If you didn’t see it, Ovation TV has put one of the segments with Larry on YouTube. This is the white t-shirt discussion.

Larry also appeared in segments that discussed blue jeans and sunglasses, but I haven’t seen those available from OvationTV just yet.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Larry Mullen: U2’s Fashion Guru

Compare that to Bon Jovi’s Circle Tour. (Yes, I know…360 does make a circle…guess circles are popular among bands nowadays). Their standard ticket prices are $127.50, $97.50, $67.50 and $39.50 – comparable to U2’s to a degree. However, their package deals are nowhere near close. This is from Ticketmaster:

Diamond Circle VIP Experience: $1875
Package Includes: One Incredible Front Row* Ticket inside the Exclusive Circle!*(Or in the First Three Rows in the following markets: East Rutherford, Chicago, Foxboro, Regina, Toronto, Winnipeg & Edmonton), One Exclusive Collectable Bon Jovi VIP Concert Chair (You sit in it, you watch the show, and then you take it home with you!), Special VIP Cocktail Upon Arrival, Deluxe Catered VIP Preshow Hospitality, Deluxe VIP Open Bar*, Dedicated On-Site VIP Host, And MORE!

Emerald Circle VIP: $989
Package Includes: One Amazing Ticket inside the Exclusive Circle, Special VIP Cocktail Upon Arrival , Deluxe Catered VIP Preshow Hospitality, Deluxe VIP Open Bar*, Dedicated On-Site VIP Host, VIP Preferred Parking* (Where available), VIP Priority Check-In , Separate VIP Entrance at Venue (Where available), One Autographed Bon Jovi Souvenir Tour Program!, And MORE!

Platinum VIP Party Pack!: $625
Package Includes: One Excellent Top Price* Reserved Ticket in the Front Floor Sections!*Package Based On Top Ticket Price Outside the Circle, Catered VIP Preshow Party!, Open Bar* (Includes Beer & Wine Selections), On Site VIP Customer Service, VIP Preferred Parking* (Where available), VIP Priority Check-In, Separate VIP Entrance at Venue (Where available), $100.00 Gift Card to the On-Line Bon Jovi Store, One Bon Jovi Souvenir Tour Program, And MORE!

Gold VIP Package: $365
Package Includes: One Premium Top Price* Reserved Ticket in Lower Level! *Package Based On Top Ticket Price Outside the Circle, $50.00 Gift Card to the On-Line Bon Jovi Store, One Souvenir Bon Jovi Tour Program, One Exclusive Bon Jovi VIP Messenger Bag, One Limited Edition VIP Laminate & Matching Lanyard, One Commemorative Souvenir Concert Ticket.

The Silver Package: $215
Package Includes: One Premium Second Price* Reserved Ticket *Package Based On Second Ticket Price Outside the Circle, $25.00 Gift Card to the On-Line Bon Jovi Store, One Bon Jovi Souvenir Tour Program, One Exclusive Bon Jovi VIP Merchandise Item, One Limited Edition VIP Laminate & Matching Lanyard, One Commemorative Souvenir Concert Ticket

Wow – the term “hey, brother, can you spare a dime?” certainly applies here. So, I suppose score one for U2. Yes, they may have a top ticket price of $250, but they’re not offering a ticket for the price of a used car.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

VIP Experiences

Included in the auction are a copy of “On the Move” signed by Bono and Adam Clayton; a Music Rising auction catalog signed by The Edge; copies of “Killing Bono” and “U2 by U2″ signed by author Neil McCormick; and a copy of “In Other Words”, a book featuring interviews with Bono, signed by author Anthony DeCurtis.

The auction also includes U2 magazines, posters, calendars and CDs, as well as items signed by Anti-Flag, The Swell Season and Weezer, and crafts from Africa.

To check out the complete list of items in the Got Water? auction, or to make a bid, click here. AWF will be posting updates on the auction to its Facebook and Twitter pages, and appreciates supporters spreading the word about the auction to family and friends online.

In case you were wondering, here’s the track listing:
1. With or Without You
2. Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
3. Staring At The Sun
4. All I Want Is You
5. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
6. One
7. Miss Sarajevo
8. Beautiful Day
9. Pride In The Name Of Love
10. Sweetest Thing
11. Stay (Faraway, So Close)
12. Electrical Storm
13. Mysterious Ways
14. Where The Streets Have No Name

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Achtung Babies

CNET News posted an article yesterday about the growing trend of allowing fans to take photos during concerts, which points out how silly it is to try to keep cameras out:

Nearly every person at any show these days is going to have some form of camera with them, be it a point-and-shoot, an iPhone or some other camera phone, and it seems that there is almost no way to imagine keeping all those devices out.

That new reality is forcing an increasing number of bands to come to grips with the fact that they can’t really control the images from their shows, and that, for the most part, they’re better off letting fans cram Facebook and Flickr with such pictures anyway.

This is one of the things I talked about in my presentation at the U2 conference last month in Raleigh: Today, we are all media. We’re all able to “report” from concerts by posting photos online, by sending messages to Twitter and Facebook, and so forth.

I’m glad U2 has been so good for so many years about allowing cameras, and I hope they stay good in the future as technology gets better … and easier to bring into a concert.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

CNET covers cameras at U2 concerts

The 2009 auction features more that 50 items, including U2 memorabilia (rare magazines, posters, calendars), autographed items and crafts from Africa. Included in the auction are a copy of On the Move signed by Bono and Adam Clayton; a Music Rising auction catalog signed by The Edge; copies of Killing Bono and U2 by U2 signed by author Neil McCormick; a drum head, T-shirt and CD/poster set signed by the members of Anti-Flag; a CD signed by the members of The Swell Season; a signed photo of Matthew Gray Gubler; a painting of women carrying water jugs by an artist in Ghana; and a pair of hand-carved African figures.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

African Well Fund’s 2009 Got Water? online auction underway on eBay

How cute is that with the baby? And did you hear Bono ask, “Were you at New York?” and then say, “Second night … I think that might be the best night of the tour.”

Too freakin’ cool.

It’s funny … U2 (the business side) really struggles at times in its relationship with U2 fans. Fan club problems and ticket pre-sales are a good example of that. But U2 (the band itself) is almost always phenomenally generous and genuine when relating to U2 fans on a one-to-one basis. And this video is a great example of that.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

You and Bono, alone in a restaurant

(you can click to view the image on Flickr)

The general/public ticket sale for Oakland just began today, so the timing makes sense.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

U2 360 Marketing: Live Nation Gets the Word Out

As of 7:15 a.m. EST, Fanfire confirmed that they are having “system-wide issues” in regard to U2.com’s presale codes and their customer service phone numbers suddenly being “out of service.” Fortunately, I had kept a very old email that had a different phone number that actually worked.

I spoke with “Mary” at Fanfire this morning to discuss my presale code suddenly stating that it had been used, which I know for a fact hadn’t. (Nothing like logging into U2.com to get the presale updates for this week only to find out that green presale code is no longer there and it’s been replaced by a red “this code has been used.”) She said that a supervisor will be coming in “in about two hours” to handle the situation and that there have been countless phone calls already today regarding this issue.

While I feel relieved that it’s not just me, it underscores the frustration fans are feeling towards Fanfire and why they’re now paying 25% more for U2.com when it seems the company fueling the site just can’t get things right.

At least they have 24 hours before the next round of presales.

I’ll update this blog post when I find out more.

UPDATE: 10:40 a.m. EST – Fellow @U2er Scott just renewed his membership this morning and got the same error message that the new code had been used. Definitely system-wide fail. Still no update from Fanfire on an ETA for fix.

UPDATE: Noon EST – Upon logging into U2.com and visiting “tours” the codes are now fixed. For those wondering, U2’s management was contacted about the issue and the fix happened quite quickly after that.

UPDATE: 1 p.m. EST – U2.com has issued a statement: “Some people have been reporting problems seeing their presale codes when they log-in. This is a temporary problem which will be fixed by the time the presales open. Rest assured that if you have a presale code in an email from us as a subscriber – and it has not been used for tickets – it will definitely work in the presales this week.”

FINAL UPDATE: 11:15 a.m. EST on Tuesday – successfully acquired 2 GAs using renewal presale code. No problems to report. Hurrah!

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

U2.com Presale Issues