If you are one of the many fans who has tickets to see U2 at the MSG Sphere this year, I hope you weren’t planning to actually see the show.
A few hundred U2 fans were pretty irritated this week. At least those who bought tickets for the Achtung Baby residency, that later were determined to have limited views of the venue screens. Hundreds of ticket holders are now being offered refunds when it was discovered that their seat had a major obstruction blocking the show.
The discovery was made when the show organizers were doing a production review. Apparently, about 4% of the Sphere‘s 17,500 seats had obstructed views of the U2 show due to an overhang. This was reported this week by NBC News. That’s about 700 tickets that need to be refunded.
And while it’s definitely nice of the Venetian Resort to provide those refunds, it’s a major inconvenience for fans. Especially those from out of town who booked plane tickets or hotels to stay in Las Vegas for the show. If they can’t get refunds on those things, they might end up making two trips.
But the Venetian Resort is trying to make good with more than just refunds. They’re also giving affected fans access to a presale for the December shows. And of course those seats will have a full view of everything there is to see.
Some fans are understanding. It’s a new venue. There will inevitably be some kinks to iron out. But other customers are downright irate at the inconvenience. Some of these tickets cost over $500.
As for me, this is why I’m never the first in line for a new product or service. I don’t want to be the test subject those kinds of kinks are ironed out on. I’m not a fan of getting burned (see what I did there)?
Then again, it is U2.
– Wendy Rush, 96.3 KKLZ
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Going Separate Ways?! It's Not Looking Good For Journey
It’s a timeless narrative. When relationships hang on longer than they should. The friends can tell it’s over. The family knows it’s just a matter of time. But the couple just keeps hanging on thinking they can fix things. Or maybe they’re just used to the dysfunction. In any case, the two remaining Escape-era members of Journey might officially be on their last leg.
Things were decent between Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain for many years. Schon is a founding member of Journey. And Cain joined the legendary band in the early 80’s. They’ve been doing what they do for a long time. And things were good for most of the 36 years they’ve played together.
Many people say that things started to go south in 2015, when Cain married televangelist Paula White. In 2017, White became a spiritual advisor to the Trump administration. This put White and Cain in the political spotlight. Which was very much against where Schon believed the Journey band should be.
Schon has always been outspoken about remaining politically neutral as a band. He believes leaning on either side of the political spectrum polarizes the fan base. Business-wise, a smart move. But Cain went against Schon‘s wishes when he performed a private set of music, including Journey songs, at Mar-a-Lago during Trump‘s presidency.
Schon sent Cain a cease-and-desist letter to force him to stop using Journey‘s music in a political arena. And since the two have been in court, there’s been a lot of tension in the band. According to vulture.com, Schon hired a bodyguard on one of Journey‘s tours while he himself had an employee snoop around Cain‘s dressing room.
Now, Cain has his own bodyguard. And this is how they’re touring. Two off-duty cops guarding their dressing rooms. Tension that I’m sure is thicker than a pair of leather pants. The question is, how much longer can they do this?
Journey‘s music rights belong to Freedom JN LLC which is run by BOTH Cain and Schon. It seems like what these two need is a good divorce lawyer. But that might mean Cain gets the rights to the hits he helped compose. If that’s the case, here’s what the “custody arrangement” might look like. – Wendy Rush
