- July 12, 2001
-
- U2 Ain't
Gonna Play Mexico City
- Innocent Spanish Eyes
Get the Royal Treatment
-
- According
to a report by TeenHollywood, U2 is refusing to play concerts in
Mexico on its current tour because of an incident which occurred
approximately four years ago involving the sons of a former
Mexican president. Get this: as a result of the irresponsible
behavior of two sons of previous Mexican president, Ernesto Zedillo,
U2 has decided to penalize a whole country of fans who had absolutely
ZERO involvement in this incident.
-
- The story
states U2 Security Director Jerry Milly recieved injuries as
a result of a confrontation with the bodyguards of the former
president's sons. During a U2 concert in 1997, the two sons attempted
to enter a restricted backstage area when they were stopped by
U2 security, causing the scuffle.
-
- Since July
of 2000, Mexico has been under the leadership of a new president,
Vincente Fox, elected by Mexican U2 fans who apparently no longer
cared for former President Zedillo.
-
- What is U2
actually saying to the Mexican people by refusing to play in
their country? U2 is ramming it to a whole developing nation
of 100,000,000 people because their previous president refused
to apologize for the 1997 incident? Does this make sense or is
this just another U2 smokescreen designed to hide and distort
the truth?
-
- If Zedillo
was still president, U2's decision to skip Mexico would be understandable.
After all, it was his sons who allegedly caused the disturbance.
Earth to U2: Zedillo left office one year ago, thanks to the
Mexican people.
-
- By not re-electing
Zedillo, the Mexican people gave a clear message they no longer
care for his leadership. By holding a grudge and taking it out
on the Mexican population, U2 is way out of line. This leads
one to believe the decision by U2 to skip Mexico may be influenced
by a little more than meets the eye. According to this story, concert grosses are down significantly from
last year and acts may need to cut back on their touring, especially
to poorer, lesser developed countries.
-
- U2 concerts
tickets currently range from $US 45.00 to $125.00, which is quite
a few pesos for residents of a developing country like Mexico.
Although no one questions whether or not the backstage incident
occurred in 1997, was U2's decision to shaft Mexican fans made
easier by the fact that Mexico is a much poorer country than
their neighbors to the north? Was this just a convenient excuse
by U2 to avoid a poor country where concert revenues cannot approach
USA concert revenues?
-
- After completing
their first North American leg, U2 appears to be in quite a rush
to return to North America (last time we checked, Mexico was
also part of North America), where fans are wealthy enough and
willing enough to shell out outrageous sums of money for concert
tickets. U2's reasoning for returning to the USA a second time
is that they did not meet the demand for tickets the first time
around. How about the demand in the rest of the world?
-
- Why doesn't
U2 tour South America and Australia next since they have already
graced North American fans with their clouded presence? Answer:
it's no secret South American countries are just as poor as Mexico
and the Australian dollar is quite weak.
-
- The Zedillo
sons' incident appears to be a smokescreen, possibly hiding the
real reason why U2 is taking a pass on Mexico. U2 claims they
are sticking up for their security team by sticking it to 100,000,000
innocent Mexicans. If U2 cannot stick up for the fans who put
food on their tables (click here for a fan story from
Boston), why should we believe they would stick up for one of
their blue collar employees, also known as the little guy?
-
- Want more
to chew on? U2 lead leprechaun Bono has been tirelessly championing
the Drop the Debt campaign for a couple of years now.
The campaign is fighting to eliminate debts owed by poorer
African countries to richer western countries like the USA.
-
- On the one
hand, Bono stands up for these less fortunate countries with
Drop the Debt, on the other hand his band refuses to play in
poorer countries, apparently because the concert revenues are
not as lucrative as those in richer countries. Is something disgustingly
wrong with this picture?
-
- The decision
to dump on innocent Mexican fans once again signifies U2's lack
of compassion toward their following. So as U2 thanks everyone
for being a fan (at these absurd prices, can you blame them?),
the Mexican fans say gracias to U2 for helping them save their
time and money on a group of individuals with questionable motives.
-
- Now if we
can just get U2 and their warped ideology to stay away from the
rest of North America. How about we tell the band the truth?
We are all broke from spending our "hard earned money"
on an overpriced and overrated rock show.
-
- Maybe as a
response to U2's slight, Mexicans should pass on the next U2
album, which would hit them right where it hurts - in their pockets.
-
- Sphinx Niteclub
- Alternative Since 1978
|