Bono, Sugimoto and the Church of Light

There was something familiar about the sleeve of U2′s new album (Not a picture of any sea or ocean, but actually Lake Constance (Bodensee) as seen from Uttwil, in Switzerland, taken in 1993.) A few Google searches later, I realised that the photographer, Hiroshi Sugimoto, also took a photo of Tadao Ando’s Church of Light:

And it so happens that Bono visited that church, when he was in Osaka, Japan with Guggi and Gavin Friday back in 2006:

Bono and Gavin Friday, Church of Light. Photographer unknown.

And here’s a picture of Bono and Tadao Ando together when the architect came to visit Dublin.

So there you have it. A fun little insight into how U2′s choice for their new sleeve may have come about.

Vertigo tour tickets can still be found

U2log.com has learned about ticket availability to some of the rescheduled Vertigo tour shows.

“Vertigo tour? What’s that?” you ask.

Well, it’s this thing where four guys stand on an elliptical stage and make a lot of noise. You want tickets to see it, right?

If you answered “yes” to that question, you may be wondering about where to find tickets, aside from vermin scalpers. U2log.com suggests that fans turn to each other first for tickets. Check for ticket trades and sales at fan forums. U2log.com has created a ticket trade group on Google. U2tours.com also has a popular ticket trading forum.

If you have no luck finding tickets from other fans, consider using OTX, the tour and travel operator designated by TNA, the promoter of the Vertigo tour. OTX has just announced that it has a new block of general admission floor tickets for the sold-out shows scheduled in Auckland, New Zealand. OTX has also recently put its packages for the shows in Japan on sale.

Speaking of Japan…our friends at U2japan.com tell us that general admission tickets to the three shows at Saitama Arena were not easy to obtain when they went on public sale in September. Fans had to compete with ticket brokers, which are numerous and very popular in Japan, to get the best tickets.

Image courtesy of U2japan.com

General admission will be handled differently in Japan than anywhere else on the tour. General admission at Saitama Arena will be divided into three blocks: Blocks A, BL, and BR. In addition to a block number, all GA tickets include a position number — from 1 to 4,000. Fans will be granted entrance into the blocks in numerical order. The system sounds a bit crazy, but it does work to keep fans from rushing and crushing.

We’d hate to be the schmuck who has to call out the numbers.