U2 tickets, Larry Mullen and why I'll be paying through the nose

So today I totally forgot to buy U2 tickets.  Which is fucking stupid of me.  They went on sale and I went to work and it wasn't until I was on hold with Rogers and listening to the Vancouver radio when I realized that today was the day I was supposed to buy them.  They sold out, added another show and then sold that out all within half an hour.  The same thing with the Seattle show which was a few days before the Vancouver one.

I had planned to go to all four shows, but now I'm not sure.  I managed to get one ticket for Seattle's second show and I guess it'll be scalpers for the others.  Shit.  See it was supposed to be so easy.  I had joined U2.com and paid money to be a member of their fan club so I could get first shot at the tickets.  The trouble was the tickets for the Vancouver and Seattle shows weren't offered up for sale early.

I don't know the full details of what fucked up where, but I got this email the other day.  The header was "An open letter from Larry Mullen".  Larry Mullen is the drummer for U2.

Dear JefferySimpson

This is not something that I would normally do, but I feel that I have to do something to redress this situation.

There was a mess up in the way the tickets were distributed through U2.com for the Vertigo pre-sale. Some of it was beyond our control, but some of it wasn't.

I am now in the process of figuring out a way of distributing the tickets for our intended return to North America in the fall. The only fair way of doing this, is to give U2 Propaganda members, who are now U2.com members, priority in the queue.

After that, people will be given priority in the order in which they joined. Many people who joined U2.com and didn't get tickets are understandably angry. They now have the option to get a full refund of their subscription fee.

The idea that our long-time U2 fans and scalpers competed for U2 tickets through our own website is appalling to me. I want to apologise to you who have suffered that.

If your U2.com pre-sale experience has left you disappointed, I hope this will go some way towards reassuring you of our total commitment to our audience.

Slainte
Larry.

By the way, a note to those so-called U2 fans who are quick to accuse U2 of unseemly behaviour, I've only got two words for you...