A Rant

Okay, so the big news in Somerville is that U2 are coming to the Somerville Theater Wednesday night, March 11, to play a "secret show." The reason it's so "secret" is that it's for commercial radio station personnel (and the few listeners to whom they gave away tickets) only, meaning that no one in Somerville or anywhere else has the opportunity to obtain tickets. It royally pisses me off that a bunch of jaded radio types are going to invade my town to see one of my favorite bands, so they can undoubtedly yawn and say how much better they used to be back in the day, or how they never even liked them and never understood what the big deal was, or some such hipper-than-thou crap. Meanwhile, according to the Somerville Journal's blog, parking has been prohibited in the area today and tomorrow, forcing residents to scramble for already scarce legal spots. I've been a U2 fan forever, forgiving Bono his rehearsed-sounding onstage soapbox speeches in light of the fact that seeing the band is so powerful, and the fact that they use at least some of their money to bring positive change to suffering people. I resent that Live Nation and U2 think they can just dump their exclusive event right in this town with absolutely no compensation to residents. They should have put the show-ola on in Boston, where all the radio stations are headquartered, instead of bringing the whole pageant here and rubbing our noses in our exclusion. Let them eat cake, right? Two thumbs down for Live Nation and U2.