I thought I'd weigh in with my two cents here. I didn't pay the $40 but after having gone through a couple of internet pre-sales through the years with U2 (Elevation), Radiohead, and Coldplay, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that internet pre-sales are a piece of shit (though I understand that when you pay $40, you'd expect a piece of shit to be a little less smellier). Internet pre-sales make about as much sense as a Bush economic plan. First of all, it seems to me that internet pre-sales at the very most release only a couple of hundred tickets per show and with this internet pre-sale, I'm assuming only a small percentage of those were GA. If you put that in mind, with a band as popular as U2, you're going to get lots and lots of people who are going to get majorly pissed. It pretty much becomes the equivalent of a radio call-in contest.
Also, let's not have an overreaction about how U2 don't care about their fans. Let's count the ways, shall we?
1. U2 have the tendency to sign autographs for fans who wait outside the backstage area. 2. They still managed to do shows while Bono's dad lay dying an ocean away. They then performed at Slane days after he died. 3. When a bunch of fans waiting in line signed a letter asking them to play "When I Look at the World," they learned the chords and performed a snippet of it. 4. They didn't cancel the our after 9/11 while acts left and right were. 5. They pulled random fans out of the crowd and they got to jam with the band.
We could go on and on here.
Honestly, unless they're willing to release as many tickets as the people who signed up, U2 just shouldn't do internet pre-sales. They're a big fucking hassle and they piss too many people off to be worth it.
