U2 tour postponement wank
Does wank on a band postponing a gig go here or on otf_wank? I'm taking a punt and putting it here. It's a fandom.


So...a lot of fans, including me, had the rug pulled out from under us late last week when U2 announced a short-notice postponement of the last ten dates of their Vertigo tour. Yes, disappointing as hell and a MAJOR inconvenience and out of pocket expense* for those fans who had non refundable airline and hotel tickets. BUT - and here's a pretty big BUT - for this band to bump TEN sold-out gigs, there's gotta be a pretty big reason, right?

Well, there is. The band is being cagey and saying it's a "family illness". Unconfirmed reports have it that it's most likely The Edge's eight year old daughter - suffering leukaemia. Hear that? Leukaemia. If that's true, where the hell else is he supposed to be apart from at her bedside? (And even if it's not true, it still means one band member has a relative ill enough to force this measure, so it still sticks). And lastly, from a purely selfish fan's point of view - what kind of a show would these guys manage to put on with this black cloud hanging over them?

MOST fans, the sane ones out of us, while disappointed at best and out of pocket BIG at worst, are able to put this into perspective (WHO'S having the worse luck here, after all?). Some of 'em, however, can't seem to look at the big picture here.

The more vitriolic stuff - some of which I hear was aimed at the kid, for godsake (I'm Childfree but not that stupid) - was deleted by mod, but traces remain...

Someone named fly so high:


For !@#$ sake! Can't anyone be allowed to express themselves here, when was it the last time you saw them,huh!........if you don't like what some people have posted keep it to yourself....i know maybe thats what i should have done with your post.....but Christ, i've just about had enough of fans (some that have already seen U2 on this tour) chastizing other fans......GET KNOTTED!!!!


Hmm. The thing with stepping outside fanfic-based communities is the literacy level just PLUMMETS.


Reply from Dave C, a grown up:

Oh, come on. Give me a fucking break.

It's not about someone "expressing themselves". It's about someone bitching that they have to wait a whole other couple months to see the band, when someone very close to a band member is gravely ill.

I'm sure U2 didn't want or plan for this to happen. They aren't doing this to jip Australian fans out of a show or two. The decision to postpone was probably well-thought out and carefully discussed at length before the decision was made. Considering the lengths that U2 have gone to to perform every night on a consistent basis (Bono having to take oxygen during set breaks of Popmart just so that he could sing, for example), we know that this HAS to be quite serious for them to postpone an entire leg of the tour.

The fact that someone has the sense of entitlement that they should be so upset that the band has to postpone a show for a couple of months because a family member is that ill is disappointing. I'm aware that he or she later in the post expressed best wishes for the ill person, that's fine. I'm not upset at them, just sort of disappointed that they put their desire to see the show above the band's desire to be with a sick family member.

Christ, it's only a couple more months. I waited 8 full years to see a show too (became a fan in '97 and saw my first show in '05), so I know what it's like to wait. But in a situation like this, I find it difficult to understand how anyone can fault anyone associated with the band for postponing the show.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

The anger wasn't appreciated, BTW.


There's tons more, the board is huge and busy. As I said, I think I only caught whiffs of the wank - I suspect there was more.

Dive in.

http://forum.interference.com/t155979.html


*Re the out of pocket expense stuff: Old and wise concertgoers, like yours truly, never, *ever* book non refundables where concerts are concerned. Once bitten, you know.

EDIT: Courtesy of wrongly_amused - http://axver.livejournal.com/335634.html

Aha. I think we found the core of the wank.