener. And we're all listeners right? And we all have our own opinions, thoughts and views which might be formed for all kinds of reasons that are different to the next person... but that's all they are... opinions, not definitive matters of fact.

    Personally I LOVE North Star for my own reason - just one little killer line that hit me at a particular moment in my life. I am not right, nor am I wrong, I just happen to love it, nothing wrong with that, and nothing wrong with disliking it either too.

  6. I think we'll see SoA first to complete the trilogy, there's been too much talk about it for them to shelve it, and the title is just fucking awesome too!

    We know of a fair few potential songs that might sit very well on this album. and I reckon it might be of more ethereal / experimental nature on the whole but still contain some blindingly good tunes.

    I'm kind of thinking it could drop a year or two out from now, and be a bit like MDH / Passengers, possibly with some small TV/radio promo but no tour.

    Then a year or two out from that comes the kickass fuck-off rock and roll album, full of U2 in full-flight rock mode... a la The Fly, Zoo Station, Bullet, Acrobat, Exit. Followed by a tour circa 2022/2023 focussed on this new album, with tunes from SoA and maybe a little homage to Zoo TV in some form.
  7. For a few months I was thinking about the 4 year cycle 93 97 01 05 09 ( as for the European legs )
    Then soi got delayed and then soe got even more delayed where it should have been back to back albums it would have been 2013 2014 and then by 2017 we would get SOA and then move over to 2021 for their last album straight rock and roll called MAN.
    by then their obligations to live nation are fulfilled and they could retire,
    At the end of 2018 I didn't expect we would see them again before 2021.
    But because of the delays and health issues they had to bring jtt30 which fully screwed their trilogy of albums
    and now 2019 also bring jtt30 down under which also got delayed because it was expected to be leg 4 at the end of 2017
    So will they skip soa and go one with the rock and roll album and release it to the end of 2020 and go on tour again in 2021 or will they take a year off and will the next album be delayed untill 2021
    Are maybe they release 2 albums shortly after each other
    Like zooropa during the Zoo-TV tour and as originally planned with soe during the I+E tour
  8. Originally posted by Caledonia:I think we'll see SoA first to complete the trilogy, there's been too much talk about it for them to shelve it, and the title is just fucking awesome too!

    We know of a fair few potential songs that might sit very well on this album. and I reckon it might be of more ethereal / experimental nature on the whole but still contain some blindingly good tunes.

    I'm kind of thinking it could drop a year or two out from now, and be a bit like MDH / Passengers, possibly with some small TV/radio promo but no tour.

    Then a year or two out from that comes the kickass fuck-off rock and roll album, full of U2 in full-flight rock mode... a la The Fly, Zoo Station, Bullet, Acrobat, Exit. Followed by a tour circa 2022/2023 focussed on this new album, with tunes from SoA and maybe a little homage to Zoo TV in some form.
    I like your thinking here. But I hope SoA doesn't come off as a third part of a "trilogy" including SOI & SOE. I think the point of those two albums was to tell a two part story, from Innocence to Experience, using Blake of course as an influence.

    IF Songs of Ascent ever comes out, I like the idea of it being based on the songs of ascent in the Bible (Psalms 120-134, in case this hasn't been pointed out yet?), not having anything to do with the previous two albums. I like your suggestion of it being a smaller release without a giant tour behind it.

    I'm all for the fuck-off album and tour to close out their career after that. "Man" would just be awesome.
  9. Originally posted by bpt3:[..]
    I like your thinking here. But I hope SoA doesn't come off as a third part of a "trilogy" including SOI & SOE. I think the point of those two albums was to tell a two part story, from Innocence to Experience, using Blake of course as an influence.

    IF Songs of Ascent ever comes out, I like the idea of it being based on the songs of ascent in the Bible (Psalms 120-134, in case this hasn't been pointed out yet?), not having anything to do with the previous two albums. I like your suggestion of it being a smaller release without a giant tour behind it.

    I'm all for the fuck-off album and tour to close out their career after that. "Man" would just be awesome.
    That's true about SOI/SOE for sure.

    But perhaps Bono has something in mind to add to this... this whole 'ascent' / 'forever' thing... whatever might come after 'Experience'... maybe the great beyond in whatever shape or form it may or may not take, or indeed your suggestion of some sort of work based on the Psalms 'a song of ascents' - which really fits, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is where Bono might be going with this album!

    That to my mind could kinda follow on nicely to make the whole thing a very nicely rounded trilogy. Bastardised / cannibalised from Blakes original work which Bono has clearly had a soft spot for, for many years, with SoA potentially being based on those specific Psalms which we know have also been important to Bono for much of his life. No harm in that... every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief... and all that.

    There is another part of me that thinks they might also save SoA as a goodbye album when you take into account the title. I don't think they'd make a thing of it being a goodbye album, but they may just put it out as their last one when they know it's time.

    We'll have to wait and see I guess.

    I'm just really happy there's some more gas left in the tank. It's crazy when you think about it that they're not all sick of the sight of each other after so many years. How many times do you hear these days some crappy pop band or other are having a reunion tour, and yet they only split a couple of years ago and only even formed five years ago or something.
  10. Originally posted by Caledonia:[..]


    At the end of the day there is no right or wrong on this sort of thing. It's all just subjective opinions of the listener. And we're all listeners right? And we all have our own opinions, thoughts and views which might be formed for all kinds of reasons that are different to the next person... but that's all they are... opinions, not definitive matters of fact.

    Personally I LOVE North Star for my own reason - just one little killer line that hit me at a particular moment in my life. I am not right, nor am I wrong, I just happen to love it, nothing wrong with that, and nothing wrong with disliking it either too.

    I'm with you on the love for North Star and with you on differing opinions. No one person's opinion in this forum carries more weight than another.

    I love the Bono & Edge version on tour from Cape Town (from memory ). They fairly well nailed it!
  11. So what do we think of the hypothetical possibility of U2 calling the next album MAN? They could have a rugged looking picture of adult Peter Rowan that looks similar to the Boy/War cover. Too on the nose? I think it’s as solid slam dunk of an idea, especially at this stage of their career?

    My vote is to give us SOA in 2020, don’t tour, and instead come back with MAN in 2022 and then do a final big tour that wins back their title for biggest tour. Then after that, maybe go into semi retirement like The Rolling Stones and do maybe 15 shows a year. Europe one year, North America the next, Rest of the World the next year, and repeat. That’d be my dream scenario.
  12. Man, with Peter Rowan on the front as a final album is too cliched and sentimental to be a realistic possibility. Personally, I think that album has already been made. SOI is basically the world of Boy viewed through the eyes of a man 40 years later.