Friday, August 28, 2009

1 Goal


1 Goal is an organisation made by FIFA that has pledged to leave a lasting legacy of Education to Africa and the world and is asking everyone to get involved - sponsors, broadcasters, partners and most importantly, people like you and me.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the world’s biggest single sporting event, with over half the world watching, a time when millions come together to share the passion of football. With all eyes turning to South Africa for 2010, this is a moment for all of us to shine and give education to children in the world’s poorest countries. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the most watched and talked about event of the year. It is also the first ever FIFA World Cup to take place in Africa. Together we can make sure that everyone wins – and leave a legacy that lasts beyond the final whistle.

Today, 75 million children around the world are denied the opportunity to go to school. These children could be the next generation's leaders, sport stars, doctors and teachers. But without an education they are confined to a life of poverty. They’re ready to do their homework—but school fees, conflict, working in factories and farms, losing their parents to sickness, the cost of a school uniform or sometimes simply being a girl keeps them from being able to attend school. Whatever their background - orphans, refugees, poor, disabled, child soldiers, child labourers, from disadvantaged backgrounds – the result is the same – denied the chance to learn they will never be able to fulfil their potential.

Among others who support this cause are: Queen Rania , Bob Geldoff, Kevin Spacey,Bono and football stars such as Thierry Henry (France), Gary Lineker (England), Michael Owen (England), Marcel Desailly (France), Antony Baffoe (Ghana), Mark Fish (South Africa), John Paintsill (Ghana) , Stephan Appiah (Ghana), Ivan Cordoba (Columbia), Javier Zanetti (Argentina) and many more

NLOTH: Grammy Potential

The LA Times takes an early look at contenders for the next Album of the Year Grammy Award

It's U2, friends. This is the band that opened the 2009 Grammy Awards, despite not even having an album in contention during last year's eligibility period.The band won album of the year for "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" in 2006, and also won for "The Joshua Tree" in 1988. That being said, the album isn't generating the kind of sales heat that greeted "Atomic Bomb," and no single from "No Line" has truly broken out. Yes, "No Line" and U2 will be nominated for multiple Grammys, but the only question is where.

And it continues:

“Here’s where things get a little interesting. U2’s last two albums were nominated for album of the year trophies, the aforementioned “Atomic Bomb,” plus “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” in 2002. But “No Line” is a significantly better record than both. It’s not perfect — witness the predictably sparkly phone-in-the-air rock ballad “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” — but by and large, “No Line” is U2 back to its risk-taking self. “Moment of Surrender,” in particular, is an extended gospel-influenced rock ‘n’ soul cut that’s all about relaxing into a groove rather than going for the stadium chorus. In short, if voters recognized U2’s last two albums, they can’t overlook this one, as it’s the superior effort.


source: www.atu2blog.com

It's overblown, pompous rock 'n' roll and it's amazing'


Glasvegas supported U2 in Dublin and in Cardiff.

This is what the band's guitarist Paul Donohue says:


"We were all such big U2 fans growing up that playing with them is mad!" Although the band were famously on the dole while writing their self-titled debut album, Glasvegas have had to get used to that privileged feeling in the last 18 months, having been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and hand-picked by Bono for this occasion. "I think we've learned to take everything in our stride," says Donohue.

"There are still big surprises every day, but we have learned how to handle those a bit better, because to be honest we are still learning to adapt. We have gone from being on the dole to this. What has been hardest to handle is the travelling, particularly the European festival circuit. At one point we did eight consecutive days in different countries. Until then we didn't realise how in-demand we are."

But supporting U2 guarantees the focus will be off Glasvegas and they couldn't be happier because, as Paul says, "The best thing about this tour is we get to watch U2 four times. The stage is the greatest thing I've ever seen. It's got four big legs, looks like a giant spider, and it's got a platform to get around the crowd. "It's U2 man. It's overblown, pompous rock 'n' roll and it's amazing!"

© South Wales Echo, 2009.

source:www.atu2.com//southwalesecho

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

"My Way"


My Way , the famous album by Frank Sinatra, originally released in 1969 will be relaunched by the end of the year.

The album is a collection of contemporary pop songs, such as Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson", and The Beatles' "Yesterday", French songs such as "If You Go Away", and of course the anthemic title song "My Way", which effectively became Sinatra's theme song in this latter stage of his career.

My Way was reissued by Concord Records in 2009 to mark its 40th Anniversary. Two bonus tracks were included, and new liner notes from Bono. The bonus tracks were a rehearsal of "For Once in My Life" from 1969, for Sinatra's eponymous Emmy Award nominated 1969 television special, Sinatra, and a live 1987 performance of "My Way" at the Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas.

Bono's liner notes had previously appeared as his New York Times Op-ed column on January 9, 2009. The article discussed Bono's personal relationship with Sinatra, and Sinatra's thoughts on Miles Davis. Bono also mused on Sinatra's performances of "My Way", and the new year.

Bono had sung with Sinatra "I´ve got you under my skin" in 1993.

Crazy in September

The single "I´ll go crazy if I don´t go crazy tonight" will be released on September 7th.
It is accompanied by two videos - one of which was created by Irish animation filmmaker David O'Reilly, and is the first animated clip for the band since 1995's 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me'. The second is a live-action video filmed in Barcelona on the 360 Tour and directed by Alex Courtes, who also directed the music videos for Magnificent and Get On Your Boots.


I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight will be released online, and as a CD with a live version of Magnificent, recorded at the Somerville Theatre in Boston in March 2009. The single will also be available on 7" vinyl backed with the Dirty South Remix, and as a maxi single with the Dirty South, Fish Out Of Water and Redanka remixes. The artwork for the single features a still from the David O'Reilly video, and a live shot from the 360 Tour.






source:www.u2.com

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Last Night in Europe

Cardiff was the last European destination of 360°. The second leg starts in September in USA.

U2.com has posted:

Edge was wearing a Wales t-shirt with a Welsh dragon on it tonight, celebrating U2's return to the land of his fathers. Bono paid tribute to both Edge's father and his mother - specifically for lending the band money in the early days, which kept them going. As you'd expect in a country known for its singing and a stadium which is home to Wales rugby team, the audience for this final show of the European leg of U2 360 was beyond loud.



Setlist
1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau – Beautiful Day – Blackbird
6. Mysterious Ways
7. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – Stand By Me
8. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
9. Unknown Caller
10. The Unforgettable Fire
11. City Of Blinding Lights
12. Vertigo
13. Crazy Tonight
14. Sunday Bloody Sunday – Oliver’s Army
15. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
16. MLK
17. Walk On
18. Where The Streets Have No Name
19. One
20. Bad – 40
21. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment of Surrender


source:www.u2.com//www.u2gigs.com

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Bono & Ali: Happy Wedding Anniversary!




Bono and Ali have been married for 20 years now and their anniversary coincided with Andrea Corrs´ wedding.
Irish singer Andrea Corr wed her fiancée Brett Desmond in a church ceremony in County Clare on Friday.
Among the guests at the nuptials were U2 frontman Bono and his wife Ali.

source:/www.hellomagazine.com

"Disappearing Act"

The album "The Unforgettable Fire" is about to be relaunched with new remasterization. "Disappearing Act" is a new track that is included in the album.
You can here a snippet here.



source:www.u2france.com

Friday, August 21, 2009

360° in Don Valley Stadium Sheffield, 20th August



Still one of the best U2 songs, more live!!!!!!!!


U2.com said about the show:

Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield tonight, a show that went out live on air to milllions of radio listeners in the UK and around the world to U2.com subscribers with a live audio stream.

U2 first played here in May 1980 on the 11'O'Clock Tick Tock Tour and last played the city in June 1992 on ZOO TV. And there's another connection: Sheffield is the city that gave the world Willie Williams, the band's Show Designer, who is celebrating a birthday - something 45,000 of us joined in with tonight, by singing him Happy Birthday.

'Where are we going?' Bono asked, as the band introduced 'Magnificent'. 'Rotherham, Doncaster, Leeds, Manchester?' Sheffield was the northern town he was looking for and Sheffield gave the penultimate night of the European 360 Tour a show to remember.

So just Cardiff now and then Europe is done... and North America beckons in September...

Setlist
1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Beautiful Day – Blackbird
6. Elevation
7. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – Movin’ On Up
8. Happy Birthday
9. Stuck In A Moment
10. Unknown Caller
11. The Unforgettable Fire
12. City Of Blinding Lights
13. Vertigo
14. Crazy Tonight – Reverend Black Grape – Two Tribes
15. Sunday Bloody Sunday – Oliver’s Army
16. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
17. MLK
18. Walk On – You’ll Never Walk Alone
19. Where The Streets Have No Name – Gloria
20. One
21. Mysterious Ways
22. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
23. With Or Without You
24. Moment of Surrender



source:www.u2.com//www.u2fanlife.com

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Lunch with Bono


Edith Bowman interviewed Bono and Edge for BBC Radio on 19th August:

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

U2: Still the greatest show in town


360° Tour in Hampden Park, Glasgow, 18th August.


The Herald said:

U2's set was heavy with songs from new album No Line on the Horizon, which reached number one in 30 countries, but the band's impressive back catalogue formed the backbone of the performance.

A subdued start in the drizzling rain soon warmed up when Bono referenced the band's early introduction to Glasgow in the less auspicious Barrowlands venue before launching into hits Elevation and Beautiful Day. A string of memorable tunes soon had the vast crowd singing and dancing.

Bono claimed the 360 tour to be "intimacy on a grand scale" but the man who has been performing for nigh-on 30 years surely knows that intimacy is the last thing needed when projecting to the peanut gallery. Everything, from his grand arm gestures to the light display beaming from the Claw, had the Irish rock hero controlling the crowd - even during a worthy dedication to Aung San Suu Kyi.

While Bono may fancy himself to be part rocker, part preacher, the crowd were merely there to enjoy the band's litany of tunes, and for those who made the effort to crawl through the clogged traffic, the spectacle was more than worth it.


Though the sound failed during the performance of "Walk On", the show was as great as any other.

The Scotsman published:

THEY redefined the epic pop show with Zoo TV, they have emerged from inside a giant lemon and have already made the onstage phone call to the world's most powerful man on previous tours. So what is left for U2 to aim for in the concert arena?

The rather old-school notion of playing a gig in the round, as it turns out. This being U2, their 360 tour is a tad more ambitious.
U2 made a statement from the moment their fans arrived. To make the most obvious allusion, it looked like a massive cartoon spaceship had landed...

Sound problems briefly threatened to derail the juggernaut just at the point when Bono was singing his heart out in support of jailed Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but there were other ways to get the message of solidarity across, as the stage was ringed with supporters holding masks of her face, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu beamed in a personal message of hope to introduce One. There were other tricks still up their sleeve – literally, in the case of Bono's laser lightshow attached to his jacket and, prettiest of all, a mirrorball effect beamed from the apex of the spaceship during With Or Without You, before the foursome strolled off together the way they had arrived.


Setlist

1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Beautiful Day – Here Comes The Sun
6. Elevation
7. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – Movin’ On Up
8. Stuck In A Moment
9. Unknown Caller
10. The Unforgettable Fire – A Day Without Me
11. City Of Blinding Lights
12. Vertigo
13. Crazy Tonight – Two Tribes
14. Sunday Bloody Sunday
15. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
16. MLK
17. Walk On
18. Where The Streets Have No Name – All You Need Is Love
19. One
20. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
21. With Or Without You
22. Moment of Surrender


source:www.theherald.co.uk//www.news.scotsman.com//pics:www.u2gigs.com


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Back in the Balkans

NBC report on U2 meeting up with Alma Catal – a victim of the Bosnian War.

Alma featured in the Bill Carter film Miss Sarajevo, and met the band for the first time on the PopMart Tour.

"U2 music united us," Alma said.




source:www.msnbc.msn.com

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Another Amazing Night in Wembley

Another special night and the band mixed up the set list again.

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
Until The End of the World
New Year's Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stay
Unknown Caller
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name of Love)
MLK
Walk On
Where The Streets Have No Name
One
(Bad)
--------
Ultraviolet
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender


source:www.u2.com//www.u2gigs.com

Saturday, August 15, 2009

The Claw: To Be Given Away?

Mark Fisher says U2 will play Australia and South America


Architect Mark Fisher said "part of the tour will finish in Australia and another part of the tour will finish in South America.He also said that the band was discussing the possibility of donating the three Claw structures for use as concert venues, in different parts of the world.




source:www.news.bbc.co.uk

Record-breaking Audience for First Wembley Night

'I think something's going to happen tonight.' predicted Bono, just a few songs into the opening show at Wembley Stadium. It did too. First The Hours and then Elbow, with a particularly winning set, had caught the mood on a balmy summers evening and from the moment Larry opened up Breathe, the momentum barely slowed.

Too many stand-outs to list but some of them included: a stomping version of 'Crazy' turning the neighbourhood into a disco; the joyful stadium karaoke of Unknown Caller; some breathtaking new visuals in Sunday Bloody Sunday and Walk On; the opening of 'Still Haven't Found' when 90,000 people took over the vocal; Bono reminiscing about his first visit to this city ( 'I slept on Waterloo Station as an 18 year old with a demo of our song Out of Control, the city's been good to us.' ) and a moving dedication of With or Without You 'For Beautiful Eunice Kennedy Shriver', longtime friend of the band who died earlier this week.

Setlist

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
Elevation
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stuck In A Moment (You Can't Get Out Of)
Unknown Caller
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name of Love)
MLK
Walk On
Where The Streets Have No Name
One
Mysterious Ways
--------
Ultraviolet
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender





source:www.u2.com//www.u2gigs.com

Friday, August 14, 2009

The Edge Pays Tribute to Les Paul

Edge playing a Les Paul at the Presidential Inauguration concert in February

'A legend of the guitar and a true renaissance man. Les Paul disproves the cliche that you can only be famous for one thing. His legacy as a musician and inventor will live on and his influence on Rock and Roll will never be forgotten.'

The Edge.

source.www.u2.com

Thursday, August 13, 2009

AfricanWell Fund: Bono´s Birthday´s Card


Each year when the African Well Fund hosts the Build a Well for Bono's Birthday fundraiser, donors are invited to leave their birthday wishes online. Those wishes and the total raised during the fundraiser are then collected into a card that is sent to Bono in care of Principle Management.

This year, $27,119.68 and 118 signatures were collected in honor of Bono's birthday. That total included $1,545 raised in honor of Adam Clayton's birthday through four online auctions. As in year's past, AWF board member Lara Wineman created the card that was sent to Principle Management.

Wineman answered a few questions about the card she created this year and what inspires her Bono's Birthday Well projects.

How did you come up with the concept for the two cards?
It is actually one card and an envelope. I've been very intrigued by envelopes lately because of the mystery of what they can potentially contain. Since the beginning of this fundraiser seven years ago, there have always been multiple pages of messages for Bono so I've always tried to come up with a way to contain them all inclusively but in a way someone (who we all know is very busy) would want to hold them and be intrigued enough to look at them. Last year I bound them into a book; the year before I created a keepsake box they were placed into; this year, an envelope.

As far as the visual concept, I very much used the inspiration that U2's new album provides me. Their album art is very monotone and blends with "no horizons," so I tried to play around with using grays/blacks/whites and making them all flow together in a peaceful yet abstract and textural way. I also wanted the card itself to flow in and/or out of the envelope. We also know how important the color red is to Bono, so I used that for accent.

Although "Breathe" is the song on the album that lifts me the most, the lyrics to "Magnificent" are undeniably optimistic, and as I reflect on the work AWF has done it is because of love, really, that has left a mark on the lives of people only a few of us will ever be lucky enough to meet. I wanted to make sure there were images of the work AWF has done since that is the whole reason for the fundraiser, AWF's existence and the real "birthday present."

How long did it take you to create both of them?
I always lose track of time when I create things. Usually I have four to five different projects going on at the same time because I use so much paint and glue in my work (which take drying time), so it's impossible to discern how much each project takes individually. Also, creating is such a meditative process for me, I rarely even remember the specifics in creating most things. Overall, this project took three weeks for various reasons like vacation breaks, working 50 hours at my day job, etc.

What are the cards made out of?
Found objects and repurposing them (along with lyrics) inspire me the most. The envelope is from my office (the paint obscures any names and departments); there is a piece of screen my porch used to be made out of; the card is from chipboard pieces from various packaging; the key, heart and washer are from my junk drawer; and then spray paint in addition to acrylic paint and colored duct tape pull it all together. The stamp textures are found objects as well--corrugated cardboard, bubble wrap, caps from soda and pasta sauce jars.

The cards feature photos from the recent trip AWF board members took to Ghana. How did you select the photos you ended up using?
This was the absolute hardest part. There were so many amazing photos that tell amazing stories just by their images, but since I knew I could only feature a couple and not write lots of detail, I tried to find the photos that showcased the water project and the joy and celebration of the local villagers after receiving and using the gift. I am hoping the photos convey the joy that U2 and Bono fans from around the world contribute to every year in May.

What inspires you to take the time make these cards for Bono and AWF?
Obviously, I love to create and it is such an amazing honor that AWF appreciate[s] what I do and believe[s] in it enough to feel comfortable in letting it represent AWF and U2 fans. My family has always instilled in me since I could hold a crayon that the most special gifts are those that come from the heart and that are hand-created. It's not such a stretch that Bono has been my hero since 1984 and has inspired me in so many ways, I think of him as a very important person in my life and thus am more than honored to be able to hand-make him a birthday card and believe that he may actually see and appreciate it. My only hope is that other Bono fans are proud to have their messages included in this and represented in such a way.

Is there anything else you'd like to add about the cards?
Like many people these days, I am struggling financially, and I'd love to reiterate that helping AWF, or any other organization, does not always need to be in financial ways. I've worked with AWF since 2003 contributing more with my skills in graphics and web design than monetarily, and I know that this has helped in different ways. My opinion is no matter what your age, financial status, geography, there are ways to make the world a more humane place--even just passing along web links, telling people your story, making art ... builds hope.

by Devlin Smith

You can view the birthday card on AWF's Flickr page. You can view the birthday messages here.

source:www.africanwellfund.org

U2 Next Album in CMX Format

Sony, Warner, Universal and EMI to launch CMX album download format

The world’s big four record companies are to go head-to-head with Apple with the launch of a new form of album download that will include a digitised version of a record sleeve.
Sony, Warner, Universal and EMI are putting the finishing touches to an album format that will give music fans a computerised version of the sleeve notes that come as standard with a CD, including lyrics and artwork, and videos.
The format, due to be available in November, is aimed at boosting the sales of album downloads, which online buyers have failed to warm to despite a huge surge away from CD sales towards their digital counterparts. Although more than nine out of ten of all singles sales are made in digital form, for albums that figure is reversed.
“Ours will be a file that you click on, it opens and it would have a totally brand-new look, with a launch page and all the different options. When you click on it you’re not just going to get the ten tracks, you’re going to get the artwork, the video and mobile products.”

The new technology will initially be “soft-launched” to accompany only a few releases, possibly including the next album by U2.

source:www.technology.timesonline.co.uk

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

I Can Spy...


...Someone beginning with E(dge) who´s spying on A(dam)...Nice new pic by The Edge in Twitpic...Hold on I can spy someone beginning with B???

source:twitpic.com

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Worldwide condemnation at the conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi

U2 have joined the widespread condemnation at the conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's pro-democracy leader.

'This bunch of crooks that call themselves a government continue to rob the people of Burma of their rightful leader. This mock trial and its sham verdict is a signal not of junta strength but of fear and cowardice - fear of a sixty four year old woman whom they dare not even let walk down the street. What ASSK and her colleagues stand for cannot be locked up. The abuse of law and the use of military force to attempt to silence Burmese campaigners will not stop their calls for freedom and democracy being heard around the world.'


source:www.u2.com

Second night in Croatia

This is the set list of a magical night:

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
Mysterious Ways
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stuck In A Moment (You Can't Get Out Of)
Unknown Caller
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name of Love)
MLK
Walk On
Where The Streets Have No Name
One
--------
Ultraviolet
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender


ZAGREB — More than 120,000 fans from all over southeastern Europe have gathered in Zagreb to see legendary rock group U2 on their only stopover in the region on their current 360 Degree Tour of the world.

It is the Irish band's first visit to the region since their concert in Sarajevo in 1997. Local media have dubbed the two shows "the performance of the decade."

Some 63,000 people filled Zagreb's Maksimir Stadium on Sunday night, and as many again are expected at a second concert on Monday, organisers said.

More than 40,000 fans have arrived in the Croatian capital from countries including Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Slovakia and Romania.

The event has dominated news in the Croatian media for the past week, with detailed reports of the setting up of the stage on the home turf of the Dinamo Zagreb football club.

The futuristic décor is dominated by a huge metal structure nicknamed "the claw," which measures 50 metres (160 feet) and weighs 390 tonnes.

The opening concert on Sunday lasted around two hours and included songs from No Line on the Horizon, the band's 12th album which was released in February.

Zagreb is one of 15 European cities on the 360 Degree Tour, which began on June 30 in Barcelona and will end in October in Vancouver, Canada, with a total of 44 concerts scheduled.

By the end of the tour, the group will have performed before an estimated three million fans.

© 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.

source.www.u2.com//www.atu2.com//www.afp.com

Monday, August 10, 2009

A Night in Zagreb

'My how you've changed... such an old country, such a new country. Just getting started.' Bono´s words in the first concert in Zagreb, Croatia.



"Thank you for having us here in the majestic land of a thousand islands,' said Bono, introducing One, a song which seemed to sum up the evening. 'Wherever you come from in the region, thank you for coming, you make it even more majestic... you're from all over. Beautiful.' It was dedicated 'to everyone in this region who's had their warm hearts broken by cold ideas.'
Here's the set-list.


Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
Elevation
One
Until The End of the World
Stay (Far Away So Close)
Unknown Caller
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name of Love)
MLK
Walk On
Where The Streets Have No Name
--------
Ultraviolet
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender



source:www.u2.com//www.u2gigs.com

U2 in Croatian TV

The interview takes about 30 minutes and is very interesting.






Saturday, August 8, 2009

It Was 40 Years Ago Today...




Forty years ago , one of the pop world's most infamous and imitated album covers was shot in an ordinary-looking street in north London entering into history...

The idea for the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album was initially to call it Everest, after the favourite brand of cigarettes smoked by their engineer Geoff Emerik.

Then the thought of doing a Himalayan cover helped kill the idea, and instead they considered doing the shoot closer to home.

"There's a sketch Paul McCartney did with four little stick men crossing the Zebra," says Brian Southall, author of the history of Abbey Road Studios. On the 8 August 1969 that the Fab Four walked out of No 3 Abbey Road, having finished basic work on what would be their penultimate album.The photographer who took the famous cover shot was the late Iain Macmillan.

One of the most copied covers, a gift every fan ( and not so) wants to have when in London.

Hundreds of fans flocked to Abbey Road in northwest London, singing Beatles songs as they jammed the two-lane street around the zebra crossing in the well-heeled Saint John's Wood neighbourhood.

U2 and GreenDay also had their "Abbey Road" shoot.




source:www.news.bbc.co.uk//www.news.yahoo.com

"Never Seen Before!"


Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol was so knocked out by the show in Katowice that he sat down and wrote this piece for U2.com:

I had to write about this. I simply had to. I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here as this is U2's site and hallowed ground for all of you but this story needs to be told. The shows so far on this tour have all been amazing and each night the crowd's reaction to U2 has been loud and joyous and passionate. Last night in Poland though was something else. Hard to explain. Let me try. I have never in my life seen a crowd reaction like that of Katowice last night. Right from opener Breathe there was a daft magic in the air. Insanity everywhere you looked. People's faces clothed in the kind of joy I've only seen in gospel churches and then only on the TV so to see this religious fervour up close was overwhelming. The city outside the stadium could have been under heavy fire from alien spacecraft and I don't think anyone would have heard, saw, or indeed cared that much.

Then The Edge takes to the piano for New Year's Day (playing it guitar pick still between his fingers!) and the place is bathed in red and white instantly. Red cards held aloft by the people on the floor and white cards in the seats to make a giant Polish flag you could probably see from space. It took the breath clean out of me. By the end even Bono was speechless, for a few seconds anyway. The things he said next are lost to me verbatim but what I won't forget is the tears that came to me then. In floods. And when I turned to check if anyone had snared me for blubbing I realised that every single person around me also had tears in their eyes. We were sharing something that simply never happens at rock shows anywhere. A collective emotional and spiritual surrender of epic proportions. This was majesty and tenderness married and that is a rare thing indeed.

Last night was something I've never seen before and I can't quite fathom it. Not sure I ever will or even want to. It will sit alongside the greatest nights of my life and I thank U2 and Poland for that. Also thank you to the Polish U2 fans for giving us the best reaction to our own set we've had on this tour so far. All in all then a night of triumphs.

I would tour with this band (we all, us Patrollers, would) 'til the last grain of sand tipped gently into the bottom half of the hourglass and yes that sounds (and perhaps is, why not) a massive hint hint to stay on this magic carpet ride a little/a lot longer but believe me when I say this: this is the greatest show on earth. Why on earth would you buy just anyone's cockatoo? Long may they reign!

Gary Lightbody, aged 33, Bangor, Northern Ireland, Overwhelmed.x


source:www.u2.com

Friday, August 7, 2009

The Leadership Summit 2009


Bono is a speaker at the The Leadership Summit 2009 for the second time since 2006.


“We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies. But will we be that generation?”




Bono is the lead singer of Irish rock band U2, which has sold more than 140 million albums and won numerous awards, including 22 Grammys. A well-known activist in the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa, he co-founded DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) in 2002, The One Campaign in 2004, and Product (RED) in 2006, and was named TIME’s Person of the Year for 2005. Interviewed for the Summit in 2006, he challenged church leaders to mobilize against the ravages of global AIDS and poverty. Be a part of the continuing story, as Bono talks in an exclusive video about the church's inspiring response and about his continuing life journey as a "single issue protagonist."

"I´ll Go Crazy..." Vid Nominated for an Award


This year, the Ottawa International Animation Festival received a total of 2185 entries from 78 different countries. Of those, 91 short films and 7 feature films were chosen for competition. In addition, 59 showcase films were chosen to represent the efforts of the Canadian, Canadian TV, International, and Student communities. Among them:


source:www.animationfestival.ca

Happy Birthday, The Edge!!!


August 8th, is The Edge´s ,a.k.a. David Evans, birthday. Hope you have a great day with family and friends!!!



A great gift for our admired guitarist ...donate to Music Rising...

"I´ll Be With You Again"


Poland, Solidarity Movement, the great leader Lech Valesa ...all together made years ago the solid background for one of U2´s biggest songs."New Year´s Day".
"Something important is happening in Poland, and we thank you to be invited to your party!" said Bono.

U2.com has posted:

A spine-tingling night right from the start with a huge and passionate audience. If they weren't in red and white - great planning by the fans here again - they were in U2 shirts or in Music Rising shirts or even, dressed like PopTarts. The opening clutch of tracks suggested this was going to be some night but none of us could have predicted the ovation when New Year's Day arrived. What a response!!
Say it's true, it's true...
And we can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one.
With the flag of Solidarnosc on stage it felt like all the hopes and dreams of this audience were captured in a song. 'Something going on here. There's something going on in this country,' said Bono. 'We could feel it the last time we came. This country is going somewhere very special. Is it faith? Faith in the future. Poland! Europe needs more countries like Poland...'

We sang Happy Birthday to Edge tonight and it felt like everyone was celebrating a birthday. Was it the best show of the tour to date ? Who can tell?

As many fans said it wasn´t just a "gig", it was a celebration!



source:www.u2.com//pics-vids:u2gigs.com

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Poland, 6th August

Bono asked the audience to sing "Happy birthday" to The Edge as he will celebrate it on 8th and there won´t be a concert that day. The Polish audience was incredible!!

1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Beautiful Day – Blackbird
6. Elevation
7. New Year’s Day
8. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – Stand By Me
9. Stuck In A Moment
10. Happy Birthday
11. Unknown Caller
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. City Of Blinding Lights – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
14. Vertigo
15. Crazy Tonight – Two Tribes
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday – Rock The Casbah
17. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
18. MLK
19. Walk On – You’ll Never Walk Alone
20. Where The Streets Have No Name – The Whole Of The Moon
21. One
22. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
23. With Or Without You
24. Moment of Surrender

U2:Ego Warriors




This is an article by Dorian Lynskey that appeared in The Guardian on July 30, 2009, after the concert in Amsterdam.


Tuesday night in Amsterdam. Inside the city's ArenA, the colour green
floods a giant mosaic of video screens, below which stand the four members
of U2, three weeks into their 360 tour. As the band strike up "Sunday
Bloody Sunday," the screens flash images of protesters on the streets of
Tehran alongside lines in Farsi by the Persian poet Rumi. Thus, a song
written 26 years ago about political violence in Northern Ireland finds a
new and pressing context.

The sequence vividly illustrates U2's unique brand of stadium activism.
There's also a tribute to the incarcerated Burmese opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi during "Walk On," and a recorded message from Desmond Tutu for
the One campaign, co-founded by Bono to mobilise support for developing
country debt relief and HIV/AIDS treatment, among other issues. No
globally successful rock band has ever foregrounded politics for so many
years, let alone stalked the corridors of power to help thrash out deals,
which is why representatives from Amnesty and the World Food Programme
cross paths with Helena Christensen and Anton Corbijn in the VIP area.

Equally, the sequence demonstrates the limits of U2's approach. The band
have always worked on the principle that in the awareness-raising business
something, however imperfect, is better than nothing, but Iran-watchers
might justifiably argue that an emotive one-minute montage simplifies,
even trivialises, a complicated situation. It really depends on how much
imperfection you're willing to accept.

For U2's most dogged critics, the answer is: not much. Around the time of
Live 8, the travel writer Paul Theroux branded Bono one of the
"mythomaniacs -- people who wish to convince the world of their worth."

After U2 moved part of their business to the Netherlands to reduce their
tax burden in 2006, the Daily Mail dubbed the singer "St Bono the
Hypocrite." The Irish writer Eamonn McCann recently labelled U2's music "a
toxic cloud of fluffy rhetoric, a soundtrack for the terminally
self-satisfied."

The subject of such opprobrium sits in his Amsterdam hotel suite,
breakfasting on black coffee and cornflakes, and ponders the downside of
being the world's most famous rock star activist. "A little information
can do a lot of harm," he says, his voice hoarse from the previous night.
"A lot of people don't know what I do so they think, 'He's just turning up
in photographs with starving Africans or some president or prime minister.
We don't like that. Rock stars telling elected officials what to do, and
then they run back to their villas in the south of France. Fuck 'em.'"
But, he insists, "if you look into it you think, 'This guy works
two-and-a-half days a week at this, not being paid for it, and at cost to
his band and his family, and doesn't mind taking a kicking.'"

With his hair cropped short, and his body bunched and compact like a fist,
Bono resembles a retired boxer, jabbing the air to make his points. When I
meet the rest of U2 individually, their body language also speaks volumes.
Guitarist the Edge is serenely quiet and still, except when his eyes
crinkle slightly in concentration or mirth. Bassist Adam Clayton sprawls
louchely on a sofa, with a perpetual air of mild and mysterious amusement.
Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. leans forward intently, punctuating his responses
with an apologetic grimace as if, far from being the man who founded U2,
he had simply won a competition to be the drummer in a rock band. "Nothing
with U2 really makes sense," he says, eyes widening. "I have no idea how
we managed to get to this place."

The history of rock stars who take on politics is somewhat chequered. Bob
Dylan repudiated it, John Lennon tied himself in knots over it, and the
Clash were crushed by sky-high expectations. U2's activism has somehow
endured and flourished. Their political outlook was shaped by being young
and Irish in the late 1970s. As a result of temperament as much as
circumstance, U2 could neither play with Clash-style guerrilla chic nor
take sides.

"People in the south were always revolted by the acts of terrorism and
brutality in the north," says Clayton. "But to express it would have been
to sympathise with the Brits, so it was complicated. We were part of
finding a spiritual dimension to it rather than just standing at the
barricades."

In the early 1980s, U2 were racked by sincerity, applying to such baleful
issues as the Troubles, apartheid and the threat of nuclear war a
spiritual perspective influenced by soul music and Bob Marley. "You can
certainly hear that in the recordings," says the Edge. "Some of it's
overwrought and way too intense. There was almost a desperation in the
performances to make a connection, which didn't help at times. Our lives
seemed to depend on it. There was a sense that it could go all the way or
it could go nowhere."

Of course, it went all the way, and U2 clung to the principle of
accentuating the positive: "Pride (In the Name of Love)" mutated from an
attack on Ronald Reagan into a celebration of Martin Luther King.
Nonetheless, they acquired a grimly humourless image: "These are really
serious guys from war-torn Ireland and they've got a thing or two to tell
you," as Clayton drily puts it. Their 1992 Zoo TV tour introduced a
life-saving element of ironic distance, with its crank calls, costumes and
media overload. "By that point, we'd figured out that it's sometimes
enough to ask the right question," says the Edge. "You don't necessarily
have to come up with an answer."

In the last decade, things have got more complicated. U2's formidable
manager, Paul McGuinness, used to tell Bono that an artist's job was to
describe problems, not to fix them, but since Bono was first approached to
join the Jubilee 2000 debt-relief campaign, he has trod the minefield of
top-flight hands-on activism. It is an almost oxymoronic role: the rock
star diplomat. "Our job is to bring him back to his position as an
artist," says the Edge. "Artists don't have to deal in the muddy grey of
political reality. They can see things in black and white terms -- ideals.
There's an aspirational aspect to rock 'n' roll, whereas politics is just
one compromise after another."

Bono had the additional misfortune of having to twist arms in Washington
during a time when the most divisive president in decades was preparing to
launch the most divisive war in decades. As the Iraq fiasco deepened, Bono
maintained a diplomatic silence, and images of him beside a grinning
George Bush (whom Clayton dismissively refers to as "the other fella")
returned to haunt him. He is grateful to the film-maker Michael Moore for
kind words at the time. "He said, 'Look, this must be very difficult for
you, doing what you're doing while the rest of us are mobilising against
this war. I want you to know that you don't have to do everything -- you
just have to do something.' It was a great feeling."

But even with Bush gone, Bono relies on cross-party support for his
campaigns. Two weeks ago, he revealed to Jonathan Ross that he had dodged
a hug with Bush during a 2006 photo-op, and rightwing bloggers howled in
outrage, causing trouble for his campaigning partners. "It's very hard for
me to keep quiet about anything," he says, smiling. "I'm more used to
putting my foot in my mouth than I am biting my hand." He says he was
known "quietly" as an opponent of the war but refuses to demonise its
architects. "There are people who will be walking differently for the rest
of their lives because of their decision to invade Iraq," he says.

"Remember, 9/11's not far behind. They really are nervous about that. And
Blair, too. He doesn't want to be Chamberlain -- the guy who says
everything's going to be fine. They see this darkness on the horizon and
they make a really, spectacularly bad decision. I did say to Condi [Rice],
'Think about what happened in Ireland. The British army arrived to protect
the Catholic minority but when you're standing on street corners in hard
hats and khaki you very quickly become the enemy.' But I wasn't there for
that. I had to keep my focus. You're asking, 'Don't you speak up? Don't
you get out on the streets?' I gave up that right once I was in a position
of voicing the desire to stay alive of millions of people who had no
voice."

Mullen, however, admitted his unease, earlier this year, over Bono
consorting with "war criminals," a moment of candour that now makes him
wince. "My only regret is that I might have made it easier for his critics
to throw some more stones at him, which was really not my intention," he
sighs. "There's no question of rolling over in my views; it's just looking
at the bigger picture. You can argue it up and down but in the end you
have to stand up and go, 'This works.'" Again, it comes down to how much
imperfection you're willing to accept. "I've always thought the result was
worth whatever way he got there," says Clayton. "I don't think being
photographed with George Bush or Tony Blair is too high a price to pay."

Bono may be U2's self-appointed flak-catcher but he worries his activism
opens his bandmates to criticism. "They're getting part of the kicking
because they have me in the band. So I feel for them. I do." An example:
nobody gives a damn about, say, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' accountancy
practises, but U2's tax move was roundly slammed as rank hypocrisy.

Bono rubs his temples and sighs. "It's very difficult. The thing I
probably regret is not talking about it more but we agreed in the band not
to. Which is annoying. What bothered me was it's like you're hiding your
money in some tax haven and people think of the Cayman Islands. And you're
campaigning for Africa and transparency -- of course that looked like
hypocrisy. People whom I've annoyed, people who wished us to fail, they
finally got what they thought must have been there in the first place. It
was a hook to hang me on." He claps his hands forcefully and points. "'We
got him!' You could, if you wanted, get ... y'know ... it could get you
going. You look at it and say, 'Well what have you done?'" His flash of
annoyance passes. "People are just trying to do the best they can. You
can't do everything."

At moments like this, you realise that even Bono's famously thick skin has
its vulnerable spots. Even as U2 are keenly aware of the contradictions of
their position ("To open yourself up to the possibility of change doesn't
mean you have to live up to some impossible ideal," says the Edge), they
can't help but be caught up in them sometimes, for one man's contradiction
is another's hypocrisy. So Bono squares his shoulders and tries at least
to be candid. When I ask why his songs refuse to name specific targets, he
says: "The villain is usually me. The hypocrisy of the human heart is the
number one target. Rarely do we point the finger at anyone other than
ourselves."

He knows why some people don't like him. "I can be annoying," he says with
a grin. "I have a kind of annoying gene." But he seems understandably
tired of the allegation that he's just a messianic blowhard. It's a
cliche, he thinks, to attribute what he does to mere ego. "As Delmore
Schwartz said, 'Ego is always at the wheel.' It's just with rock stars,
it's more obvious. The need to be loved and admired doesn't come from a
particularly pretty place. But people tend to do a lot of great things
with it. Ego, yes, but the ego that's in everything human beings are
capable of. Without ego, things would be so dull."

I mention a line from "Cedars of Lebanon," the closing track on U2's
latest album, No Line on the Horizon: "Choose your enemies carefully 'cos
they will define you." "As an insight into our band, it's the most
important line," he says. "It explains pretty much everything. U2 chose
more interesting targets than other bands. Your own hypocrisies. Your
addictions, but not to the obvious. Your ego." He emits a hoarse chuckle.
"I think we made our enemies very interesting."

© The Guardian, 2009.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

"Crazy" Remix: Redanka´s Confession

I have to admit I normally don´t like remixes. I think, in general, they destroy the core of a song, making it either techno, dance or whatever they aim at(or not!).But I have never heard of Redanka´s mixes (pardon my ignorance) until I listened to "Crazy", version in 360°. Not only do I think that he makes an excellent job, but also that his creation is (in some performances) even better than the original (pardon me, again, U2). When I heard the drums and the rhythm he inprinted to the song I immediately fell for the new song (yes ,a new song that has not lost the U2 essence) and the fact that it is performed live in every 360° gig makes it even better (than the real thing?)...It is impressive to see how the audience responds to this remix...All the condiments for a huge success...



Now this is the story of Redanka working with "I´ll go crazy if I dont go crazy tonight"

A Crazy thing.........


Earlier this year a chance message dropped into Andy’s ‘myspace’ inbox from a man by the name of Tim Dannenhoffer. It was a request to get on the mix of a track from the latest U2 album ‘No Line On The Horizon’. The track in question was called ‘Magnificent’. Surely the guerilla tactics used on 'Vertigo' couldn’t work a second time?


Late one April afternoon the E-Mission Music studio sound system was kicked into life as Andy attempted to pull off the impossible again. However, it wasn’t so easy with ‘Magnificent’ as it was with ‘Vertigo’ so the best he could do without the parts was a 3 minute demo version. Without a finished version to send to radio, there was only one way to get it heard - management. So that’s where the demo went. The following week Mercury Records were in touch to say the band loved the demo and wanted the proper mix done. Bullseye! It seemed impossible that it would happen a second time but it had, so the 360 and 180 mixes of ’Magnificent’ were mixed and sent away to mastered. Mission accomplished.


A few weeks later Mercury Records were in touch again, this time coming directly to Andy to ask for a remix on the next U2 single to be released from the album entitled ‘I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight’. There was a problem however. Andy had been booked on a month long tour of Brazil and flew out in three days time - the label needed the mix back in two! It was too good an opportunity to miss, so all the stops were well and truly pulled out and a mix was duly submitted to the label in time.


Having been in Brazil for a few days, the word from camp U2 was that the band had gone for the mix in a big way. A REALLY big way!
In the normal scheme of things a remixer will work on a mix, sit with it for a day, go back, change a bit, and so on until it’s right. Having only had 2 days to do it Andy knew there would be a few things to put right. Bono himself came up with some ideas to lift certain parts, one of which was to record a crowd chanting ‘We’re gonna go crazy’ during the breakdown section of the track.
This was a BIG problem. Software synth lines were easy enough to play and mold into the mix but a crowd? Andy was in Brazil with only his laptop at his disposal - no microphone, no studio and, more importantly, no crowd! He had no idea as to where he could find not only a crowd but an ENGLISH speaking crowd! Then the wonders of modern day technology played their part.....
During a chance conversation with former Tarrentella partner Chris Bourne over the Skype application, Andy discovered that Chris just happened to be holed up in Trevor Horn’s Sarm West studio with Danny Spencer and Kelvin Andrews while they wrote and produced with Trevor himself on Robbie Williams next album.
While neither Robbie nor Trevor’s vocal made it into the chant (they weren’t actually in the studio on that day otherwise, who knows?), just about everyone else that was there did.
So the ‘Sarm West Boot Boy Choir’ made it to the mix and all was good. It was a major breakthrough and the mix was done - or was it?


It had become apparent that the urgency level for the mix had dropped somewhat, so Andy was free to finish his tour in peace after promising it would be delivered the week after he arrived home from Brazil. That week almost never came........


There was a reservation for a Mr Andrew Holt on the fateful Air France flight 447 from Rio to Paris. This would have been one of the possible routes back home following the tour. Thankfully for him, a late DJ booking for Pacha Sao Paulo came in, and so another reservation was used. Fate dealt a good hand to Redanka that day - sadly not for those poor people who perished that night or for their families who lost their loved ones. May they rest in peace.


Back at E-Mission, Andy had received an email from U2’s management.
“Could Andy please change the chant from ‘We’ll go crazy” to ‘I’ll go crazy”?” requested Bono. Well Bono is a man you just don’t say ‘no’ to. Ask any world leader.....


The ‘Sarm West Boot Boy Choir’ had long since disbanded, apparently citing musical differences as their reason to split, so there was no chance of getting them in front of the mic again. There’s was a one-night-only performance, never to be repeated.
The only person that could do it was Andy himself, so, not for the first time on a U2 remix, treatments and trickery were used to turn one man into a 50,000-strong-Crazy-chanting-crew. And it worked! This time the mix was given the full thumbs up - even from Larry Mullen Jr which is no mean feat. The ‘Redanka’s ‘Kick The Darkness’ Vocal Version’ and ‘Redanka’s ‘Sparks Of Light’ Dub Version’ were finished and sent to LA to be mastered.
Then came a strange request from management............




The band had asked for the individual stems (individual parts) from the remix to be sent across to Barcelona where they were preparing for the opening of the 360 world tour. This was a first for Andy. It was usually the band that sent YOU the stems - not the other way around.
Always happy to oblige, the stems were duly burnt onto DVD, collected by the courier and shipped off to the Nou Camp, home of European football champions FC Barcelona. The call from management the following day told a different story.....


Somehow the shipping company had sent a whole container, the one containing the DVD, to Leipzig by mistake. It’s an easy one to make - Leipzig, Germany. Barcelona, Spain. Tricky.
These stems HAD to be there so Andy downed tools and took them in person directly to the Nou Camp, arriving late that evening.
Upon his arrival, stepping out of the taxi he could hear his remix blasting out over the system inside the stadium. Just the sound crew testing the monitors right?.......




The Nou Camp, Barcelona, Spain 30th June, 2009. Approximately 11pm. U2 are an hour into their first gig on the first leg of the 360 world tour. The atmosphere is incredible. Totally electric. The crowd are so up for it. Then the beats drop................then the bassline.......then the guitars.....then Bono sings. U2 are performing the Redanka version of their track ‘Crazy’ live in front of 90,000 screaming Spaniards in the Nou Camp. Now there’s confusion on some faces. They know the song but in this context? What is it? Gradually it dawns and the place begins to explode. During the drop Bono shouts out ‘thank you Redanka...RE-DAN-KA!’. He also namechecks Dirty South, the Australian DJ responsible for another remix of ‘Crazy’ that the band use for the final minute of this new live version.
When Larry puts away the djembe and slams back into the track with his kit, the stadium erupts and it’s a real moment - a real moment for none more so than Andy Holt. The young kid who used to drum along in his bedroom to Larry’s playing on the October and War albums. The kid who used to lie in bed with his Walkman studying the production and listening to every last reverb tail on the Unforgettable Fire album. The kid who would dissect Bono’s every word to try to understand the meaning of every song. The kid who a few years previous went for a part in the ‘Even Better Than The Real Thing’ video. The kid who slept outside the NEC in Birmingham for 3 days queuing up for tickets to the indoor Zoo TV shows.


Andy Holt AKA Redanka

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Upto the roof top in the Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen

The show is different when there's a roof overhead, just as it was in Amsterdam a couple weeks back. 'Like seeing a space station in a house, ' as someone put it tonight. Great music in this house as the show returns to Germany. 'Bright lights, bright city' as Bono puts it, before the opening bars of City of Blinding Lights.

Here's what they played...

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
Elevation
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stuck In A Moment (You Can't Get Out Of)
Unknown Caller
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name of Love)
MLK
Walk On
Where The Streets Have No Name
One
--------
Ultraviolet
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender




source:www.u2.com//vid:u2gigs.com

Monday, August 3, 2009

Adam Clayton, bassist


The Observer has published a very interesting interview to Adam Clayton.


I don't think rock'n'roll is necessarily a young man's game. I think Neil Young is just as rock'n'roll now as he was in his 20s. I'd like to think we can still be edgy and challenging.

I was not an obvious contender. I was actually pretty shy in school. My defence mechanism was to be the class clown. I remember getting into a lot of trouble for being disruptive, and I was brought in front of the headteacher, who said: "What's going to happen to you; what are you going to do when you grow up?" and I said: "Well, I'm obviously going to be a comedian."

From an early age I didn't buy into the value systems of working hard in a nine-to-five job. I thought creativity, friendship and loyalty and pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable was much more interesting.

The longevity of U2 is primarily based on the friendship of four men that have grown up together. Four men that respect and support and love each other. We won't let each other fail.

It's very confusing when fame comes early on in your career. You get a little bit bent out of shape in terms of what's important. Fame is like the dessert that comes with your achievements - it's not an achievement in itself, but sometimes it can overpower the work.

I really enjoy the privileges of fame now. It opens doors and allows you to meet people, and you're in control. When fame first happened I didn't feel in control, and it closed doors to me.

I've never necessarily chosen to be a bachelor. I've had girlfriends throughout the last 20 or 30 years. It's just that there were times when I met people that fascinated me and times I didn't.

The biggest misconception about me was that I was some kind of wild, crazy rock'n'roll firework. It was an easy image to pick up on, but I'd like to think I was a little deeper than that.

I stopped drinking 12 years ago, and it was time. I'd had enough of drinking, drugging and nightclubs. It was a difficult decision to change my life, and it took a while to reprogram, but I've no regrets at all. I've enjoyed every bit of my life. I've had the best of it both ways.

My greatest achievement is managing to cope with four fingers and four strings.

The worst thing that ever happened to me was being busted. It wasn't that I was treated particularly badly, it was just so stupid, so pathetic, to be busted for cannabis. It was a big newspaper story, and it becomes a whole talking point with your parents and your parents' friends and your friends' children, and you just don't want that debate opened up.

I feel there is a lot more to achieve. In the first 20 years I was functioning on instinct and attitude and rawness, and now I know what I'm doing and can apply those skills in a different way. It's no longer about attitude and rawness, but it's about sophistication and understanding.

If I could only take one thing on tour it would be Irish tea bags. Barry's decaffeinated tea bags. I know it sounds crazy, but if you don't travel with your own tea, it never tastes the same.

In a loving relationship, as an expression of freedom and fantasy, I think sex is very important.

I don't think I would ever try and repeat U2. I'd be very happy when U2 came to whatever end, and there is no end, really. But I would be happy to move on. It's a very fast world, and a quieter world would be welcome at some stage.

I can look at myself in the mirror. I didn't use to be able to do it. I see someone who is incredibly lucky, who still has so much ahead of him rather than behind him, and I'm very grateful. I cannot believe how good my life is. I did not expect this.


source:www.guardian.co.uk