Download Sounds of the Universe from Amazon.com for $3.99.

If you’re planning to attend the Sunday show, you still have time to join U2.com and gain access to day 3 of the presale, which begins Wednesday at 5:00 pm CDT. A U2.com membership costs $50 and buys you a presale code good for purchase of up to 4 tickets to ONE show in Europe or a total of four tickets at up to four shows in North America. To clarify: you can buy tickets to up to four different North American shows, but the total number of tickets you buy combined to North American shows cannot exceed four tickets.

Tickets will be available from Ticketmaster and Live Nation on April 6 at 10:00 am.

You can take a virtual tour of the concert stage on U2.com.

Sears Tower

ItsTheSearsTower.com – Let’s preserve the Sears Tower’s name. Sign the petition.

The iconic Sears Tower is about to lose its historic name. This year, it will officially become known as Willis Tower as part of a deal with London-based insurer Willis Group Holdings, Ltd.

Let Willis Group Holdings, Ltd. know that our names may not be on the deed to the building, but its historic name belongs to all Chicagoans and everyone worldwide. Encourage them to preserve history and be respectful of the great City of Chicago and its people.

Sign the petition at ItsTheSearsTower.com.

[Text above copied with permission from ItsTheSearsTower.com]

The Drive is also holding a random drawing to give away 9 pairs of tickets between the July 16 and July 21 shows.

DeRogatis is the Sun-Times pop music critic, and we’ve learned from past experience that he also doesn’t like Bruce Springsteen, The Doors, or The Grateful Dead. He doesn’t like Lollapalooza. He also doesn’t like to testify in court, but that’s a different story.

Is this guy for real?

You can read his long, dismissive article on the Sun-Times site, or you can read this summary instead:

DeRogatis believes the following and would really like you to know…

• U2′s appearance at Metro was “continuing an extensive and relentless publicity campaign that has often seemed both more expensive and more elaborately planned than the American invasion of Iraq.”
• It was a “non-eventful event worthy of the Rolling Stones at their most bloated and corporate.”
• U2 have been “plodding through tired retreads of older sounds on their last two albums.”
• Bono does not talk in complete sentences.

In spite of the negative tone of the article, the Sun-Times does have some decent pictures of the event.

Charter One Pavilion (Northerly Island)
Chicago

View the brochure for complete details.

Season Tickets

Ultra Elite (center section 103, rows C-D): $5,150
Elite (center section 102, 103, 104, rows F-K): $3,350
Super Premium (center section 102, 103, 104, rows L-Q): $2,350
Premium (center section 204, rows E-F, and center section 308, rows E-F): $1,800

VIP Box Seats (includes waitstaff)

4 seats: $11,300
6 seats: $15,750
8 seats: $19,400

First Midwest Bank Amphiteatre
Tinley Park

View the brochure for complete details.

Season Tickets

Ultra Elite (center section 103, rows C-D): $5,250
Elite (center section 103, rows G-H): $4,250
Super Premium (center section 103, rows N-S): $3,250
Premium (center section 103, rows W-BB): $2,400

VIP Box Seats (includes waitstaff)

4 seats: $11,550
6 seats: $15,750
8 seats: $18,500

VIP Sky Suites (includes waitstaff)

12 seats (300 level): $20,400
12 seats (200 level): $22,100
18 seats (300 level): $30,000
18 seats (200 level): $32,500
22 seats (300 level): $34,000
22 seats (200 level): $39,700
Club seats: $47,500

United Center
Chicago

Suites

Fractional Ownership (12 or 14 suite tickets for select events): from $12,125

Ravinia Festival
Highland Park

Season Tickets

Starlight Member (lawn seats, presales, member-only entrance): $75 per person
Moonlight Member (lawn seats, presales, member-only entrance, 4 single-use lawn passes, 4 Chicago Symphony Orchestra open rehearsal tickets, single use parking voucher): $150 per person

It’s a ticketed event, but no tickets are for sale. If you want to go, you need to win the tickets from The Mix or Q101 tomorrow.

The Mix (101.9): Eric and Kathy will give away one pair of tickets between 5:30 am and 10 am
Q101 (101.1): from 10 am to 3 pm, one set of tickets will be given away per hour

The blogosphere is filled with speculation (here and here, among many), that U2 are playing to an intimate crowd at The Metro or Aragon. But a mysterious comment from Greg Cot of The Chicago Tribune hints “don’t be surprised if you bump into Bono on Clark Street”. No shows are publicly scheduled for the Metro on Tuesday night. Could it be?

Another pressing question: U2 are DJing on XRT from 8 to 9 pm on Tuesday; how will they find time for a show that night? If you have information or tickets, please leave a comment.

Sure, we’ve seen this all before with Numa Numa — has anyone even mentioned Numa Numa in the last 2 years? — but some of these (good luck choosing the right one) are still worth a look if you’ve got nothing else to do on a Friday night. Actually, ignore that last link and just watch this one, then go do something else.

If you’re keeping score at home:

Numa Numa kid: 888,955 views per month
Boy from Elmhurst: 40,087 views per month

WINNER by 848,868 views per month… Numa Numa