Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Amazing Night in Washington DC



Moving night in Washington with tributes to the late Eunice Shriver and Teddy Kennedy and respect going out to political movers and shakers in DC ... During Beautiful Day Bono remembered 'the beautiful Eunice Shriver', describing her as his mentor and it was another special moment when New Years Day was dedicated to Teddy Kennedy. 'For a peaceful Ireland we salute you Teddy...' That nearly brought the house down.

In the stadium there was spotted Nanci Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives and broadcaster George Stephanopoulos, as well as African leaders like Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank. And in keeping with the DC vibe, Bono restyled the band introducing Larry as the man who wrote U2's constitution, Adam, the Minister of Culture, Edge, 'the leader of my free world' and musing that he himself might be Majority Leader... 'verbal, elegant but tough when I need to be.'

A kid called Andy arrived on stage at the end of Unforgettable Fire and accepted the invitation to stroll around the stage for City of Blinding Lights. 'Larry Mullen wants to go crazy, Larry Mullen is crazy...' sang Bono as the drummer took the djemba for his own nightly walk around the stage, on a track which is without doubt one of the highlights of the show.

Can't fail to mention The Most Stylish Man in Rock, looking particularly dapper tonight, a sparkly red guitar strap standing out on a very fine new jacket.


Setlist

reathe
Magnificent
Get on Your Boots
Mysterious Ways
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Elevation
Your Blue Room
Beautiful Day
New Year's Day
Stuck In A Moment
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy - Remix
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Where The Streets Have No Name

Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

source:www.u2.com

Monday, September 28, 2009




U2.com reported a couple of weeks ago, special formats of The Unforgettable Fire will feature bonus audio material and a DVD including music videos, a documentary and unreleased live footage from the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope Tour in 1986. Here's the 16 track listing for :

The Unforgettable Fire Bonus Audio CD.

Disappearing Act
A Sort of Homecoming (live)
Bad (live)
Love Comes Tumbling
The Three Sunrises
Yoshino Blossom
Wire (Kervorkian Remix)
Boomerang I
Pride (In The Name of Love)
A Sort of Homecoming
11 O'Clock Tick Tock
Wire (Celtic Dub Mix)
Basa Trap
Boomerang II
4th of July
Sixty Seconds in Kingdom Come


The Unforgettable Fire - with the arrival of Brian Eno and Danny Lanois in the studio - has a special place in the heart for many fans and a lot of the tracks on this bonus CD have been unavailable for a long time.

Two of the titles from those Slane Castle sessions have never been available: 'Yoshino Blossom', and 'Disappearing Act', which the band recently completed. A Sort of Homecoming and Bad are live versions, from The Unforgettable Fire Tour that were on the highly sought after collectors item EP Wide Awake in America.

The version of 11 O'Clock Tick Tock was the b-side to 'Pride (In The Name of Love)' while Wire (Celtic Dub Remix) was previously on 7" vinyl given away free with NME in May 1985.

And The Unforgettable Fire DVD Collection looks like this:

The Unforgettable Fire
Directed by Meiert Avis

Bad
Directed by Barry Devlin

Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Directed by Donald Cammell

A Sort Of Homecoming
Directed by Barry Devlin

The Making Of The Unforgettable Fire - documentary
Directed by Barry Devlin

Additional Material

U2 at A Conspiracy Of Hope Concert
1. MLK
2. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
3. Bad
Recorded live at Giants Stadium, New Jersey, USA, 15th June 1986

U2 at Live Aid
1. Sunday Bloody Sunday 2. Bad
Recorded live at Wembley Stadium, 13th July 1985

Pride (In The Name Of Love) - Sepia version
Directed by Donald Cammell

11 O'Clock Tick Tock - Bootleg version
Live from Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland, 29th June 1985


Looks like a great collection to go with the remastered album.
source:www.u2.com

Sunday, September 27, 2009

SNL: Light my Way


The band performing Ultraviolet for Saturday Night Live last night.

U2 performed three songs during the show and continued to play one more song afterward just for the NBC studio audience. They played "Breathe" followed by a shortened version of "Moment of Surrender," and the show ended while U2 did "Ultraviolet" complete with Bono's laser-light jacket and the swinging microphone routine. After the broadcast ended, U2 played one more song -- "With or Without You" -- just for the studio audience.




A pic by Edge from backstage at SNL...

Share photos on twitter with Twitpic

Promotional spot for SNL with U2...









source:www.u2.com/www.noticierou2.blogspot.com/twitter

Saturday, September 26, 2009

A couple of days more in New York


The concerts in the Giants Stadium ended and U2 smashed the house record . The previous attendance record was held by Pope John Paul II after his visit to the stadium in 1995.

With gig goers in excess of 84472 it was a fantastic night at Giants. Speaking from the stage at the end of the night Bono said in their last night, "News just in. We've broken every record for attendance in this stadium - including the Pope. Sorry Bruce - we know its your birthday and all". Before adding later, "I know they're knocking this place down...we probably won't be here again before the wrecking ball but it was a magic place for us as well as the Giants"


And tonight U2 will appear in season opener of Saturday Night Live ,hosted by Actress Megan Fox, of Transformers fame. Bono is quoted as mentioning she will play the tambourine in their version of "Crazy"...??!!!

source:www.u2.com//www.atu2.com/

Friday, September 25, 2009

U2 in The New York Times


U2 in the Round, Fun With a Mission

Pointing a finger toward the audience surrounding U2 on Wednesday night at Giants Stadium, Bono sang, “Oh, you look so beautiful!” — with the crowd itself shouting along. It was just one moment of mutual affirmation in a concert with an ever-expanding mission.
U2 kept raising the metaphysical ante. At first the show was about the band itself and its joy in the music it has been making for more than 30 years together. The set began with “Breathe,” a song from U2’s current album, “No Line on the Horizon” (Interscope) that declares, “I’ve found grace inside a sound.”
Soon it turned from musical ambition to rock community-building, bonding the band and the fans who had sold out the stadium. Being in New Jersey on Bruce Springsteen’s 60th birthday, U2 segued Mr. Springsteen’s “She’s the One’ (with Bono changing the chorus to “He’s the one”) into its own “Desire.”

Then that local gathering was placed in the wider world and urged toward activism. “Walk On” was dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has long been under house arrest in Myanmar, and dozens of her supporters paraded onstage with her photograph.
Finally, this world became part of the universe and a spiritual realm with songs, as Bono used “Amazing Grace” to lead into U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” The concert was high-minded and earthy, exalted and playful, sometimes even goofy, wielding rock-star prerogatives while undercutting them with disarming informality. “We’re very humbled,” Bono said to one wave of applause, and smiled. “Well, maybe not.”

It was the first local stop of U2’s 360 Degree tour, which is played in the round under a claw-like, spired structure that’s part insect, part spacecraft, part cathedral. It’s less imposing than it appears in photographs; the scalloped exostructure is stretchy plastic, not metal. But it serves its purpose: keeping the band visible and staying out of its way better than some of U2’s past stadium contraptions.

Although Bono struck some rock-star poses, and there was plenty of flashy video, U2 reaches stadium crowds less with spectacle than with its sound, which swells to fill the largest spaces. The Edge’s guitar parts ripple outward, often running through echo, reverb and distortion effects to spill across and around the beat; lately, in songs like “Get On Your Boots,” he has rediscovered the simple, centered impact of a riff. Regardless, Adam Clayton’s bass lines and Larry Mullen Jr.’s parade-ground drumming keep the songs firmly grounded.

Onstage, the band doesn’t try to replicate the layers of its studio productions. The Edge latches on to the most important guitar part (and its specific tone and effects) and lets fly, whether it’s the chomping wah-wah funk of “Mysterious Ways” or the wide-open picking of “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” (As “Elevation” worked up to frantic, punky strumming, the Edge started hopping up and down, pogo-ing.) Bono finds grace in the sound as an Irish tenor who holds his lungpower in reserve. Where his lofty thoughts on love and faith could turn into bombast, he backed off. He often sang less forcefully than he does on the albums, as if he were serenading a confidant rather than a stadium.

Yet there was a program, and Bono the statesman called in some chips. U2 performed “Your Blue Room” — a spooky, Velvet Underground-tinged ballad that U2 recorded with Brian Eno as Passengers, on a 1995 album — with voiceovers by astronauts about the blueness of the earth, a forced connection; one verse was recited on video by Frank De Winne, an astronaut, aboard the International Space Station. Later, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu appeared on the video screen, praising resistance movements and aid to Africa before introducing “One.”





If that sounds far too earnest, it wasn’t; even Mr. Tutu was beaming. And music, not messages, came first. U2 kept slipping bits of oldies — ”All You Need Is Love,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,” “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” — alongside its own songs, and Bono was game enough to appear for encores in a jacket that lit up along its seams — singing “Ultra Violet (Light My Way),” a love song that can double as devotional. Under U2’s outlandish claw, guitar noise and celebrity were, improbably, in tune with virtue — and fun, too.

source:www.nytimes.com

U2 give VIP treatment to patient who donated Make-a-Wish funds to extreme global poverty

Laurence Carolin recently received VIP treatment from the group U2 before a concert at Soldier Field in Chicago. The 15-year-old's first wish through the Make-a-Wish foundation was to meet Bono. When that fell through, the generosity of his second wish caught the attention of the band, the United Nation's One Foundation and residents across the country.

Sometimes an unselfish act brings blessings beyond just the gift of helping others.


For 15-year-old Laurence Carolin, two wishes have been granted through his experience with the Make-a-Wish program. And skeptics would be hard pressed to find someone more deserving.

Two years ago, when Laurence began slipping into an extreme depression, his family knew something was wrong. The 13-year-old had been known for his upbeat attitude and compassion for others since he arrived in his parents' arms from South Korea in 1995.

Still, he continued to spiral into a life-threatening state. While fighting suicidal thoughts, he clung to the lyrics of the songs from one of his favorite bands, U2.

Laurence was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive and malignant form of cancer and Laurence was offered a wish from the Make-a-Wish Foundation. He chose to meet Bono, U2's lead singer and an advocate for the world's poor.

"I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for their music and the lyrics from their songs," said Laurence.

When his first wish was denied, Laurence thought long and hard about what he wanted to request for his second wish.

"I should have thought of my next wish as my first wish," said Laurence. "It's a much better wish. I have everything that I need. (So I requested) to give the money they would have used on my wish to the United Nations Fund (to combat) extreme global poverty."

And Laurence didn't stop there. Since making his second wish and donating his Make-a-Wish check to the One Campaign, he has worked hard to spread the news of extreme global poverty to others. He interviewed with several newspapers and magazines in both Tennessee and Michigan, and has been featured on the radio. His school paper on extreme poverty received a standing ovation at his eighth-grade commencement services.

His new passion even caught the eye of Bono, himself. Laurence received a call from both Bono and The Edge at his home. Unfortunately, he was not there. The band members left him a message and Bono sent a book, signed personally to him.

On Sept. 13, Laurence and a large group of family and friends attended a U2 concert at Soldier Field in Chicago. Members of the One Campaign met Laurence, his father, Patrick Carolin of Newbern and his mother, Lisa Carolin of Ann Arbor, Mich., before the concert and led them to a room.

"Eventually, we were led to Bono, who treated Laurence like a king," said Patrick Carolin. "He was respectful, engaging, and called Laurence 'an inspiration'."


Bono presented Laurence with a signed note with the evening's set list.

Laurence gave Bono two papers - the paper he wrote for school on extreme poverty and another relating how the band's music and lyrics helped him through his depression.

"After reading these items, instead of ending the meeting, Bono asked if he could take Laurence for a little while," said Patrick Carolin. "The manager later told us he was going to the private prayer that the band has before each show with only their personal minister."

The young man wasn't the only person inspired through the meeting with the band members who brought him hope in a dark time and purpose through an even harder time.

Laurence Carolin, 15-year-old son of Patrick and Susan Carolin of Newbern and Lisa Carolin of Ann Arbor, Mich., presented a $5,000 check to the U.N. One Foundation to help address extreme global poverty. Carolin, who was diagnosed two years ago with an inoperable and aggressive brain tumor, chose to donate his Make-a-Wish money to the organization. From left, clockwise, One Foundation representatives, Patrick Carolin, Lisa Carolin and Laurence.
"Fifteen minutes later (Laurence) came back with Bono," said Patrick Carolin. "Bono told me that they travel to many places to do shows. One night blends into the next and the band meeting Laurence reminded them of their purpose."



Acts like this remind us what makes this band so special, don´t they?

Blessings for Laurence and his family!!!! Prayers for his health!!


source:www.stategazette.com/

2nd Show in the Giants Stadium , New Jersey


Another great night...Bono sang a snippet of Mofo :“still looking for the face I had before the world was made” at the beginning of City Of Blinding Lights.

Setlist

1. Breathe
2. Get On Your Boots
3. Mysterious Ways
4. Beautiful Day / She’s A Rainbow / Blackbird
5. No Line On The Horizon
6. Magnificent
7. Elevation
8. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
9. Unknown Caller
10. Until The End Of The World
11. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. Mofo / City Of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo
15. Crazy Tonight
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah
17. MLK
18. Walk On
19. One / Amazing Grace
20. Where The Streets Have No Name
21. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment of Surrender

Thursday, September 24, 2009

360° Tour in 2010

The band are set to play more shows in 2010 and will be releasing a unique remix album for U2.com subscribers. The new collection will feature remixes spanning U2's catalogue and also some surprises. ( it won't be for sale in the shops or online.)
The band's 360° Tour will return to Europe in 2010 .

Dates here.


Hopefully they will be playing other parts of the world such as Australia or South America ....and Asia or Africa???



source:www.u2.com

360° in Giants Stadium - East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA


'New Jersey we can do some funky stuff.' First of two shows at Giants Stadium and a cover of 'She's The One' to mark the 60th birthday of Bruce Springsteen.

Great opening set from Muse, whose new album is topping charts worldwide this week, Larry Mullen Jnr led U2 on stage and 'Breathe' set the scene for a memorable night. The 'funky stuff' came with Mysterious Ways and the surprise inclusion of 'She's The One', for Springsteen, led into 'Desire'.



Setlist


Breathe
Magnificent
Get on Your Boots
Mysterious Ways
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
She's The One/Desire
Elevation
Your Blue Room
Beautiful Day
No Line on the Horizon
New Year's Day
Stuck in a Moment
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy - Remix
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Where The Streets Have No Name

Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender


source:www.u2.com

Bono in The Appeal Of Conscience Foundation's Annual Awards Ceremony


Bono was present in "The Appeal Of Conscience Foundation's Annual Awards Ceremony", 22 September 2009 at Hotel Waldorf-Astoria , New York. This association promotes communication among regions . This year , the awards went to...

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown; Bernard J. Arnault, LVMH Moët Louis Vuitton CEO ; and Mr. Muhtar Kent, CEO Coca-Cola Company.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Some Words from Paul Mc Guinness

As U2 wraps the 2009 dates of its groundbreaking 360 world stadium tour, the band is expected to gross about $300 million and sell about 3 million tickets to fewer than 50 shows.

Rather than a high-end ticket price, the big numbers are more about a unique staging concept that boosts configurations at stadiums, and fans know that U2 is again pushing the production envelope. The tour is in support of the band's latest album, "No Line on the Horizon," and if it isn't scaling the sales heights of previous sets -- since its March release, "Line" has sold 991,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan -- the band's manager, Paul McGuinness, credits that more to overall market conditions than a decline in the act's popularity.

Though sometimes outspoken about industry issues -- his 2008 MIDEM keynote excoriating the industry for its lackluster response to digital distribution still resonates -- McGuinness is anything but riled as he sits in an office backstage at Chicago's Soldier Field just before U2 went onstage. "What do I possibly have to be pissed off about?" he wonders. Both pragmatist and gambler, McGuinness guides the career of what has become arguably the biggest band in the world, and it has been a banner year for the group he has represented since the start of its career.

Much like the band he represents, McGuinness continually focuses on breaking new ground, and he's constantly looking for new ideas. The 360 tour is U2's first under a new 10-year Live Nation multiple-rights deal. While he doesn't claim to have all the answers, McGuinness is open to new horizons, as evidenced by "the claw," the massive staging concept that makes U2's 360 tour truly an all-encompassing experience.

Billboard: How did the European leg feel to you on this run of the 360 tour?

Paul McGuinness: Incredible. We played to staggering numbers. We've broken records in every building we play because the effect of this production economically is to increase the capacity by about 20 percent routinely. For instance, in Berlin at Olympic Stadium, we held the record already jointly with the Rolling Stones at 70,000. This time I think we put in 90,000. Every building we play we will break whatever record there is there.

Billboard: So you feel good about the live part of U2's business?

McGuinness: Absolutely, because in a way there's a memory in the audience. They've always known that when you come to a U2 show -- even when we were doing theaters -- we would do as much production as we could afford. Once we got into arenas, we loved it -- we always played in the round in the arenas -- so this seems natural to be in the round in the stadiums.

The engineering problems are enormous and costly. We had to find a way for it to be aesthetic and figure out a way of doing video. That cylindrical screen we have -- that didn't exist, we had to get somebody to invent that. We had to design this four-legged thing (the claw) -- and build three of them.

Billboard: How long will it take to get into the black?

McGuinness: When do we hit the break-even point? We haven't hit it yet. But we will sometime between now and the end of this leg.

Billboard: So next year is gravy?

McGuinness: Not exactly gravy, because whether we're playing or not, the overhead is about $750,000 daily. That's just to have the crew on payroll, to rent the trucks, all that. There's about 200 trucks. Each stage is 37 trucks, so you're up to nearly 120 there. And then the universal production is another 50-odd trucks, and there are merchandise trucks and catering trucks.

Billboard: Why do that when you can go out and set up a stage and still play stadiums and be in the black before you reach these shores?

McGuinness: Well, we have been trying to find a way of doing 360 for years. This was not something we decided to do recently -- we just couldn't find a way of doing it. The engineering to build a temporary structure capable of bearing the weight that this carries, hundreds of tons, nobody had come up with a way of doing that. (Set designer) Willie Williams and (architect) Mark Fisher had been teasing at it for years.

The other thing that has come such a long way is the LED technology -- those little guys -- we started the use of them for the industry with the PopMart tour (in 1997), and they weren't completely reliable in those days. We had a lot of technical trouble with that. The kind of modern production style really can be traced back to ZooTV (in 1992), which was a groundbreaking production. Building this cylindrical screen was only made possible by the trellis on which it's mounted, which was invented by this guy named Chuck Hoberman.

The coming together of those LED skills, the engineering skills, the imagination of the band, Mark Fisher, years of talking about this and years of seeing occasionally somebody performing in the round in a structure that would take a week or two to build and a week to dismantle. You couldn't truck it, you certainly couldn't take it up and down in a couple of days. This had to be transportable -- and it is, and it's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Billboard: The fans seem to get it that you're bringing them something they've never seen before.

McGuinness: Each one of these shows there are 10,000 $30 tickets -- so even though the gross is expanded by the increase in the capacity, we see what's happening in the marketplace, people don't have much money. And so worldwide we came to the decision to have really low-priced tickets. We have some expensive tickets, but our expensive tickets are $250; they're not as expensive as the Rolling Stones' or Madonna's most expensive tickets. I think it's a very fair pricing. The scaling of this tour has worked everywhere we've played.

Billboard: Any comment on the state of the music industry right now?

McGuinness: I don't have a recipe for the solution to the woes of the record companies and the recorded side of the music business. It's very, very important, it must be supported. And there are an awful lot of people and an awful lot of industries and individuals -- the telcos, the (Internet service providers), the device manufacturers -- that have enjoyed an absolute bonanza since music went online. And I just think they should feel more responsible out of a sense of fairness to the community of creative people who make that music, which is now in so many cases completely free. Times change, mechanisms for distributing music change. I would like to see a greater recognition of the obligations the tech side of the business have to the writers and musicians.

I've nothing against big companies. Big companies are there to be infiltrated, they want to be infiltrated, they want you to come in and tell them how to do it, what to do. I've never found a big corporation hostile to anything we wanted to do. Similarly with Live Nation -- our relationship is very close indeed. This is our fourth tour with Arthur (Fogel, global music chairman for Live Nation). The first tour we produced and he promoted. The second one he produced and promoted, because that was better. And as (Live Nation) developed their plan to take Live Nation out of Clear Channel I was absolutely behind that, and I'm totally behind the plan to merge Ticketmaster and Live Nation. I think it's very good for the industry.

(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)

source:www.news.yahoo.com

Gavin & Friends


"An Evening with Gavin Friday and Friends"(Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage,Carnegie Hall, New York, Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 8 PM,)A (RED) Nights Event – A Concert Series That Saves Lives.

U2.com has published an interview with Gavin...

Question: What have Laurie Anderson, Andrea Corr, Courtney Love, Lydia Lunch, Maria McKee, Shane MacGowan and Rufus Wainwright got in common with Larry, Bono, Edge and Adam. Answer: They're all fans of Gavin Friday and they're all taking part in a one-of-a-kind show in New York next week, set to raise funds to combat AIDS in the poorest countries.

An Evening with Gavin Friday and Friends, on Sunday October 4th at Carnegie Hall in New York, is curated and produced by Hal Willner, someone with an unrivalled track record in one-off musical events inspired by maverick artists from Leonard Cohen to Kurt Weill, Tim Buckley to Thelonius Monk.

Gavin, of course, has been hanging out with the members of U2 since before they were the members of U2 and is invariably to be found with them in the studio when an album needs to be finished... or out on the road, when a tour is about to kick off. Right now, he's working on songs for his own next solo album due in 2010. We caught up with him in Dublin to find out more about the Carnegie Hall show.

Believe it or not, this was not born in my head. I think I was on some kind of TV show, maybe 12 years ago, and I was asked about my musical ambition and I said I'd love to play Carnegie Hall before I'm 50. That was the seed of all this. Then earlier this year a gang of us went away for a day to celebrate the 50th birthday of Guggi and at the party, Bono, who turns 50 himself next May, said to me, 'Do you know what you're doing for your fiftieth ?' I said I didn't have a clue and that I'll probably run away to avoid the attention. He said he did know what I was doing, that I was playing Carnegie Hall.

A couple of weeks before, Bono had met up with our mutual friend Hal Willner and they'd decided on this event to celebrate my birthday and to raise funds for RED, the organisation which fights AIDS in Africa. And I was so taken aback at the idea that a very rare thing happened - I was completely silenced. I couldn't believe it. I think everyone found that quite humorous: 'Look, we've actually shut Friday up!'

Hal Willner is the moving force behind the whole thing, he puts these kinds of events together and I've often worked with him on them. They're like creative extravaganzas where a whole gang of musicians come together to pay tribute to someone, like he did this incredible homage to the work of Leonard Cohen, another to Kurt Weill. More recently Bono and I worked with him on 'Rogue's Gallery' an album of pirate ballads and sea chanteys.

There's always this extraordinary twist that he brings - like his tribute to the music of Walt Disney where he had Tom Waits singing 'Hi Ho Hi Ho' and when we did it live, he had me singing the 'Siamese Cat Song' from Lady and The Tramp. I remember turning up one day for a Harry Smith tribute to find Jimmy Scott, the jazz singer, at the piano with Mary Margaret O'Hara and Nick Cave. Two days later we were performing it on stage.

We've already got an amazing bill lined up for Carnegie Hall, I can hardly believe it. We talked about the kind of people we wanted to take part - those who influenced me over the years and some that I might have influenced. Some are very well known and some I hope will become more well known - like Eric Mingus, an unsung genius and the son of Charlie Mingus. Or Flo and Eddie, who many people don't realise are the backing vocalists on all those great T Rex songs that people like me remember from being young.

Anthony from Anthony and the Johnsons will be something else and then Maria McKee, what a talent she is, and goes way back with our musical community in Ireland. She's always been close to us, she lived here in the 1980's and we often recorded with her. And Courtney Love, Hal bumped into her in New York and she said she'd love to be part of it. Laurie Anderson doesn't need any introduction and we've also got Rufus and Martha Wainwright and, not surprising this, a big Irish contingent with Shane MacGowan, Andrea Corr and of course the Royal Family - Larry, Edge, Bono and Adam.

The thing with those four is that I know them all individually, so they're all taking part but what's unusual is that they aren't going to be U2, so I think we'll see something pretty different, which is something that always happens with Hal's events.

Dik, Edge's brother will be there, who was in U2 before they were U2, and Guggi of course, so I would love Dik and Guggi and myself to do some Virgin Prunes songs - it won't be the Virgin Prunes reuniting because we don't do that, but let's see what happens. When Hal is involved you never know how it'll work out.

He pulls together this potpourri of musicians for a day or so of rehearsals, which are like this musical workshop, very organic, where you never quite know what you're going to produce. The spontaneity is what I love about it, it's precious and so rare these days, when everything is over-rehearsed and over-marketed. The next day you have a soundcheck and before you know it you're playing live in front of an orchestra and an audience.

I still don't know what to say about it, I'm 50 not 80 and I'm not an icon but it'll be a celebration of music and a beautiful thing to do for a friend. Hal for me is a real touchstone of a person, an inspiration and he creates quite unique musical moments, It won't happen again, this collection of artists won't be together like this ever again... which I love. It will be an unrepeatable night and I'm planning on enjoying it.

More information and tickets for An Evening with Gavin Friday and Friends here

source:www.U2.com

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Magnificent Second Night in Boston

The band shook up the show in Foxboro with a magnificent new opening ...As showtime began, all four members of the band arrived on stage at the same time, picking up their instruments and hitting the ground running by bursting into Magnificent, which took everyone by surprise.
The energy of the band was matched by the energy coming back at them from the Boston audience and you barely noticed as they went straight into No Line On The Horizon.

Your Blue Room returned but this time after Elevation and then leading straight into Beautiful Day.

Setlist

Magnificent
No Line on the Horizon
Get on Your Boots
Mysterious Ways
Still Haven't Found
Elevation
Your Blue Room
Beautiful Day
Unknown Caller
Until the End of The World
Stay
The Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy - Remix
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Streets

Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender


"Crazy" in Boston



source:www.u2.com

Monday, September 21, 2009

Boston: First Night


'Tonight we're gonna play old songs, new songs, songs we don't know... but we're not going anywhere without you. Are you ready for the ride ?'

Boston was ready for the ride!!

'Irish boy kissing on a tea train, Irish boy in Massachusetts...' There was definitely an Irish thing going down tonight. 'Great to be back home in Boston,' as the singer put it. They've been to this city many times since they first played here in 1981, but they never arrived in space junk like this. Quite an experiment.

'Like to introduce our band: On the right, Experiment One, a mix between Jimmy Page and Stephen Hawkins, a test tube baby, The Edge. On my left Experiment Two, his bottom end can move stadiums, a gentleman, a wise owl, a great bass player, Adam Clayton. Experiment Three, not human at all, at 21 gave his body to science, Robocop... Larry Mullen Jnr.

You don't need to know about Experiment Four, work still in progress...'


Setlist...
Breathe
No Line on the Horizon
Get on Your Boots
Magnificent
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Still Haven't Found
Unknown Caller
New Year's Day
Stuck In A Moment
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I don't Go Crazy Tonight Remix
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Streets

Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender






source:www.u2.com

Sunday, September 20, 2009

The Edge, a Fan of Performing Live


Here´s Edge´s interview for Sun Media:

U2 guitarist The Edge is largely considered the soul of the Irish rock band, what with his distinctive, atmospheric style of playing that conjures both emotion and awe with every chord.

He told Sun Media, in an exclusive Canadian newspaper interview backstage at Rogers Centre on Thursday night before the band's second show in two nights, that performing live is where it's at for him.

"On a good night, I think there's no band like U2, and there's certainly no audience like the U2 audience," he said.

Here's the best of the rest of what The Edge had to say during our 20-minute chat:

Sun Media: You seem to still be enjoying yourself up there after three decades of doing this.

The Edge: Touring is sort of a crazy way to live, but what really makes it bearable is that two-hours-15 that you're on stage playing the songs with your best friends, to some other great friends -- the U2 fans. It's a fantastic job.

Sun Media: How did you think the first show in Toronto went on Wednesday night?

The Edge: I thought it was really one of the best shows we've played for a long time even though, yeah, it was challenging (set-list wise). I just think everyone played so well. Adam and I, the swing of us, everyone gave everything, and musically, it just sounded really top. And on a great night like Wednesday night when the music is really coming together, you get a great buzz out of that.

Sun Media: Is walking out on that enormous, space-ship like stage on your current tour, still surreal after launching the trek in Barcelona on June 30?

The Edge: It takes my breath away. Quite often I just look over and go 'whoa' every time I go out for sound check during the day. Actually, I think it's a thing of rare beauty myself. Just the form of it and the architecture of it and the fact that it's so practical and does such a great job is obviously important, but it is beautiful to look at. It's a wonderful bit of kit.

Sun Media: Your documentary film It Might Get Loud, with White Stripes guitarist Jack White and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, is coming out in Canada soon. What was that experience like for you?

The Edge: It was a great experience, very inspiring. We'd not met. I think I'd met Jimmy but not really had a chance to talk about much. And Jack, I think I'd met once at an awards show, to say hello. So we'd never really sat down and had a proper talk about anything, so this opportunity was great. I really like what they do with a guitar, they're very unique players and I'm a big fan of theirs -- so it was just great to spend a bit of time with them and see what they're about. We hit it off really well. The surprise for me was how different we were in terms of what sounds we were creating and ... what we were hearing and intending to reach, in terms of the sound and the expressiveness of the guitar. They were very different. Different to each other, and different to me.

(c) Copyright Sun Media, Saturday, September 19, 2009

source:www.jam.canoe.ca

Larry´s interview for Sun Media


'We always want to do better': Mullen
(By Jane Stevenson,Sun Media)


U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. sat down with Sun Media in an exclusive Canadian newspaper interview late Thursday backstage at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, just hours before the band performed their second show at the venue.

Mullen gets the credit for the formation of U2, as he was the one who posted an ad on his high school notice board when he was just 14, looking for bandmates. The rest is history. He used to joke it was The Larry Mullen Band for about 10 minutes, before frontman Bono walked in.

Here's the best of what Mullen had to say during our 20-minute chat. Contrary to his reputation for being quiet, he was chatty and warm in person:
Sun Media: The band formed in 1976 and put out its first album, Boy, in 1980. Why after all this time are you still touring, do you think?

Mullen: There's nowhere else to go (laughs). What else am I going to do? I'm not qualified to do anything else. It's been a long time. And it's not always an easy choice to make, leaving your family, leaving your friends. That's a huge decision. However, we are very anxious to push the boat out as far as we possibly can. We always want to be better, and to do more. And I think that comes from when we were a young band out of Dublin. We were uncool, we were not terribly hip, in comparison to our contemporaries at that time, so we've always kind of felt a little like underdogs. And I know that sounds really preposterous at this stage but we always felt a little like that. ... So when we go out on stage it's just we want to basically prove ourselves every night."

Sun Media: Does anything surprise you anymore about U2 on stage?

Mullen: It is still a lot of fun. We actually like playing together. We like each other. We enjoy it. I mean that's always a surprise because you imagine that, 'Well, you're going to get tired of this and everyone's going to go their separate ways, and it'll all just fizzle out.' And it's always a surprise that that hasn't happened (to us), and that the value and the strength of those relationships is in some ways confirmed every night when we get out and play. And I think for a lot of people, four people who have been together for this period, walking out on stage together is a very powerful thing for your audience, but it's also hugely powerful for us."

Sun Media: Are Canadian audiences different than European or American audiences?

Mullen: Before we were big in the United States, we were big in Canada. Canada has always been huge for U2. And Canada traditionally has been very open to new music and, particularly, to U2. So we know this audience and they know us. Does it mean we don't have to work hard? No. Because it's a discerning audience because they know music, so we gotta work hard ... I'm not exaggerating and I'm not blowing smoke. Canada sustained us through some difficult periods of time. (Canadians) always supported us and, again, were music savvy, so they were always, on a musical level, an educated audience. So it was very important to us. So I love coming back here. I've spent a lot of time in Toronto and Montreal, on and off, on my own time, and I love it. Actually, I came back here a lot when I hurt myself. I had some injuries after the last tour and there were a couple of doctors here I was coming to see."

Sun Media: Do you have a post-show routine?

Mullen: I'm not a young man. I'm doing all right but over the years from bad posture I've managed to injure myself. I've been playing since I was nine, a street drummer. I didn't learn properly and so I did all the wrong things, and I certainly didn't expect to be playing 25, 30 years later. I thought you'd end after a certain period of time and I'd get on with my life. So continuing to do this and to pound and to play badly really has had an effect. The good news is that I found a physical therapist ... On stage I wear a plaster on the back of my neck just to hold my neck up, which is something I've never done before, I've always sort of tilted forward. So it forces me back just very slightly so it's made a huge difference ... I'm feeling much better. I'm actually really enjoying it."

(c) Copyright Sun Media, Saturday, September 19, 2009

source:http://jam.canoe.ca

Adam in Sun Media


After the Bono interview, Sun Media published the interviews to the other members of the band.
Here´s the interview to Adam Clayton:

U2 bassist Adam Clayton is the group's resident sophisticate.

Frontman Bono jokingly described him Wednesday night at the Rogers Centre, during the band's first show at the venue, as "Adam Clayton, the effortlessly stylish citizen of the world, and sexual predator -- the only man in U2 who uses face cream."

Clayton addressed some of those charges in an exclusive Canadian newspaper interview with Sun Media on Thursday night backstage at Rogers Centre. Clayton was funny, smart and charming.

Here's the best of what he had to say


Sun Media: So, I have to ask, what kind of face cream do you use?

Clayton: As it happens, I don't use face cream. I'm very lucky. I have quite oily skin, which means that you don't need to moisturize that much. So he obviously just attributes me as using a lot face cream.

Clayton: I wasn't sure about that one, no. It was the sexual predator and the knob twiddling (Bono's band introduction to guitarist The Edge as a knob twiddler) in the same paragraph, that I was a little worried about, but there you go.

Sun Media: Is there a reason for the order in which you guys walk out on stage every night - drummer Larry Mullen Jr, then you, The Edge and Bono?


Clayton: It's always been that sequence because Larry's has to get to his kit anyway and he has to get settled and put his earphones in and stuff. I've tried to go on after Edge but Edge is a really slow walker and I hate that. I want to get there. I want to check my stuff is working -- 1, 2, 3, let's go. So I kind of usually nip in front of him.

Sun Media: Do you find Canadian audiences are distinctive from other audiences?

Clayton: It's most notable if you happen to be in the U.S. for six or eight weeks and you really need a bit of sorbet and a bit of freshening up. You come up to Canada 'cause people, they're just that little bit cooler. And their musical taste, it's a little bit more rounded, it's a little bit more European. I think radio is still much better up here. I think the MuchMusic channel always plays much riskier, edgier stuff.

Sun Media: Do you spend much time in Canada?

Clayton: On the last tour, I spent a bit more time here. Myself and Larry used to nip up and spend time in the city 'cause it suited us to have days off up here. And I also have some very good friends here. I was going out with a girl from Toronto for a while so I kind of know (the city).

Sun Media: What do you think keeps you guys together after three decades?

Clayton: I acknowledge bands are inherently unstable concepts, they're not really built to last, but ours is made with different glue, I think. We made some decisions early on which is based on a version of democracy where everyone gets a vote. We pretty much split the income. And there's a code of loyalty, so for all those things we have stuck together and we've sort of got passed the point where, I'm not saying people couldn't decided to opt out, but we're past the point where any of those kind of emotional or musical differences can be an issue. (That's) because I think we all know within the band we can do far more than we could do individually. Everyone has a vested interested in the band going in a certain way, and those values are good values. And people want the band to be cool, they want the band to be great, and everyone's still growing.

Sun Media: So what's your band intro like?

Clayton: Bono, over a 30-year career, is probably the best there's ever been at this kind of thing. His understanding of all the geopolitical issues, and all the emotional stuff that he'll channel into a performance, and all the references he'll pull on, and where his lyrics come from -- I don't think anyone's been there before. And Edge is doing some amazing things with the guitar and with the technology and is a fantastic composer. And Larry's just the coolest drummer in the world. You wouldn't want to go to work with anyone else. And it's great work and you get to work outdoors as well.


Sun Media: Your accent sounds way more British than Irish, it seems.

Clayton: It's a combination. My parents were English. I moved to Ireland when I was six but I was in boarding schools in Ireland, so I never really knew what an Irish accent was until I joined the band with three other Irishmen.

Sun Media: And did you understand what they were saying?

Clayton: Not initially but I'm beginning to get the hang of it now (laughs).

Sun Media: Bono told me there is another album coming, with the working title, Songs Of Ascent, the more ambient songs done with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, from the sessions for your latest album No Line On The Horizon?

Clayton: Some of it, I'm sure, is true, especially for Bono. And those are great aspirations. I'm a little bit more nuts and bolts and until there are 10 songs finished, mixed and on a shelf, then that's not definite for me. It takes us a long time. When Bono hears two notes together he hears a song complete. When anyone else hears two notes together, we hear a starting point.

Sun Media: Bono was also hopeful you guys would go back to the shelved Rick Rubin sessions, which began before the Eno-Lanois sessions.

Clayton: I'd like to. Part of the reason we didn't feel like pursuing them at the time was that they were too purist, they were too fundamental, and we tend to like our music a little bit more complex -- so I don't know at what point we'll want something as straight forward as that. Rick strips everything away. There's no real dressing. He doesn't like atmospherics and textures or any of that stuff. I think we all thought we could do something interesting together if we applied that sort of discipline, but in the end I think we realized that we like the textures and colours and tones.

(c) Copyright Sun Media, Saturday, September 19, 2009

source:www..canoe.ca/

Friday, September 18, 2009


U2 visited 102.1 The Edge radio in Toronto for an interview. You can listen to it here.



Another interesting article appeared on The Welland Tribune:

Bono talks about U2's 360 Degree Tour in exclusive interview


BACKSEAT OF BONO’S SUV, DOWNTOWN TORONTO — Most first dates involve having dinner and seeing a movie.

Thursday afternoon in Toronto, U2 frontman Bono picked me up in a shiny black Chevy Suburban on Yonge St., and it was non-stop talking.

OK, so it wasn’t a date. Bono wasn’t actually driving, and I got in the car first.

But the scenario was that one of the world’s biggest music stars and his equally famous bandmates — guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. — had just visited 102.1 The Edge radio station, drawing dozens of fans for the last-minute appearance. And I ended up talking to the singer, resplendent in a denim ensemble and tinted glasses, in the backseat of his car, en route to Thursday night’s second show by U2 at the Rogers Centre.

The only others with us were his driver and his security man, while the car was given a police escort through downtown Toronto.

Ah, the life of Bono.

We talked about the band’s current 360 Degree Tour, their latest album No Line On The Horizon, the possibility of not one but two new albums by U2, David Bowie and the significance of space travel.

Here’s the best of what he had to say in a Canadian newspaper exclusive with Sun Media.

SUN MEDIA: How did you feel about the first Canadian show of the 360 Degree Tour on Wednesday night at Rogers Centre? (The only other Canadian date is Oct. 28 in Vancouver.)

BONO: Well, I was in really great singing form, and the band played very well. The sound was good ’cause the roof was open. I mean, if the roof were closed we have a P.A. that can cope with it, but it was great to have the CN Tower as part of our light show. Thank you for contributing that to our show.”

SUN MEDIA: Are Canadian fans different than those in Europe? (They opened the 360 Degree Tour on June 30 in Barcelona.)

BONO: We’ve always had a really kind of progressive audience here. They’ve allowed us to push and pull them in different directions, because over the years we have kind of swerved all over the road a little bit musically, and that’s the fun of it for us. And some people, some fans like U2 as a straight-ahead rock and roll band, some people like us as a folk mass, some people like us as a rave, some people like it as a political rally. I think in Canada, they actually like us to be all those things.”

SUN MEDIA: How does it feel to walk out onto the massive “spaceship” stage every night?

BONO: The scale of it was a little nerve-wracking at first. I was drawing this on napkins in restaurants, and I was building it with forks and things like that. But when you see it in front of you, I must say I did have a little bit of a knee wobble.”

SUN MEDIA: Has anything in particular surprised you on this tour?

BONO: I’ve a few out-of-body experiences already on the road, which reminds me that I’m describing myself more as a doorman than a shaman. I do think there is magic in music that we don’t really understand. Moments where the song sucks you into a place where, and this sounds pretentious, but where it’s not so much where it’s you singing the song, but it feels like the song is singing you — and when that happens, I’m amazed.”

SUN MEDIA: Did you think you were taking a risk playing so much of the new material off No Line On The Horizon (co-produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno) off the top of the live show, given the album hasn’t produced any real hits?

BONO: I love hits, I love 45s, they’re a thrill but our first responsibility for this album was to make an extraordinary album. We wanted to make an album as they were a dying species, a nearly instinct species. We said, ‘Let’s make an album with a beginning, middle and end, and take people into a world, and so that was our first thing ... just to be challenging both of ourselves and our audience, and we succeeded with that. And maybe in that mind set you don’t write a pop song, and that’s probably what happened. But they’re great songs, they’re just not pop songs.”

SUN MEDIA: What’s the status on a second more ambient album, to be released from the Lanois-Eno sessions, with the working title Songs of Ascent, and then the Rick Rubin session before that?

BONO: We’ve got a few albums up our sleeves. We’ve got a whole album we started with Rick Rubin, which is a rocking club album with beats and big guitars, and I can’t wait to get back to that. So we’re going to see where the mood takes us. But it’s not like we have to start afresh. We have five or six songs on that album. We have about 12 on the Songs Of Ascent, plus The Edge and myself have written Spiderman: The Musical — that’s nearly done. It’s been an incredible time as songwriters ... If you’re going to go out on the road, you have to have songs that have the attitude and the ambition to play in a venue like (the Rogers Centre), because if they haven’t got it, you’re not going to play them because whilst we like people to look a little startled, we’re not going to do a crap show just to promote our new album. So they have to be great.”

SUN MEDIA: On Wednesday night on stage at Rogers, you ended the show by saying, “We’re just getting started.” What did you mean, given your first record came out in 1980?

BONO: The playing, just pure musicality is way ahead. And some of my singing voice. I’ve never had a voice like that. I only got this voice recently in the last five years. I wouldn’t have been able to talk to you for instance before a show. So songwriting’s come together and there’s still bits we’re missing, but this is our moment, it would appear. I think this might be our moment, especially if these albums come out quickly, then looking back on this period, maybe the most fertile period for our band. It’s unusual for a rock and roll band, but we’re not really a rock and roll band. I don’t know what we are. I always say we’re the loudest folk band in the world. I’ve had many attempts to try and explain, but we’re not that classic idea that’s based on youth culture and ... all the cliches of living fast to die young. I mean, we’re over the ’60s, I hope.”

•••

TORONTO — Houston, we’ve got liftoff.

Before U2 walk out on their “spaceship-like” stage on their current 360 Degree World Tour, they blast David Bowie’s Space Oddity in its entirety.

So what’s with all the space stuff?

“His prolific imagination had a huge impact on me, as a teenager and to this day,” Bono said in a Canadian newspaper exclusive with Sun Media Thursday in Toronto. “I can’t get over his body of work.

”And the spaceship (stage), to me, it looks like some sort of mad spaceship ... and I just think it stands for, ‘Well, we can go anywhere.’ Which has always been the throw-down at any U2 show. ‘Where do you want to go?’ You can stay in the stadium if you want, or we can go to this other place where the streets have no name. We can go to this other place, the place of imagination, the place of soul, the place of possibility, and we can just get lost in it. And a great show, when that happens, people don’t know where they are, I don’t know where I am. And that’s what I think it stands for.”

U2 connected with the international space station during part of their show on Wednesday night.

“It’s a strange thing, because we were working on this space idea for this tour (in) an intuitive way, not knowing it was the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon literally the month we went out. And we had begun talking with the international space station in preparation for something we’re going to do with (Canadian) Guy LaLiberte of Cirque Du Soleil, which I’m really looking forward to. He’s getting ready to go, at the end of the month, to the international space station and we’re doing to beam him into our show.”

Bono, whose well-known social activistm has included the ONE Campaign, said he was nine years old at the time of Armstrong’s lunar walk, and “it formed in me a troublesome thought. Something has bothered me ever since, which is that it’s the impossible that makes stuff fun and worthwhile, and if you can put a man on the moon, that as capable as human beings are, of self-delusion and destructive behavior and greed and nihilism, we’re also capable of harnessing the best of us to do the impossible.”

JANE STEVENSON Sun Media


source:www.edge.ca//www.wellandtribune.ca/www.u2.com

2nd Night in Toronto Setlist



The band mixed up the set for the second night in Toronto. Here's what they played.


Breathe
No Line on the Horizon
Get on Your Boots
Magnificent
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Still Haven't Found
Unknown Caller
New Year's Day
Desire
Stuck In A Moment
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I don't Go Crazy Tonight Remix
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Streets

Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

source:www.u2.com

Thursday, September 17, 2009

U2 blows roof off Rogers Centre

Some of what the Toronto Start said about the last U2 concert in the Rogers Centre...

The weather has been a sore spot for Torontonians in recent months, but last night Mother Nature gave a boost to the year's biggest concert.

A breezy, but clear evening allowed the Rogers Centre's retractable roof to be open as U2 kicked off its two-night stand – a sellout concert for only the second time in the venue's history. (The first was a Bruce Springsteen show in the SkyDome six years ago.)

With the CN Tower beckoning like a lighthouse, it was the ideal setting for the four-legged, 30-metre-high, teal-and-orange spaceship contraption hovering over the quartet's circular stage. It gave the appearance that they had really dropped in from another galaxy.


It's a generous piece of machinery that takes four days to build; as a result, the group's been hanging about, allowing lead singer Bono to pick up the TTC and Yonge St. references he dropped into songs and patter last night.

Stuck as they were in the middle of a football field, the mammoth stage, which includes an expandable cylindrical video screen, worked to bring what some call the Biggest Band in the World a little closer to the 58,000 people who shelled out from $30 to $225 for the privilege.

The otherworldly theme was enhanced by a recording of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" that welcomed the veteran Irish rockers to the stage.

Not resting on any 30-year laurels, they kicked off with four songs from their current and 12th album No Line on the Horizon – the title track, "Breathe," "Get on Your Boots" and "Magnificent." The latter hit home with the hope and realism that defines their best work – "Only love can leave such a mark/But only love can heal such a scar."

Then they delved into their bag of hits for "Beautiful Day" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" – for which the crowd sang the first two choruses as Bono mouthed words, resuming the singalong when he segued into Ben E. King's "Stand By Me."

"We got old songs, we got new songs, we got songs we can hardly play," the frontman had joked. Never saw any signs of the latter.

This was the second city in the North American edition of the 360 Degree Tour that debuted in Europe this summer. (Live Nation reps say it's on track to be the year's top-grossing tour.)

It's a satisfying spectacle, with enviable musicianship – Edge the most dominant, with his intense ringing sound on electric guitar (and a deft acoustic turn on "Stay (Faraway, So Close)" – fantastic sound and consistent energy and emotion. They made use of the stage, wandering its outer rim and running across the moving bridges. Even drummer Larry Mullen Jr. left his kit at one point to walk around playing portable congas.

Bono, as limber physically as he was vocally, was jumping, skipping, spinning with arms outstretched. And they made sure to hit the political marks – dedicating "Walk On" to Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi as fans walk the stage perimeter with paper masks, and running a video message of peace and unity from South Africa's Bishop Desmond Tutu.

Yeah, they're big, but still bold, brilliant and true to form.





source:www.U2.com//Toronto star

The Unforgettable Fire: Remastered


U2's fourth album, The Unforgettable Fire, has been remastered and will be released by Mercury Records on 26th October.
This special edition marks 25 years since the album's original release in October 1984. Recorded at Slane Castle, Ireland, The Unforgettable Fire was the first U2 album to be produced by Brian Eno and Danny Lanois, and spawned two top 10 UK singles - 'Pride (In The Name Of Love)' and 'The Unforgettable Fire'.

Special formats of The Unforgettable Fire will also feature bonus audio material, including two previously unheard tracks from the Slane Castle sessions: 'Yoshino Blossom', and 'Disappearing Act' (a track which the band recently completed), and a DVD including music videos, a documentary and unreleased live footage from the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope Tour in 1986.

The Unforgettable Fire has been remastered from the original audio tapes, with direction from The Edge and the album will be available in four formats:

* Limited Edition Box Set: containing 2 CDs (remastered album and bonus audio CD), a DVD with live footage, documentary and videos, a 56 page hardback book with liner notes by The Edge, Brian Eno, Danny Lanois, Bert Van de Kamp and Niall Stokes, and 5 photographic prints

* Deluxe Edition: containing 2 CDs, the remastered album, and the bonus audio CD which features B-sides and previously unreleased material, a 36 page booklet with liner notes by The Edge, Brian Eno, Danny Lanois and Bert Van de Kamp

* CD format: featuring the remastered album

* 12" vinyl format: 16 page booklet with liner notes by Brian Eno, Danny Lanois and Bert Van de Kamp

The Unforgettable Fire track listing is as follows: A Sort of Homecoming, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Wire, The Unforgettable Fire, Promenade, 4th Of July, Bad, Indian Summer Sky, Elvis Presley and America, MLK.


Main Album

1. A Sort of Homecoming
2. Pride (In the Name of Love)
3. Wire
4. The Unforgettable Fire
5. Promenade
6. 4th of July
7. Bad
8. Indian Summer Sky
9. Elvis Presley & America
10. MLK

Second CD

1. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (unreleased version)
2. Bass Trap
3. Boomerang I
4. Boomerang II
5. Love Comes Tumbling
6. 60 Seconds In Kingdom Comes
7. The Three Sunrises
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday (live from Live Aid)
9. Bad (live from Live Aid)
10. Walk On the Wild Side
11. Ruby Tuesday
12. Satellite of Love
13. Disappearing Act (unreleased track)
14. Yoshino Blossom (unreleased track)

Concert DVD

U2 in Dortmund, West Germany, November 21, 1984 at Westfalenhalle

Bonus DVD

1. Barry Devlin Slane Document
2. U2 at Conspiracy of Hope
3. U2 at Live Aid
4. Unforgettable Fire documentary (Barry Delvin)


source:www.u2.com//www.atu2.com

First Concert in Toronto


First concert in Toronto.The band played in Toronto the first of 2 shows, and set beneath the Toronto Tower, the stage looked more spaceship like than ever...

Setlist

1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Beautiful Day / Alison
6. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
7. Elevation
8. Your Blue Room
9. Unknown Caller
10. Until The End Of The World
11. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. City Of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo / Pump It Up
15. Crazy Tonight
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday
17. MLK
18. Walk On
19. One / Amazing Grace
20. Where The Streets Have No Name
21. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment of Surrender

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

(RED) NIGHT WITH GAVIN FRIDAY AND FRIENDS


On October 4 at New York City's legendary Carnegie Hall, (RED) unites a world-class line up of artists for a special (RED) NIGHTS concert 'Hal Willner Presents: An Evening with Gavin Friday and Friends.'

The showwill feature Laurie Anderson, Antony, Elizabeth Ashley, Bono, Adam Clayton, Andrea Corr, The Edge, Flo and Eddie, Joel Grey, Bill Frisell, Guggi, Scarlett Johansson, Courtney Love, Lydia Lunch, Patrick McCabe, Maria McKee, Shane MacGowan, Eric Mingus, Larry Mullen, Jr., JG Thirlwell, Martha Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright, Chloe Webb, plus special guests.

Willner said, 'This unique evening is a celebration of Gavin and a gathering of friends and amazing musicians. We're all proud to partner with (RED) to help fight AIDS in Africa.' 'It's an honor to be a part of this (RED)NIGHT because I know the money generated will go directly to people who need it,' added Friday.

Tickets for the event will go on sale beginning Wednesday, September 16 at 11AM EST via CarnegieCharge at 212-24..., Carnegie Hall and the box office. As is the case with every (RED)NIGHTS show, a portion of the proceeds from the concert will go directly to The Global Fund.

For more information, please visit www.joinred.com/rednights or www.gavinfriday.com .

U2 are always evolving!

From the end of the show at Soldier Field, Edge jumped into his car to head to the airport.
Edge told U2.com what it was like to be back on stage in the US...


Welcome to the Underworld!!!

U2.com shows us what it is like down under the 360° stage...





source:www.U2.com

Behind the Scenes: Good Morning America interview


Tuesday, September 15, 2009

"You Can't Be 'Boss' in This Band" said Bono


Good Morning America news anchor Chris Cuomo sat down with the international superstar band members of U2.

CHRIS CUOMO: So last night. Here we are in Chicago. And it is amazing how U2 literally changes this place. ...And it was almost like a cultural festival last night as well. Everybody wanted to be a little Irish last night. Is that a common experience for you all?

LARRY MULLEN JR.: I think, in general, the whole -- whole idea of U2 is to, like, engage with, like, our audience. ... So we had to figure out how to do it and how to really engage with (inaudible). That's what's special about this show. It's in 360. And the audience is such a big part of what we do. And I think last night, you -- you -- see that. But Italians are welcome. (chuckle).

CUOMO: Thank you. I -- I felt like that, although I was playing a little to the Irish side, according to me... You're trying to find a way to make things more special. Well, the stage alone is just one of the most fascinating things ever to happen. Were you surprised when the concept became the reality, when -- what -- what it actually is?

BONO: Dangerously, being a rockstar because sometimes people give you what you ask for. (chuckle) And -- it's a (unintelligible) make the crowd center of the show. By playing -- that's what happened. But how do you do that? How do you lift all that gear up and out of the way of the crowd? That was the engineering trick. Started off at -- the dinner table with forks and knives, you know, tryin' to imagine what this thing looked like that we hang all the gear off (unintelligible). And it turned into the space junk you see behind you.

CUOMO: (chuckle) No, it's really fascinating. And also, before it could start off here in Chicago -- Adam, when you think about it, you guys were touring here 20 years ago in such a different way. And now to be back in such grand fashion.

ADAM CLAYTON: Well, Chicago has just be -- always been a great music town, hasn't it? You know -- you know, there was always that -- the blues musicians comin' up in the '50s. And there's always something going off here. And I think it's very musician-friendly. So it's good to be back. And we've always had great audience and a great reaction. I think on the PopMart tour, we did -- we did three nights here -- which was, like, unusual compared to the rest of them.

CUOMO: People were screaming and loving it. But what is -- what is it like for you. Edge, you know, you did this -- your first show. You know, you're tryin' to get going, get into a rhythm with it. What was it like to have the first show?

THE EDGE: Well -- it was very exciting to bring this (unintelligible) the show to America. We've been touring in Europe for the last -- month and a half. Those shows were AMAZING. But, we're very proud to bring it here because, you know, we -- we're used to playing indoors in America where in Europe we play outside alot. And on this tour, I think we really worked hard to try and put together a production that made it -- made sense in the stadium...

You know, we really wanted to make sense of the scale of the stadium venues. And our production, I have to say -- has -- has kind of -- it now looks like a piece of architecture designed to fit into this kind of venue. And weirdly enough, it creates a kind of intimacy which we never could have achieved in a stadium before because we're so kind of in the -- in the middle. We're so exposed. And -- and -- and when the four of us come together, there's this clear view for everybody. They can really see the interaction -- the chemistry.

CUOMO: Let me ask you, on the road, which of you -- what is the consensus? Who's the most fun on the road of you four guys?

THE EDGE: I think we all have our good nights and our -- our bad nights. It -- it changes. You know, the the baton gets passed Larry, I have to say, on this tour is -- is comin' up, comin' through on the fun stakes (unintelligible). Adam obviously (chuckle) -- Adam obviously was, early on. (chuckle But Adam's -- Adam's passed on the buck.

CUOMO: It's fun -- now, Larry, you started the band. You know, there's this obviously famous mythical story, now about you putting up the ad saying, "I want to start a band." Do you ever regret about who you picked? You know, just to lay it out there? (chuckle) You ever think, "Man -- "

MULLEN: No, no, I would -- I would like to say this. No... I didn't choose these guys. It (unintelligible) turns out they chose me. AAAH.. I -- I -- so I didn't -- I didn't have much say in -- in how -- in how it worked. It's like -- it's like -- it's a little like -- (chuckle)

CUOMO: Do you regret not sticking with the name Larry Mullen Jr. Band?

MULLEN: I do. As a matter of fact, that is one of my big regrets. I think we could've (unintelligible) this --

THE EDGE: It would've been more popular -- U2 is such a crap name...

CUOMO: But it is interesting when you study the history, something that's so successful as your collaboration, the early thoughts of, "Oh, you know -- Bono, you know, takin' that name, later. Came in, no, the guitarist maybe, maybe not. Your voice, we'll see. But what charisma." You know, Adam used the right language and the Edge, obviously -- you know, you were taken with him as an addition right away. But do you ever think back on them, those kind of -- assessments?

MULLEN: Yeah -- you -- it is hard to look back and imagine that some kind of, you know, that you sat down with a blueprint and put things in place (unintelligible). It's so random, in a way, and so extraordinary that randomly four people could have remained -- not only friends, but musical collaborators for such a long period. Now, we can't make that shit up. You know?

BONO: It just (chuckle) -- it -- it's a really -- it's a very difficult thing full stop. -- thing. Business relationships, you know, marriage and lovers, whatever it is, sticking together is almost impossible.

These -- in fact, the odds are against us. And I think that's perhaps when we walk out on stage, what people are feeling, I think, these people come through a lot together. And -- and I've heard people say that even if they don't like the band, that they have an involuntary reaction when the band walks out on stage.

Their hair stands up. What they don't know is -- is -- and it's a strange thing, but, that also happens to us. I don't know what -- what that is. But something about -- I think it's something about that it -- it -- it's against the odds to have to suffer, you know, so -- so -- sublimate your ego, your -- 'cause someone wants to be the boss. And you can't be in this band.

CUOMO: You can't be, 'cause Larry's boss.

THE EDGE: Yeah, that's why its lasted so long 'cause -- 'cause everyone thinks it's their band.

CUOMO: You think you all let -- but it worked. It worked. It worked. And I thought it was interesting last night. Everybody knows that this band distinguishes itself in terms of sense of purpose, a message -- that you try to attach to the music. Some of the choices that you're making on this current tour, "Sunday Bloody Sunday," obviously a very, very famous song. You, the images last night, you were talkin' about the Iran election. You had Arabic up there. You had pictures and scenes from Iran. What's the thinking there? What are you -- what are you tryin' the relay to people?

BONO: That if the songs change their meaning and you get truth you know, they fit different aspects of life -- and it's strange, but the -- the heroes on the streets of Iran, those that are fighting for their freedom at the moment (unintelligible) non-violently , fighting, a matter of fact, protesting, for their freedom, they chose the color green. So this sort of segue into the Irishness of -- of Sunday Bloody Sunday seems perfect.

I can't quite remember how it happened in our rehearsal, but we started using this beautiful Sufi singer from Iran. And we commissioned an Iranian artist -- who put up the -- put some of her video art. And now I -- I -- I -- I've heard on -- on the radio -- I think it's radio free Asia, They talk about this every day that U2's spending -- I mean, it's tiny things for us in Chicago. But it means a lot to people out on the streets of Iran that there's a sense that the world is watching.

CUOMO: And right now, Adam, what is your take in terms of what people's appetite are with their minds and their hearts for reaching out to other hard situations, to wanting to care what was going on? What do you sense?

CLAYTON: I think it's difficult for people. But fundamentally, people are decent and they have a lot of compassion for -- for what's going on in other parts of the world. And -- and I know, you know, everyone's thoughts are with the troops that are in Afghanistan and what's going on there.

And these moments of -- of -- of freedom that people glimpse at like what's happening in Iran, like what's happening in Burma, for instance Au Sung Su Kyi (unintelligible), I think -- I think the world does watch. (unintelligible)

THE EDGE: They really get this stuff. They care deeply about it. So they don't like (unintelligible) impact in the band because they actually go on. They do it.

CLAYTON: They join Amnesty. So it's really a culture in the sense (unintelligible) morale up and our views (unintelligible). We're -- we're kind of the cheerleaders for their activism.

CUOMO: It's -- it is a good way to put it because there is an atypical approach. You do not lament things that are wrong with the world. Like, last night, you had Desmond Tutu come on. He didn't talk about any negative instruction. He's all about the power of the positive and what we can do through loving one another and being considerate in situation. Is that intentional, Larry? Anybody can say, "Things are bad out there." But you, more, are tryin' to raise awareness through saying how much better it can be.

MULLEN: I think that's part of it. I mean, you just -- you -- you don't -- you don't wanna get into a situation where it becomes one big hug and love fest. it's a rock and roll band. We come from a place where, you know, political activism, you know, it's part of the D.N.A. of great rock and roll.

Clash, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, I mean -- the list goes on. So, it's part of who we are. And, you know, Desmond Tutu, and what he does and how he speaks -- and the fact that, you know, he -- you know, in charge of the truth and reconciliation -- court -- do they call it court? Yeah, in -- in -- in South Africa. Yeah, that's a huge political statement.

BONO: So, it's (unintelligible) people -- they -- if people owned up to their crime, South African apartheid, they were -- they were set free. But one -- it -- honesty was -- the crux of it. The absolutely revolutionary radical thought --

MULLEN: I mean, so having him there, there's a lot of resonance there. It's not just about him talking about, you know, being positive about South Africa. He stands for something incredibly powerful.

THE EDGE: I think we've always believed (unintelligible). I think our approach and, you know, early day punk rock's so moany. It's like everyone's writin' just phony lyrics about -- about -- we -- we were more like Bob Marley. We kinda, you know, knew there was bad shit goin' on. But we were -- we wanted to try and find some kind of hopeful angle to it all.

BONO: We always thought Ireland is kinda like a Jamaica type of situation. It's true, actually. Our music's (unintelligible) community, family. It's a little rascaly actually.

CUOMO: They're actually parallel. It was interesting last night. I didn't hear any Obama talk. You guys performed at the inauguration.

BONO: Well, we mentioned the inauguration. We mentioned the inauguration and -- (unintelligible) rights and -- and -- and what I said it was such an honor to serve the President on that occasion. But, you know, we didn't wanna get -- dragged into -- to any divisive stuff. See, the most incredible thing was around that election, you know, for those of us in Europe and people who love the United States were watchin'.

You look so close as a country. And politics are the -- you know, the way John McCain behaved with such dignity. Obama was amazing. They never, you know, they -- it was -- it was really something to see. And now, America seems so divided again.

And it's gettin' really messy out there. And -- and I -- I would say that that is the biggest casualty is that the biggest casualty of that is America itself, because the world needs America right now. Doesn't need this fractious... And whatever you think about somebody's politics -- you know, it's just very important not to demonize either on the left or on the right.

BONO: And there's a little bit of that creepin' back in. So we want our -- we're here to bring -- peace.

What we're sayin' is, "Let them Irish fight in the stadium. Everybody gonna be in (unintelligible)." (chuckle) Here, no problem, you can buy it. You can sell it. Whatever you (unintelligible).

CUOMO: Have you -- is it -- encouraging to you that the tour has been as successful from the ticket sales, respective -- given the environment in the world right now, you know, with the recessionary -- year?

THE EDGE: We were blown away. I mean, you know, once -- like you say, we -- we weren't certain how the -- how the tickets would sell. But, it's been amazing. I mean, it's pretty much all sold out.

CUOMO: I mean, from -- everybody's havin' to adjust. You -- you hear about the big sports teams are pulling back. Big events are pulling back. There was speculation about the sales.

THE EDGE: But, so -- but I think 'cause we kept the ticket price low, which is one of the -- the other benefits of playing outdoors is because you're meeting demand, you don't get that awful scalping, secondary ticket market thing that happens when -- when you play in small venues. Here, the -- you know, what it says on the ticket's pretty much what you buy the ticket for. So, our younger fans have access probably for the first time (unintelligible), so it's really a thrill.

BONO: Yeah, and -- and they know that at the very -- the seat at the back and I've sat in about every one. And, you know, and -- yeah, I mean (unintelligible) or even if they're playing, someone will be -- while -- while they're playing, I've gotten, you know, walked around and passing out -- and it is even better (chuckle) right at the back. I mean, it's part rave, part, you know, I don't know what -- it's part political rally, part, you know, people can lose it -- down the front. But actually, up at the back, it's (unintelligible). And it's a very, I think, very good -- value in that sense.

THE EDGE: Yeah, that's where the value of the (unintelligible) really pays off.

BONO: I can't believe I just said the word value. But --

We -- all those times doin' the shows, I've done it all my life. You can't hear anything or see anything. It's like, you know, okay I'm tall so I can see. But, you know, all the people around me all the small people.

CUOMO: Gives you guys a real chance to exercise yourselves up on the stage. When I was watching yesterday, you were runnin' around. You had the bongo drum. You literally were havin' to, like, sprint over across the bridge you go. We were talkin' last night, Adam, 'bout the challenge of being on the moving bridge. How are you -- how are you adjusting to all this?

CLAYTON: A bit wobbly on the moving bridge... I don't like it.

CUOMO: So, you started here. You're heading up to Canada. When you start off on a tour like this, you have all these dates in front of you, who knows how far they'll extend, what kind of goal do you give yourself? Or where do you put your mind in terms of what you want to come out of this? Or do you not at all? Do you not even think of it that way?

THE EDGE: Oh, you know, the real challenge is to keep the show alive, so -- so that takes up a lot of time. But we're already working on the next album. I mean, you know, we're already talking about the new sounds.

CUOMO: Now, is there any chance the next album will actually be from the Larry Mullen band? (chuckle) is there any ... 'cause I've heard that.

MULLEN: No. (chuckle)

CUOMO: 'Cause there is -- there's speculation.

BONO: I have to confess that Larry -- Larry put out that speculation.

MULLEN: I'm working' on my solo record

CUOMO: So, when you're taking this all in, right, this screen is a phenomenal dynamic that you have for being connected. Even though we've seen big screens, right… what do you think this does in terms of the dynamic that it's creating? 360 aside, like, just what it gives you in terms of presentation value?

THE EDGE: Well, it makes (unintelligible). Terrible thing about most screens, you're -- you're looking' off -- off to the left or the right. You -- you can't get a sense of the performance and -- and -- and see it. So with this screen, it's right over. So the -- it's -- it's really it -- keep looking' at us and get a sense of what's happening on the screen.

CUOMO: Any funny stuff happened up on there, yet?

BONO: No, no -- nothing -- too comic, yet. But I will say the -- there's been a little bit -- of -- of magic. The magic act is that, you know, with all the trucks and all the engineers building this Spaceship, for me, there's a moment in the show when it just disappears. It just -- it seems to go away. And you're just playing a song with your audience and you're completely intimate, is the word. And that's the magic act of this show, because if people go away with just that, I -- I think we'd be disappointed. As sad as we are to be art objects.

CUOMO: I guess the statement, too, was the power of the Music, in itself, right, is that you could have something as gigantic as This and it winds up becoming secondary in terms of people's experience.

THE EDGE: yup. Well, the thing about this during the day is so impressive looking at night is (unintelligible) light. The lesson is what you light is what you see. And -- a lot of the show is dark. All you're seeing is the band performing.

CUOMO: It was phenomenal last night. It's a real kind of statement up how things have changed or how they stay the same. Last night you said, "We'll make a U2 milky way, here. Everybody hold up their cell phones, which is such a new thing. You know, you'd see obviously, lighters, right? But, I took a picture of that and I showed it to you last night. It really does look like -- just a complete celestial sea of cell (chuckle) phones. You don't see any of this. You just see all the people and what they've kind of made as a community around you.

BONO: Tonight, we're trying a piece for a song we've never played before from an obscure album called the (unintelligible). And it's where we connect with the people in the international space station.

CUOMO: Oh.

BONO: So we've been having this ongoing relationship with the astronauts and cosmonauts that they take two and half hours to -- to orbit the earth. And we have one of the astronauts performing a lyric. And he -- he recites a lyric at the end of the song. So, tonight's the first time trying it.

CUOMO: Real time?

BONO: It is -- no, he's being recorded doing it.

CUOMO: It was a real pleasure to see the first show. I know it's very important to you, certainly important to everybody. I wish you continued luck.

BONO: Thank you, Chris. And we wish you safety and in Afghanistan and for Diane. Also, we treasure your reporting, your, and -- your courage, and your pursuit of the truth

CUOMO: Thank you. You give us reason to do it because You keep people's awareness up.

BONO: Thank you.

CUOMO: Thank you.

© ABC News, 2009.

source:www.atu2.com