1. Wow, so much bitterness... Which is understandable, of course. But showing that much ingratitude towards a song that was made mostly to raise awareness about your situation is just... I don't know.

    Not inviting her onstage was a mistake though, it would have been the perfect closing to the story. Such a missed chance.
  2. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    Wow, so much bitterness... Which is understandable, of course. But showing that much ingratitude towards a song that was made mostly to raise awareness about your situation is just... I don't know.

    Not inviting her onstage was a mistake though, it would have been the perfect closing to the story. Such a missed chance.
    The fact that most of the proceedings actually went to a music school in Mostar is completely ignored in this article as well
  3. Don't know what she is moaning about she also featured in the documentary they made when they played in Sarajevo and they donated the profits from the song in the UK to Warchild and in Ireland to Cradle, they probably thought she'd be given enough exposure by the time they played Sarajevo and it was about the whole country and not just about her ,sounds like she is looking for attention ""Miss being Famous"
  4. Yes she was in the car between Bono and Edge? Driving from the airport?
  5. Edit: I don't read the previous comments fully haha
  6. Inela raises some fair criticism about the band, but some of her complaints are baffling as well.

    Fair Points:
    1) The re-use of Miss Sarajevo for the "Miss Syria" part in the JT 2017 tour was lazy at best and insulting for Inela and the people that survived the siege of Sarajevo. I really don't like that U2 re-used their classic songs trying to impose another meaning for them that wasn't there at their creation. This is just hiding the fact that they are too chicken to play Please and/or they are no longer writing good political songs that can stand the test of time. Want to talk about Syria? Fine, then write a damn good song about it (I don't think Summer of Love cuts it, it was even a One Republic song about something completely different ffs). They also wanted to highlight women of the world, but the one appropriate song about this, GOYB, is a dud.

    2) Not inviting Inela onstage in the Sarajevo Popmart show. This was a mistake, but I don't know whose fault was it here. Maybe there were more worried about the Pavarotti part functioning correctly? Maybe they didn't want to focus on individuals, and instead celebrate the entire region?

    Unfair Points:
    1) Complaining that Miss Sarajevo only focused on the beauty pageant and not telling all the horrors of the war. It is just one song, not a Ph.D. dissertation or a history textbook. Bono chose one particular episode in the life of these people that he watched on the documentary. Ironically, by focusing on that beauty pageant and one particular story, many people were able to see the horrors of the Sarajevo siege, better than with countless hours of news broadcasts or newspaper articles.

    2) U2 kept all the money of the song. I think the band was very transparent that they were donating the money to many charities across the world. Heck, they lost tons of money by bringing Popmart to Sarajevo. If they actually had given Ilena money directly, then the public would have accused them and her of profiting from her tragedy.

    3) She complains that she was not invited by the band to the Sarajevo concert, but she was riding with Bono in the city days before, we all saw that in the Sarajevo documentary in the Popmart DVD, and she was in very good terms with Bono. Seems contradictory.
  7. Originally posted by cesar_garza01:Inela raises some fair criticism about the band, but some of her complaints are baffling as well.

    Fair Points:
    1) The re-use of Miss Sarajevo for the "Miss Syria" part in the JT 2017 tour was lazy at best and insulting for Inela and the people that survived the siege of Sarajevo. I really don't like that U2 re-used their classic songs trying to impose another meaning for them that wasn't there at their creation. This is just hiding the fact that they are too chicken to play Please and/or they are no longer writing good political songs that can stand the test of time. Want to talk about Syria? Fine, then write a damn good song about it (I don't think Summer of Love cuts it, it was even a One Republic song about something completely different ffs). They also wanted to highlight women of the world, but the one appropriate song about this, GOYB, is a dud.

    2) Not inviting Inela onstage in the Sarajevo Popmart show. This was a mistake, but I don't know whose fault was it here. Maybe there were more worried about the Pavarotti part functioning correctly? Maybe they didn't want to focus on individuals, and instead celebrate the entire region?

    Unfair Points:
    1) Complaining that Miss Sarajevo only focused on the beauty pageant and not telling all the horrors of the war. It is just one song, not a Ph.D. dissertation or a history textbook. Bono chose one particular episode in the life of these people that he watched on the documentary. Ironically, by focusing on that beauty pageant and one particular story, many people were able to see the horrors of the Sarajevo siege, better than with countless hours of news broadcasts or newspaper articles.

    2) U2 kept all the money of the song. I think the band was very transparent that they were donating the money to many charities across the world. Heck, they lost tons of money by bringing Popmart to Sarajevo. If they actually had given Ilena money directly, then the public would have accused them and her of profiting from her tragedy.

    3) She complains that she was not invited by the band to the Sarajevo concert, but she was riding with Bono in the city days before, we all saw that in the Sarajevo documentary in the Popmart DVD, and she was in very good terms with Bono. Seems contradictory.
    Couldn’t agree more about the lack of true straight forward political songs. I remember when they had to delay the release of SOE because of “what was going on in the world” and needing to rewrite lyrics because of trumps election win and everything going on in the EU, I was like “oooooh man this is gonna be good! Finally an angry U2 album. Could be another War or JoShua Tree!”

    Still really like SOE, but I agree, there’s too much going on in the world over the last couple years to have Summer Of Love being the most political song. Thought Desire in Vegas or Bullet at Dreamforce was a sneak peak of what was to come, but they released the opposite.
  8. Well thats interesting part of the Sarajewo Story ... U2 is not always What we want it all to be... but half of What she says is bullshit anyway

    Missed Opportunity With on stage invitation for sure... Maybe Bono’s voice... Maybe fear of the stunt not being well received by the genaeral Public?! Hard to tel

    In No Way i Can compere but as White & Red flashmob organizer in Poland i was asked for contact on show Day in 2009 ... And nothing happened ... so it’s just How it is Sometimes

    And yes Desire And Bullet 2016 rock!
  9. Originally posted by zbych:Well thats interesting part of the Sarajewo Story ... U2 is not always What we want it all to be... but half of What she says is bullshit anyway

    Missed Opportunity With on stage invitation for sure... Maybe Bono’s voice... Maybe fear of the stunt not being well received by the genaeral Public?! Hard to tel

    In No Way i Can compere but as White & Red flashmob organizer in Poland i was asked for contact on show Day in 2009 ... And nothing happened ... so it’s just How it is Sometimes

    And yes Desire And Bullet 2016 rock!
    Some fair points pointed out by former Miss Sarajevo, but the majority is a lot of b... shit and bitterness I guess...

    Regarding her stage invitation/absence in Sarajevo:

    I attended the Sarajevo gig and the athmosphere was surreal and intense in many aspects, especially for us, that came abroad... One must bare in mind that on this gig people from neigbouring countries and former Yugoslav states gathered in one place on such a large scale for the first time since the ethnic war in former Yugoslavia. even the visas to enter Bosnia were abandoned for us foreigners...

    So in this context, I guess the message of peace and the "Fuck the past, kiss the future"" moto of the concert simply prevailed over the message of the Miss Sarajevo song itself (and all the horrible things that happened during the siege of the city of Sarajevo). I also partly suspect that in this context they were a little afraid, what the potential reaction of the real Miss Sarajevo would be on the stage... so instead they went for Eno
  10. Read the article in dutch and it's typical a "headline that must attract readers" kind of article from a usually respected newspaper.

    There's just 1 paragraph about U2 and I it's written in this style where the journalist fills everything in, and uses 2 quotes by her.

    Of course she might have been disappointed or not like the song, but neither the song or concert performance were about her as a person.

    (Even for U2 standards) getting her on stage while Brian Eno is there and Pavarotti is on the big screen would be pushing it from a choreography standpoint..