Bono: Out & About for Christmas one month after his accident

Bono showed off his injuries for the first time since his nasty cycling accident on Christmas Eve, refusing to be held down by the unfortunate incident.

The U2 front man sported a cast on his left arm as he hid behind a thick scarf and under a camouflage hat, walking to The Cliff Townhouse restaurant in Dublin to party with celebrity friends.

The cycling mishap saw the band cancel their Tonight Show residency in the immediate aftermath in November and on Wednesday, it was the annual Grafton Street festive performance that Bono was forced to pull out of.

Bono's left arm was taped up in a heavy-duty cast and he was forced to robe his jacket around his shoulders with the arm out of the sleeve.

The star is said to have broken his arm in six places when he collided with another cyclist while out in New York City. 

The star's 'high energy' bike injuries required three metal plates, 18 screws and five hours of reconstructive surgery, doctors said at the time. 

Celebrating the festive season in his native Ireland on Wednesday, Bono donned his signature tinted glasses and matched his scarf to his hat as he tried to go relatively unnoticed.

Despite it being structured with plasters and tape, Bono managed to grasp a phone with his left hand. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

The Edge showed his support for the Belvedere two-day sleep-out in Dublin in aid of the homeless

The guitarist surprised the students of Belvedere College by presenting a cheque to them on the 31st Annual Belvedere College Sleepout.

The students started the sleep-out yesterday and will finish tomorrow on Dublin's O'Connell street and College Green.

The amount of money donated by The Edge remains undisclosed.The star  has been enjoying some down time in Dublin ahead of Christmas.

Keith Duffy's son Jay, a budding actor, has been sleeping out at the GPO with the schoolboys to raise funds.Jay has been using his celebrity connections to raise awareness.

Kodaline, Ryan Tubridy, Gay Byrne and Brendan Gleeson all showed their support for the sleep-out.One Direction's Niall Horan tweeted his support, causing the site to crash temporarily.

The boys are hoping to beat last year's record and raise over €143k for Focus Ireland, the Peter McVerry Trust and Home Again.

To donate online, see www.sleepoutdublin.ie

NO ORDINARY TWELVE MONTHS

It started with Ordinary Love and ended with news of the iNNOCENCE & eXPERIENCE Tour 2015. That was twelve months we were waiting for... and here's some of the highlights.

A New Song - Ordinary Love
 The band wrote a new song, 'Ordinary Love', for the movie 'Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom'. It was released on 10-inch vinyl to mark Record Store Day. Oliver Jeffers and Mac Premo made a beautiful lyric video to accompany it.

A Golden Globe win
 Ordinary Love took home 'Best Original Song' at the 71st Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles.Everyone was on hand to pick it up.

Performing At The Oscars
The song was also nominated for an Oscar - and the band performed at the ceremony. They talked to The Hollywood Reporter. 'For our generation,' explained Adam. 'South Africa was a real illustration of how music could affect change in the world, and it was a rite of passage in terms of our political awareness.' (The Oscar went to 'Let It Go' from 'Frozen')

Another New Song - Invisible
'I’m more than you know/ I’m more than you see here/ I’m more than you let me be/ I’m more than you know...'
In February, the band released another new song. 'Invisible' was downloaded more than 3million times in 36 hours, raising over $3million for (RED) in the fight against AIDS.

A New Album - Songs of Innocence
In September the band took everyone by surprise. At the launch of the new iPhone and Apple Watch, U2 took the stage to perform a new song 'The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)'. Then Bono told Tim Cook about U2's new album... which Apple had already placed in the music libraries of 500 million customers in 119 countries. Welcome 'Songs Of Innocence.' Watch the whole event here.

A New Video - The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)
'I was chasing down the days of fear/Chasing down a dream before it disappeared...'



Some Questions Answered... on Facebook
From the iTunes release to Benedict Cumberbatch, from why Larry and Adam don't have 'cool names' ... to what rockstars smell like. 

More New Songs... and Acoustic Sessions
Bonus tracks, acoustic sessions, special formats. When Songs of Innocence was released on CD and Vinyl there were more songs, more mixes... and a beautiful six song acoustic session.

The Cover of Time 
The band made the cover of Time again, telling Catherine Mayer 'about another new album in the works—and its secret Apple project that might just save the music industry.' 

Stripped Back and Playing Live
Through October and November half a dozen of the new songs were performed live for the first time, often accompanied by a string quintet. California, Volcano, Song For Someone, The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone), Cedarwood Road and Every Breaking Wave.

Opening in 2015 - A New Tour.
'We're going to try to have a completely different feeling from night one to night two,' explained Bono, 'and have some fun playing with the idea of innocence and experience.' 

A Collection of Films (To Go With The Album)
In December the band unveiled a new artistic initiative in the form of Films of Innocence:  a series of 11 films of the most vital urban visual artists, each inspired by one of the 11 tracks on U2’s Songs of Innocence album.


http://www.u2.com/

Bid on a Signed Guitar From Bono

Gretsch Electromatic "(RED) Zero Generation" Bono "Signature" Guitar 
Retail Value:$ 1,500.00 
ACTUAL VALUE: PRICELESS

Gretsch Electromatic "(RED) Zero Generation" Bono "Signature" Guitar



Description: This is the G5623 Gretsch Electromatic "(RED) Zero Generation" Bono “Signature"

Guitar created along with Bono’s direct input for his founded “RED” campaign to bring awareness of Bono’s support of Product Red and their humanitarian efforts
in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Up to 50% of the proceeds from each sale of this instrument are donated directly to the global RED fund.

“Imagine a world without aids” is the sales anthem here. The idea and first prototype Bono RED guitar was made in 2013, played by Bono on the new U2 “Songs Of Innocence” recordings and auctioned at the Nov 23rd SOTHEBY’S “RED” New York event….it commanded a winning bid of over $250,000. Another of his guitars, the Green Falcon, sold for $450,000 at Sean Penn's Haiti benefit a few years ago.

The guitar has Bono’s Signature in black on the back of the headstock. It also has a beautiful White pick guard on the front of the instrument bearing the (RED) Logo as well as a white (RED) logo on the truss rod cover at the top of the guitar.

The on board electronics of this amazing instrument begins with (2) Gretsch “Black Top” Filter Tron pickups along with a (3) position toggle switch, a master volume control and master Tone control then anchored with an Adjust-o-Matic(Tm) bridge with “G” cut out tail piece and Silver deluxe tuners and chrome hardware…..other features include a bound fret board and sides and sound holes as well as a 22 fret rosewood fingerboard with Neo Classic(Tm) “thumbnail” inlays…. Thus creating a full and uncompromising sound.

The guitar is accompanied with a deluxe thin line case.

Wood composition of this very styled guitar are a Spruce Center-Block, Arched Laminated Maple Top & Back, Laminated Maple Sides and finally the guitars finish is of Gloss Urethane.


100% of profits to benefit Para Los Ninos and Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center.

More on the auction here.

U2 video being filmed in New Lodge area of north Belfast

Wednesday 17th December 2014, Belfast, Northern Ireland - U2 FILMING IN NORTH BELFAST Pictured is the set in the Newlodge of the new U2 video Picture Credit : Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph

It seems the appeal of the New Lodge area of north Belfast is just too much for music industry figures to resist.

Images of a film crew shoot in the area today have been posted online.

It is understood the footage they are recording is for U2's song The Troubles.

So far, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen have not been spotted in the area.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/

Edge sends message, instruments to Warren Lincoln school

WARREN, Mich. (WJBK) - A member of one of most famous bands in the world delivers a personal message to some local music students.





U2's "The Edge" made an appearance at Lincoln Middle School, via video link. 

He's co-founder of the charity "Music Rising" a foundation which donated instruments to help save the middle school's music education program.

Every student gets a chance to play an instrument, even if their families can't afford it. 

The Lincoln middle school music program now has 170 students - and growing. 

"If I know that band is something that they are ignited and passionate for, and that's getting them in the door for school," said Tom Torrento, music director. "If it allows all the other teachers to have a successful experience in their room and makes the school environment warmer, the more band kids we have, the better Lincoln Middle School will be."


http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/

Bono back in town...and nursing his injured arm

Bono nurses his injured arm as he walks down Grafton Street in Dublin on Saturday. Photo: Peter O’Doherty


Bono stepped out in Dublin over the weekend for the first time since he had an operation on his arm. 

 The singer underwent surgery after he fell off of a bike in New York last month. He held his arm under a heavy black jacket as he tried to protect the injury from the cold on Grafton Street on Saturday. The fall resulted in three fractures to his left shoulder blade, a fractured little finger and a break to his funny bone that saw the bone fracture in six places and tear through his skin. In total, he needed three metal plates and 18 screws inserted during the lengthy operation. Bono was forced to miss the band's performance at a World Aids Day benefit concert in Times Square, New York, earlier this month. 


http://www.independent.ie/

The Albums That Defined 2014: U2′s Songs of Innocence release reveals the true master of your music collection

500 million people downloaded U2's newest album, whether they wanted to or not.

The Albums That Defined 2014 explores how this year's most influential records have shaped and reflected the wider music landscape. Today, how U2's brand partnership disguised as an album release revealed a future where corporations determine what you listen to and who gets paid for it. Or, rather, a present.

On September 9th of this year, U2’s 13th studio album, Songs of Innocence, appeared on the computers and mobile devices of 500 million people, released as part of a branding tie in with Apple for the launch of their Apple Watch and iPhone 6.

It was hardly the first time we’ve seen an artist enter into a major branding effort with a corporation (Bono described this release as a “[celebration] of the ten year anniversary of [U2’s] iPod commercial”) or even the first time an artist has tied an album release to a vaguely sinister overreach by a company that makes cell phones (recall the give-away-cum-underhanded-data-mining-operation that Jay Z orchestrated with Samsung around the release of his 2013 album Magna Carta Holy Grail), but the Songs of Innocence release felt like a raising of the stakes. And that includes the backlash against it.

In retrospect, Apple and U2 are perfect partners. It probably shouldn’t be surprising that a band and a brand with long track records of outsized self-regard and penchants for grandiose gestures would lead the charge in the continued blurring of marketing and popular music, but the near universal opprobrium heaped upon them seemed to catch them off guard. Apple was sufficiently embarrassed into creating a link that would allow users to reject their unwanted “gift,” while Bono displayed as much self-awareness as he could muster: a passive-aggressive apology delivered during a Facebook-branded Q&A session.

Bono says his main regret was that Apple’s unsolicited gift-giving was “rude.” It was, but the criticism frequently cast it as something more insidious. In thinkpieces and Twitter screeds the move was hyperbolized as an almost Orwellian intrusion, one that implied, in the words of journalist Chris Richards, “the utopian philanthrocapitalist democracy that Bono is always stumping for will also be a place where your belongings are chosen for you.” What Apple CEO Tim Cook called, “the largest album release of all time” was objectionable not because a major rock band and a major corporation engaged in a self-aggrandizing co-promotion, something we’re surely all used to by now, but because two major players in the music industry displayed just how far their reach extends.

On some level it’s perhaps unfair that Apple and U2 have been subject to such intense criticism. Just over the past year we’ve seen a broadening recognition that major brands have almost entirely annexed SXSW, the continued ascent of Spotify, a company that offered significant equity (reportedly close to 20%) to the major labels in exchange for allowing the streaming service to expand their market share while depressing royalty payments, and a protracted lawsuit in which Google-owned YouTube attempted to strong arm independent labels into accepting a cut rate deal to avoid being shut out of its new streaming service. Apple’s mistake wasn't leveraging their power and money to determine what music gets heard and by whom, but by doing so without enough guile.

In spite of all of this it seems likely that both Apple and U2 will ultimately count this exercise as a success. For U2, whose last two albums, 2004’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and 2009’s No Line On The Horizon, sold 9 million and 5 million copies respectively, the 500 million people exposed to their latest effort represents a big step up, and the $100 million they were reportedly paid by Apple is likely more than they would have made from the album with a more traditional distribution model. For Apple, $100 million is a small investment, small change for the media attention it drummed up for their product launch. It doesn't hurt that it aligned them with a band who, if Rolling Stone’s recent designation of Songs of Innocence as the best album of 2014 is any indication, at least remain on the cutting edge of relevance as far as older white men are concerned.

We might not see a campaign quite like this again, but  it seems all too likely these kinds of efforts will become more common in 2015.

http://www.chartattack.com/

Sing Bono's Band Aid 30 Lyrics to Help Fight Ebola

The organizers behind Band Aid 30 – the latest incarnation of Bob Geldof's charitably minded supergroup Band Aid – have issued an "Ice Bucket Challenge"–style viral video call to action to music fans. Using a free iOS app called WholeWorldBand, Band Aid 30 would like people to record themselves singing Bono's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" line, "Tonight we're reaching out and touching you," and then nominate three friends to do the same on social media. The U2 frontman delivers the line at the 1:52 mark in the song's official video.

The app allows users to create a video mix of themselves and up to five other people singing along with the song, which can be uploaded to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #BandAid30. The organization will collect £1.40 (about $2.20) for every person who participates in the challenge and put it toward the fight against Ebola in West Africa.

"We need to keep up momentum," Geldof said in a statement. "I want us to raise about £5 million but we need people to understand that we've only got three weeks to make a difference."

Geldof and "Do They Know It's Christmas?" co-writer Midge Ure released a new version of the iconic 1984 hit, under the Band Aid 30 moniker, last month. In addition to Bono, the new version also features Coldplay's Chris Martin, One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, Angelique Kidjo, Seal, Sinéad O'Connor and many more artists performing the tune.

Ure recently spoke with Rolling Stone about why they decided to resurrect Band Aid. "It was the hideous synchronicity of the Ebola crisis and the way it's escalated, and the fact that we had this 30th anniversary coming up that everybody was asking us about," he said. "A month ago, this wasn't in the cards. Then Bob got a call from the U.N. saying, 'Can you do it again?'"

Regarding introducing a new generation to the song, Ure contended that they already knew it "because they've heard it blasting out of radios every Christmas since they were born." The hard part would be getting them involved in the charitable side of the cause. "All we can do is hope that Ed Sheeran and One Direction and everyone else plead with the fans not to stream this, not to download this for free," he said.



 http://www.rollingstone.com

Inside U2’s Ambitious Upcoming Tour Strategy

Despite album backlash and a battered Bono, the band preps its first road run since 2011.

The announcement on Dec. 3 of U2’s Innocence + Experience Tour was a blast of confidence for a band that has experienced a bumpy past few months. Setting aside mixed consumer reaction to its Apple give-away of new album Songs of Innocence and frontman Bono’s Nov. 16 bike accident in New York (he shattered his left elbow, fractured a humerus bone in his left arm and injured the orbit of one of his eyes), the trek will begin May 14.

“Like any good football team, sometimes you have to adjust your game plan at halftime,” says Live Nation’s Arthur Fogel, promoter-producer of all of U2’s tours since PopMart in 1997 and 1998, noting that he would have liked to make a splashier announcement tied to a high-profile TV play, no doubt in reference to U2’s planned (and scrapped) five-night residency on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. But “given all factors, we’re OK.”

It’s a pivotal time for a band that, nearly 40 years after forming, remains consumed with its relevance (“We don’t ever want to become a heritage act,” The Edge told The Hollywood Reporter in February). The new tour will arrive with an ambitious strategy in which U2 plays two dates in each market (and four at both Los Angeles’ Forum and New York’s Madison Square Garden) with different sets on consecutive nights -- one representing Innocence, the other Experience (an indication that U2’s already confirmed next album, Songs of Experience, may be previewed or even released by then). Songs of Innocence has struggled to find success at radio, but many touring executives think U2’s track record as an elite live act will lure fans. Consider its last outing, 360°, which grossed $736.4 million from 110 shows to become the biggest tour in history, despite an accompanying album (No Line on the Horizon) that sold a third of its predecessor (1.1 million in sales versus 3.3 million for 2004’s How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, according to Nielsen SoundScan).

“I have a lot of confidence they could pull it off,” says Chip Hooper, worldwide head of music for talent agency Paradigm, of U2’s dual-night approach. “There’s a sense that they’ll deliver again.”

Affordable pricing should help generate early sales, too: A large percentage of floor seats will sell for $30 and $65, “which is kind of ridiculous, in a good way,” says Fogel. The configuration splits the arena floor in half, with a rectangular layout, though Fogel wants to keep certain details of the production secret.

After the enormity and spectacle of the stadium-based 360°, with its spider-like in-the-round stage, some insiders predicted the band will scale back on its next run. Indeed, indoor arenas serve the introspective, personal nature of Songs of Innocence well. “No matter what size the venue, they create an atmosphere and community that’s really unrivaled,” Fogel says.

As for the consumer blowback to the Apple promotion, Fogel remains undeterred on its potential tour impact. “It’s noise, frankly,” he says. “These are great songs, and they’re going to translate incredibly well live.”

Only stops in North America, the United Kingdom and Europe were announced, and Fogel is tight-lipped on future plans, but it wouldn’t be out of the question for the tour to run as long as three years, returning to North America and Europe, along with visits to Asia, South America, Australia and other territories. 

Additional reporting by Andrew Hampp.

This article first appeared in the Dec. 13 issue of Billboard.


By Ray Waddell 

http://www.billboard.com/

FILMS OF INNOCENCE PREMIERE

Complex – "Every Breaking Wave" by Robin Rhode

Dazed Digital – "Cedarwood Road" by Maser

Dezeen - "Iris (Hold Me Close)" by Chloe Early

Juxtapoz – "The Troubles" by Todd James 

The Nerdist - "California (There Is No End To Love)" – D*Face 

Nowness – "Raised by Wolves" by Vhils  

NPR - "Song For Someone" by Mode 2

Paper Magazine - "This Is Where You Can Find Me Now" by DALeast 

Pitchfork – "Volcano" by Ganzeer

Rolling Stone - "Sleep Like A Baby" by ROA

Stereogum - "The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)" by Oliver Jeffers.


With the political murals of Northern Ireland as a reference point, U2 chose the artists and gave them complete creative freedom to create personal responses to the music of their new album. The result is an exhilarating display of diversity in approach, style and commentary. 
Powerful and cognizant, Films of Innocence takes these artists and their works from the streets to the screen, as they scale the globe, play with time, and weave between heightened reality and animated dreamscapes. The result is an essential visual counterpoint to the album.

The Films Of Innocence collection will be available for purchase via iTunes and Amazon. 

www.u2.com//www.u2fanlife.com

Why U2's 'Songs of Innocence' Deserves the Rock Album Grammy

The album that attracted the most discussion this year? U2's Songs of Innocence.

Thanks to Apple, the band’s thirteenth studio effort, and first since 2009’s No Line On The Horizon, delivered to the "purchased" folders of over 500 million iTunes users, makes Taylor Swift's platinum-plus seller 1989 look like but a blip. Sure, plenty mocked the method of release -- calling it a violation and much worse -- or, on the flip side, hailed it as an ingenious publicity stunt. Furthermore, there was the opinion of musicians, even some longtime U2 admirers, who thought the band was hurting everyone but themselves by devaluing music entirely.

But what of the album? All that talk about the business model, and little on the songs, which full-heartedly deserve their place in the Best Rock Album category of the Grammys. Indeed, just this week Rolling Stone named the album its No. 1 release of the year -- and got slammed on social media for being out of touch and pandering, much like the Grammy backlash that is anticipated.

But I would posit this: If U2 hadn't once delivered albums like The Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree, albums that cemented the Irish quartet's status as one of rock's all-time greatest bands, would people be praising the passion and vitality of this collection?

Make no mistake, given their long-standing catalog, U2 remains relevant, like Neil Young, Tom Waits and David Bowie, among other living legends -- all Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. And like these peers, U2 has never been afraid to experiment with its sound. Sometimes, the results are mixed -- see: Bowie's 1997 drum-n-bass experiment Earthling, or even U2's Zooropa and Pop, as examples -- but when so many other rock acts are experimenting sonically to keep up with the EDM crowd, U2 continues to surprise by returning to a more raw rock sound.

MOJO magazine called Songs of Innocence "the most startlingly fresh, energetic and cohesive U2 album in years." That is clear from the outset, as the album kicks off with "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)," a song that takes frontman Bono back to his adolescent days and the life-changing experience of discovering a new artist and sound that makes you feel someone else out there understands you.

The stripped-down sound of the gorgeous and heartfelt "Song for Someone" is U2 at its most vulnerable, like "One" was, and it is almost as effective. "Iris (Hold Me Close)" and "Raised by Wolves" are other standouts, hearkening back sonically to the days of Unforgettable Fire.

Whatever your opinion of how the album was distributed, it made the Grammy eligibility cutoff (a limited-edition vinyl version made sure of that) and deserves the same consideration as any other album that wasn't given away by Apple in 2014. And judging Songs of Innocence solely by the music from start to finish, it is one of the best rock releases of 2014.

Bono and company led the conversation about the album as art form months before Taylor Swift’s Spotify secession. Ironically, that might hurt the album’s chances. But in just listening to the music of Songs Of Innocence, there is no doubt, it is Grammy worthy. And furthermore, it gives The Recording Academy an opportunity to invite U2 to perform. What better place for Bono’s first post-injury comeback performance than the stage of the 2015 Grammy Awards?

http://www.billboard.com/

Album of the Year

There was no bigger album of 2014 – in terms of surprise, generosity and controversy. 
Songs of Innocence is also the rebirth of the year. Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. put their lives on the line: giving away 11 songs of guitar rapture and frank, emotional tales of how they became a band out of the rough streets and spiritual ferment of Seventies Dublin. 
This is personal history with details. In the furiously brooding "Cedarwood Road," named after Bono's home address as a boy, he recalls the fear and rage that drove him to punk rock. "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)" is a glam-stomp homage to the misfit voice that inspired Bono to sing. And that's his mother, who died when Bono was 14, still guiding and comforting him in the chorus of "Iris (Hold Me Close)." 
 This is a record full of the band's stories and triumph, memory and confession detonated with adventure and poise. In its range of sounds, there may be no more complete U2 album: The band bonded its founding post-punk values with dance momentum in "Volcano" and the raw, jagged "Raised by Wolves," and humanized the digital pathos of "Every Breaking Wave" and the harrowing "Sleep Like a Baby Tonight" with the vocal folk-soul warmth of The Joshua Tree. 
"I have a will for survival," Bono sings in the closing track, "The Troubles." Songs of Innocence is the proof – and the emotionally raw rock album of the year, at any price.


 http://www.rollingstone.com/

Grammy Awards 2015: U2 among Best Rock Album nominees

The Recording Academy have announced four categories for the 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards on Decemeber 5th live on "CBS This Morning."

The cateogories were announced by Pharrell Williams and Ed Sheeran. Cateogories announced including Record of the Year, Best Country Album, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Urban Contemporary Album.

Ryan Seacrest announced the nominees for the Best Pop Vocal Performance on his morning radio show.

The nominees for Best Rock album have just been announced by Jared Leto.

Beck- Morning Phase
The Black Keys-Turn Blue
Ryan Adams- Ryan Adams
Tom Petty-Hypnotic Eye
U2- Songs of Innocence

The remaining nominations will be announced via Twitter throughout the day with the Album Of The Year nominees being revealed during the "A Very GRAMMY Christmas" special on CBS at 9 –10 p.m. ET/PT.

The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards will take place on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015 from The Staples Center in Los Angeles.



http://www.examiner.com/

Bono ‘Basically Can’t Move’ for Next Few Months

As U2 announces a sizable North American tour for 2015, guitarist The Edge is confirming that Bono, who recently injured himself in a bicycle accident and has been out of commission since, is going to be just fine by then—even though he may have to miss some appearances in the process, including KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas later this month.

The rocker called in to CBS Radio station KROQ’s Kevin & Bean Show this morning (Dec. 3) to discuss the incident, as well as the tour.

“He managed to come out of it with what you could only describe as injuries from a car crash, literally, multiple fractures of bones in his elbow and in his back,” The Edge said. “But he’s doing OK.”

Don’t worry—though his injuries, which included multiple fractures (chiefly a facial fracture affecting the orbit of his eye and a humerus bone fracture in his left arm that tore through the skin), may have been severe, at least he was wearing a helmet.

“We’re kind of lucky he was wearing a helmet so he didn’t actually break Central Park,” the guitarist said. “But he’s made of of tough stuff and he’s bouncing back. He’s so upset about the fact that, unfortunately we’re about to announce, we’re not going to be able to do the Acoustic Christmas because he’s been told by his doctors that he’s got to stay put. He’s back in Dublin right now and basically he can’t move for the next couple of months.”

He’s referring to KROQ’s annual Almost Acoustic Christmas show, at which U2 was scheduled to headline.

“It was a Sunday, a lot of people in the park and he just wasn’t paying enough attention,” he continued, referencing the accident. “He was going fast down a bit of a hill and somebody came out onto the cycle way, he swerved to avoid them and just went straight over the bars.”

So how, Kevin asked, did no one snap a photo? Simple: “You know, when Bono goes cycling he likes to dress up as a Hasidic Jew.

“The poor guy. Basically his left elbow was shattered so a lot of the work was reconstructing the joints and putting in wires and plates. He actually showed us an X-Ray a couple of days later and it looked like a miniature of the Eiffel Tower was in his elbow and then the same had to happen with a fracture of his pinky, the joint there was totally messed up, so that needed a bone graft. And the most vulnerable was actually his upper back, the scapula because they couldn’t put any plates in there or they decided not to do surgery. So he has got to be very still and not move around ’til that’s really healed.

“He’s doing physio to keep the joints active twice a day,” he added.

As part of Bono’s absence, the band performed as U2 Minus 1 Monday night in Times Square, with Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay’s Chris Martin holding the reins as frontmen.

“It was an amazing experience but it did feel a little bit like we were cheating on Bono I have to admit,” he said. He added that it had never happened before, and that “it’s not an experience I would want to repeat again.”

Listen to the full interview at KROQ.

IN TIMES SQUARE FOR WORLD AIDS DAY

Welcomed to the stage in New York's Times Square by former President Bill Clinton, U2 Minus 1 hosted some pretty special guests for World AIDS Day - Chris Martin of Coldplay, Carrie Underwood, Kanye West and Bruce Springsteen.

Introducing the surprise show President Clinton read an email Bono had sent him earlier in the day: 'Twenty-six years ago it wouldn't have been possible to have a concert in Times Square on World AIDS Day because to be diagnosed with AIDS was a death sentence. A few years ago when Secretary of State Clinton said that we could end AIDS, a lot of people didn't believe it. But this year, for the first time ever, more people were put on life-saving medicine than were diagnosed with AIDS. We are going to win this fight.'

As reported earlier, Bono, recuperating from his recent accident, couldn't be with the band for the (RED) Thank You presented by Bank of America ...  but some pretty special friends had agreed to step in.

'It's my great honour to introduce, with their special guest Chris Martin, one of the greatest bands in the history of rock music, my friends U2...'

Wearing a t-shirt with the slogan 'SUBSTITU2', Chris was right at home singing with U2 Minus 1.
'They kicked things off with "Beautiful Day", ' reported Rolling Stone. 'And the Coldplay frontman poured himself into the task, clearly thrilled to be filling the shoes of one of his biggest influences. "Dreams come true," he said, "for young and old people alike." They wrapped up with a powerful "With or Without You," and anyone who closed their eyes could have easily believed it was Bono there in Times Square.'

Edge stayed on stage to introduce a strong set from 'the reigning Queen of Country' Carrie Underwood before Adam and Larry were back to welcome 'the most groundbreaking artist in music today'.  Kanye West was a forcefield, delivering a powerful eight minute medley of 'Power,' 'Jesus Walks,' 'Black Skinhead,' 'Stronger' and 'Touch the Sky.'

To close the evening U2 Minus 1 were back on stage and breaking into the familiar opening bars of 'Streets'... with The Boss himself,  before closing the night with 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.'
'I want to send this one out To Bono in Ireland,' he said, 'Be well my friend'.

Here's how Hot Press reported it. 'Bruce Springsteen took on the lead singer's role, as U2 powered into a superb version of 'Where The Streets Have No Name'. Finally, there was time for an emotional 'Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' with Bruce delivering a wonderfully soulful rendition backed by an enthusiastically, vocal crowd. There was a final Irish twist too, with the Boss throwing in a reference to Hozier's 'Take Me To Church...'





www.U2.com

World's AIDS Day

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Bono's Mercury Phoenix Trust Message:

Bono: Comic Super-Hero

New comic book details Bono's life and career

A new comic book chronicles U2 front man Bono's life in vivid color.

The life of U2's front man Bono is the subject of the latest edition of Bluewater Production's Fame comic book series. The glossy tracks the Irishman's boyhood, his music career and humanitarian work. It also features Bloody Sunday, the 1972 shooting of protesters in Northern Ireland, which later inspired the U2 single, Sunday Bloody Sunday. "Fame" is available in print and digital form on November 19.

Written by  Michael L. Frizell with artists, David Frizell (cover), Gary Scott Beatty(letterer), and  Jayfri Hashim (colourist, penciler).

Bono out of action for `three months'

Bono will be out of action for "at least three months" following his bicycle accident in New York last week which saw him undergo five hours of surgery after he suffered serious arm and face injuries.

The Sunday Independent reports that the singer's injuries could postpone U2's world tour, which they plan to kick off in the US next year.

Bono sustained multiple fractures to his left arm, shoulder blade and injuries to his face after he came off his bicycle as he tried to avoid another cyclist in New York's Central Park.

He underwent a five-hour operation on Sunday night and had three plates and 18 screws inserted.

"The injuries will take at least three months to recover," a source told the Sunday Independent. "Bono plays guitar a lot, and his arm and shoulder will need extensive physiotherapy if he is going to be ready for the tour. It all depends now on how quickly he can recover."

U2 have hinted that their new tour, their first in three years, will see the band play smaller, more intimate venues to suit their new album, Songs of Innocence.

However, there have been suggestions that the band's Irish dates will be played at either Croke Park, where they have appeared ten times, or a possible debut show for the band at the Aviva Stadium.



http://www.rte.ie/

Bono: Ebola is What Happens When Promises Are Broken

Diseases do a lot of different things, all vicious, but there's one thing they've got in common: they find our vulnerabilities and exploit them.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa -- and the world's inept initial response to it --shows how fragile we are on all fronts. Because the epidemic isn't just a failure of health systems in poor countries, or of leadership and coordination by wealthy ones, it's also a failure of our value system. If governments the world over had kept their promises to fight extreme poverty and diseases, the three countries most affected would have had stronger national immune systems.

The grand promises our elected officials make on our behalf become our grand betrayals when they don't follow through. I've been witness to a lot of despair over the years, but the photograph of a lonely child dying in her own excrement on a concrete floor of a clinic in Monrovia while untrained staff are too scared to hold and comfort her will stay with me forever.

I started writing this last week and find myself finishing it from a New York hospital where I've just had surgeries for getting smashed up in a bike accident. The quality of care is excellent ... for a jumble of broken bones that are a long way from life-threatening. The contrast with images like the one above couldn't be starker -- or more jarring.

Ebola is what happens when promises are broken. More than 14,000 people hit, more than 5,000 dead. While the numbers are starting to go down in some places, we should have no illusions. Ebola is a killer playing a long game. If we take our eyes off it, if we get bored, we'll get punished. As US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said, as Ebola moves locations and changes shape, the world's response has got to change with it.

"The world" in this case means not just governments, but everyone who has a responsibility to hold governments accountable -- i.e., citizens, i.e., you and me. The policy geeks at ONE have just released an interactive "Ebola Response Tracker" that shows the good the bad and the ugly when it comes to promises made and kept, or promises made and not kept, since Ebola started to spread.

This tracker isn't just a tool, it's a weapon. It's a sharp one, too, and it's meant to be wielded at governments.

But let's be honest, it's hard to get something like an Ebola Response Tracker trending. It's a lot easier to get Matt Damon trending. So ONE has also released a short film with Matt Damon as well as Ben Affleck, Ellie Goulding and Angelique Kidjo, and, most importantly, Ebola-fighting health-care workers from Liberia, the real heroes in this fight. This film seethes in silence at the initial slow response to Ebola, and demands we sort out the root causes of this disease. As we set our sights on Ebola -- whether through the brilliant Africa Stop Ebola project, which tells people how to protect themselves, or the revamped Band Aid 30, or the rumored African We Are the World -- we have to think not just short-term, but long. Not just about ending this crisis, but preventing the next one.

It would of course be a crime if we funded our efforts against Ebola at a cost to other diseases. When GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance -- which inoculates children -- meets for its replenishment next year, it's really a meeting to decide if the world will accept that the solutions to these problems are very much in our hands, decided by economic priorities. Wonkish talk, statistics, and debates about aid aside, the dead honest truth is that focused investments like these can really create a tipping point.

We've got to see the underlying causes of the Ebola crisis -- extreme poverty and a lack of investment in basic health, and health systems -- as every bit as urgent as the painful images on TV, and the realities they represent.

The answer is certainly not just songs and PSAs, though they can help. It's not just more doctors and nurses going to West Africa, though that's essential, or just governments doing more to step up, though we have to make sure they do. The answer is leadership to tackle the structural causes, the big issues of poverty, corruption, injustice. These problems are tenacious, but yield to our efforts -- we've seen that already. Extreme poverty has fallen by half since 1990 and could nearly reach the "zero zone" by 2030. If the world really gets focused, we can have not just an absence of Ebola and other killers, but an abundance of opportunity, good governance, economic growth, and brighter futures, even in the places that today are the poorest.

In the next month the United Nations will give the world a first look at the update on the new Millennium Development Goals -- the old ones have been our marker for progress in the fight against extreme poverty over the past 15 years. The goals for thenext 15 years will be agreed upon in 2015, at an historic summit of world leaders. You'll see numerical targets and thresholds, but what these goals will really communicate is our generation's value system and our aspirations for the next.

When you see the fanfare and hear the rhetoric, the sound of world leaders knowing they're making history (and rather enjoying it), try not to roll your eyes. Instead try to picture a world where the sort of images we've just seen in West Africa are shocking because they are so rare. Or better yet, a world where there are no images like these at all.

Ebola has taught us that our value system needs a shot in the arm. The real villain is not a virus or microbe, it is when good policies, well thought-out, are not funded or followed through.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

U2‬'s 5th Member: Paul McGuinness

He's the man Bono often called the 'fifth' member. 
Music legend Paul McGuinness managed U2 into international super-stardom for over 35 years and he joins us live from the ARIA masterclass.

Bono: “I’m Working On My Apology… For The Apology”

SHORTLY BEFORE TAKING HIS tumble in Central Park, Bono tendered an unapologetic retort to recent criticism of U2 and the free insertion of their latest album into 700 million iTunes subscribers’ music libraries.

“I mean, come on,” insisted the U2 singer in an exclusive interview in the latest MOJO magazine. “Of the great crimes against mankind…? This is an honest mistake, and we’re just not going to lose sleep about it.”

MOJO 254, featuring U2 exclusive and Best Of 2014 CD, on sale in the UK from Wednesday, November 26.

In a recent video Q&A, Bono appeared to say sorry to Facebook user Harriet Madeline Jobson, who described as “rude” the unasked-for intrusion of the Songs Of Innocence album. But in MOJO’s interview, the singer restated the group’s conviction that they’ve done nothing wrong.

“I’m already working on the apology… for the apology,” said Bono. “Because I’m very proud of what we did. It’s one of the proudest moments in U2’s history.”

In the course of MOJO’s 11-page, in-depth interview, Bono grapples with the repercussions of the iTunes furore, and delves into his past to talk about U2’s formative years and the impact of his mother’s death on his 14-year-old self, a seismic event that informs the self-exploratory theme of the new album.

“We don’t remember much about it,” he says of his mother’s shock passing. “The way our family was, and the way Irish males tend to be, you don’t talk about that. It was too painful. So we lost the memories that we had.

“I started trying to see what I could remember about my mother, and it was things like her burying me in the sand on the beach up to my neck. Being told not to be afraid of the dark. That thing that Dublin mums all say: ‘You’ll be the death of me.’”

Meanwhile, the other members of U2 recount the flashes of inspiration and rivers of perspiration that have made Songs Of Innocence one of the most direct and engaging albums of their career. With refreshing candour, they look back on the compromised recording of previous album, No Line On The Horizon (“f***ing *miserable,” declares drummer Larry Mullen Jr) and look forward to taking their honed new songs on the road in 2015 – Bono’s latest surgery permitting.

http://www.mojo4music.com/

Films of Innocence

11 of the world’s most acclaimed urban artists unveil their work through a collection of art films, inspired by U2’s Songs of Innocence. Taking the political murals of Northern Ireland as a reference point, U2 pioneered the project to celebrate the unique democratic power of urban art. Oliver Jeffers, Robin Rhode, D*Face, Mode 2, Chloe Early, Ganzeer, Vhils, Maser, ROA, DALeast, and Todd James make up this global multidisciplinary group project. Chosen for their undisputed ability to capture the imaginations of their audiences, the artists were given complete creative freedom to showcase their personal responses to U2’s music, through a series of part-animated, part live action films. The result is an exhilarating display of diversity in approach, style and commentary. Powerful and cognizant, their works scale the globe, play with time, and weave between heightened reality and animated dreamscapes. United for the first time in film, the eleven international artists have taken their work from the streets to the screen. These original works of video art transpose their visions from the physical to the digital and are collected here together as a visual counter-point to the album, a set of unique and compelling Films of Innocence.

Available on I-Tunes.