Wake Up and Dream

A new U2 song? Looks like it!

Some of the U2 pictures displayed at  Timeless: The Photography of Julian Lennon. Excellent shots of the band at work and good candid ones:

Bono with a young John Lennon at the background

It´s always good to see the Lennon surname (father or son)  associated with U2. Seems Julian has really found his niche. The new Anton Corbijn??

Pics:Twitter user @hula_doll  in  yFrog / www.atu2.com

Spanish Eyes in San Sebastian

'Thirty four years ago yesterday, I got to meet these guys: so it's a birthday of sorts.' said Bono in the first concert in Spain. On 26th September was the 34th anniversary of U2's first meeting in Larry's parents' house in Dublin.

There was a bit of a celebration in San Sebastian , with the 360 debut of Spanish Eyes - written and recorded during the sessions for The Joshua Tree -  and another bow for the beautiful 'Mercy', with a shout-out to Terry Lawless ('down in underworld').

'Muchas gracias,' says Bono at the end of With Or Without You. 'Let's do the magic trick one more time, let's take out our phones and turn this place into the Milky Way.'

And with countless phones illuminating the stadium floor and a beautiful moon hanging in the dark sky above, the whole 360 scene in Spain looks pretty amazing.

Setlist

Return of the Stingray Guitar,

Beautiful Day,

I Will Follow,

Get On Your Boots,

Magnificent,

Mysterious Ways,

Elevation,

Until the End of the World,

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,

Spanish Eyes,

Mercy,

In A Little While,

Miss Sarajevo,

City of Blinding Lights,

Vertigo,

I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (remix) –

Relax, Sunday Bloody Sunday,

MLK,

Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone

Encore(s):

One,

Amazing Grace - Where the Streets Have No Name,

Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You,

Moment of Surrender

 Mercy in San Sebastian. (www.u2.gigs.com)

Picture gallery

www.u2.com/www.u2.gigs.com

Bono’s ONE campaign: we do not waste money

In response to The First Post’s column attacking Bono’s charitable work, a ONE spokesman explains where the money goes.

Contrary to Johnny Dee's column (Bono under fire: where does all the ONE cash go?), ONE does not fundraise from the general public, we do not receive any government funding and we do not deliver development projects on the ground.

We are funded almost entirely by a handful of philanthropists on our board of directors to raise awareness and pressure political leaders to fight extreme poverty through smart and effective policies and programs, like the Global Fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria, which is saving 4,000 lives a day.

The whole point of ONE is to combat extreme poverty by raising awareness and changing government policy - it has never been to directly fund charity projects in developing countries, work which is done well by other NGOs. ONE was created by philanthropists to tackle the structural policy issues such as debt, trade, and access to health care and other resources which make it hard to break out of extreme poverty.

ONE has nearly 120 staff in the US, UK, Germany, Brussels, France, Nigeria and South Africa whose job it is to fight for funding for effective programs like the Global Fund and the US global Aids program PEPFAR.

As a result of those programs, today more than 4 million Africans have access to life-saving Aids medication, up from only 50,000 people in 2002.

Malaria deaths have been cut in half in countries across Africa in less than two years. As other examples of our work, ONE helped successfully press for debt relief for Haiti after the devastating earthquake there and we recently played an important role in the passage of a law in the US requiring oil companies to report any payments to government officials - an effort to end backhanded deals between energy companies and corrupt politicians that hurt people in poor countries.

We raise awareness and bring about policy change by mobilising the support of the two million members who have given their voice to our campaign and by lobbying governments to keep to the promises they have made. We also work on issues of good governance and transparency, to ensure that aid goes to those who need it most and to support trade, investment and strong economic growth in Africa.

ONE has been a relentless advocate for these programs and policies and we have used the media spotlight to ensure world leaders keep their commitments.

The media kits that were mentioned in your article, which were  an effort to focus reporters on the Millennium Development Goals, a set of promises world leaders made to cut poverty, hunger and disease by 2015.

There is a rich and vibrant debate in the UK media about aid that doesn't happen in the US, which is why these press kits were delivered to US reporters in New York. In hindsight, the kits were not the best way to gain attention for the issues and we regret that sending them distracted from the work we are trying to do and the issues we care about.
Sincerely,

Olly Buston, European Director, ONE 

www.thefirstpost.co.uk

2nd Show in Brussels

The  afternoon of second show in Brussels  was expected with torrential rain and thunderstorms  as afternoon turned in to evening and just when it was  going to get to dry out - around about the start of Until The End of the World - the rain returned. And didn't let up all night long.No problem, 60,000 people were soon chorusing 'Singing in the Rain'. 'Thanks for making us feel at home with this Irish weather,' remarked Bono. 'Let's give it up for the U2 crew, the hardest working crew on the planet and not all of them Belgians..'
One legendary crew member got special mention in dispatches tonight, because it was in Cork, 32years ago to this very night that  Joe O'Herlihy first worked the sound desk for U2 - even though they were fifth on the bill.
'He's not really like a sound guy, he's more like a wizard, a sonic sorcerer….'

"Bad" and "Angel of Harlem" made their first appearances in a U2 set list since last summe and there were two new songs after Still Haven't Found (North Star and Mercy).

Let's play a new song,' said Bono, reaching for the harmonica. 'This could be a hit…' Angel of Harlem was an instant hit, followed by Bad, greeted with a Belgian ovation. Pretty soon  all forgotten about the inclement conditions as the music took over all the way to the end when Larry, Adam, Edge and Bono all raised a Belgian glass of beer in toast to this wonderful audience.

www.u2.com/www.u2.gigs(video)

First of Two Concerts in Brussels

'This doesn't feel like a Wednesday night,' says Bono, after Until The End of the World. 'This is a very special occasion. You thought we were an Irish band  and we are. You thought we had an Irish crew and we do… but actually this tour is run by Belgians.'

Bono called the show a 'homecoming' for U2, what with several crew members hailing from Belgium, not to mention this being where The Claw was first built in the spring of 2009. The audience was loud throughout the show, and they continue singing With or Without You so long that Bono can't begin Moment of Surrender.


Main Set: Return of the Stingray Guitar, Beautiful Day, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Black is Black - Mysterious Ways, Elevation, Until the End of the World, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, North Star, Mercy, In A Little While, Miss Sarajevo, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - Ca Plane Pour Moi, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (remix) - Two Tribes, Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone
Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace - Where the Streets Have No Name, Ultraviolet, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender

 More pics here (thanks to U2.gig)
www.u2.tours.com/u2.gigs.com/ u2.com

Killing Bono to be Premiered in Spring in UK

Killing Bono, the film based on Neil McCormick's book account of growing up in the same school as U2 while trying to launch his own music career, will premiere in the UK in Spring, 2011.

For those  based in Dublin ,  the very first peek at the promotional footage for the film can be seen at  THE MUSIC SHOW on Sunday 3^rd October at 3pm in the Main Hall of The RDS, Dublin.
 The panel discussion will be headed by BAFTA award winning Director of Killing Bono Nick Hamm, Grammy nominated Composer of the Killing Bono musical soundtrack Joe Echo, and author of  “I Was Bono’s Doppelganger” (the book the film is based on) Neil McCormick.

killingbonoblog.com

Bill Carter´s "Miss Sarajevo"

In 1993 Bill Carter was an aid-worker and documentary film maker living in Sarajevo, a city under siege from 18,000 Serbian troops firing artillery and mortar from the surrounding hills.  Even though it was cut off from the rest of the world Carter saw the city as a sign of hope in the Balkan war because 'Sarajevans refused to be divided along ethnic lines.'
It was when he met up with U2 on 1993's  ZOO TV Tour that a plan developed to show young people elsewhere in Europe what life was like in a besieged city on their continent. The result was regular satellite linkups  from Sarajevo into the ZOO TV shows, when people living under siege told their story to the world.
 Bill went on to direct the documentary 'Miss Sarajevo' a portrait of the city during the height of the siege: 'an alternative scene of artists, young people and those determined to live as normal a life as they could under the most difficult and dangerous conditions.' Produced by Bono, the documentary won the International Monitor Award, Golden Hugo, and the Maverick Director Award (Newport Beach Film Festival).


You can order  a copy of the DVD here.
Bill Carter`s website.
In August 2009, Bill talked to U2.com, here is what he remembered of the filming of the documentary.


Miss Sarajevo in Modena with the great Maestro Pavarotti....

www.u2.com/www.billcarter.cc

M.D.G.’s for Beginners ... and Finishers

Another Op-Ed Guest Column by Bono for the New York Times.

I’ve noticed that New Yorkers, and I sometimes try to pass for one these days, tend to greet the word “summit” with an irritated roll of the eyes, a grunt, an impatient glance at the wristwatch. In Manhattan, a summit has nothing to do with crampons and ice picks, but refers instead to a large gathering of important persons, head-of-state types and their rock-star retinues in the vicinity of the United Nations building and creates, therefore, a near total immobilization of the East Side. Can world peace possibly be worth this? Never, never...Eleanor Roosevelt, look what you’ve done ... .
Recent global summit meetings, from Copenhagen to Toronto, have frankly been a bust, so the world, which may not know it yet, is overdue for a good multilateral confab — one that’s not just about the gabbing but about the doing. The subject of the summit meeting at the United Nations this week is one whose monumental importance is matched only by its minuscule brand recognition: the Millennium Development Goals, henceforth known as the M.D.G.’s (God save us from such dull shorthand).
The M.D.G.’s are possibly the most visionary deal that most people have never heard of. In the run-up to the 21st century, a grand global bargain was negotiated at a series of summit meetings and then signed in 2000. The United Nations’ “Millennium Declaration” pledged to “ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world’s people,” especially the most marginalized in developing countries. It wasn’t a promise of rich nations to poor ones; it was a pact, a partnership, in which each side would meet obligations to its own citizens and to one another.
f course, this is the sort of airy-fairy stuff that people at summit meetings tend to say and get away with because no one else can bear to pay attention. The 2000 gathering was different, though, because signatories agreed to specific goals on a specific timeline: cutting hunger and poverty in half, giving all girls and boys a basic education, reducing infant and maternal mortality by two-thirds and three-quarters respectively, and reversing the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. All by 2015. Give it an A for Ambition.
So where are we now, 10 years on, with some “first-world” economies looking as if they could go bang, and some second- and third-level economies looking as if they could be propping us up?
Well, I’d direct you to the plenary sessions and panel discussions for a detailed answer...but if you’re, eh, busy this week...my view, based on the data and what I’ve seen on the ground, is that in many places it’s going better than you’d think.
Much better, in fact. Tens of millions more kids are in school thanks to debt cancellation. Millions of lives have been saved through the battle against preventable disease, thanks especially to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Apart from fallout from the market meltdown, economic growth in Africa has been gathering pace — over 5 percent per year in the decade ending in 2009. Poverty declined by 1 percent a year from 1999 to 2005.
The gains made by countries like Ghana show the progress the Millennium Goals have helped create.
At the same time, the struggles of places like Congo remind us of the distance left to travel. There are serious headwinds: 64 million people have been thrown back into poverty as a result of the financial crises, and 150 million are hungry because of the food crisis. And extending the metaphor, there are storms on the horizon: the poor will be hit first — and worst — by climate change.
So there should be no Champagne toasts at this year’s summit meeting. The 10th birthday of our millennium is, or ought to be, a purposeful affair, a redoubling of efforts. After all, there’s only five years before 2015, only five years to make all that Second Avenue gridlock worth it. With that in mind I’d like to offer three near-term tests of our commitment to the M.D.G.’s.
1. Find what works and then expand on it. Will mechanisms like the Global Fund get the resources to do the job?
Energetic, efficient and effective, the fund saves a staggering 4,000 lives a day. Even a Wall Streeter would have to admit, that’s some return on investment. But few are aware of it, a fact that allows key countries — from the United States to Britain, France and Germany — to go unnoticed if they ease off the throttle. The unsung successes of the fund should be, well, sung, and after this summit meeting, its work needs to be fully financed. This would help end the absurdity of death by mosquito, and the preventable calamity of 1,000 babies being born every day with H.I.V., passed to them by their mothers who had no access to the effective, inexpensive medicines that exist.

2. Governance as an effect multiplier. In this column last spring, I described some Africans I’ve met who see corruption as more deadly than the deadliest of diseases, a cancer that eats at the foundation of good governance even as the foundation is being built. I don’t just mean “their” corruption; I mean ours, too. For example, multinational oil companies. They want oil, and governments of poor countries rich in just one thing, black gold, want to sell it to them. All well and good. Except the way it too often happens, as democracy campaigners in these countries point out, is not at all good. Some of these companies knowingly participate in a system of backhanders and bribery that ends up cheating the host nation and turning what should be a resource blessing into a kind of curse of black market cabals. 


Well, I’m pleased to give you an update on an intervention that some of us thought of and fought for as critical: hidden somewhere in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill (admit it...you haven’t read it all either) there is a hugely significant “transparency” amendment, added by Senators Richard Lugar and Benjamin Cardin. Now energy companies traded on American exchanges will have to reveal every payment they make to government officials. If money changes hands, it will happen in the open. This is the kind of daylight that makes the cockroaches scurry.
The British government should institute the same requirement for companies trading in Britain, as should the rest of the European Union and ultimately all the G-20 nations. According to the African entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim, who has emerged as one of the most important voices on that continent, transparency could do more to transform Africa than even debt cancellation has. Measures like this one should be central to any renewed Millennium Development Goal strategy.
And the cost to us is zero, nada. It’s a clear thought in a traffic jam.
3. Demand clarity; measure inputs and outputs.

Speaking of transparency, let’s have a little more, please, when it comes to the question of who is doing what toward which goal and to what effect. We have to know where we are to know how far we’ve left to go.
Right now it’s near impossible to keep track. Walk (if you dare) into M.D.G. World and you will encounter a dizzying array of vague financing and policy commitments on critical issues, from maternal mortality to agricultural development. You come across a load of bureau-babble that too often is used to hide double counting, or mask double standards. This is the stuff that feeds the cynics.
What we need is an independent unit — made up of people from governments, the private sector and civil society — to track pledges and progress, not just on aid but also on trade, governance, investment. It’s essential for the credibility of the United Nations, the M.D.G.’s, and all who work toward them.
And that was the deal, wasn’t it? The promise we made at the start of this century was not to perpetuate the old relationships between donors and recipients, but to create new ones, with true partners accountable to each other and above all to the citizens these systems are supposed to work for. Strikes me as the right sort of arrangement for an age of austerity as well as interdependence. (The age of interrupted affluence should sharpen our focus on future markets for our sake as well as theirs.)
No leader scheduled to speak at the summit meeting is more painfully aware of this context than President Obama, who one year ago pledged to put forth a global plan to reach the development goals. If promoting transparency and investing in what works is at the core of that strategy, he can assure Americans that their dollars are reinforcing their values, and their leadership in the world is undiminished. Action is required to make these words, these dull statistics, sing. The tune may not be pop but it won’t leave your head — this practical, achievable idea that the world, now out of kilter, can re-balance itself and offer all, not just some, a chance to exit the unfathomable deprivation that brings about the need for such global bargains.
I understand the critics who groan or snooze through the pious pronouncements we will hear from the podium in the General Assembly. But still in my heart and mind, undiminished and undaunted, is this thought planted by Nelson Mandela in his quest to tackle extreme poverty: “Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great.”
We have a lot to prove, but if the M.D.G. agreement had not been made in 2000, much less would have happened than has happened. Already, we’ve seen transformative results for millions of people whose lives are shaped by the priorities of people they will never know or meet — the very people causing gridlock this week. For this at least, the world should thank New Yorkers for the loan of their city.
 

 www.nytimes.com

Bono: One of "Ireland´s Greatest"

 The Irish TV network RTÉ conducted a survey to find the most representative people from Ireland for the Irish.
At the end of 2009 Ipsos/ MRBI, the independent market research agency, conducted a survey amongst a nationally representative sample of Irish respondents aged 15+.

On Monday March 22nd the top 40 names from this survey were put up on the RTÉ website (in alphabetical order), and people were then given the chance to vote for their greatest Irish person from that Top 40.
Two weeks later, the web vote closed and the Top Ten was announced. They were (in alphabetical order): Bono, Dr. Noel Browne, Michael Collins, James Connolly, Stephen Gately, John Hume, Phil Lynott, Padraig Pearse, Mary Robinson and Adi Roche.
 Now, after thousands of public votes on the RTE Website, the search for Ireland's Greatest has been narrowed down to the final five: Bono, Michael Collins, James Connolly, John Hume and Mary Robinson.
On September 27th, the network will air the interview with Bono.

www.rte.ie

North Star in Paris

Tthe only U2 concert in France in 2010 took place last evening. Opening with The Return of the Stingray Guitar and featuring  North Star and Mercy, the show included three of the five new tracks the band have premiered on the current 360 European leg.
MLK was also back, in place of Mothers of the Disappeared, and Hold Me Thrill Me, in place of Ultraviolet. The white balloons blanketed the Stade de France tonight and we had a record-breaking concert audience here of ninety six thousand. Bono introduced the band in French much  to the delight of that ninety six thousand who contributed a record-breaking volume all night long.

Plenty of well-known names here too from fashion and the arts -  Fabien Verschaere, David Guettta, Helena Christensen and Marion Cotillard, Petra Nemcova - to politics, including French  Minister for Culture  Jack Lang and Minister for Finance, Christine Lagarde as well as Irish Ambassador Patrick Kavanagh.

Setlist

1. Return Of The Stingray Guitar
2. Beautiful Day
3. I Will Follow
4. Get On Your Boots
5. Magnificent
6. Mysterious Ways
7. Elevation
8. Until The End Of The World
9. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
10. North Star
11. Mercy
12. In A Little While
13. Miss Sarajevo
14. City Of Blinding Lights
15. Vertigo
16. Crazy Tonight / Two Tribes / Relax
17. Sunday Bloody Sunday
18. MLK
19. Walk On
20. One
21. Amazing Grace / Where The Streets Have No Name
22. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
23. With or Without you
24. Moment of Surrender

Picture Gallery.

www.u2.com/www.u2.gigs (video)

Bono Met French President Sarkozy

U2 frontman Bono is wooing French President Nicolas Sarkozy to get backing in the fight against poverty and Aids.

Bono says Sarkozy’s leadership “is vital on all the things that I care about” because he will head the G8 and the G20 next year and “France is going to be the most important country on the planet”.

Bono met Sarkozy today and left the presidential palace upbeat. He said the president does not plan to cut back on development as others are doing.

The meeting came ahead of a UN summit starting on Monday on Millennium Development Goals to fight world poverty.

As for the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Bono said jokingly that Sarkozy “sleeps with the Global Fund” because first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is a “very effective advocate”.

 

 

Bono - Sarkozy - Awesome video clips here

www.breakingnews.ie//www.metacafe.com

Julian Lennon On His New Photos of U2

 

“I have always felt that I have observed life, in a different way than others; probably because my life has been very different than most. Music has always been one creative outlet for me, but now I’m happy to add another one too, that being photography.”
– Julian Lennon

 

My dad wasn’t really a photographer, so it just allows me to breathe a little more,” says Lennon. “This is my own thing.”

 The opening of Julian Lennon’s "Timeless: The Photography of Julian Lennon" last night at New York’s Morrison Hotel Gallery, was, as you might expect, jam-packed. Midway through the evening, Yoko Ono, Sean and Julian Lennon themselves emerged into the room for a tour, laughing together and pausing to look at intimate shots of U2. "My dad wasn’t really a photographer, so it just allows me to breathe a little more," Lennon told Rolling Stone. "He used to take a couple Polaroid’s, but it wasn’t a potential career. This is my own thing."

 Julian Lennon's 'Timeless' Exhibition: Party Photos, art works

 The photos fell into two categories: landscapes, and portraits of celebrity friends like Kate Hudson and U2, shot as they recorded their next album. Lennon said he became serious about his hobby when he spent two weeks on the road with Sean Lennon as Sean toured Eastern Europe. "I surprised him on the road," Lennon says. "I literally turned up at a gig."

Lennon says U2 approached him earlier this summer looking for a studio to finish some tracks. He offered at his 14th century home in the South of France. "The Edge came to me and said ‘Please take some pictures," Lennon recalls. Displayed were several intimate black-and-white shots of the band: a close-up of Bono’s weathered-seeming face, a candid of Adam Clayton sitting alone on a white stairwell, and the Edge sitting in a booth on a plane, with a lyric sheet in front of him. "To a degree, it’s a side of the boys that hasn’t been seen before … I just didn’t want to get in the way," Lennon said. "The moment I thought there was any heavy air, I would clear out."

One of the most striking U2 shots is of Bono in the studio, sitting underneath a headshot of John Lennon in his early greaser days. "Initially, I called it a Lennon sandwich," Julian said. "Now I call it ‘Someone to Look up to.’ Bono was there, and I look up to him, and he looks up to dad." Lennon also shot the band onstage in Vienna in late August. "They’re mates, so if they’re on the road and I’m in the neighborhood, I’m there."

 

For music, Lennon played the instrumental version of his first full album since 1998’s Photograph Smile. He told RS the album has been finished for three years, but he hasn’t released yet because of frustrations with the music business. He does, however, expect to put it out this spring. "In some ways the photography will bring people back to the music," Lennon observed. "The process of doing [photo] work and getting it out to the public is a lot smoother than the road I’ve had with music."

‘Réflexion’ by Julian Lennon [Photograph © Julian Lennon courtesy of the Morrison Hotel Gallery]

 

Julian Lennon: ‘Timeless’ exhibition at Morrison Hotel Gallery, NYC: Sept17-Oct7

 

www.rollingstone.com/www.morrisonhotelgallery.com

Music Rising: A Musical Education

Music Rising,  co-founded in 2005 by The Edge, producer Bob Ezrin and Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz have announced a $1 million program in partnership with Tulane University to develop a college curriculum that will provide a permanent, comprehensive and definitive study of the musical heritage of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. The Music Rising program is administered by the Gibson Foundation.

Music Rising has worked closely with Nick Spitzer, professor of anthropology and American studies and creator of Tulane’s public radio program American Routes in creating the connection with Tulane. The curriculum for the program on music and culture of the Gulf Coast will be implemented at Tulane and available to other universities through web and print materials. In addition to drawing from field, studio and live interviews, programs and performances of the American Routes Collection, the curriculum will draw upon the resources of the William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz as well as the Maxwell Music Library, the Louisiana Collection, the Southern Institute and the New Orleans Gulf South Center, all housed at Tulane.

'I wouldn’t be where I am today without the unique musical heritage that is New Orleans,' said The  Edge.  'So much has come from that part of America.  From the birth of jazz, the roots of Rock'n'Roll and R&B, to the traditional celebrations in the streets, New Orleans has provided all of us with great musical traditions. This new curriculum, which I am personally very proud of, will help preserve this history and educate for many years to come.'

'Our goal has always been to preserve the musical culture of New Orleans and the Central Gulf.  We started by replacing instruments that were lost in the hurricanes of 2005.' said Bob Ezrin 'And now we are thrilled to be working with the wonderful folks at Tulane University to develop a course of study that will allow people from the region and all over the world to study and understand that culture and the music that creates it.'

The Music Rising curriculum at Tulane will preserve the great musical heritage of the Gulf Coast region and eventually be adapted to educational levels ranging from elementary through high school. Preserving the music of the region has always been the driving force behind the many initiatives Music Rising has supported since its inception in 2005 after the devastating hurricanes of Katrina and Rita.

 It is critical to the organization that the various styles of music which have borrowed from earlier traditions be understood and taught to future generations. New Orleans' has been the birthplace of jazz, blues, Dixieland and even funk, all of which make the region arguably one of the most important spawning grounds for global musical culture. Building the Music Rising curriculum will also serve as a catalyst to develop a comprehensive system of archives that will preserve a vast amount of Gulf Coast based cultural history.

'Tulane University is the perfect partner for this venture.  From their Music and Humanities departments which are world renowned to Nick Spitzer's American Routes and the amazing archives that they have built over the decades,' said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar.  'Now, all of these departments and disciplines will be engaged in a historical collaboration in creating this amazing course of study. We are very proud that Gibson Foundation could play such an integral role.'

Tulane Provost Michael Bernstein foresees that new public service opportunities for Tulane students could arise from the Music Rising curriculum. Tulane requires that all undergraduate students complete a specified number of service-learning hours, which are connected to their coursework.

'This is the kind of collaboration that lies at the heart of the service-learning commitment at Tulane - an enduring promise to our city, our state, and our region that the talents and imagination of our very best artists, scholars, and students will serve the interests and needs of the community,' Bernstein said. 'Tulane is profoundly grateful to Bob Ezrin, Music Rising and the Gibson Foundation for their exceedingly generous support of a significant endeavor on behalf of the arts and culture of the Gulf Coast region.'

Through the project Music Rising hopes to create a new generation of students, scholars, musicians and community members who can perform, document, produce, preserve and advocate for the music and cultures of the Gulf Coast and create an opportunity to generate awareness of the significant importance of the musical heritage and traditions that originated from this region of the United States.

More on Music Rising here

The EDge via Twitter said. "“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the unique musical heritage that is New Orleans" - the Edge

http://www.musicrising.org/donate

www.u2.com/

Munich: "Love Song to the Universe"

'I can't wait any longer for your love/ Praying the night will come quickly...'

They've played it live barely a handful of times and yet tonight the Olympic Stadium in Munich sang the beautiful  ballad North Star back to the band. 'That would be the internet,' surmises a surprised Bono. 'That's an unexpected surprise - Thank you. That's our love song to the universe…'

U2 played in Munich last night,Bono praised the doctors and nurses that performed back surgery on him in Munich earlier in the year. 'This is a very special city to this band and to me personally. Without the good doctors and nurses of University Hospital, I would not be standing here, this tour would not be happening…
'It’s a funny thing but if you’re a rock star or a film star or a sports star, people think of you as heroic just for doing the thing that you love. But we are not heroic - nurses and doctors are truly heroic.This is the best city in the world for physicians.'
Doesn't take much imagination to sense the ovation that received, after which Bono took a moment to thank Professor Tonn who performed his back surgery - and is in the audience - and Dr Muller Wolfhart  and Klaus and Imke who also worked on his recovery.'One' includes the 'Hear us coming' coda. It begins to rain during the encore, prompting Bono to sing about the weather. After 'Moment of Surrender' ends, he leads the crowd in a short rendition of 'Singin' in the Rain.'



'This band has been coming to Munich nearly as long as Oktoberfest and we are 200 years old in November,' he digresses, before revealing that he'd been trying to think which band member is which beer: Augustiner (Edge?), Bockbier (Larry?), Radler (Adam?). 'I'll stick with the Guinness if that's okay …'

Setlist:

1. Return Of The Stingray Guitar
2. Beautiful Day
3. I Will Follow
4. Get On Your Boots
5. Magnificent
6. Mysterious Ways / My Sweet Lord
7. Elevation
8. Until The End Of The World / Anthem
9. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
10. North Star
11. Mercy
12. In A Little While
13. Miss Sarajevo
14. City Of Blinding Lights
15. Vertigo
16. Funky Town / Crazy Tonight / Two Tribes / Relax
17. Sunday Bloody Sunday
18. Mothers Of The Disappeared
19. Walk On / You’ll Never Walk Alone
20. One
21. Amazing Grace (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name / All You Need Is Love / Purple Rain
22. Ultraviolet

Picture gallery .
www.u2.com/www.u2.gig(video)

U2+Politics: Australian Lead-up for Elections

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally is hosting a box at U2's Sydney concert, inviting donors to pay $3500 a head to spend a night with her and Bono.
Senior Labor sources confirmed yesterday that Ms Keneally would host the event - at the same time as she is demanding that NSW Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell agree to a proposal for donations caps of as low as $2000.
U2 will play ANZ Stadium on December 13 and a lucky dozen donors will get the chance to sing With Or Without You with the Premier.
"It's what political parties do in the lead-up to elections," a Labor source said.
"There's an election in March. It's to raise money for the election in March."
The Labor Party has told donors to be in quick to snatch the opportunity to spend the evening with Ms Keneally, with only 12 spots available in the box.

Ms Keneally, a staff member and security will attend and the Party hopes to raise $15,000 from the event, once costs are taken into account.
Ms Keneally's cabinet has discussed a cap of $2000 per individual/corporation per candidate or a $5000 cap overall per individual or corporation.
Public electoral funding would be lifted to accommodate the caps. Ms Keneally has said the proposal can only work if it has bipartisan support and last week met Mr O'Farrell over it.
Mr O'Farrell has said he would only agree to the change if there was also a cap on donations to unions, as he sees this as a backdoor way in which donations can be given to the Labor Party.
Ms Keneally told a budget estimates committee yesterday: "As a government we have made it clear we support campaign finance reform. I have had a discussion with the Leader of the Opposition. He has indicated in the main his bipartisan support and I welcome that.
"He has raised some matters he would like looked at closely, in particular in relation to third parties.
"I have said to the Leader of the Opposition we are closely looking at that."
The Premier said she would be making an announcement on donations reform soon.

www.heraldsun.com.au

The "Boy" to Photograph U2 in Paris

Fans won’t be the only ones checking out U2 in Paris on September 18th. Dublin-based photographer Peter Rowen  will be there as well, taking pictures of the band as they entertain the thousands of people in the crowd. Rowen, the child of U2’s “Boy” and “War” albums, might be working at the event but he couldn’t be any more excited.

 “I’d never feel like it’s just another assignment,” he says via email, “I am a U2 fan so shooting their shows is amazing!” As a fan, Rowen, 36, believes in “capturing the epic scale of these events.” Be it a U2 show or a sporting event, he makes sure that force is represented in his photos. “I hope always to try and capture the feeling, the atmosphere, the energy with whatever I shoot,” he explains.

If there’s anything contagious at a U2 show, it’s the energy and Rowen feels it when he’s at one of their concerts. It’s an emotion he knows very well, as he photographed the band at their Croke Park show last year. “I think a U2 show is really a special event. They really are amazing,” he says, “Live…there is a kind of magic in the air when they play. I always feel that their music means something too, like they’ve got something real and important to say.”

Being a photographer, Rowen has to be on his toes because anything can happen that could change the shoot in any way. With a U2 show though, anything is possible so Rowen just follows that “magic in the air”. He says, “It’s unpredictable. I never go in with a set plan of what I feel I need or want to shoot.” Rowen seeks out the best pictures he can get as the show unfolds.

U2 played in Paris twice on 2009’s European leg of “360”. Saturday night’s concert will be the only show in France on this year’s leg. Rowen always had Paris on his mind when deciding where to shoot U2 on in 2010. “It’s a place I really like,” he says. Indeed, Paris plays an important role in Rowen’s history with U2. In 1983, he appeared in the band’s video for the song “Two Hearts Beat as One”. The song, off the “War” album, is a true labor of love as Bono wrote it while in Jamaica with wife Ali. “Ali still laughs about how, on our honeymoon, I was writing an album called ‘War’”, Bono reveals in the book “U2 by U2”.

Like the photo shoots for the albums, Rowen spent the days filming the video enjoying himself and the City of Light. “My memories of the video shoot in Paris are good. It was a fun day out. A few days off from school, all good when you’re nine years old,” he muses. Any other kid would be shaking in their sneakers to be in a video with a band like U2, but none of that fazed Rowen. “Shy at times, but never nervous,” he says, then jokes, “The nerves only started when I became an adult!”

Asked whether being on the cover of two of U2’s most memorable records or being in one of their music videos is the better experience, living in the moment and thinking about those accomplishments is what’s important to him. “The best experience is probably the experience I have now. The experience I have of looking back on something that I was involved in, something that was cool, something I can be proud to be a part of,” he says.

Since he has been in a music video and is already an expert behind a camera, does Rowen see himself directing anytime soon? “For the first time ever lately I’ve been thinking about shooting a documentary on my elderly father,” he says, “I spent a couple years back shooting a series of still pictures with him but I really want to shoot some video of him now.”

With that as a possibility on his horizon, Rowen will still be putting his focus on his photos. He “might” do a couple more shoots at “360” this year after the Paris gig. From album covers to concert pictures, Rowen feels a sense of pride for the band he knew from the beginning and being a part of their journey. “I find the story of U2, of four young lads from the town that I grew up in, going out and becoming one of the most successful bands is ever inspiring,” he says, “Getting to shoot and record part of this story is inspiring for sure!”

A devoted friend and lifelong fan, who as a child played photo subject and video actor, grew up and became a magnificent photographer. If there were to be a U2 encyclopedia, this is what would be listed next to Peter Rowen’s name.

Peter, Paris, and U2 in the “Two Hearts Beat as One” video

For more about Peter, visit his official website at www.peterrowen.com. He also has a blog as well as Twitter and Facebook pages. 

www.examiner.com

U2 In Argentina in March 2011?

To the already existing rumours that U2 might play in Brazil and Chile in March 2011, yesterday the rumour that they might come to Argentina was very strong in the local media. According to local newspapers, the band would play in Argentina on 31st March 2011.As the question of  the River Plate Stadium ,which is the natural venue for rock concerts, beign adequate or not for rock concert has been in the limelight lately , there was a suggestion that U2 might play in the neigbouring city of La Plata (55km from the Capital city) , but Time 4 Fun, the producers have said that they "are doing everything possible to bring U2 to River Plate". If the band arrived to Argentina, it would be their third visit.

www.rollingstone.com.ar//www.telam.com.ar/www.clarin.com

"Rain, Rain, I Don´t Mind!"

Second show in Zurich, U2 and the audience were soaking wet, but the show seemed to be "even better than the real thing." Debut of the long known by fans "Mercy" (but never heard live)

'First time we've played this live outside of soundcheck' explained Bono in introducing Mercy, which was written and recorded during the 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb' sessions and, while widely referenced, never subsequently released.

The track won a great reception and proved another signal that the band are ringing the changes in the set list: tonight we also had  Mothers of the Disappeared back after its surprise appearance in Istanbul, as well as the fourth of the all-new tracks North Star.
 The rain continued to pour and the audience to clap in time as we sequed into Walk On and  a snatch of Neil Young's 'You Are Like A Hurricane' before an updated lyric of One about having 'some fun in the rain.' Bono  was still singing about the weather ('When the rain comes and I don't mind') as 'Streets' arrived and this totally drenched audience were still  unbelievably up for it.... totally into the music and totally ignoring the conditions!

Quite the sight to see Adam with his shirt off, so torrential did the conditions become, and when Bono thanked everyone at the end of Moment of Surrender for ' a special night'... we all knew we had been at a memorable show. Adam  really seemed to have been enjoying the show and the ladies around have to thank him for the view too...

Setlist:

Return of the Stingray Guitar, Beautiful Day - Rain, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Elevation - Singin In the Rain, Until the End of the World, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Singin In the Rain, North Star, Mercy, In A Little While, Miss Sarajevo, City Of Blinding Lights - Singin In the Rain, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy... (remix) - Two Tribes - Relax, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Mothers Of The Disappeared, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone
Encore(s): Like a Hurricane - One, Rain - Where The Streets Have No Name, Moment Of Surrender




More pics here.
www.u2.com/www.u2gigs.com/www.tours.com/

Zurich:"It`s Saturday Night Anything Can Go!"

First night of two in Zurich,Switzerland. Bono introduced the band members , in a new,funny way, he asked them about  Switzerland or what they have been doing.



They  shifed the order of the songs early in the show so "Magnificent" was performed prior to "Beautiful Day." g "Every Breaking Wave" was played again.

U2.gigs posted the setlist :

Venue: Letzigrund Stadium
Opening Act(s): OneRepublic
Main Set: Return of the Stingray Guitar, Magnificent, Beautiful Day, Get On Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Every Breaking Wave, Elevation, In A Little While, Miss Sarajevo, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight, Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On
Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace/Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment Of Surrender


www.u2.com/www.u2.gig.com

Edge Performed in Stand Up to Cancer Telethon

The Edge performed a guitar solo via pre-recorded video on  Stand Up To Cancer telethon as Stevie Wonder, Martina McBride, Dave Stewart, Natasha Beddingfield and Aaron Neville performed "Unchained Melody" live on stage.the show was dedicated to the memory of  actor Patrick Swayze.

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. (Interview)

 Bono, Edge and Julie Taymor , director of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark in Good Morning, America:


"Boy Falls From the Sky" from the upcoming musical premiered by singer and protagonist of Spiderman:Turn Off the Dark,Reeve Carney (frontman of the rock band Carney)
 

www.u2spain.com

Out of Africa, Into Asia

One of a line of t-shirts created to coincide with the World Cup

Edun, the brand started by Bono and his wife to boost African manufacturing now produces mainly in China.

 Five years ago, U2 front man Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, founded fashion brand Edun with the lofty mission of revitalizing apparel manufacturing in sub-Saharan Africa.

But when Edun designer Sharon Wauchob unveils her new vision for the label Saturday, most of the clothes on the runway—some featuring African touches like beads from Kenya—will be produced in China.
It's a big about-face for Edun, which launched to great fanfare but quickly ran into problems with sourcing and delivery. Shipments from Africa arrived late, and retailers complained about the clothes' design and fit, leading to poor sales. Last year, the collection was carried at just 67 stores globally, down from hundreds in 2006. The "sustainability of the product doesn't have any value unless the fashion is correct," says Ron Frasch, president and chief merchant at Saks, which dropped the line several seasons ago.
Ms. Hewson admits that she and her husband, known for his advocacy of debt relief in addition to his music, were naïve about what it takes to build a fashion brand. "We focused too much on the mission in the beginning. It's the clothes, it's the product. It's a fashion company. That needs to be first and foremost," Ms. Hewson says. "The aesthetic we always knew would be important…but we didn't realize how difficult it was going to be to achieve quality."
Thanks to its big-name backers, Edun (pronounced like "Eden") immediately got noticed in a way unheard of for most nascent fashion brands. Rogan Gregory, known for his organic-cotton Loomstate line and his eponymous Rogan NYC denim line, signed on as creative director, and Barneys and Saks Fifth Avenue agreed to share an "exclusive" to sell the brand's first collection. Celebrities like Naomi Campbell, Moby and Julian Schnabel came to the brand's launch party.
But the New York- and Dublin-based company says it quickly ran up against the limitations of African manufacturing. Ms. Hewson recalls seeing an embroidered jacket hanging at Saks with the wrist the same width as the sleeve instead of being tapered as intended. The company's longtime communications director, Bridget Russo, says she once hosted a party in the dark, at the chic cabaret venue The Box, to draw attention away from the clothes.
Another factor was the recession: Edun got pummeled as retailers cut back their orders, which increased the money-losing brand's production costs. Ms. Hewson says she considered pulling the plug; the couple consulted with friends like Jeffrey Sachs, the Columbia University economist, who encouraged them to stick with the project. "We felt if we failed it would be a double failure. We'd be saying, 'We can't do this,' and then other companies would go, 'Well, see? We've always known that,'" Ms. Hewson says. "Basically we dug our heels in and said, 'We're staying. We're going to make it work.'"
fter putting around $20 million of their own money into the still-unprofitable brand, Bono and Ms. Hewson sold 49% of the company last year to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton for about $7.8 million. LVMH, the world's largest luxury conglomerate, helped the company recruit new management and a new designer (Mr. Gregory left in 2007), and then tried to convince the founders to expand their sourcing horizons.
Ms. Hewson and Bono initially resisted the idea of manufacturing in China, feeling that doing so would run contrary to the brand's mission. LVMH executive Mark Weber told them, "If you want to argue with the Chinese, you better have the same standards for the governments in Africa," recalls Ms. Hewson.
Mr. Weber, chief executive of LVMH Inc. confirmed the account and added in a statement: "While this business is small today, we believe it can grow in size by building on a noble idea."
Today, Africa primarily produces the T-shirts for the Edun Live initiative, a division started in 2007, as well as some basic denim and tops for the fashion line. Together, African produced-products now account for 15% of the company's sales. The vast majority of the fashion collection, accounting for about 70% of overall production, is now made in Asia, with the remainder coming from Peru. Ms. Hewson says the company's goal is to produce more of its fashion line in Africa over time.
This season Edun is bringing the focus back to the runway, something that was critical for the new chief executive, Janice Sullivan. "The whole celebrity piece wasn't the draw for me," says Ms. Sullivan, a former president of Liz Claiborne Inc.'s DKNY Jeans division who later ran the Narciso Rodriguez designer business. "I am all about the product."

Edun's new designer, Ms. Wauchob, trained at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London and later worked for Louis Vuitton before starting her own eponymous line based in Paris. She says she wants to add "ease and coolness" to the brand. Edun's color palette, which was dominated by brown and earthy oatmeal colors, will be completely different for spring, featuring subtle details like knotting, layered pieces and intricate patterns.
"We don't want anything hippie dippie," says Ms. Sullivan. The collection will be featured in retailers' contemporary sections, with shirts starting at around $60 and jackets topping out at about $800. Saks buyers are attending the show and Mr. Frasch says the retailer may pick up the line if they like what they see.
Barneys, which pared back the line over the past several seasons, recently devoted its Manhattan flagship's store windows to Edun's pre-fall collection and an Edun T-shirt collection designed to coincide with the World Cup. The retailer also threw a party to fete Ms. Hewson, where it served South African beer.

Part of Ms. Sullivan's job has been to balance Bono's tendency towards showmanship. When planning Edun's upcoming fashion show, Bono initially suggested an elaborate outdoor production with models that appeared to be emerging from the water. Ms. Sullivan wondered what would happen if it started raining.
"I felt like a schoolmarm," says Ms. Sullivan. "I sounded like his math teacher saying, 'OK now, Bono, let's just regroup here. We are having a fashion show. Show is the second word. Fashion is the first word." Ultimately, they compromised: the show is taking place in a semi-outdoor space in Chelsea.
Ms. Hewson confirms the account and says the wonderful thing about her husband is that "he is unencumbered by practicalities."
Indeed, for the company's first fashion show, Bono suggested holding it at the debut of The Gates art installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in Central Park and having J.D. Salinger give an outdoor poetry reading. Although she was unable to locate Mr. Salinger, Ms. Russo says she was proud she got the artists to attend Edun's launch party.
"So you can see how this brand, in the wrong hands, could go haywire," says Ms. Sullivan.


 By RACHEL DODES
www.online.wsj.com

Good Morning America!

This Friday, Edge and Bono will appear on Good Morning America as part of the creative team for Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark directed by Julie Taymor. They have taken on the role of composers and lyricists for the production.

U2 have appeared on a number of soundtracks and won a Golden Globe for 'The Hands That Built America'. Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry have worked together and separately on these types of projects in the past - many of you will remember Larry and Adam's soundtrack for Mission Impossible and Bono and Edge's musical score for A Clockwork Orange for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1990.

Edge and Bono will appear live via satellite on Good Morning America this Friday to discuss this new Broadway production, Julie Taymor will also appear in the segment.
 

The first song from 'Spider-Man Turn off the Dark' is set to premiere, performed by Peter Parker/Spiderman (Reeve Carney),  live at The Hudson Theatre in Times Square.

Latest on Spider-Man Turn off the Dark' here 


www.u2.com

"We`re going to Constantinople"

Bono talking about U2`s first gig in Turkey..."like our first date" .Posted by U2.com

U2 Going to South Africa?

Rumours...only rumours...but...

U2 are believed to be returning to South Africa for two shows in February, EntertainmentAfrica.com has learned from a reliable source in the UK.

The Irish supergroup, currently on their 360 Degree Tour, are reportedly set to play stadium shows in Cape Town and Johannesburg - marking the first time the full band have performed in the country since 1998.

The official SA tour announcement is anticipated later in September. In the interim, the local branch of U2's record company, Universal, has issued a statement saying that the tour "is not confirmed".

The concert spectacle features a 360-degree stage - allowing the audience to sit on all sides - which makes use of a four-legged 50-metre tall structure called "The Claw". Holding the record as the largest concert stage structure it holds the speaker system and a cylindrical video screen that hovers above the band, or can be lowered to behind the four performers.

Despite the tour being the most expensive ever to run - with 120 trucks needed to transport equipment and staging between shows - it helped U2 top Billboard magazine's Top 40 Money Makers list with earnings of R872-million in 2009 from touring, record sales, and other royalties.

U2 have been out on the road since June 2009 in support of their most recent album, 'No Line On The Horizon'.  They resumed their global tour in Turin, Italy on 6 August following emergency surgery on singer Bono's back, which forced them to miss a headline performance at the Glastonbury Festival in England and postpone a series of North American dates.

The band last performed in South Africa on their Popmart tour 12 years ago with the typically over the top staging featuring a giant mirrorball lemon, a 30-metre golden arch, and a 3.8m olive on a 30-metre cocktail stick. Bono and guitarist The Edge performed at the 46664 concert in Cape Town in 2003.

In case, they need a little boost...join our South African (and international) friends in FB :We want U2 in South Africa!
BTW...should the South Americans need to start a FB petition too? I wonder...

www.entertainmentafrica.com

U2: The Band who fell to Earth

An article apperaing on the website of Heraldsun from Australia.

U2 performs their 360 degrees concert in Turin, Italy in August. Picture: Massimo Pinca Source: AP

IT WAS the moment U2 realised they were mortal.
Bono, while getting ready for the resumption of the band's mammoth 360 tour back in May, "suffered severe compression of the sciatic nerve", as the German doctor who eventually rebuilt the 50-year-old explained.
The singer would require surgery, and extensive rehabilitation. The band would have to shelve the American leg of the tour and look to start again in Europe in August.
Fast forward to August 16. Tonight U2 will perform only their fifth show back - the second of two nights in a row at a smallish ("It's not even 360," drummer Larry Mullen Jr laments) football stadium in Horsens, Denmark.
Prince Frederik was in the house yesterday. Tonight it's supermodel Helena Christensen passing for Danish royalty.
The double-header is clearly a test for Bono's fitness - on stage he milks the audience of every last drop of energy to make it through the show.
Pre-show, Mullen says he's surprised the frontman hadn't done himself a serious injury a lot earlier in the band's career.
"He's fallen off the stage. He trips over on a regular basis and gets straight back up, never a problem. So I'm surprised... he normally bounces!"
The Edge is less likely to make wisecracks about Bono's bung back. For the guitarist, it's been more an existential crisis.
"We're a band that play hail, rain or shine and no matter what's going on physically, if somebody's ill, got the flu, we just play. So it was a shock to me when we finally had to admit that actually we can't perform," he says. "Bono famously on the Joshua Tree tour fell and separated his shoulder, which is a serious injury and puts most, say, professional football players out of action for six months, yet he got strapped up and went on and we did every single show on that tour.
"So this was the first time that we went, 'Oh wow, we're actually not superhuman'. There is actually a human frailty involved in the band. We had to take that on board.
"The great news is he's, I would say, 95 per cent back to full physical health, and every show he seems to be getting closer to top form, and the voice is as good as ever."
What about The Edge's vital bits - any RSI setting in?
"No, not that I don't have the odd ache or pain, but nothing that's that worrisome. This was just kind of a freak thing that occurred."
"I'm not sure," Mullen says, returning to Bono's propensity for falling over. "I mean he's totally abused himself over the years. When I thought about it, the amount of jumping off stages, the physical risks..."
"Much more in the early days too," Edge agrees. "Early on, we took it for granted that Bono would by the end of the show be scaling the scaffolding, and on numerous occasions he scared the life out of not so much us - because we had this bizarre, unfounded confidence that he would be fine - but our touring personnel would be just quaking in their shoes.
"He on one occasion jumped from a second-floor balcony down into the crowd who grabbed him, and again I thought, 'That was a bit much', but our touring people just went absolutely nuts.
"I think part of the reason Bono's never hurt himself during a show is the amount of adrenalin going through the system and he's lost in the music so much that he's got this resilience that no normal person would have."
For all its magnificent runways, spider-like legs and that eye-melting, 43m-deep cylindrical television screen, for the band, the 360 playing surface is actually so small that if Bono is to fall over, he'd most likely trip on one of his bandmates. (Or perhaps he'd be momentarily blinded by the reflection off bassist Adam Clayton's silver pants.)
The small stage area makes The Edge feel exposed - "We're really out there in a way we've never been before."
Mullen describes the stage as: "Actually quite intimate. It's just with the other stuff around it, it looks a lot more intimidating than it actually is.
"It's an amazing place to play. There's a real connection with your audience that it's hard to find in a stadium. It's certainly the best stage I've ever played on. And I'm not that a---d either way, you know, like I get on, I'll do my job, I'll do what I have to do. But it's nice to be on a stage where you feel, 'Ooh, this is really something'."
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the show is seeing the usually reluctant Mullen getting out from behind the kit, strutting the runways with a bongo drum. It's hard to tell if he's actually enjoying it, though.
"Sometimes hitting things for 30 years takes its toll, so the various grimaces on the face may not necessarily be to do with my dislike of what I'm doing, it might be that I've basically just pulled the other leg out," the 48-year-old says with a wry smile.
"No, I like it, it's a strange sensation. I've never done it before, not like that. I've done it being in the middle and then just running back up, but actually having to walk around and perform to people is different.
"You start to realise how crap you are at playing those drums when you're standing in front of that many people - 'S---, I'm really bad at this, I better go home and practise!' "
On this European leg, the set has featured four songs from U2's album of last year, No Line on the Horizon - Get on Your Boots, Magnificent, I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight and Moment of Surrender.
Though none of the new songs have been hits to rival those they rub shoulders with in the set-list (think Mysterious Ways, Elevation, New Year's Day, With or Without You), they really catch fire in the live show.
No Line on the Horizon has sold more than five million copies in a year and a half - that's a disappointing result in U2 land. When Hit raises this lack of commercial success, Mullen, who had entered the room carrying his dinner (chicken and vegetables, in case you were wondering) drops his cutlery on his plate and makes to storm off.
"I won't have it!"
A lesser band probably wouldn't be cracking jokes. U2, however, are well in touch with the reality of the music business, and their place in it. The reception to the album hasn't knocked their confidence.
"No Line on the Horizon, I'm still very proud of it and I think it'll stand up against our best albums," The Edge says. "But we probably underestimated in the environment in which we released it the importance of having maybe one song that caught fire.
"It's reinforced that point that to puncture public consciousness right now for any music release is hard. So you've either gotta have some kind of platform, some massive thing strapped to your song, or it's just gotta be such an absolute out-and-out smash hit that it does all the work for you... and I don't think we had either of those."
Will the next U2 release be a traditional album?
"We're open," Edge says.
"We're open to whatever the music directs us to do. We feel a little frustrated that we're constrained by this CD format when there are all these powerful opportunities to allow the work to get out there on the internet that we're not fully making use of. But it comes down to some very fundamental questions of what's best for the music, and we have record deals, we have publishing deals, we have to think about those agreements, and also how we're gonna get paid," he laughs.
"Nothing's presented itself yet that says 'This is it', but I can only assume that very shortly there'll be some very exciting new things to do in terms of the way music can be distributed using the internet and we'll be right on it when they present themselves."
Mullen believes the industry needs a "silver bullet" that will change everything, especially for fledgling artists.
"It doesn't affect us, it's too late for us, but it affects a lot of other people," he says.
"Did the music business need a kick up the a---? Yeah, course it did. Did prices need to change? Yes of course. Are people entitled? Of course they are. But people are not entitled to have music for free. The drummer in Blur is part of this organisation to make it that everybody basically should be able to download music for free.
"That's fine for him, he's made enough money, he's actually got a career, he's actually doing very well thank you very much. A lot of artists don't have that luxury. So it's a little unfair and disingenuous.
"It's an issue that's going to come to a head over the next couple of years and hopefully somebody will find that thing and we will jump on the back of it... or maybe be on the front of it, which I'd prefer to be."
If some teenage wannabe approached Mullen on the street, would the veteran warn him off a career in music?
"I wouldn't warn them off, but I think they'd want to go into it with both eyes open."
Talking to Mullen and The Edge, you get the feeling U2 will carry on regardless. The Irishmen are perpetually driven forward by a sense of discovery.
"We still get excited about being able to get into a room and actually make a piece of music that doesn't sound really crap," Mullen says.
"In the end, that's what drives us, the idea that we can still get excited about this, and have fun, and feel we're actually achieving - let's try to be better, despite ourselves.
"Because none of us are... I mean Edge is probably pretty good, but the rest of us... I mean, we're all good, we're very good at being U2."
"And the great thing is that's all we have to be good at," The Edge grins.
"Thankfully, because that's probably all we are capable of being good at."

www.heraldsun.com.au