Never said it was about me.

I'm sure we will all be delighted if you get to keep your balls ;)

Millions of fans disagree, but to each their own. ;)

Fair enough- let's wait until the next time Bruce tours, then we'll meet up and split it. ;)

I'm sorry Caryl, but this comment made me laugh. :lol: I know that gas is cheap in the US compared to the UK, but to us, it's still pretty expensive. (One of the biggest complaints) My city in particular has some of the highest gas prices in the country because of all the local taxes. Remember, it's a big country, and some cities are really far apart; internal flights can be pretty pricey, too, depending where you are going to/from.

Your point is still valid, of course- it doesn't matter how cheap it is if you can't afford it. Just as in Europe, I'm sure, there are many people who are lucky they can buy a ticket, much less travel and hotel costs.

I know how big the US is .. have travelled round some large states to see concerts myself, and did say that we don't know the circumstances of those in the US who aren't able to get to US based concerts. (And comparable average price for gas here is $8.40 per US gallon). My point has been all along that not everyone can afford to travel large distances, not everyone has the same options.

I know that's what you meant, Caryl, and I agree with you. ;) I wasn't being snarky, it genuinely made me laugh to think of gas being "cheap", even though, as I said, I realize it's much more expensive in the UK. And I know there are people (yourself excluded) who don't realize how spread out this country is once you get away from the Northeast (especially New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania); large cities where artists play are often pretty far apart.

Of course, it seems "normal" to diehard fans of an artist to travel for shows, but to many people, it seems crazy to travel hundreds, if not thousands of miles to go to a concert. Others might like to, but just can't, for various reasons (not only costs). Hence, all the pleas of, "Please come to (insert city)!"

Let's say Meat does twenty shows (just throwing a number out); if he does twenty different cities, which is a good number, that's still a large number of cities that get no shows at all.

Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

The distances between cities is like travelling across Europe I bet. Also isn't it the case most Americans get far fewer paid for holiday days than us in Europe, making going to see multiple shows much harder / more of a calculated decision?

Location is kinda key I reckon. I could go see Meat 4-5 times over the last 3-4 tours without having to use a single holiday day and only using perhaps £20 on petrol and the odd super expensive train journey into London. That's pretty easy going rather than having to take flights etc.

I'm still pretty confident there will be the odd UK show in the future.

I agree .. one of the benefits of living on a small island is that whenever Meat has toured here the vast majority of fans can get to at least one show relatively easily

I understand the disappointment felt but the total non-consideration of Meat and how he feels and the ensuing responses were horrific to see. The majority were nice...the minority were disgraceful. No fan should be so rude and self thinking....otherwise they're no fan!

If Meat does not come where I live ...then i will go where he is. This is how I view it and I fully understand not everyone can go and there were many years, for differing reasons I could not go....I was always very happy for those who could and did!

Anyway, I am definitely looking forward to catching Meat in the USA soon.

I think you're right on both counts, and some people get no paid vacation time at all.

Location does make a difference as well. I'm lucky, I live in a major city, so we usually get at least one show on any large tour, but in most cases, I have to travel if I want to see multiple shows. Milwaukee (which is 90 miles or 145 km one way) is probably the next major tour stop (and many times artists don't play both Chicago and Milwaukee on the same tour leg) that is close enough that I don't need to get a hotel for the night. (There are a few road warriors who will drive 5 hours to a show and back the same night, but I'm not one of them.) After that, the closest is probably Indiannapolis, which is about three hours one way. So now, you're talking possibly two days vacation for travel, depending on when the show falls. There's only another handful of cities past that before I pretty much need to get on a plane. And that's the Midwest- go farther west, and it gets even worse.

I know of Springsteen fans who have seen over a hundred shows and never had to take a day off from work or get a hotel thanks to where they live- I'm not so lucky. Last year, he didn't play any shows in New Jersey or New York City, and some of them were quite in shock when they had to get in the car for a few hours if they wanted to see him. :lol: (The closest he came to Chicago was Cincinatti, five hours away by car.)

At the end of the day this particular topic is one that Meat can't win - a decision is made to not play in a certain area (in this case the UK) and he gets the backlash like we've seen over the last few days.

Meat DOES play here and it's "Hey! You said Last At Bat was the farewell tour! I sold my house, my car and my kids to see you one last time and now you're back!" - people end up pi$$ed either way.

Thankfully he does have an exceptional legion of loyal fans who will understand, respect and support the decision, but the poor guy is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

Indeed he does, and whilst I have no time for the very few who were negative or rude, I waded through the responses that night and the new ones the nest morning, and I think the negative numbered around 10-15 .. the total before the thread was taken down were around 3,500. That's a lot of heartfelt thanks and love for the many years he has bust his ass for us on stage :D

That's gotta be a bunch of freaking ugly kids, if you just got enough money out of them to visit one show. :shock:

*or am I missing the point* :lol:

That sums it up perfectly.

Exactly. Circumstances change. When Meat did the Mad Mad World Tour here in the USA, I was extremely lucky that he did several shows on the East Coast (within 2 hours of where I live) and it was relatively easy to travel to them. Also, we still had our store, and I was essentially my own boss :-) I had more freedom than I do now and could have take 2 days to travel to places like Nashville or Boston to see his show because I knew my Mom could run the store while I was away.

Now that I've started working at Walgreens, I have to check with my Manager to see if I can schedule the time off before making any plans. It's our busy season coming up (with the holidays), so I was only able to schedule the time off to go to the show in Bethlehem, PA.

Fingers crossed things will calm down a little at work in the summer and I'll be able to schedule time off to see several shows if Meat tours again. I'm not complaining in the least ... just extremely grateful that I'm getting to see Meat again and I also have a great job that I really love :D

This is it. I fully agree with everything you said here. The last line in your comment sums it all up. He is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't!!

Meat has just posted on Facebook that he's changed his mind about coming back to the UK for concerts.

? where ?

It wasn't an announcement, but in two of his responses to questions in a long thread. He said he's changed his mind:

"Don't worry changed my mind, I am coming back. M" was one of them. With over 1700 replies on the thread it's easy to miss;) The intent is there, so we now have to wait and see how his busy schedule pans out

I really think this is a mistake. the farewell tour was a great finale over there why tarnish it

It feels like hes only going back cause too many complained... NOT GOOD

To be fair though, the race course gigs weren't really part of LAB so he has technically been back after LAB.

A new album? A new tour? ( what a shock ):D

Not to put too fine a point on it .. balls! You can obviously decline to go to a show if he dos more in the USA after next summer ;) Most here will simply be delighted .. plus you don't know what he's thinking of doing anyway.

People here were sad .. the vast majority made no complaint, just expressed thanks for all the years and sorrow that a door had been closed. The door is now open, and any theatre or venue will be filled if he comes back, and nothing will tarnish anything he has done .. what he does next will shine brightly and delight all his fans here ..

The Last At Bat shows were magnificent, but Meat was hobbling about like a cripple. Perhaps he wants his fans to see him with a fully functioning body one last time? And give them the opportunity to see a few new songs?