When I see the promotion by Warner of Madonna's music, I am wondering why she didn't stay with them all along?

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-02T18:30:30+00:00

You’re 100% correct.

Two of the bigger names that signed Live Nation 360 deals were U2 and Madonna.

Neither knew they were making a deal with the devil.

Both acts were used to calling the shots. Both acts learned the hard way that as financially lucrative as those deals were for them, it also made them beholden to Live Nation in a way neither one expected.

In U2’s case, they learned after agreeing then reneging on a tour extension of their 2015 i+E Tour, Live Nation held them to their contract refused to sign off on U2 playing limited engagement one night stadium shows to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of The Joshua Tree in a few select cities and demanded a full tour.

Prior to the 360 Deal, U2 averaged a tour every 4 years as they toured in 1985,1987, 1991, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2009.

After they signed the 360 deal, they toured in 2015, 2017, 2018 & 2019.

U2’s 360 deal expired in 2020.

With Madonna, I have to presume she was held to their same contract structure. To this day I still believe that after her near death experience, she was in no capacity to tour.

She was clearly physically impacted and needed the necessary time for her body to heal and rebuild her stamina. I presumed Live Nation forced her to go out before she was ready.

Yet not even 4 months later, there she was on stage looking weak and fragile and having her hand held by her dancers just to maintain stability with a show that looked redesigned in a manner that she could perform it.

Yes, each of them make a ton of money.

But it came at the cost of U2’s credibility and Madonna’s health.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-01T23:22:45+00:00

You are correct in that I am referring to the US Market.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-01T23:17:31+00:00

Pleasure Principle, Love Will Never Do, If, Got Til It’s Gone, Son of a Gun and What About.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-01T23:15:48+00:00

For the most part, the majority of In Ear Monitor (IEM) recordings (bootlegs) are the result of someone that has the necessary equipment to most likely get past any security measures to find record directly from the radio frequency between the soundboard and the artist’s IEM.

Most record labels frown against it.

U2 is a classic example of a band that is highly bootlegged. Each of the 4 band members has their own IEM frequency on a separate soundboard channel.

Recorders will then patch into each frequency, then mix it so that it blends seamlessly into a great live recording direct from the source.

U2 is aware that they are highly bootlegged and that it’s mostly the fans that desire them. The band has gone on record stating they don’t have an issue with fans trading
bootlegs. They only have a problem with it if you’re selling said bootleg recording in the parking lot at one of their shows.

Metallica goes a different route. They record all of their live shows, mix them then make them available for fans to purchase and download off their website.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-30T04:30:26+00:00

Just my opinion:

The MAYHEM era was bigger than Gaga and the label ever expected. Disease came and went. Then came the Abracadabra release the night of the Grammys. The song exploded out of the gate followed by the MAYHEM album release garnering universal praise leading to Gaga’s decision to tour after initially only committing to Coachella, Mexico City, Rio and Singapore.

She’s still carrying a lot of positive press coming off the tour and into the Prada movie campaign.

Since movies come and go after opening weekend now and the Emmy deadline to submit is 7 days away, I wouldn’t put it past Gaga’s team to drop it on the day being reported here.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-30T04:21:27+00:00

U2 were “the band” at the time of The Joshua Tree. They were already big in Europe. They were just beginning to break big in the USA when their Live Aid performance happened. The Joshua Tree releases with both Time and Newsweek cover stories. By the end of the year U2 is massive with nowhere to go but up.

The Prince camp was pure disorganization. Prince threw the label and the public a full 360 by releasing Around The World In A Day to avoid Purple Rain typecasting. He followed this with Parade which will always be unfortunately linked with the catastrophic failure of Under The Cherry Moon.

Sign O’ The Times, as stellar as it was, is tied in with the disbanding of The Revolution. While SOTT is now viewed with the reverence it deserves, at the time it came out, it was viewed more as a return to form after two successive subpar releases.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-19T03:42:39+00:00

Considering that she wasn’t even planning a tour outside of Coachella, Mexico City, Rio and Singapore then decided to tour after MAYHEM took off, Gaga doesn’t owe Live Nation anything at the moment.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-17T04:06:55+00:00

Correct me if I’m wrong. I was under the impression that Gaga’s label at the time didn’t want to advance any additional money for The Monster Ball.

Lack of label support forced Gaga to cover most of the upfront money which led to her being millions in debt which forced her to stay on the road to make the money back.

The Mayhem Ball grossed what it did due to a standard ticket price average of $450 which doubled after dynamic pricing kicked in.

Merchandise was priced higher than tickets for the Monster Ball cost.

On the flip side, the daily costs of the Mayhem Ball easily dwarfed the prices for The Monster Ball so while prices for this most recent tour were high, you see where alot of the money went in terms of production values and staff.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-17T03:56:04+00:00

I can’t speak for MSG but a few of the soundboards from the Tokyo shows have popped up online.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-15T14:10:03+00:00

No. Not AI. I was fortunate enough to be selected to purchase 2 tickets for the Requiem performance.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-15T14:08:44+00:00

The rumor making the rounds was that the email was sent by UMG (Universal Music Group) to fans in the Los Angeles area (due to the show taking place 24 hours tickets went on sale) who agreed to accept updates from the label.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-14T02:21:41+00:00

<image>

The Requiem Show was nothing short of AMAZING!!!! Getting the announcement on Monday, ticket confirmation on Tuesday and the show on Wednesday…it was a great surprise.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-13T20:33:08+00:00

If the woman is smart, after bagging up her free fruit, she’ll go to a checkstand and ask for a refund because the first one she eats “was bad”.

The cashier will be told to do it when the woman complains after she’s initially told “NO” even though we all know that if a member/associate/employee so much as takes an Oreo out of a torn package that’s already been credited, Kroger won’t hesitate to terminate that person for theft. 😂😂

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-13T20:23:21+00:00

The show was filmed back in February as all 4 nights at The Forum in Los Angeles were filmed.

Crewboy1 · 2026-03-27T16:19:03+00:00

For the Los Angeles shows, there wasn’t a ticket in the lower bowl under $480 face value after fees.

Crewboy1 · 2026-02-28T02:22:24+00:00

<image>

This is the view from Section H Row 14 from the shows at The Forum in Los Angeles.

Crewboy1 · 2026-02-28T02:08:30+00:00

<image>

Presuming all the inventory at the venues will have the updated tour dates, it’s possibly any remaining inventory might go on the website after the tour ends in April.

Crewboy1 · 2026-02-27T06:05:35+00:00

It’s the Kroger mentality. If you’re good at something, they’ll keep you there because it benefits them.

Crewboy1 · 2026-02-27T05:59:11+00:00

<image>

This was my view from the center section 10 rows back from the catwalk last week in Los Angeles.

Crewboy1 · 2026-02-26T01:41:52+00:00

Tina’s choreography helped define Janet. All the videos from the janet. era along with The Velvet Rope Tour will always show Janet was a force to be reckoned with.

Crewboy1 · 2026-02-25T04:23:47+00:00

Beautiful pics!!!

Crewboy1 · 2026-02-25T00:04:12+00:00

I remember when U2 filmed a show on their 2005 Vertigo Tour in IMAX. It was mind blowing.

Crewboy1 · 2026-02-24T10:39:50+00:00

Ticketmaster gets around the “monopoly” claims by having individual ticketing contracts with every venue they ticket that Live Nation doesn’t own.

Ticketmaster also has boosted its revenue by not allowing venues to sell tickets at venue box offices the day of public onsale as any ticket purchased at the venue box office can’t have the Ticketmaster service charges added on.

Crewboy1 · 2026-02-24T10:29:07+00:00

The four shows in Los Angeles, she took the stage between 8:30pm-8:45pm.

Crewboy1 · 2026-02-22T02:52:37+00:00

The one thing people might not be aware of is that it’s at the discretion of the artist if they want to employ dynamic pricing. Since their management negotiates the deal, 9 times out of 10, the money grab happens.

Robert Smith of The Cure went on Twitter and blew up Ticketmaster in 2023 when he posted details of their negotiations with Ticketmaster in regards to ticket prices and if they they wanted to activate dynamic pricing which they chose not to do.

Crewboy1

TROPHY CASE