prolific.org

For reasons known only to myself (I’m baffled), for my holidays next week I’ve decided to fly into Nice and then travel back via Marseille, Paris and Brussels. I fly in on Tuesday 28th, will stay in Nice for a few days, move on to Marseille on the 31st, stay a few more days and then from there take a train down to Paris, where – after a three hour break – it’s off to Brussels, arriving in the early evening. I’m travelling first class, so it should be fairly comfortable.

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From there I have two options. Go straight on to Amsterdam, which is another three hour trip, or stay over in Brussels, and the next day go photo hunting and have lunch at Scheltema before catching the train back home.

… can’t seem to make up my mind.

Did you see what I did there? Embedded a Google Map.

One down, nine to go. U2 played it safe in Brussels and opened the European leg of their Vertigo tour with a solid, blockbuster set that left no room for experimentation. ‘Subtle’ wasn’t the word.

I took pictures with my Ixus 400. I think I squeezed the most out of it, but in these circumstances, a pocket camera with a bigger/better lens would really come in handy. Next up: Gelsenkirchen.
12 June 2005 00:56 | six comments

U2 Euro Vertigo Tour Madness 2005 is about to start. I will leave for Brussels in the morning, make a brief stop back in Amsterdam on Saturday and then off to Gelsenkirchen (Germany) on Sunday. ‘Try not to enjoy yourself and not to treat it all as ‘work’, a friend said earlier today. I must confess that what I am feeling right now has more in common with a sense of tradition and duty and less with excitement or passion. But when the lights go down and The Edge hits us with whatever he’s planning to do with that new ‘holosonic‘ stuff he’s apparently trying out this tour, the adrenaline will probably start kicking in. Updates at u2log.com.

# Everybody’s wearing the same jacket as I am. Different models, same brand.

# Fuck off out of my way.

# I haven’t even stopped to think about the year 2004

# At least no one died

# Stop. whistling.

# Do these people ever read before they post?

# Stop. giggling.

# I’m so tired

# Still haven’t written about Brussels and Dingle

# Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP.

# I wish I was smarter. I wish I’d gone to university.

# Stop thinking like that.

# There are things you can’t write about. But then you could write about not being able to write about them. Etc. etc. etc.

# I suppose it’s all champagine and caviar now

# When am I going to learn something again?

# Stop. drumming. fingers.

# No, I DON’T know how Irish phone districts work. Or switchboards.

# Is that B. in the background?

# I’m always going to miss John

# If I had a baseball bat, I’d like to smash it through your head. Whoever you are. I can’t see you on the other side of the train

# I like building communities, as long as I don’t have to take part.

# You make me laugh. Happy.

# I really need to pay off those bills.

# That’s great. But what’s it about?

# No, but I’d like some.

# He said ‘if’. That probably means no.

# I need to see a doctor.

# I wouldn’t miss them.

U2 may be making it hard for us to go see them, and then have the gall to apologise but not acknowledge their mistakes, but we won’t be discouraged.

Tickets schmickets. I’m sorted for Dublin, Paris and Brussels, have an option on Gelsenkirchen and can pull a tiny string for a show of my choice. Will be queuing up for the Amsterdam shows this Saturday.

Guess they’ll have to endure my craggy old face one more tour.

10:27 AM. ‘If you are receiving this notice the current demand on the site is too high to allow you to continue at this moment.’

No tickets for the prol yet. Too many people online these days. Why don’t they all f.o. to wherever they were in their pre-connected days.

Update 4pm: No joy whatsoever. I can’t remember not being lucky with online sales. The problem lies in U2.com’s presale code. Once there’s an error, the system thinks the code has been used and renders it useless. Oh well, next shot on the 28th when general sales start. Wasted 40 dollars on U2.com membership. Bono can give another round in the Clarence. But someone I know will suffer greatly for this.

Meanwhile, USA pre-sales are starting. The first complaints are trickling in. Wheeeee.

Update 6pm: One of my mates got through for Brussels. So I’m sorted for that gig. London, however, not yet.

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And so the madness begins, again: U2 Tour dates announced.

Tomorrow morning 10 AM, pre-sales for some of these concerts start. Hundreds of hardcore fans will be going insane, click-click-clicking, trying to score tickets (registered fans are allowed 2 to 4 tickets for one single show) through the abominable Ticketmaster sites. I’m sad to say they’ve taken over handling in my part of the world too.

The object of the operation? Get tickets that allow you inside the oval. In the USA, these are the cheapest tickets. What the pricing in Europe will be, I’m not sure yet.

I had planned a trip to IKEA today, for CD cases and a dining table, but on second thought that money will be needed to fund this year’s U2 trek: Brussels, Gelsenkirchen, London, Paris, Amsterdam and maybe more. New York, perhaps, in November or so.

Looks like my 2005 is all mapped out.

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Luc Jansen, who incidently will be interviewing Gavin and Guggi at Ancienne Belgique’s Virgin Prunes matinee on Saturday in Brussels, presents a 3 hour John Peel special on VPRO radio. (real audio)

Peel made radio shows for VPRO in the mid-Eighties. In the first hour (‘uur 1′) – after a Dutch introduction, you can hear one of his ‘86 shows, in which he calls Tom Waits a terrible old bore… then plays Husker Du’s cover of Ticket to Ride.

You’ll also find some lovely pictures of Peel and his son at VPRO’s old villa/studio.

So who’s in for a weekend in Brussels?

A Virgin Prunes Matinee at Ancienne Belgique.

100 minutes of unaired Virgin Prunes footage in total. Live DJ set by Gav and Guggi. Heaven is such a nice place.