Daily Digest for July 31st

Shared "U2 Joshua Tree" Music design on iPhone 4 HardCandy Shell Case in Black.

And Then We Were Ten

Ten years ago, you hadn’t heard of blogging. It was before weblogs were even called blogs, before permalinks and Adsense, before people who have never run a community started calling themselves ‘social media experts’.

Maybe you weren’t even online back then. But we were and we were blogging. U2 were in the studio recording ‘All that you can’t leave behind’. They’d set up a webcam sending out pictures every few minutes. They’d built in a delay, because god forbid we’d see anything untoward. We were a small group of fans from Holland, Australia, USA and Sweden who had first met each other on IRC and then met up ‘in real life’ on the road during the Popmart tour in 1997. We were online 24/7, grabbing pics from the webcam and archiving them. We’d done the same during ‘Pop’. Back then occasionally there’d be some kind of response from the studio on our comments. Little messages posted on cardboard cutouts. It’s too long ago to remember the details. But it was fun. It could have been the start of a beautiful band-fan relationshop online. But U2 never really did take to the internet like we – early adopters – hoped they would.

U2log.com was one of the first ever blogs, one of the first ever single subject blogs, one of the first ever team blogs. (Hi team! How are you all these days?) I’m proud of that. Ahead of the curve means you’ll suffer the dialectics of progress at some point. We did satire, we did proper reporting, we tried to filter fact from fiction, we strived to be anti-agenda, independent, secular, different. We loved Pop^*.

We are past our prime, I’ll be the first to admit. I’ve been running this site mostly on my own these past couple of years. I’m always on the verge of kicking it in the head. I’m not the fan I used to be and there are many reasons I shouldn’t be doing this: Other sites are doing it so much better. I know too much, I know too little. I have other interests I should focus on. Still, I can’t let it go. Yet.

U2log.com is ten years old today. There’s a tour about to start. One more for the road.

Caroline van Oosten de Boer
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

* And screw the lads for being so insecure about that album. *grin*

7 Days Countdown to U2 360 2010

Three Colors: Red. (Via U2miracle.com)

Brussel/Bruxelles tickets/billets

It’s 7 days until the opening of the next leg of U2360 in Turin, and a bit longer before the production hits Belgium on september 22 and 23.

In an email sent today Live Nation Belgium announces they’ll start sending your purchased tickets for the two shows in Brussels in the midst of august.
All this in an effort to prohibit the illegal reselling of tickets (even calling it “criminal practice”) by shortening the time between ticket-dispatch and the show.

Live Nation urges all ticket buyers who have changed address over the past few months (or are about to move) to update their address at: http://www.teleticketservice.com/tts/nl/aanmelden.

Turin welcomes the hatted one

A delegation of follicly challenged fans welcomes The Edge to Turin. (photo via U2place.com)

Lighting tests (pictures on Facebook) were conducted inside the stadium, but the band are said to be holed up indoors while they rehearse. They are expected to play new material ( two or three new songs) on the tour and perhaps are looking to keep their efforts under wraps.

Want to keep an eye on proceedings? Bookmark the stadium webcam.

8 Days Countdown to U2 360 2010

Teaser #3 from U2.com (via U2miracle.com)

Bird’s eye view of The Claw in Turin

A tilt-shift look at our friend The Claw as it sits waiting for action in Turin’s Stadio Olimpico. U2 are likely to start rehearsing for the first show of their 2010 360 tour later today or tomorrow.

Photo source: @holstenstrasse

Daily Digest for July 29th

	Shared U2 producer Daniel Lanois: ‘I’m lucky to be alive after bike crash’.
	Shared Arcade Fire’s Butler Lauds Bono, President Bush.
	Shared U2.com > Countdown Day 9.
	Shared Examiner.com | U2 Red Rocks Backstage Pictures.

9 Days Countdown to U2 360 2010

Part 2 of U2.com’s countdown. Via U2miracle.com

10 Days Countdown to U2 360 2010

U2.com teases the upcoming tour.