We don’t do birthday posts here too often, but we can’t let this one slip by unmarked. Bono turns 50 today. Fifty!

So, to our fearless leader, tireless activist, saviour of whales, honorary Frisbeetarian, keeper of the key to Dublin City, Knight Commander of the British Empire (ssssh!), don’t worry he’ll get that Nobel prize eventually, formerly Vox of O’Connell Street, the best singer in U2 (allegedly), one-third of the Funky Trinity, violater of indecency standards, the Pope of Lypton Village, 5’7”-ish creeper wearing hunk of Northside goodness: the Man that B…. Happy Birthday, Bono. Old souls stay young at heart.

U2log.com has got it’s own podcast, http://u2log.lemonproductions.ca, hosted by myself and Christopher, two guys with faces made for podcasting.

Episode 1 is up and ready for your consumption. It goes best with a pint of your favorite beverage.

It helps to get organised. Buddy up with friends, use multiple computers, open multiple browsers, cross yourself, three hail Marys, you may get lucky. If you do, you could end up with the tickets you want. Or you may find yourself with some you don’t. Time to start swapping your extras for those you really want.

Fans swap tickets among themselves using fansite forums and mailing lists and, more recently, social networks like Facebook, which has just got its own U2360° Tour ticket exchange group. Some people go for travel packages, forking out for hotels or parties, just to get a ticket. Others venture onto eBay to buy or sell, or try the ticket brokers.

The so called secondary market is much maligned. This week, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor spoke out against the secondary market in Rolling Stone. Other artists decide they want a cut of the market, and mark up their own tickets to profit. U2 themselves have opted to let Ticketmaster auction off VIP-tickets, donating an undisclosed portion of the proceeds to support (RED) and the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.

For the buyer, the secondary market can be a risky business. Tickets are sold for much more than face value and it’s often hard to tell whether the seller is reliable. You wouldn’t be the first to get duped. UK-based Seatwave (‘the fan to fan ticket exchange’), a relatively new ticket reseller, offers a different approach. Founded by Joe Cohen, formerly of Match.com and Ticketmaster, this company allows anyone to buy or sell tickets on the exchange. The price can be selected by the seller, below or above face value.

Seatwave says their ‘power sellers’ are vetted carefully: “Anyone with under a 98% fulfillment rate is banned from listing tickets”. Additionally, Seatwave has a team to source tickets to fill any breakages that occur and offers refunds if suitable replacement tickets can’t be found. The website currently list tickets for most of the recently on sale U2 concerts, with prices ranging between the fair (£60) and the ludicrous (£4143.15, surely that can’t be right?)

Whatever you choose to do to get tickets, it’s good to keep in mind that the only place you’re likely buy or swap tickets at face value is through networking face to face with your fellow fans. Join a local fanclub, if you can! And read up: atU2.com has a very nifty Guide To Buying U2 Tickets.

iPhone users can now view u2log.com in a new, iPhone-ready theme. Made possible by the WPtouch plugin for WordPress.

The theme works automatically for iPhone users, but if you rather continue to use the regular site, there’s an option in the footer on WPtouch for you to easily switch between the different views.

And a very Happy New Year to you.

It’s not all bright and shiny, yet. We have bugs. Some of them out of our control, due to our reliance on 3rd party plug ins and what not. We’re on it, we’ll fix it if we can, when we can.

The lull is over, 2009 is going to be a U2-filled year. We hope you’ll join us here on our site, and will share your thoughts, your joy, your gripes, your photos and your video’s with us.

From all of us at U2log.com, see you on the other side!

By the way, you can now also find us:

On Twitter and on Facebook.

We thank all the fans who entered the contest. Every submission entertained the U2log.com editors. We will be inviting many of the contest applicants to write content for the site in the future.

Aloha, Tim!

To enter, submit an example of your writing to us at iwannablog4u2log@gmail.com by Wednesday, November 29. You may write about anything you wish; the only requirement is it should entertain us. Please keep the length reasonable; we have short attention spans. The U2log.com staff will choose and notify the winner by Friday, December 1. U2log.com reserves the right to publish the winning entry.

Contest Requirements

1. You must be at least 21 years old to enter.

2. You must be a U2 fan. Duh.
3. You must be able to get yourself to Honolulu, Hawaii. The prize does NOT include travel and other expenses.

Before you enter the contest, please be sure that you have the means to get to Honolulu. We recognize that we are not giving much notice for anyone to make arrangements to travel. The OTX package was originally intended for use by one of the U2log.com editors; however, that person is unable to attend.

Other Mumbo-Jumbo

1. The prize has no monetary value. You cannot convert it to cash. Heck, we’d do that ourselves if we could.

2. The prize is non-transferable. You may not give it to your buddy or mom.
3. You are expected to deliver your report in a timely manner. Your report is the property of U2log.com.

Because of the short notice, the U2log.com staff may give priority consideration to entries by Hawaiian locals or by fans who already have tickets to the show but want to upgrade to the OTX Extreme Luau & Ticket Package.

In short, we want to make sure the OTX package is used by someone who (1) can definitely attend the concert and (2) will write something for us. Please do not enter the contest if you cannot fulfill all the requirements.

Along with your writing sample, please submit the following information:

1. Your full name

2. Your birth date
3. Your location (city, state/province, country)

For me it was the first time with a new camera; a birthday gift to myself. I have only used it at this show so far, but am liking it a lot. Hopefully you’ll enjoy these pictures as much as I do.

This set of pictures taken in Berlin includes images of Bono having his shoes changed, picking up a banner, which read “Solidarity” and draping it over one of the monitors, but also of him choosing a girl in a Ramones shirt to join him on the stage (and he actually spotted her as soon as he came onto the stage).

I’ll try to get some more images and words together in the next couple of days and at the next couple of shows, before I return to the real world.

U2log.com has partnered with ETS for the Vertigo Tour, having first worked successfully with the company during the Elevation Tour. The U2log.com staff have personally used ETS’ services on past and present tours and can recommend the company fully. We endorse ETS because we like the dedicated staff and how they deliver what they promise: your tickets and satisfaction.

ETS excels in providing customer service; their number one concern is ensuring that you, the fan, have an enjoyable concert experience. They achieve customer satisfaction by employing staff who are music fans themselves and who know what fans expect for their money.

In our opinion, ETS’ Nite Out packages — which includes a pre-concert party, a concert ticket, and transportation to/from the concert — are an unbeatable deal at $160 (for a package with a general admission ticket). If you weren’t lucky enough to score a general admission ticket to a particular show during a pre-sale or on-sale date, you might be looking at what ticket brokers are asking for a general admission ticket. It’s more than $160 — so much more, in fact. When you purchase through ETS, you don’t have to worry about the tickets being legitimate like you might if you purchased through a broker. ETS’ tickets are 100% legitimate; they obtain their tickets directly from the U2 organization.

Perhaps general admission isn’t your thing. No problem. ETS has you covered. Because ETS is the official travel and tour operator, it has the rights to some of the best seats in the house. Again, if you compare what brokers are asking for seated tickets now, you have to shake your head and agree ETS’ prices are reasonable.

A word about ETS’ pre-concert parties: fun. The parties include food, entertainment (often performances by U2 tribute bands), prizes, and sometimes special guests. In Vancouver, the special guest came in the form of BP Fallon, who entertained ETS customers with his personal stories about U2. You’ll have to ask someone who attended the Vancouver Nite Out party what Fallon’s answer was to “Who is your favorite member of U2?”

Prizes distributed at ETS’ Nite Out parties have included U2 posters, t-shirts, CDs, and prints of concert photos by Otto Kitsinger and U2log.com’s Ruth Barohn.

U2log.com continuely communicates with ETS about its ability to provide our readers with Vertigo Tour packages. Our contacts tell us that they still have plenty of great packages available for the European leg and the fall North American leg of the tour — the sold-out tour, that is. So, if you’ve been bumming because you weren’t able to get tickets, you still have a safe and affordable means to attend those shows: ETS.

We at U2log.com are such fans of ETS, we are willing to answer any questions you might have about their packages and services. If you have a question, use our contact form to get your answer.

{ San Diego Arena, 28/5 }

With a handful of U2log.com associates on scene in San Diego to witness the opening show of the 2005 Vertigo tour, we are ready for the push. How about you?

U2log.com readers can help us cover the tour. You can mail your tour stories and photos to:

Or post at U2book.com, the companion site to the book ‘U2 live – A Concert Documentary‘ where we’ve set up pages for all the shows on the tour. You’ll find links to the last four shows on our homepage, just underneath the main three articles.

If you will be using your cameraphone at the shows and know how to e-mail pictures from your phone, we have a special e-mail address for you. Drop us a line for the details.

Have a great time at the gigs and on the road, be nice to our editors and tell Promo Bono we love him.