U2 SPEAR

New Album And 2010 Tour On The Horizon For U2

2009-09-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

t’s not been confirmed yet, but it appears U2 will return to the studio in Vancouver to complete work on their next studio album, which has the working title Songs Of Ascent, following their North American jaunt later this year.

Follow the ball here: According to an italian fansite and reported on at U2.com, Sam O’Sullivan, a drum tech for Larry Mullen, reportedly told fans the next album would be out either in December or early next year.

O’Sullivan also stated a tour of Australia and New Zealand in March is a possibility, but much will depend on the cost of shipping the enormous 360 stage to the area.

As well, it appears this North American jaunt may be the only one in the vicinity in support of No Line On The Horizon. There are no plans for a second North American leg what with a summer European tour in 2010 in the works.

In related news, when this current tour ends, the massive stage will be divided into “concert pavilions,” according to tour architect Mark Fisher.

In an interview with BBC News, Fisher said the three steel structures cost between 15 to 20 million British pounds, each used for a different leg of the tour.

“Part of the tour will finish in Australia and another part of the tour will
finish in South America, where people could use a nice concert pavilion in a park, which has an ability to take 200 tonnes of kit hanging under it,” Fisher said.

You can see U2 here:

Aug. 18 Glasgow, Scotland @ Hampden Park
Aug. 20 Sheffield, England @ Don Valley Stadium
Aug. 22 Cardiff, Wales @ Millenium Stadium
Sept. 12-13 Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field
Sept. 16-17 Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
Sept. 20-21 Foxborough, MA @ Gilette Stadium
Sept. 24-25 New York, NY @ Giants Stadium
Sept. 29 Landover, MD @ FedEx Field
Oct. 1 Charlottesville, VA @ Scott Stadium
Oct. 3 Raleigh, NC @ Carter-Finley Stadium
Oct. 6 Atlanta, GA @ Georgia Dome
Oct. 9 Tampa, FL @ Raymond James Stadium
Oct. 12 Dallas, TX @ New Cowboys Stadium
Oct. 14 Houston, TX @ Reliant Stadium
Oct. 18 Norman, OK @ Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
Oct. 20 Phoenix, AZ @ University Of Phoenix Stadium
Oct. 23 Las Vegas, NV @ Sam Boyd Stadium
Oct. 25 Los Angeles, CA @ Rose Bowl
Oct. 28 Vancouver, BC @ BC Place Stadium

U2 SINGING MICHAEL JACKSON (BARCELONA 6/30/2009)

2009-08-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

U2 Barcelona 2009-07-02 Electrical Storm (1st time live ever!)

2009-08-30T15:33:00.000-07:00

U2 Lists: Top Five Places To See U2 Live

2009-08-30T15:31:00.002-07:00

With the U2 360 tour underway, it’s time for another tour related list - the top five places to see U2 play live. I've only notched up a show at one of the places on the list (Croke Park) but I'll be making it two in October when I see U2 play in New York City. Well, kind of: it won't be Madison Square Garden, but Giants Stadium is close enough for me. So what makes a great U2 venue? I think the great venues, the ones with that certain extra something - or as the French would say, that “je ne sais quoi” - are the ones that have a shared history and strong connection to the band. They also have the right combination of ingredients to create that magic U2 show atmosphere. If you've been lucky enough to hang out with 80,000 fellow U2 fans chanting "40" or singing along to "Pride" or "Where The Streets Have No Name" at a show, you'll know what I'm talking about - that indescribable high that swells through the crowd and makes you feel like life really couldn't get any better. It's a feeling of joy, love, hope and hurt all rolled into one. It's a moment when the heart really is "a bloom." Here are my top five U2 live venues; the places where the magic is most likely to happen.

5. Wembley Stadium, London, England
It might have just been through an expensive and tumultuous rebuilding process (don’t blame the Aussie builders!), but Wembley Stadium is still considered sacred ground by music fans around the globe. The new Wembley Stadium opened its doors in 2007 and has a few claims to fame, including the most expensive stadium ever built, the second largest stadium in Europe and the largest stadium in the world that can seat everyone under cover. The original Wembley Stadium was in operation from 1923 and played host to a who’s who of modern music including Madonna, Michael Jackson, Queen, Bon Jovi, INXS, Metallica, Aerosmith, Prince, The Foo Fighters and the Spice Girls. The old stadium was the venue for the original Live Aid charity event in 1985, which catapulted U2 to international stardom. On the recent U2 360 tour, The Sun newspaper allegedly received a hand-written letter from Bono promising the band would put on a stellar performance at their new Wembley Stadium gig on August 14 allegedly saying: "I swear by the green green sacred grass of Wembley stadium that the sun will shine out of our collective arses this weekend.” The band’s second show on August 15, 2009, reportedly broke the Wembley Stadium attendance record, with 88,000 fans gathering for the event – 5000 more than the previous record set by Rod Stewart back in the old Wembley Stadium in 1995.

4. Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA
“The Irish have been coming here for years, feels like they own the place,” sings Bono in the song “New York” on the album All That You Can’t Leave Behind. And indeed, he does own a place in New York, choosing to make this pulsating metropolis his US home away from home. And if there’s one venue that’s synonymous with the Big Apple, it’s Madison Square Garden. The Garden has played host to big NYC events for 130 years, starting life as a velodrome for competitive cycling in 1879. The current Garden, located above Pennsylvania Station on 7th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, opened on February 14, 1968 and has the capacity to hold about 20,000 people. U2 played the Garden as part of their Elevation tour in October 2001, not long after the September 11 attacks on New York City. Bono and the Edge have called these shows some of the most memorable and emotional of their careers.

3. Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland
There’s something special about seeing U2 play to their home crowd in Dublin. The buzz in the city before and after the show is truly amazing, especially when the crowds take to the streets to do the 15 minute walk to and from the city centre to the stadium. And of course, when the gig is over, you can party the night away with thousands of other fans in Temple Bar. With a capacity of more than 82,000 people, Croke Park is the largest sports stadium in Ireland and the fourth largest stadium in Europe. Croke Park – better known as ‘Croker’ to the locals - has played an important part in both the history of Ireland and U2. On November 21, 1920, 14 people were killed in the stadium when British army auxiliaries entered the ground and shot indiscriminately into the crowd as a reprisal for the earlier assassination of 14 British Intelligence officers. That massacre became known as “Bloody Sunday.” The song U2 wrote and recorded about the massacre - more than 60 years after it took place - turned out to be a defining moment for their musical careers and the start of their continued work towards the peace process in their homeland.

2. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Colorado, USA
It’s an intimate concert venue – only seating about 9500 people – but everything else about the Red Rocks Amphitheatre is big: big on atmosphere, big on natural grandeur and big on sound. The breathtaking amphitheatre in the Rocky Mountain foothills, 15 miles west of Denver, was created by two 300-foot monoliths of red sandstone that dwarf the stage and provide a dramatic concert backdrop. The venue is also reputed to offer one thing all concert goers search for but rarely find, “acoustic perfection.” U2’s performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre on a cold, wet night in June 1983 was, according to Rolling Stone, one of the “50 Moments that Changed Rock and Roll.” The bad weather that night only added to the show’s unique atmosphere: mist rolled in from the hills, torches were lit on the cliffs and Bono waved that white flag. Magic.

1. Slane Castle, near Dublin, Ireland
A significant piece of Irish history and a major piece of U2 history, Slane Castle in County Meath, Ireland, is the ultimate venue to catch a U2 show. A favourite venue for rock music’s A-list, including the likes of Thin Lizzy, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, Bob Dylan, Madonna and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, U2 has played Slane more times than any other band, with shows in 1981 and two shows in 2001. The natural amphitheatre can hold a massive 100,000 people, creating an atmosphere and concert experience that is hard to top. I can’t think of anything better than standing with100,000 other U2 fans, in the shadow of the centuries-old castle, and hearing Bono yell “This is our city; this is our tribe.” The castle’s gothic ballroom also helped give The Unforgettable Fire its ambient, experimental sound (well, that and Brian Eno) back in 1984. All this and it’s only 25 minutes from Dublin’s airport. It’s an experience that should be on every U2 fan’s to-do list.

Column: off the record...,vol. 9-372

2009-08-30T15:31:00.001-07:00

I've got to admit, I'm a bit sad at the moment. Saturday night was U2's last show in Europe this year. Bono sang a bit of the Welsh national anthem and thanked the Evans family for their help when the band started. It must have been special for Edge and his family, finishing the tour in Wales. So the European tour of 2009 is now officially over. To help you remember just how awesome it all was, here's a recap with some highlights of the tour and everything around it:

The BBC interview with Bono and Edge had some great moments (I especially liked the "new" old song and Bono's futile efforts to cheat his way through the U2 intro game). The not completely live, but otherwise very cool broadcast of the Sheffield gig was a great idea, they should definitely do that more often.

In Berlin three Czech guys had the time of their lives as they played "Angel of Harlem" with U2 on stage. Imagine giving your very first live performance in front of 80,000 people!

Edge celebrated his birthday in style. There was also champagne at the show in Zagreb, and the whole stadium sang "Happy Birthday" for him.

And of course, there were the Dublin shows. Great atmosphere in the city, and a superb homecoming. One of the good moments there: “The Auld Triangle.” Just Bono and Edge on stage, having fun.

One of the songs off No Line on the Horizon I really love and was hoping to hear, is "White as Snow." So I was very happy to see this blog post. It hasn't been played yet, but at least Willie Williams is suggesting it, so I'm crossing my fingers and hope it'll make its debut somewhere along the tour.

As you know, we're great Twitter fans here at @U2. If the @U2 Tweets haven't yet convinced you to get an account, then have a look at Edge's. As you probably know, he only posts photos without any comments. Many of them are quite artsy, revealing, comical, or just plain gorgeous, like this one. (Notice the woman in the back taking off her sunglasses -- this is one of those moments where you need a full and clear view).

Some of my personal Edge favorites:

http://twitpic.com/deqxd
http://twitpic.com/e9xrd
http://twitpic.com/etwmo

U2 at the Millennium Stadium: 'The best gig Cardiff's ever had'

2009-08-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

It was one of the most eagerly anticipated gigs of the year.

And for 70,000 fans, it delivered on every count.

When U2 rolled into Cardiff last night for the last leg of their European 360 Degree Tour, they blew the audience away.

Taking centre stage and most of the audience's breath away in the Millennium Stadium was the £20m set dubbed The Claw -- which towered over the main circular stage.

As the iconic front man Bono emerged last night, clad in black and wearing his trademark sunglasses, the crowd erupted with delight.

The almost capacity 70,000 audience made it a record-breaking attendance for any gig at the stadium, outselling Take That's 64,000 audience earlier this year.

After opening with "Breathe," from the new album No Line on the Horizon, the band treated fans to a mix of their many hits from the last three decades and new songs from their latest CD.

Highlights included "Beautiful Day," "Mysterious Ways," "Vertigo," "Pride" and "One," as well as newer stand out songs, "Get On Your Boots," "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" and "Magnificent."

Homage was also paid to The Edge's Welsh roots, with Bono confessing to having once had singing lessons from the guitarist's father, Garvin Evans.

"He told me to look after the consonants and the vowels will look after themselves," Bono told the crowd, who lapped up his every word.

The Edge, whose family were in the Cardiff crowd, received a rapturous applause simply by saying "Cymru Am Byth," before the band launched into "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" while the adoring masses sang along.

Of course, no U2 gig would be complete without a political message of democracy and freedom, and this was no exception.

The band dedicated their tracks "Walk On" and "MLK" to imprisoned Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu gave an uplifting video message before the song "One."

Fans hailed the gig as possibly the greatest spectacle seen in the stadium's 10 year history.

Martin Howarth, 25, from Swansea, said: "I've seen the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the stadium and the Rolling Stones but U2 were much better.

"They get such a mixed crowd because they have been going for so long. Some people knew all the words of the old stuff and others only knew the recent albums.

"You have to give them credit and say they are one of the best live bands in the world.

"I would definitely go back and see them again if they came to Cardiff."

Lloyd James, 24, from Swansea, said: "It was unbelievable. I have never seen a gig like it before.

"The sound was fantastic and the stage looked immense.

"I've been to some pretty special rugby games in the Millennium Stadium before but the atmosphere was something totally different to those.

"It's the best gig Cardiff's ever had."

U2 in numbers

1 "One" was the third single from the band’s 1991 album, Achtung Baby, and was released in 1992. Tensions almost prompted U2 to break up until the group rallied round writing the single.

2 U2 formed in Dublin, Ireland, on September 25, 1976. The band consists of Bono (vocals and guitar), The Edge (guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen Jr. (drums and percussion).

3 Bono's nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.

4 Days it took to install the stage, screen, production equipment, lighting rig and speakers for last night's concert.

8 Number of hours to set up the massive video screen for last night's Millennium Stadium show.

11 U2's first single, "11 O'Clock Tick Tock," was released in May 1980.

12 The cost of the official tour programme is £12.

12 Studio albums: Boy (1980); October (1981); War (1983); The Unforgettable Fire (1984); The Joshua Tree (1987); Rattle and Hum (1988); Achtung Baby (1991); Zooropa (1993); Pop (1997); All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000); How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004); and No Line on the Horizon (2009)

15 European cities the band is visiting with the 360° Tour: Barcelona, Milan, Gothenburg, Zagreb, Amsterdam, Paris, Nice, Dublin, Chorzow, Berlin, Gelsenkirchen, London, Sheffield, Glasgow and Cardiff.

22 Grammy Awards won by the band. Their first was for The Joshua Tree and they are tied with Stevie Wonder as contemporary artists with the most Grammys.

22 The band's standing in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

22 Number of songs on the set list at last week's Wembley gig.

40 Also known as "40 (How Long)" is the 10th and final track from War. The song is noted for its live performances, often involving the audience singing along for minutes after the band have left the stage. The lyrics are based on the Bible's Psalm 40.

52 The highest chart position debut album Boy reached in 1980.

60 Approximate weight, in tons, of the stadium video screen.

90 Minutes taken for the first ticket batch for last night's concert to sell out after going on sale on March 20

164 The height in feet of last night’s set, which was twice as high as the one used by the Rolling Stones when they visited Cardiff in 2006.

180 Number of trucks needed to bring the set into the capital.

360 The 360° Tour features an innovative, wrap-around screens and 360° stage, which should give the audience an unobstructed view from all angles.

360 Estimated number of tour crew members, factoring in drivers and vendors in addition to ground crew.

400 The weight in tons of the set.

1,500 Starting price in euros to spend the night in the penthouse suite at the Clarence Hotel in Dublin, owned by Bono and The Edge.

70,000 Last night's estimated attendance was the biggest ever for a gig at the Millennium Stadium, beating the 64,000 who watched Take That earlier this summer.

88,000 The crowd U2 played to at Wembley on August 14.

95,000 The capacity of the Stade de France in Paris, the largest crowd expected on the European tour.

500,000 Number of pixels on the expanding video screen at last night's Cardiff concert.

20,000,000 The value in pounds of the set on which the mega band performed.

67,000,000 Results when "U2" is typed into Google.

145,000,000 Worldwide album sales.

423,000,000 Band's combined wealth in pounds sterling, as estimated by the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List.

U2 Encourage Mask-Wearing Protest

2009-06-28T14:08:00.001-07:00

U2 are on the cusp of their 360 Tour, and are asking fans to remember Burmese democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi by wearing a mask featuring her face.

"U2 believe the world must not be allowed to forget Aung San Suu Kyi and every night on the 360 Tour fans are being invited to wear the mask when the band play 'Walk On,' which was written for her," the band's website said today. "Put it on with thousands of others when Larry [Mullen, Jr., drums] and Edge [guitar] strike up the opening bars of 'Walk On.'"

A downloadable mask is on the site with directions, but you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to print the file.

"Wear it to work or college," the post on the website reads. "Wear it on the bus or the train. Wear it in the pub or at the shops. And don't forget. Bring it to a U2 show."

Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and won elections in Burma in 1990, but the military junta refused to accept the results. She has spent most of the last 19 years under house arrest.

Suu Kyi was recently tried for violating the terms of her house arrest after an uninvited visitor swam across Inya Lake in Yangon, Burma to visit her house twice. The trial was widely condemned as a sham by the United Nations and western nations.

U2 start their world tour in Barcelona on Tuesday. The tour, which is in support of the recently released No Line On The Horizon, hits Toronto in mid-September.

Top 5 U2 Literary Moments

2009-06-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

find it intriguing that, as a topic, literary influences appear to be such a little-explored one in the world of U2 fandom. After all, references to the thoughts and ideas of various wordsmiths abound within the entire canon of the band's imagery and lyrics, from Bono's on-stage recitations of Yeats' He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven to the band's early use of imagery from Golding's Lord of the Flies during their performances, and from making subtle allusions to C.S. Lewis in their music videos to acknowledging the influence of American writers like Flannery O'Connor and Saul Bellow on The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum.

The lack of acknowledgement may be because this particular vein within U2's music, whether in song, speech or action, has rarely been obvious, often being overlooked in favour of the more overt political and spiritual dimensions. One arguably has to dig deeper in order to understand them. But such a venture is both challenging and rewarding, exposing a side to U2 and their music that is not often instantly associated with them. Below are a few of my favourite moments, big and small, from U2's explorations into the literary world.

1. Into the Heart of a Child

U2's first significant experiment with alter egos was arguably during their early touring days, when Bono adopted personas such as the Boy and the Fool as a means of illustrating the turbulent, and often damaging, transition from childhood to adulthood. This had its roots in William Golding's classic work Lord of the Flies, which cynically depicts the failed attempts made by a group of WW2-era schoolboys stranded on a desert island to build a functioning society. The book deals with themes such as the end of innocence, the human capacity for savagery and "the infinite cynicism of adult life," a nondescript force of corruption and evil which, the story implies, children inevitably fall victim to when they grow up.

U2 also named one of their songs on the Boy album after a chapter in Golding's novel, with the song's lyrics exploring themes of alienation, isolation and uncertainty -- ideas that hover spectre-like within the book's pages. The cry of 'Do you feel in me/anything redeeming/any worthwhile feeling?/Is life like a tight-rope/hanging on my ceiling?' in "Shadows and Tall Trees" could be lifted directly from the character Ralph's musings on his sudden loss of innocence and attempt to articulate a sense of awkwardness he can't quite define.

The subtle dangers of adulthood resurface as an idea in many of Bono's later interviews, where he warns against "knowingness." The end of innocence can bring answers to questions we would rather not ask, as the brutal and bloody fate of many of the characters in the novel illustrates; a reality from which both the inhabitants of Golding's island and the voices on the Boy album seem at times to be trying to make a rapid retreat.

2. Go Lightly Underground

In 1989 the novelist Salman Rushdie was the subject of a controversy over the publication of his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, which allegedly contained material blasphemous to Islam. After the Iranian spiritual leader of the time, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling for his execution, Rushdie was forced into hiding under police protection for many years. On one notable occasion, at Bono's behest he defied his exiled status to appear on-stage with U2 at Wembley Stadium during the Zooropa tour.

The gesture was both important and courageous, as it demonstrated the refusal of the artistic community to bow down to religious extremism and threats to freedom of expression, despite the censorship that had inevitably been imposed upon Rushdie. The author also regarded the decision of the two to exchange glasses -- with Bono wearing Rushdie's literary spectacles whilst the latter donned his wraparound shades -- as a sign of their joint stand against fanaticism and an acknowledgement of the shared aspirations of many writers and musicians.

Rushdie later repaid the show of loyalty by writing the lyrics to 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet' (a track which appeared on the Japanese and British versions of 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind), drawn from the author's novel of the same name. He continues to be an outspoken supporter of the band.

3. Religious Nuts

One of my favourite U2 photos is that of a very young Bono sitting with Bruce Springsteen. The two are apparently discussing writers, with Springsteen (who as ever appears to be ageless) telling Bono about the work of the southern author Flannery O'Connor. Despite her relative obscurity in many areas, O'Connor's influence on U2 is arguably pivotal to understanding their early musical and spiritual development, particularly with Bono.

Like the singer, O'Connor was deeply religious, but her faith eschewed that of fundamentalism and fanaticism. Her novel Wise Blood, which Bono has cited as a favourite, depicts a world of depravity where her characters' natures are explored through violent, polarising situations with good being pitted against evil. In the latter novel, those portrayed are particularly grotesque, with the main character Hazel Motes being driven mad by the religious fanatics surrounding him in his small home town in evangelical Tennessee. Here religious extremism is ridiculed through caricature, with religious institutions shown as being corrupt and dogmatic. This clearly struck a chord with Bono, who in an interview with Propaganda during the late '80s likened Motes' attempts at founding 'The Church Without Christ' to the various weird sects and religious cults that forever appeared to characterise the religious landscape of Ireland.

Similarly, O'Connor seemed to share Bono's love of aphorisms. Some of her sayings could easily have been lifted from the singer's mouth, such as "The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it," and "Where there is no belief in the soul there is very little drama. Either one is serious about salvation or one is not. And it is well to realise the maximum amount of seriousness admits the maximum amount of comedy. Only if we are secure in our beliefs can we see the comical side of the universe."

4. The Very Thoughts They Would Conceal

U2's relationship with Bob Dylan has always had a slightly surreal and fragmented feel. In a well-documented moment in Neil McCormick's 2004 book Killing Bono: I Was Bono's Doppelganger, he describes how when Bono was granted the honour of singing a verse of "Blowin' in the Wind" with the folk legend at a Slane Castle show in 1984, the U2 front man knew none of the words. In an attempt at compensating, he merely sang the first thing that came into his head. Although the lyrics were socially conscious and not un-Dylanesque in their reference to the Troubles in Northern Ireland, they left the elder musician slightly scandalised at having one of his best-known songs mutilated in public.

However, the relationship clearly wasn't too soured, as Dylan later co-wrote the lyrics to "Love Rescue Me" on Rattle and Hum. The collaboration was bizarrely prophetic, as Bono claimed to have come up with the song in a dream in which Dylan was supposed to have written and presented it to him. The song was not Dylan's, but after an initial aborted lyric-writing session he and Bono produced "Love Rescue Me."

Although Dylan's status as a genuine literary figure is admittedly the product of some debate, the fruit of his session with Bono is deeply poetic beyond doubt, evoking the despair, remorse and spiritual torment of a man who, in Bono's words, "people keep turning to as a saviour, but could do with a shot of salvation himself."

In a brilliant touch, Dylan also later refers to an encounter with Bono in his 2004 memoir Chronicles: Volume One. His assessments of the U2 singer's character are simple, but wonderfully astute at the same time. He describes spending time with him as like "eating dinner on a train – feels like you're moving, going somewhere," and claiming that Bono is a "closet philosopher" with "the soul of an ancient poet." Yet perhaps most perceptively, he states that the main similarity between himself and the man from U2 is that "When Bono and me aren't exactly sure about somebody, we just make it up. We can strengthen any argument by expanding on something either real or not real." Arguably extravagant praise from one who so rarely gives it.

5. A Phone Call From Hell

The biblical phrase "Mock the devil and he will flee from you" rings true in many contexts, but it perhaps serves as a useful tagline to two closely linked characters: MacPhisto and Screwtape, the devil in C.S. Lewis' work The Screwtape Letters, who serves as a mentor to a younger devil in the act of corrupting humans. The aim of both Zoo TV and Zooropa in many ways appears to have been to poke fun at and expose modern culture for its trivialisation of the serious and its deification of the ridiculous, which in his 2001 book Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 Steve Stockman claims is akin to C.S. Lewis' exposure of Satan's techniques for corrupting humans in The Screwtape Letters.

MacPhisto plays the part of seducing the audience into confusion, making them think that Bono has morphed into the very figure of rock 'n' roll excess and decadence that U2 had appeared so decidedly against in the '80s. But as with Lewis' Screwtape, all is not as it seems; MacPhisto's true role is to draw attention to his own absurdity, the influence of which is made clear in the video for "Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me." When the cartoon Bono is knocked over by a car, the book that flies out of his hand is The Screwtape Letters. In U2's world, the influence of the literary giant seems to serve as an indicator of order in the midst of chaos.

2009-06-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

2009-06-20T07:56:00.001-07:00

U2 OBAMA CONCERT

2009-06-20T05:47:00.000-07:00

U2 Tour Dates 2009 2nd Leg

2009-06-17T04:02:00.000-07:00

September 12, 2009: Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field

September 13, 2009: Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field

September 16, 2009: Toronto ON, Canada @ Rogers Centre

September 17, 2009: Toronto ON, Canada @ Rogers Centre

September 20, 2009: Boston, MA @ Gillette Stadium

September 21, 2009: Boston, MA @ Gillette Stadium

September 24, 2009: East Rutherford, NJ @ Giants Stadium

September 25, 2009: East Rutherford, NJ @ Giants Stadium

September 29, 2009: Washington, DC @ FedEx Field

October 01, 2009: Charlottesville, VA @ Scott Stadium

October 03, 2009: Raleigh, NC @ Carter-Finley Stadium

October 06, 2009: Atlanta, GA @ Georgia Dome

October 09, 2009: Tampa, FL @ Raymond James Stadium

October 12, 2009: Dallas, TX @ Cowboys Stadium

October 14, 2009: Houston, TX @ Reliant Stadium

October 18, 2009: Norman, OK @ Oklahoma Memorial Stadium

October 20, 2009: Phoenix, AZ @ University of Phoenix Stadium

October 23, 2009: Las Vegas, NV @ Sam Boyd Stadium

October 25, 2009: Los Angeles, CA @ Rose Bowl

October 28, 2009: Vancouver BC, Canada @ BC Place

U2 Tour Dates 2009 1st Leg

2009-06-17T03:52:00.000-07:00

June 30, 2009: Barcelona, Spain @ Camp Nou
July 02, 2009: Barcelona, Spain @ Camp Nou
July 07, 2009: Milan, Italy @ San Siro
July 08, 2009: Milan, Italy @ San Siro
July 11, 2009: Paris, France @ Stade de France
July 12, 2009: Paris, France @ Stade de France
July 15, 2009: Nice, France @ Charles Ehrmann Park
July 18, 2009: Berlin, Germany @ Olympic Stadium
July 20, 2009: Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Arena
July 21, 2009: Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Arena
July 24, 2009: Dublin, Ireland @ Croke Park
July 25, 2009: Dublin, Ireland @ Croke Park
July 27, 2009: Dublin, Ireland @ Croke Park
July 31, 2009: Gothenburg, Sweden @ Ullevi Stadium
August 01, 2009: Gothenburg, Sweden @ Ullevi Stadium
August 03, 2009: Gelsenkirchen, Germany @ Veltins-Arena
August 06, 2009: Chorzow, Poland @ Slaski Stadium
August 09, 2009: Zagreb, Croatia @ Maksimir Stadium
August 10, 2009: Zagreb, Croatia @ Maksimir Stadium
August 14, 2009: London, England @ Wembley Stadium
August 15, 2009: London, England @ Wembley Stadium
August 18, 2009: Glasgow, Scotland @ Hampden Park
August 20, 2009: Sheffield, England @ Don Valley Stadium
August 22, 2009: Cardiff, Wales @ Millenium Stadium

U2 - Magnificent

2009-06-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

U2 No Line on The Horizon Live

2009-03-02T01:44:00.001-08:00

Under Lincoln’s Unblinking Eyes”: U2 Welcome the Obama Era

2009-02-15T05:07:00.000-08:00

U2 rocked the nation’s capitol as part of a pre-inauguration parade of pop stars called “We Are One.” Held under Lincoln’s statuesque presence, the daytime concert entertained thousands wrapped in winter wear and thousands more listening on the radio or watching on television. Rips of the various songs were soon available on YouTube for those of us who missed the various live broadcasts.

Away from the computer most of the weekend, I only learned of the festivities at a dinner engagement Sunday night. My friends were excited to tell me that U2 had performed, but I had to wait until Monday morning to watch the footage.

When U2’s anthem “Pride” first brought tears to my idealistic teenage eyes in 1984, I never imagined I’d watch the band perform the song on a January day on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial just hours before the inauguration of America’s first black president. While I believed then and now in dreaming the impossible, I never imagined this day would be possible in my lifetime.
The same chills and thrills that this song instilled in me some twenty-five years ago were writ larger than life on an epic backdrop as Bono introduced the song, first with the words “Let Freedom Ring,” and then, with the invocation: “On this spot, 46 years ago, Dr. King had a dream. On Tuesday, that dream comes to pass.”

Decked out in his standard spectacles, black boots, blue jeans, black sweater, black military overcoat, black scarf etched with text, and fingerless black gloves, Bono worked the crowd and the epic stage with his usual splendor.

During the always spine-tingling “whoa-oh” section of “Pride,” Bono inserted a speech we’d heard before about it being a universal and international dream, an African and Irish dream, with a stunningly current political addition about an Israeli and Palestinian dream.

While “Pride” was an obvious choice to honor this important occasion, the last song of the two-song set made infinite sense as well. After more reciting more snippets from the “I Have a Dream” speech to close “Pride,” Bono spoke over the familiar opening strains of “City of Blinding Lights,” addressing Obama directly:

“What a thrill for four Irish boys from the north side of Dublin to honor you sir, the next President of the United States, Barack Obama, for choosing this song to be part of the soundtrack of your campaign.”

Continuing to entrance the enormous crowd and take a promenade along the perimeters of the profound setting, Bono brought new lyrics to “Lights” early in the song. As reported by U2 fan Axver, “Its lyrics featured modifications for the occasion; in the first verse, instead of singing the ‘day-glo eyes’ line, Bono instead sang ‘America, let your road rise/Under Lincoln’s unblinking eyes/They’re advertising in the skies/For people like you.’ He also altered ‘I’m getting ready to leave the ground’ to ‘America is getting ready to leave the ground.’”

With the new U2 single “Get On Your Boots” out today, with the new tour later this year rumoring outdoor shows, the band welcomed the new world promised by this symbolic moment with a great show for the masses, with majesty, with magic.

Bono’s Search for a “Spiritual Mecca”: Daniel Lanois on U2’s “No Line on the Horizon”

2009-02-13T11:56:00.002-08:00

Shirley Halperin

For the new U2 record, No Line On The Horizon (due March 3rd), Bono had a spiritual quest, says producer Daniel Lanois.

“He thought that our job was to create contemporary gospel music,” Lanois, who shares production credit on the album with Brian Eno, told Rock Daily at a Grammy Foundation event honoring music photographers Danny Clinch, Robert Knight and Herman Leonard. “Bono wanted to be at a spiritual Mecca.”

Which, for the band, meant an extended stay in Fez, Morocco (their second visit to the country — U2’s 1991 video for “Mysterious Ways” was also filmed there). So did he find what he was looking for?

New single “Get On Your Boots” offers some clues, but Lanois filled us in on the bigger picture: “We worked in France, New York and London, but Bono felt that [Morocco] was the spiritual crossroads of the world right now, so we rented out an old Riad hotel and brought in all of our own equipment.”

The result, he said, is “incredibly innovative — a lovely blend of technology and hand-played instruments. It embraces the future, but still pays respect to tradition.”

And while the album, which was four years in the making (and recorded digitally throughout), has evolved since the band’s initial north African sojourn, it stayed true to their creative mission: “That we are essentially soul musicians that look for soul in what we do,” said Lanois.

“The expectations and dreams are still intact… and the president of the record company is singing like a bird!”

U2 Until The End Of The World Live from Miami Elevation Tour

2009-02-13T11:56:00.001-08:00

U2 performs at We Are One show 2009

2009-02-13T11:52:00.000-08:00

Let Me In The Sound

2009-02-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

In what's sure to be an electric refrain thundering through U2 concert venues this summer, Bono implores us (or someone) to let him in the sound and meet him in the sound. As usual, we're left asking, "What the hell do you mean?"

Rising from the vocal cords of any other performer, we'd be content to believe that the musician seeks to be transported inside and be enveloped by a set of musical notes and drum beats and guitar riffs. It would seem that he'd be asking to drown in the music figuratively, to seek baptism in a jumble of clatter. But this is Bono, and obviously, he is not. And we are U2 fans, so literal-minded, we are not.

From the early days of "I Will Follow" to the latter days of "Window in the Skies," Bono has turned our attention and our souls to something wholly other, yet something wholly familiar. As Bruce Springsteen said when he inducted U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, "In their music you hear the spirituality as home and as quest." It's the same spirit that caused C.S. Lewis to ponder that when we finally stand face-to-face with our Creator, we'll think that He is no stranger; that it's been Him all along.

With that set of creeds in tow, we slide and glide into the world of "Get on Your Boots." And what do we find? Besides the music, the lyrics are seemingly flippant at first: all this talk about "sexy boots" and "laughter" and "candy floss, ice cream." You wouldn't be penalized for thinking this is another fun song to help get you through another long commute.

But right along with the beautiful kisses under a brilliant moon, we find "Satan" and "bomb scare" and "rockets" dropping into a "fun fair" and "dark dreams" and "kids ... screamin'" and "ghosts" and "blowing up" and "wars between nations" And, finally, tucked between the waves of "let me in the sound" we hear an urgent plea: "God, I'm going down/I don't want to drown now."

We were wrong for thinking Bono wanted to be immersed in the "sound." This is one baptism he shuns; he doesn't want to drown. He cries out to God to throw him a life vest and save him from his ordeal.

So that brings us back to our original question/quest: What is this "sound"? The lines are confusing if we think of a "sound" as something you hear with your ears. But before figuring out a possible meaning, let's look at some of the hints we can glean from other "drowning" imagery in their earlier work.

The first obvious song is "Drowning Man," on U2's third studio album, War. It's a lyric about an unnamed someone crossing the sky for "your love." Bono sings about someone who promises to be there and save us from the "winds and tides/this change of times."

It's a few years before Bono resurrects that drowning theme. This time he does it with a song he wrote for B.B. King, "When Love Come to Town." It begins: "I was a sailor/I was lost at sea/I was under the waves before love rescued me." Off that same album, we're left with a promise, "You say you'll give me . . . a harbor in the tempest," from "All I Want is You."

That image of drowning resurfaces in "Lemon," off Zooropa: "I feel like I'm slowly, slowly, slowly slippin' under. I feel like I'm holding on to nothing." Later in the same song: "And I feel like I'm drifting, drifting, drifting from the shore."

This recurrent image of drowning and rescue from the waves is once again at play in "Get On Your Boots." The "going down" and "drown" references are clear enough. But where does the "sound" come from. If Bono is drowning and needs rescue and wants to be let into the sound, what sound is he singing about? We can guess that maybe "sound" doesn't mean noise—the opposite of silence—in this instance. "Sound" has many meanings, but one seems to fit a little better and works within the drowning imagery. A sound is "a long broad inlet of the ocean generally parallel to the coastline." A synonym for "sound" is "harbor."

So, when Bono begs to be let into the sound, he wants to be let in from the horrors of the storms out at sea. He wants to come into the harbor, the harbor that we learned from "All I Want is You," promises to protect us from the dark ocean's tempests and save us from drowning (just look at the cover of the album: oceans are at once pacific and treacherous -- you can splish-splash AND you can drown). The world isn't fun fairs or rockets; it's rockets falling into fun fairs; the sound that protects us from all the clamors of the world and its explosions, bombs, and screams. The sound, this harbor, protects us from the violent blasts of the rockets, the nightmares, the ghosts, the wars, Satan. By God, let him in the sound! I mean, who wouldn't drown wading around in those knee-high sexy boots, anyway?

2009-02-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

U2 Exclusive Lowdown On New Album

2009-02-06T03:57:00.000-08:00

U2 finally unveiled their new album No Line on the Horizon behind closed doors and under the strictest security.

But first again with the big music exclusives...Email were there to hear it.

We were invited by Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. to get a sneak preview of their eagerly awaited 12th studio album -- not released until March 2.

And it's a cracker, up there with U2 classics such as Achtung Baby, The Joshua Tree and All That You Can't Leave Behind.

The Irish supergroup took the wraps off No Line on the Horizon in the chic Saatchi art gallery at the famous Chelsea Barracks in London.

It features hot new single "Get On Your Boots," which is being played to death by radio stations across the U.K.

Before hearing the killer tracks, the select guests had to give up all belongings -- including mobile phones and any recording devices. They were only returned when the playthrough was over.

But it was worth it to get the first listen to amazing songs such as "Magnificent," "Moment of Surrender" and "Cedars of Lebanon."

On first hearing, it sounds like U2's most complete album -- to be listened to from first track to last. It's also full of brilliant lyrics and Bono's vocals have never sounded stronger.

Here is my pick of the key cuts on No Line on the Horizon.

NO LINE ON THE HORIZON

This opens with a loud sonic drone before Bono sings: "I knew a girl who's like the sea/I watch her changing every day for me."

Then Larry's drums kick in and the song lifts off. It could be their best live stadium opener since "Zoo Station."

MAGNIFICENT

A future single choice which more than lives up to its bold title. The Edge's driving guitar gives the song a "New Year's Day"-style mood.

Bono is in great form when he sings: "I was born to sing for you/I didn't have a choice but to lift you up."

He's dead right because, just two numbers in, the album already has a classic feel.

MOMENT OF SURRENDER

Bono reckons this is one of the best songs U2 have written -- and with their back catalogue, that's saying something.

It opens with a guitar sound reminiscent of "Where the Streets Have No Name" and features a great Edge solo.

In one of his most personal lyrics, Bono says: "I've been in every black hole/At the altar of the dark star/My body's now a begging bowl/That's begging to get back."

A stunning song Springsteen or Dylan would be proud of.

UNKNOWN CALLER

An epic with double-tracked vocals, wailing Edge guitar and pounding Adam bass.

It's a musical feast with so much going on it's initially tough to take it all in. In the chant-style chorus Bono sings: "Hear me/Cease to speak/That I may speak/Shush now."

If nothing else, that's got to be another first for U2 -- a pop song with "Shush" in the lyric.

I'LL GO CRAZY IF I DON'T GO CRAZY TONIGHT

Thumping drums, pulsing bass and piano get this potential single off the launch pad.

Musically, it has all the trademarks of a U2 classic with another soaring Bono vocal and great "woo-oo" hook on the chorus.

STAND UP COMEDY

This proves the group are huge Led Zeppelin fans because Edge's guitar riff has a real Jimmy Page feel.

In terms of being musically adventurous, it's not for the faint-hearted and definitely up there with "Exit" from The Joshua Tree in 1987.

CEDARS OF LEBANON

Bono almost speaks his vocal over a more hymnal, hypnotic backing which leads to a beautiful, almost choral, hook.

Some atmospheric Edge guitar creeps in and builds the mood. This song is so good you don't want it to end.

A fitting finale to a classic U2 album.

U2 Honors Grainge at MITs

2008-11-05T06:03:00.000-08:00

U2 was among the artists saluting Universal Music Group International chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge at the Music Industry Trust's Award ceremony at London's Grosvenor House Hotel.

Universal-signed pop acts Mika and Take That performed at the ceremony tonight (Nov. 3), along with jazz-pop singer Jamie Cullum and indie-rock band Razorlight, which released its new album Slipway Fires (Vertigo/Mercury) today. Artists among the 1,200 guests included Girls Aloud, Sugababes, The Fratellis, The Feeling, Snow Patrol, members of ABBA, Ray Davies, Lulu and James Morrison.

The MIT award was presented to the Universal boss by all four members of U2. UMG chairman/CEO Doug Morris was also present.

Bono joked about U2's failure to release a new album this year, commenting that Grainge provides "cuddles" for the band "when we get stressed out and we haven't got the hits and we missed Christmas."

Tributes on film were made by personalities from the world of business and musicians including Mariah Carey, the Pussycat Dolls, Michael Winner, Elton John, Bob Geldof, U2 manager Paul McGuinness and Girls Aloud.

In his acceptance speech Lucian Grainge said: "This recognition is an honor, and I'm delighted to be able to share it with the many artists, colleagues and friends who have been at the center of my professional and personal life for the past 30 years. I'm proud that music is the only industry I have ever worked in. Music has given me opportunity and fulfillment beyond measure, and I'm grateful for that."

Grainge also talked about his career in A&R at MCA Records in the 1980s, adding that "I was a talent scout then, and I'm a talent scout now."

Previous winners of the award include Sir George Martin, Harvey Goldsmith and the late Ahmet Ertegun, and artists and musicians including Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Kylie Minogue and Peter Gabriel.

Grainge is marking his thirtieth anniversary in the music industry, having worked with artists including Eurythmics, U2, Sir Elton John, Take That, Metallica, Snow Patrol, Amy Winehouse, Mika and Duffy, the biggest U.K. debut artist this year.

Grainge has also been invited by culture secretary Andy Burnham to take part in the "Creative Britain" conference next October, acting as an ambassador for British talent.

Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy and the BRIT School, the two charities that are supported by the annual Music Industry Trusts' Award, received a record-breaking £568,593 ($897,577) from this year's event. It was sponsored by mobile manufacturer Nokia, London-based media investment firm Ingenious Media and U.K. collecting societies PPL and PRS.

Bono joins Starbucks to help AIDS victims

2008-11-05T06:02:00.000-08:00

Andrea James

Rock singer Bono gave a surprise speech Wednesday at Starbucks' managers conference in New Orleans, bringing star power to the company's announcement of a partnership with (RED), a private organization that benefits AIDS programs in Africa.

Walking on stage, Bono joked, "I was going to jump out of a cranberry scone, but maybe not." His appearance was even kept secret from the rest of his U2 band members, he said.

Seattle-based Starbucks will donate 5 cents to the Global Fund for each holiday beverage it sells from Nov. 27 through Jan. 2. After that, Starbucks will designate certain products as (RED), which will benefit the Global Fund.

"Here we are, talking about the economy tanking. People are saying, 'Maybe the world doesn't need more coffehouses.' And what do you do? What does Starbucks do? You decide to give your money away," Bono said to thunderous applause from the thousands of store managers and others gathered at New Orleans Arena.

"This is not charity. This is commerce."

The Global Fund, created in 2002, provides money to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Bono and Bobby Shriver founded (RED) in 2006 to benefit the Global Fund. (RED) also joins with American Express in the United Kingdom, Apple, Converse, Gap, Emporio Armani, Hallmark, Dell and Microsoft.

Bono and Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz presented the news to about 10,000 Starbucks employees and store managers. Starbucks' last leadership conference took place in 2005, in Seattle.

Partnership details

Each day in Africa, 4,100 people die because they can't get the medicine they need, said Jenifer Willig, director of partners and marketing at (RED).

"This is an emergency," Willig said. "That's why we're the color red."

Two life-extending anti-retroviral pills per day cost 43 cents.

"If every single Starbucks customer bought one (RED) Holiday Exclusive (beverage) for a week, we would save 15,000 lives for a year in Africa," Starbucks Senior Vice President Michelle Gass said.

All Starbucks company-owned and licensed stores in the U.S. and Canada are participating. The partnership is part of Starbucks "Shared Planet" commitment, started this week. Shared Planet promises that Starbucks will do business in ways that are good to the earth and people.

The Starbucks beverages that help the fund are peppermint mocha twist, gingersnap latte and espresso truffle. (RED) products do not cost extra.

Starbucks and (RED) began talking earlier this year. About six months ago, Gass met up with Don MacKinnon, president of (RED) Content. They talked over lunch at Pike Place Market.

"Don and I have kept in touch. He used to work for Starbucks; he used to run our music business," Gass said. "Over lunch he started telling me about what (RED) was up to. It really struck an emotional chord with me."

Starbucks buys coffee from 10 African countries: Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. And Starbucks plans to open farmer-support centers in Ethiopia and Rwanda next year. (In 2007, Starbucks responded to pressure from Ethiopia and Oxfam America by signing a marketing deal regarding specialty coffee names that would boost coffee prices.)

Because of Starbucks' connection to Africa, a partnership with (RED) seemed like a "natural extension," Gass said.

Starbucks paid an undisclosed licensing fee to (RED) and will donate directly to the Global Fund. The partnership is a multiyear commitment and could help thousands, depending on sales.

Year of change

The New Orleans leadership conference comes toward the end of a tumultuous year at Starbucks. Starbucks decided to hold the elaborate event, despite layoffs and store closures, to energize employees, Schultz has said.

Starbucks has been suffering from declining sales, but Schultz told reporters Wednesday that Starbucks' sales declines have "bottomed out." Sales didn't decrease this month as fast as they had last quarter.

The company plans to release fourth-quarter results Nov. 10. Wall Street analysts are largely expecting profit and revenue to drop from the same period a year ago.

Moving forward amid the economic turmoil, Schultz said, "requires a very disciplined, thoughtful approach."

Schultz told employees at the end of Wednesday's session, "It's hard to sit through all this and not get emotional. We've been through a lot this year."

Some of the changes announced this week in New Orleans will be visible in stores, which are being outfitted with new ordering and labor scheduling systems. Desktops in each store's backroom will be replaced with Hewlett-Packard laptops. (The laptop announcement got a standing ovation.)

Baristas will wear red aprons.

Because Starbucks will give profit away to help Africans, Bono tried to address shareholder concerns by saying that customers will respond to the (RED) campaign.

"You can't measure the true success of a company on a spreadsheet," said Bono, who wore sunglasses on the indoor stage. "I can't believe I just said the word spreadsheet. ... Don't tell the fans."

Starbucks stock was up slightly in after-hours trading Wednesday

U2 Set Sale For a New Horizon

2008-08-05T06:33:00.000-07:00

Exclusive: New Studio Album & Tracklist Revealed
It's the beautiful day millions of U2 fans around the globe have waited patiently to see for the past four years.

Now we can reveal details of the supergroup's long-awaited new album.

It is believed to be titled No Line On The Horizon and will be on sale in music stores on November 14.

The band's record company Universal has already registered the internet domain name nolineonthehorizon.com -- prompting speculation this will be the new record.

And among the songs to be released on what many music insiders are calling the band's best work to date are "Moment of Surrender," "For Your Love," "Love Is All We Have Left" and "One Bird."

Others include "If I Could Live My Life Again," "The Cedars of Lebanon" and "No Line On The Horizon."

Earlier this week a 19-strong film crew headed to the Spanish city of Cadiz to shoot a video for the band's first single from the new album although the band were not believed to be present.

Last night an insider said the U2 machine is gearing up for the release of one of the most keenly-awaited albums in recent years.

"The album is more or less all in the bag except for a few minor details," the source revealed. A lot of people have been waiting a long time for this album as they do with every U2 album.

"But the word coming out is that the band is very, very happy with the end product and when U2 are happy it should be quite a piece of work. They're not easy to please."

Legendary producer Steve Lillywhite, who has worked with U2 for more than two decades, said the new album had blown him away.

It is the first original work since the band released the smash-hit How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb in November 2004. It sold an incredible 10 million copies and picked up eight Grammy Awards.

But music commentators think the new record could be even bigger for Bono, the Edge, Larry and Adam.

U2 are also expected to announce details of a huge worldwide tour, which would almost certainly include a number of nights at the new O2 Arena in the Dublin Docklands -- formerly known as the Point Theatre.

In a flurry of activity, the group have just re-released their first three albums -- Boy, October and War -- in extended formats and with previously unreleased tracks.
It has led to that rare thing -- U2 making a mistake.

A quantity of the re-released War albums have been printed with incorrect track listings inside a booklet.

But ironically, it won't hit sales, as the botched items are likely to become collector's pieces.

Like a Song: Tomorrow

2008-08-05T06:32:00.002-07:00

This is the 23rd in a series of personal essays by the @U2 staff about songs and/or albums that have had great meaning or impact in our lives.]

"Tomorrow" is one of those songs that is special to me. Not so much for its melody, composition, or lyrics. I don't like it in the same way I love the energy of "Elevation" or the moving story told in "One." But I recognize the simple, yet urgent question the song revolves around:

Won't you come back tomorrow?

A question to which the answer will always remain a stunning blow from reality.

No.

March 1, 1986. It was an early spring evening, just after dinner. My mother put a tape in the video recorder for me and my biovular twin sister. In all likelihood it was an episode of Nils Holgersson, a Swedish cartoon we adored.

My father wasn't feeling great, so he decided to go to bed for a while to see if he would feel any better. None of us could have imagined it would be the last time we saw him alive. But that evening, he died in his sleep. Without any warning, with no known illness. Only 36 years of age, leaving behind his wife and two 4-year-old girls.

Losing a parent at such an early age was an experience with great impact. Four-year-olds are just beginning to explore the world and become aware of other people and their relationship to them. Three to four years old is also the age at which we start to actively remember
significant events. The sad thing is, I don't have that many memories of my father. There's a handful of them, and everything else I know about him is through stories told by other people. So essentially, I miss someone I never really knew.

Outside
Somebody's outside
Somebody's knocking at the door
There's a black car parked
At the side of the road
Don't go to the door
Don't go to the door

After I became a U2 fan, I started reading up on the band's past to grasp some of its history. When I read about Bono's mother dying when Bono was 14, and then Larry's mother when he was 17, it gave me a sense of personal connection. Here were my newfound heroes, and they weren't sheltered from grief or misfortune. The death of their parents resembled my own experience: sudden and unannounced.

October was one of the last albums I bought, so it took a while until I heard "Tomorrow." But by then I already knew what the song was about. There was a palpable despair and fear in the song, fear of the awful truth that is inevitably revealed when "the door is opened." From the first time I heard it, it made me feel uncomfortable, because it gave me such a haunting sense of sadness. Although there are many differences -- Bono and Larry both lost their mothers instead of their fathers, and they were teenagers instead of young children -- the essence of the song remains the same: the longing of a child for a deceased parent. To me the song said: "I know how you feel, it's OK to be sad."

I'm going out
I'm going outside mother
I'm going out there

"Tomorrow" also became a symbol for the bond between the band members, emphasizing the remarkable relationship they have, especially the friendship between Bono and Larry. In a talk show interview in the '80s, Larry once said it was his favourite song.

In the book Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas, Bono admits that he can't remember his mother anymore, that he no longer knows what she looked like and what she was like. In a way, it must be even worse for him to not remember her, because he did know her for 14 years.

Who healed the wounds
Who heals the scars
Open the door
Open the door

For my mother, it was of course a great shock, suddenly being a widow, left behind with two little girls. She did her best to provide us with the security we needed, materially as well as mentally. The three of us developed a stronger bond, a bond that enabled us to mutually support one another while coping with such loss.

But as a child, I was quite serious about life and always less carefree than other kids my age. There was an awareness in the back of my mind that life wasn't just fun and that things could actually go wrong. There isn't always a safety net to save you when you lose your balance. Yet it also made me more independent, not expecting others to take care of things for me. I learned to think for myself and listen to my own intuition.

Of course, one gets used to the situation, so having only one parent is not something I think about every day. But sometimes, when relatives tell stories about my father, or when friends have funny accounts of things their fathers do, it makes me angry that my dad had to die so young and that I never had a chance to get to know him. It's a sense of frustration, which once again I can feel in the song, when Bono sings near the end:

I want you to be back tomorrow

I want it, I need it, yet it is impossible.

"Tomorrow" is a reminder that, however unwelcome, however unfair it may seem, death is a part of life. It eloquently expresses the emotions surrounding the death of a loved one in a harrowing piece of music and lyrics. That's why it will always be precious to me, like a gem: beautiful, but also hard.

Negotiations put U2 Tower in jeopardy

2008-08-05T06:32:00.001-07:00

Gavin Daly

The future of the planned U2 Tower in Dublin is uncertain, with negotiations ongoing between the backers of the €200 million project and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA).

Geranger, a consortium made up of U2, Ballymore Properties, property developer Paddy McKillen, and architect Norman Foster, was named preferred bidder for the project last October. Paul Maloney, chief executive of the DDDA, said last month that he expected an agreement by the end of July, but no deal has yet been reached on the 130-metre tower.

"Given current market conditions, the DDDA and Geranger Ltd have agreed to extend the negotiation period to allow for further analysis and for design issues relating to the Dodder bridge," a spokeswoman for the DDDA said last Friday.

The DDDA has refused to comment on the timescale for the negotiations, which focus on financial, legal and technical aspects of the project.

The property market has suffered a dramatic slump since Geranger submitted its proposal for the tower, which would be topped with a pod-shaped recording studio for U2. In its annual report, published last month, the DDDA said the U2 Tower was due to be completed in 2011.

The Watchtower, the 120-metre tower that is part of Harry Crosbie's Point Village development, is under construction, although architectural sources said that its design had been changed to allocate more floor space to offices rather than apartments.

U2 warn of 'fake' concert tickets

2008-08-05T06:31:00.000-07:00

Irish rock band U2 have warned fans that concert tickets currently being advertised for sale are not real, as they have not confirmed any live shows.

The group said reports claiming they are performing soon were "mistaken."

"There are no tour dates for the band at the moment, so please don't buy tickets for U2 shows you see advertised," they said in a statement.

The group added that any future concert announcements will be made first on their official website.

Last year they denied reports that claimed they were planning a series of concerts at the O2 arena in London.

The band have been working on new material since 2006, with producers including Rick Rubin, Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno.

A new album is expected later this year, and many online agencies are advising fans to pre-register for a predicted world tour in 2009.

Bono remembers U2's "Boy"

2008-08-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

Bono

This could be the greatest comment on RollingStone.com ever: U2’s Bono was reading David Fricke’s review of the new reissue of Boy, and was moved to respond. Unfortunately, he maxed out our word limit in the comments section, so we’re just going to post his text in full here. We’re not going to attempt to boil it down, except to say that he does mention that the band is presently attempting to finish their most “complete and radical album yet.” Without further ado:

Entering the blogosphere, a review of BOY from the singer who was one at the time of recording… We the members of said post punk combo are very complimented by DAVID FRICKES 4.5 star review of our debut, an album we always believed in. I remember now a generous JON PARELES review from the VILLAGE VOICE in 1980, a line something along the lines of “this is peter pan, I hope they break up before they grow up”. Anyway, as my band mates and I attempt to finish our most complete and radical album yet, here’s my why and what i think is right and wrong about BOY having listened to it for the first time in over twenty years if you start from the pseudo british accent and the little reported fact that the singer sounds like a girl, things don’t look too promising …the annoying gene is present in self consciousness and self immolation… you do want to give the singer a slap for lots of reasons but let’s start with the pretentiousness….the singer has obviously been listening to SIOUXIE AND THE BANSHEES, JOY DIVISION and a few others whose combined archness and artfulness was just too much for the freckled face teenager from northside of DUBLIN…. neither fully protestant or catholic, IRELAND had left the boy with a face like a baked bean and in search of a nonregional identity…a theme that continues to the present.

As for the non lyrics that Wunderkind STEVE LILYWHITE had begged him to no avail to write… well….the excuse is that in the manner of another POP idol, IGGY, they were for the most written live on the microphone ..this was noble in its search for authenticity but a very flawed idea that almost gauges the eyes out of the albums open face but alas, the strengths way out weigh the weaknesses…maybe because it was an album about vulnerability.. BOY eschews the usual subject matter of rock and roll’s hurry to deface its own innocence through knowingness, sex, drugs etc in favour of a refusal to grow up …think GUNTER GRASS’s Tin Drum VOLKER SCHLONDORFs film of the novel released the same year as BOY…

if ninetynine percent of rock and roll is about sex this one percenter is about virginity and not wanting to lose it…maleneÿss is more elusive here and I can see now why the album had such a connection in the gay community with songs like TWILIGHT and STORIES FOR BOYS.

Then there is the galling religious audacity of writing a song about agape love at eighteen years old….that alone deserves some gold stars as well as the custard pies.. I WILL FOLLOW is still a rush and a marker for innovation (the percussion in the drop was a bicycle spinning, wheels upside down and played like a harp with a kitchen fork…)

ADAM CLAYTONs bass is a revelation to me on this listen, and up there with JOHN ENTWISLE and PETER HOOK in its inventiveness… LARRY MULLEN too is jumping through hoops to create a circus of tom tom parts and spectral spectre like snaring…. giddying up and clearing the fence every time…. I agree with DAVID FRICKE that they are not yet a rhythm section in the traditional sense but maybe something more interesting … the ‘weight’ of U2….Steve LILYWHITES production deserves a lot of credit here for its sonic prowess, big music in little hands..

But the star of the show is THE EDGE some guitar credit must be shared with the groups that helped shape us,
people like PINK FLOYD, PIL and TELEVISION… guitar players like STUART ADAMSON VINNIE REILLY etc but there is something happening here that is truly special…EDGEs genuine genius developing on the blank and bleached
photographic paper…. avoiding all the obvious blues scales that blind every other guitar player that ever heard LED ZEPPELIN …THE EDGE finds some new colours for the spectrum of rock. Colours he now owns … owning a colour, wow .. imagine owning the colour yellow like VAN GOGH… EDGE owns, well im not exactly sure what colours they are… indigo or violet or crimson?… but you sense an emotional colour temperature that is unique to him… its his palette we’re painting from. he’s following the jazzmen’s maxim to “own your own tone and you will become contagious ” and as a result you can hear him show up in lots of rooms hes not in, isn’t that right…?

Surely this is the most influential guitarist since the great composers JIMMY PAGE, PETE TOWNSEND,NEIL YOUNG but remember he doesn’t have the history of the blues to plumb, these are unchartered waters…was to the English psychedelic revival we were also inspired by and plundering .. THE TEARDROP EXPLODES and ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN…they were better than us no doubt about it…with ECHOs CROCODILES a better debut on pretty much
every level… that and their next album HEAVEN UP HERE having the same effect on their moment as RADIOHEADS BENDS AND OK COMPUTER. It was all there… songwriting, playing and standing in front of the mirror type coolness but of course the pursuit of coolness is rarely the same thing as the pursuit of art. This was obvious to a lot of our contempories too BUT maybe not enough..im not not talking about Teardrops or the Bunnyrabbits or Wah Heat! but for many of our peers, the most important bit was lifestyle and the fashion piece which we clearly were not very good at. And it is very very important…An almost essential companion to greatness… From ELVIS to THE BEATLES THE WHO to THE STONES THE CLASH to PRINCE, STYLE has been part of rocks revolution and evolution…. our only addition is comedic failure to fit into the grey or vivid clothes of rebellion and the crime of thinking no veneer was the utterly radical way to look and sound…and then there’s the other thing, the lifestyle….of course the life of the artist is always more compelling than being an artist. To live in the garret with a knife in your hand and a bleeding ear is more romantic than the fragility that leaves open the wound … Bohemia is more attractive than suburbia but maybe you don’t live there, maybe you live on a street which is like any other street where the opera that goes on behind parted curtains is more than enough…..It was briefly for U2.

you can have everything the songs, the production, the face, the attitude but still not have “IT”…U2 had nothing really, nothing but ‘IT’… For us music was a sacrament …an even more demanding and sometimes more demeaning thing than music as ART, we wanted to make a music to take you in and out of your body, out of your comfort zone, out of your self, as well as your bedroom, a music that finds you looking under your bed for God to protect your innocence…

…i’m proud of this little Polaroid of a life I cant fully recall. As well as the ability to make embarrassing mistakes, the demands of a great debut might be fresh ideas, fresh paint and sometimes for its canvas, a fresh face.

I miss my boyhood.

Bono

U2 Hits the Studio in Dublin

2008-05-13T06:41:00.002-07:00

U2 Hits the Studio in Dublin
Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

U2 has hit the studio in Dublin to continue work on its next album with longtime collaborators Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. "We're going to try and break new sonic ground and deliver a masterpiece," Lanois tells Billboard.com. "The sleeves are rolled up. Bono is all charged up with a lyrical angle."

As previously reported, U2, Eno and Lanois have spent time working on new material on three prior occasions in France and Morocco, and Lanois confirms the results are prolific.

"There's so much material," he says, referring to speculation that the sessions could yield two new albums. "When you get Eno and I and those guys in the room, before lunch there's like eight things."

"We've had some exciting beginnings via jam sessions," he continues. "Now we will pick our favorite beginnings and say, 'OK, that's a lovely springboard. Now what are we trying to say?' The springboards are sometimes melodic, sometimes riff-based, but I can assure you they are exciting."

There's no date yet for the project, which will be the follow-up to 2004's "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb."

In other U2 news, the group has contributed to a new charity single, "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew," proceeds from which will benefit the cancer-stricken Irish artist of the same name. The track will be available in Ireland only as a download beginning Friday (Feb. 22) and week later on CD.

In addition to U2, "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" features appearances by the Pogues' Shane MacGowan, the Frames' Glen Hansard, Sinead O'Connor, Andrea Corr, Damien Dempsey, Ronan Keating, Chris de Burgh, Gavin Friday and members of the Dubliners.

10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About U2

2008-05-13T06:41:00.001-07:00

By Aidin Vaziri

“We’re not Irish,” The Edge once announced on national television. “Honestly, we’re not. We’re from Duluth, but we saw this Irish Spring commercial one day and we just went, ‘That’s it, we’ll be Irish.’” Naturally, the guitarist’s faux confession was for a comedy bit called “U2 Secrets” on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Since forming in 1976, U2 have been mostly drama-free, with their original lineup still cranking out the massive hits over 30 years later. But that doesn’t mean you know everything about them.

1. That’s Sir Bono to you. Even though he’s not technically qualified for the royal title, in 2007 the Irish-born U2 frontman received an Honorary Knighthood from the Queen of England. At the ceremony, the singer, born Paul Hewson, joked that his son, “thought I was becoming a Jedi.”

2. The same year, U2 ranked No. 22 on Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list. The band’s robust bank account may have had to do with manager Paul McGuinness encouraging the band to move their songwriting catalog from Ireland to a tax shelter in Amsterdam.

3. Bono is the only person who has been nominated for an Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe, and a Nobel Prize. He was nominated three times for the latter. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world twice, and made him Person of the Year in 2005 along with Bill and Melinda Gates. “He was every bit the geek that we are,” Gates Foundation chief Patty Stonesifer told the magazine. “He just happens to be a geek who is a fantastic musician.”

4. Before deciding on the name U2, the band tried out the Larry Mullen Band, Feedback, and the Hype. They settled on U2 after browsing a list of suggestions from a family friend, punk musician Steve Averill. It was the name they hated the least.

5. Even though it is now universally reviled as a half-formed collection of songs and blight on U2’s otherwise pristine discography, the group’s techno-heavy ninth studio album Pop debuted in the No. 1 position in 32 countries when it was originally released in March 1997. Rolling Stone issued it four stars out of five, declaring they’ve “made some of the greatest music of their lives.”

6. Following in the footsteps of the Beatles, the Band, and the Who, U2 were the fourth rock band ever to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. The April 29, 1987 cover featured the band’s name in flames with the headline, “Rock’s Hottest Ticket.”

7. Many fans believe 1987’s The Joshua Tree was originally intended to be a double album, a theory backed by the fact that singles such as “With Or Without You” and “Where the Streets Have No Name” came with a bounty of quality b-sides that would put most other bands’ main output to shame. Bono further fanned the flames when he admitted, “The album is almost incomplete. ‘With or Without You’ doesn't really make sense without ‘Walk to the Water’ or ‘Luminous Times.’ And ‘Trip Through Your Wires’ doesn’t make that much sense without ‘Sweetest Thing.’”

8. The band’s fourth album, 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire, was named after a series of paintings created by survivors of the atomic bomb attacks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Because of the band’s strong Christian roots, many people believe it has to do with Bono’s strong affinity for the Bible. But 1981’s October remains the only album with overtly religious lyrics.

9. The sunglasses aren’t just there to make Bono look like a rock star. The U2 singer says he has an allergy to salicyclates: “That means I lose my voice or I fall asleep in the strangest places, like once on the lighting board for Sonic Youth, one of the loudest concerts in the world. And I get red eyes, which is one of the reasons I wear glasses.”

10. Larry Mullen Jr. gets regular injections of bull’s blood. Bill Flanagan’s book, U2 at the End of the World, claims the drummer uses the holistic treatment for dealing with a bad back: “Bono says Larry tried different doctors without success until he went to a German who brought in a holistic healer who started giving Larry shots of bull’s blood. That did the trick! Larry’s Irish doctor refuses to accept it―he looks at X rays of Larry’s crooked spine and says it’s impossible, but Larry feels fine. He flies to Germany for shots of bull’s blood regularly.”

Bono Praised for Charity Efforts

2008-05-12T04:37:00.000-07:00

Rocker Bono and artist Damien Hirst were praised last night at a Valentine's Day charity auction for raising more than $40 million for AIDS relief. Now that's impressive!

The U2 star teamed up with Hirst to head "The (Red) Auction" event at the Gagosian Gallery in New York City, which sold off contemporary art to the highest bidders.

Jasper Johns, Chuck Close, Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, Matthew Barney, Banksy, Richard Prince and Antony Gormley were among the 100 artists who donated masterpieces.

Auctioneers Sotheby's have hailed the $42.6 million that was raised as one of the biggest single charity events in history. Organizers were originally hoping to raise around $29 million. All proceeds from the fundraiser will be donated to the United Nations' HIV relief initiative in Africa.

Kudos to celebrities like Bono that actually use their celebrity status for a good cause!

U2 tower now ready for Elevation

2008-05-11T17:27:00.001-07:00

After years of planning, wrangling and rowing, it finally looks like the landmark U2 tower is finally set to get off the ground. Plans for the Liffey highrise remain on course even though a formal agreement with the developers has still not been struck.

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) said negotiations between it and the preferred bidders -- a consortium including U2 members -- "are due to be completed shortly."

The DDDA expects "construction of the tower to begin by the end of this year or early next year," a spokesman said.

Geranger Ltd. was chosen by the DDDA as the preferred bidder for the €200m project on Britain Quay in October, beating off competition from Sean Dunne's Mountbrook Homes.

Geranger, a consortium consisting of Ballymore Properties, developer Paddy McKillen and the members of U2, plans to build a skyscraper soaring 60m higher than the Spire.

ENERGY

The scheme contains a design for an egg-shaped recording studio suspended beneath a battery of vertical wind turbines and a huge solar panel at the top. This "energy centre" will raise the overall height from 130 metres to 180 metres.

The Geranger project, a tilted triangular tower designed by Foster & Partners, will include a public viewing platform offering panoramic views over the city and Dublin Bay.

This will be located just below U2's "pod" studio, which will be separated from the structure for acoustic reasons.

Norman Foster's practice is best known for the Swiss Re or "Gherkin" tower in the city of London.

DDDA director of architecture John McLaughlin said that the Foster scheme "had the edge because its public spaces were really well handled" and it provided a gateway to a bridge over the Dodder where it joins the Liffey.

In addition to the tower, which will largely comprise luxury apartments, the scheme includes a five-star hotel in a flanking building, and a block of 34 social and affordable apartments.

U2 attend U23D premiere in Dublin

2008-05-05T15:04:00.001-07:00

The band arriving at Cineworld in Dublin for the premiere of U23D. Shakily captured by 'U2Neat'.

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