March for Our Lives

The "March for Our Lives" rallies that took place in cities across the country on Saturday underscored the momentum of a political movement that emerged following a deadly mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school last month. The marches featured students delivering impassioned calls for Congress to pass stricter gun control measures, and drew hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of large cities and small towns alike. In Washington, the epicenter of the protests, students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where the Feb. 14 shooting took place, sought to galvanize support for the movement they started more than a month ago.

Many celebrities and important people were seen in the rally. Paul Mc Cartney, who said he came to the march because he had a dear friend shot (John Lennon, of course), Martin Luther King's 9-year-old granddaughter,George Clooney and singers Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus.

U2 was not present but their presence was felt:

 David Hogg, a student from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and one of the strongest voices demanding change, tweeted,
"This is what happens when I listen to U2 and tweet lol."

That caught the attention of U2, who posted this response on Twitter:

Glad our songs were of some use to you at this time…. love and respect - U2 

Naomi Wadler, an 11-year-old elementary school student, also spoke at the event in Washington, D.C. She said,
"I am here today to acknowledge and represent the African American girls whose stories don't make the front page of every national newspaper, whose stories don't lead on the evening news ... I represent the African American women who are victims of gun violence, who are simply statistics instead of vibrant, beautiful girls full of potential."

Bono was moved to dedicate lyrics from "13 (There Is A Light)" to her on Instagram:

www.atu2.com

U2 THROUGH THE LENS OF FRIENDSHIP: AN INTERVIEW WITH JULIAN LENNON

 'Someone To Look Up To'– Copyright Julian Lennon 

Photo used with permission. 

Throughout the years, U2 has collaborated with many fellow artists, from legends they admire to fresh talents emerging on the scene. One such artist is their contemporary — acclaimed musician/photographer/humanitarian Julian Lennon. In addition to photographing the band over the years, Lennon is a backing vocalist on the track “Red Flag Day” from Songs Of Experience. In the following interview, conducted via email, Lennon shares details of their history together as artists and friends, his contribution to their current album, and the thousands of photos he still has of the band, which have yet to be released.



TK: When did you first meet/become friends with U2? 

JL: To be honest, I couldn’t tell you the first time … it could have been at the Formosa Cafe in L.A. about 30 years ago. We kept bumping into each other until eventually they asked me if I’d like to come to one of their shows, and I think the first time I went was because we had a security guard in common, Jerry Mele, who used to work for me, but was now working for them. I recall Oasis were their opening act, it was in the U.S. many, many moons ago … but I have a terrible memory, so can’t be sure. ;)

[Editor’s note: Oasis only opened for U2 twice, so the show Lennon references must have been in Oakland in 1997.]

TK: In an interview a few years back, you mentioned a treasure trove of U2 photos you took that weren't released because they were being saved for possible use on an upcoming U2 album. Since they don't appear on Songs Of Experience, will they be held for a future album or released in a different way? 

JL: Well, I have about 8000+ pictures, not all good by any means, as I was just starting to get into photography then, so a lot of blurry shots! But sometimes that can work too as a medium, as a more artistic slant to the conversation, so to speak. There are a few plans in the works with some of the images, for potential one-offs and limited edition images, but I really do need a month to go through all of them again, as I’ve had so many other projects to deal with in between. I’ll get around to them sooner than later ...

TK: If/when they're released, is there any chance of an exhibit of U2 works, exclusively? Is there any way to purchase any of your U2 prints that have already been displayed?

JL: I’ve already had exclusive U2 exhibitions, one as part of my first-ever exhibition, at the Morrison Hotel Gallery in NYC. I’ve had many since with them in Europe too, in Paris, when they were also performing there. The “Timeless” Collection (U2 inclusive) has been available for sale and to view on my photography website since 2010.

TK: I had the pleasure of interviewing artist Morleigh Steinberg in December, who co-owns the Arcane Space in Venice, California. She spoke of wanting to display a diverse array of artists/photographers. Any chance of exhibiting there (U2 content or not)?

JL: I had the pleasure of dining with The Boys a few nights ago, and Edge mentioned this too … it’s always a possibility.

TK: Fans were delighted to hear your backing vocals on "Red Flag Day.” How did the band approach you to work on that track?

JL: I went to visit U2 whilst they were working on the track, whilst they were still playing with the vocal arrangements, and B just said, “Jules, try this melody, it’s more suited to your tonal range” and that was it, I just sang along. Sometimes with Bono and Edge, sometimes solo, and my voice was blended into their background vocal tracks. I can’t really hear myself in there, but hey … happy to be part of it, regardless … ;)

TK: Throughout your musical career, you've collaborated with several of your contemporaries. What's it like working with U2 compared to others with whom you've recorded? 

JL: Well, I’d hardly say I was working with them, as such, it was more like a little bit of fun for 5 minutes … The Boys are pretty low key when recording, and don’t often like having people around, so it’s always a pleasure to get the odd invite, if we’re in the same city, to hang out, talk about the World, and music, etc. etc.

TK: Any chance of you joining U2 on stage when they (presumably) sing "Red Flag Day" on their upcoming tour?

JL: Ha … Doubtful … If it was a “Proper” Duet as such, maybe there would be, or even an old classic like “Stand By Me,” which Bono and I have sung together now on quite a few occasions, but I think that decision is always last minute with Bono. He, and the rest of the guys, have to be feeling it, so to speak … I think it’s a show-by-show experience and decision.

TK: Would you ever want U2 to contribute to any of your future songs?

JL: I play them the odd song, here and there, listen to what they have to say … I think we’re both quite particular in our approach to songwriting, but never say never … who knows?

TK: As a fan, do you have any favorite U2 songs or albums?

JL: Of course … too many to mention … “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “One,” “Vertigo,” “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” … the list goes on. It’s more a case of which few I don’t like ... that would be easier! ;)

TK: In addition to musical gifts, you also share a common spirit with U2 in the humanitarian sense. Your White Feather Foundation does everything from bringing clean water to African communities to preserving indigenous people's territories in Australia. Tell us more about your foundation and how our readers can help if they'd like to get involved.

JL: In all honesty, the easiest way to know what we do, and to learn the story behind The White Feather Foundation is to go to our website, and read up on our projects … otherwise I’d be writing a few pages out for an answer.

TK: Your new children's book, Heal The Earth, was just released. Tell us about it.

JL: Well, it’s part of a trilogy to help children understand, in story form, the problems we face as a society, on a humanitarian and environmental level, and what we can do about those problems … but it’s more about starting a conversation with the next generation, at an early age, so they understand what’s happening to the world that they are going to inherit, and that there are possibilities for change, for the betterment of all life.

TK: Heal The Earth is the second in a trilogy. When can we expect the third book to arrive?

JL: Same time around, in the 3rd year … ;)

TK: At one point it was mentioned you may be writing an autobiography ... is that in the works? You seem to always have a lot on your plate.

JL: I’m never not busy, one way or another. If I don’t have a project, or 2, or 3 on the go, at any given point in time, I start to worry that I’m not doing enough, for Myself, for My art, for the World. The autobiography is still a consideration, but I’ve just [got] too much going on to consider that as an option right now.

TK: Fans of your Instagram feed (myself included) have really enjoyed your stunning photos from Cuba. Will those also become an exhibit? 

JL: Most of the Instagram shots that were seen were shot with an iPhone, so not really the quality that’s needed to put a show together, but I did take along a new camera that I recently purchased, the Sony AR7 III. Though the pictures won’t be identical to the iPhone pics, there are many that are very similar, so yes, there’s every chance they may become an exhibition at some point, but I’ve just finished editing all of my Cuba/Havana images, which will become a “Collection” on my photography website very soon ...

TK: What's the one question that journalists never ask you that you wish they'd ask?

JL: Am I happy? :)



(c) @U2/Kokkoris, 2018.

 Lennon’s new book, “Heal The Earth,” will be released on April 3 and is available now for pre-order on Amazon. The third book in the trilogy will be released on or around Earth Day, 2019. A direct link to his U2 photography is here.

Meet U2 and Attend a Private Rehearsal Show

You and a friend will:

• Sit front and center for a private U2 rehearsal show
• Meet the band and take photos with them
• Get flown out and put up in a 4-star hotel in a city on U2’s upcoming tour

To celebrate (RED)’s 10th anniversary, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match every dollar raised by (RED) this year up to $78MM.

What you'll do

Their tours have shattered records across the globe, but for one lucky fan, the biggest U2 show of the year just might be the smallest. That’s right—you and a friend will get flown out to meet U2 for a private, full dress rehearsal show during the band’s 2017 tour. It’s a front row, backstage, VIP experience all rolled into one. You’ll meet the band for sound check and then settle in to hear your favorite U2 songs during an intimate performance like no other. In other words, you’re not just getting the best seats in the house; you’re getting the only ones. Flights and hotel are on us.

Who you'll help

Today and every day 400 babies are born with HIV. We can get that close to zero as soon as 2020 if we all act now.

The life-saving ARV pills that prevent HIV+ moms from passing the virus to their unborn babies cost just 30 cents a day in sub-Saharan Africa. When you donate to win a (RED) experience on Omaze, you're helping to ensure more moms get access to that medication, and you're helping get closer to the goal of an AIDS FREE GENERATION.


Let’s end AIDS now.





ttps://www.omaze.com

Bowie’s influence on U2

Planet earth is blue- Bono (U2 twitter account)

Back in 2010 , Rolling Stone magazine did a special “Playlists” issue where popular artists listed their favorite songs from other artists. Bono gave the magazine a 15-song playlist of his favorite David Bowie songs. The top five:

1. “Space Oddity”
2. “The Man Who Sold The World”
3. “Changes”
4. “Five Years”
5. “Life On Mars”

In his write-up, Bono talked about Bowie’s influence on U2 — and note the talk about concert-as-drama, which is something U2 has incorporated into its live shows since day one.

"U2 owe him a lot. He introduced us to Berlin and Hansa Studios, to collaborating with Brian Eno. It’s the high singing, beyond your ‘man’ voice into the feminine. And there’s the staging, the attempt to be innovative. It has been pointed out that the Claw [the 360 stage] looks like the Glass Spider. Bowie wasn’t afraid to use scale, to dramatize things. His set list was not just a jukebox he could run through. It was drama.”

Rolling Stone put Bono’s full Bowie playlist on Spotify. 

http://www.atu2blog.com/

Eagles of Death Metal Talk Sharing Stage With U2

A little over a month has passed since an Eagles of Death Metal concert in Paris was the target of a deadly terrorist attack. Since then, frontman Jesse Hughes has been in awe of the outpourings of support his fellow musicians have shown him. "If I get emotional, I apologize," he says, as tears well in his eyes and his voice deepens with emotion. "It's not in a bad way. I really am very touched by the true sense of community that I've experienced in rock & roll."

The day after the November 13th assault, in which ISIS terrorists took the lives of 89 concertgoers and one of the band's crew members at Bataclan, help from fellow rockers came immediately. "Bono called me to check in on me and was praying with me on the phone," Hughes says. And then, three days later, Duran Duran spoke up. Eagles of Death Metal had covered the New Wave group's haunting and now prescient 1982 single "Save a Prayer" on this year's Zipper Down. Now Duran Duran singer Simon LeBon was telling the world they'd donate all earnings from the cover to charity. "[We are] considering options that are useful, peaceful and uniting," LeBon tweeted. When Hughes and Eagles cofounder Josh Homme heard this, they were moved by the band's selflessness and decided to create their own charitable campaign, Play It Forward, for which they asked other bands to cover their catchy, feel-good Zipper Down track "I Love You All the Time."

On December 18th, Eagles of Death Metal launched their Play It Forward website, which features 13 cover versions of "I Love You All the Time" by bands as diverse as Imagine Dragons and Savages, as well as Florence and the Machine and My Morning Jacket. For each song, the band provided links to iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and its own Play It Forward store in an effort to make it as easy as possible for fans to listen to the songs and, by proxy, send the band's royalties to the Sweet Stuff Foundation, an organization that regularly assists musicians in need and is currently allocating all donations to give to victims of the Paris attack. Pearl Jam also recorded a version of Eagles of Death Metal's "I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)" live in Rio de Janeiro, which they put out as a single benefiting Play It Forward. What has astounded Hughes and Homme is the breadth of artists who submitted songs.



The Play It Forward campaign and the support of Eagles of Death Metal's peers and inspirations have not just created a way for the group to raise money for those affected by the attacks, Hughes says they've been "critical" in inspiring him to perform live again. The group that perhaps has been most encouraging in that regard has been U2, who were in Paris at the time of the attack and, even before that, had been longtime friends of the band and shown what Hughes describes as a "mutual love."

"Bono knows that I'm a Christian, and he also knows I'm a mama's boy," the singer says, holding back his emotion. "The very next day [after the attack], a courier came with a phone that had a note that said, 'This is from Bono. Make sure you call your mom.' I thought that was awesome. It was the first time that I really got to talk to my mom without being in a police station, and that meant the whole world to me at that moment.

"Then Bono called because I needed advice," Hughes continues. "I felt like the best person to ask for advice on how to deal with this is someone who's rubbed elbows with world leaders. And he just prayed with me on the phone. He kept my head off of things, and then U2 visited the memorial site and delivered lyrics of ours that he thought were appropriate. And that particularly was important to me because I really wanted to be out there. I didn't want to be in some safe house. I take personal pride in being really close to my fans. I knew a lot of the people personally that didn't make it, and that little detail, just on a personal note, is something that nobody else would ever know that it mattered, but it mattered to me. I didn't know how I was ever going to get back onstage again."

Eagles of Death Metal's next live appearance took place in Paris less than a month after the attack — at a U2 concert. "They were robbed of their stage, so we would like to offer them ours," Bono told 10s of thousands of fans at the AccorHotels Arena on December 7th. Each of the Eagles, sans Homme, then came out and stood next to their instrumental counterparts in U2 and performed Patti Smith's "People Have the Power." Hughes dressed head-to-toe in white.

When the tune ended, U2 left the stage and Eagles of Death Metal took the opportunity to play an ebullient rendition of "I Love You All the Time" as the final song of the night. As it wound down, Hughes walked to center stage with his right arm in the air, like a preacher reborn. "We love you so good," he told the crowd. "We hope you know this. Thank you, Paris. We will never give up rocking & rolling." Then, the five members joined arms and bowed.


He didn't show it that night, but Hughes admits now that he was afraid to go back. When it was done, he was glad he did. "U2 were trying to make sure we didn't have something in us killed," he says through tears. "They would have accomplished their goal if they had just performed the song with us. They didn't have to give us the stage for the last song. And they did. They took care of us completely. They were genuine and sincere, and they were very proud of our accomplishments after the fact. That was such a beautiful way to put training wheels on for performing."

Homme agrees. "I think for those boys that were in Paris to go back and play right away was really important," he says. "If you're going to let something build, it should be that confidence to go right back up there. I know that must have been difficult to do, and I was proud to watch those guys do that. It was really … " He stops. "Sometimes there's not words made yet to describe how you feel about something, and watching them, I wish I knew what letters to put together to explain how I felt. Can you imagine how tough that was?"

That show on U2's stage, Hughes says, instilled a sense of responsibility in him. "I know this sounds corny, but I feel bound to France forever now," he says. "The reaction of the country in general was wonderful to me, and so U2 gave me the opportunity to come back and go through my mourning process a little more naturally instead of feeling like I left my heart there."

It also gave the group the motivation it needed to tour again. On February 13th, they will kick off what they've dubbed their Nos Amis tour in Stockholm. Three days later, they will once again play Paris, this time at the Olympia, and they will continue to tour Europe through the first week of March. They've even planned a return trek to the continent in August. They will play the U.S. and, as Homme says, tour for the life of the record over the next couple of years.



Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/

Brit astronaut set to blast into space with U2

British astronaut Tim Peake has revealed details of the music playlist that will soundtrack his forthcoming six-month stay on the International Space Station. Obvious choices such as Elton John's Rocket Man or David Bowie's Space Oddity have been omitted in favour of contemporary tracks by the likes of Muse, Nickelback and Foo Fighters.

Peake said that he has already selected the three songs he'll be listening to as he makes the final checks to his Kazakhstan-built Soyuz rocket before Tuesday's launch. He opted for Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, U2's Beautiful Day and Coldplay's A Sky Full of Stars.

"I love Queen and I think that [song] has just got so much energy and obviously fun lyrics to go with it," the astronaut told the Sunday Times. He has previously stated that in order to hear the music as it is piped into his cockpit, it will need to be "real loud".

Earlier this week Coldplay tweeted a cut and paste collage depicting an astronaut flying through space accompanied by a message wishing the father-of-two luck on his trip.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/

U2, Eagles of Death Metal to Perform in Paris on Sunday

Marianne Zumberge
News Editor, Variety.com @marianniepants


U2 and Eagles of Death Metal will perform together in Paris this Sunday, resuming the appearances that had been affected by the November terror attacks in France.

According to Billboard, EODM will join Bono and Co. for U2’s final song on Sunday at Paris’ AccorHotels Arena. U2 had been scheduled to perform on Nov. 14 at the same venue, but the concert was postponed in the wake of the attacks. Now the band will perform at AccorHotels on Dec. 6 and 7, with the previously scheduled HBO special to record the second night.

“So much that was taken from Paris on the tragic night of November 13th is irreplaceable. For one night, the killers took lives, took music, took peace of mind – but they couldn’t steal the spirit of that city,” U2 frontman Bono said after rescheduling the shows. “It’s a spirit our band knows well and will try to serve when we return for the postponed shows on December 6th and 7th. We’re going to put on our best for Paris.”

EODM will also be resuming the remainder of its European tour in February of next year. In the band’s first interview after the attack, frontman Jesse Hughes expressed his eagerness to get back to Paris and perform. “I want to be the first band to play in the Bataclan when it opens back up,” Hughes said in an interview with Vice. “Our friends went there to see rock and roll and died. I want to go back and live.”


http://variety.com/

Bricks from the demolished 'U2 wall' at Windmill Lane are to be sold online for charity

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst U2 fans earlier this year, when the iconic 'U2 wall' at Windmill Lane was demolished.

The studio complex in its entirety - where the band part-recorded albums like 'Boy' and 'The Joshua Tree' - was razed in April, but at least one good thing will come of Dublin losing one of its best-known musical landmarks.

The wall, on which U2 fans from all over the world travelled to see and daub their own graffiti upon, has been saved and will be sold off to fans after studio boss Paddy Dunning (who owns Co. Westmeath's Grouse Lodge Studios and Sun Studios in Temple Bar) approached the construction company with a proposal.

The Irish Sun reports that the money raised from the sales will go to good causes, while part of the wall will go on display at the Irish Rock 'n' Roll Museum Experience in Temple Bar.

Info on buying bricks from the U2 wall will be made available soon via irishrocknrollmuseum.com. 

http://entertainment.ie/

Willie Williams On U2’s Innocence + Experience (Part 1)

U2 is full steam ahead on the iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour, playing arenas this time around, rather than the huge stadiums of past tours like 360° and continuing on after the blow of the band manager’s unexpected death last week.

We caught up with creative director Willie Williams for a multi-part interview on working with set designers Es Devlin and Ric Lipson (Stufish), sound designer Joe O’Herlihy, the evolution of this tour design, and designing U2 without the late Mark Fisher.

Live Design: So, given the propensity for you and the band to start early, how long ago did this one start?

Willie Williams: The first meeting of the band and creative team was in March 2013, so the design process was a little over two years. That said, the first conversation I had with Bono about “the next tour” was on the last tour, which tends to be where these things start. Even then, on the 360°  tour, Bono was asking where we should go next and suggested that, in contrast to the 200 trucks of steel, we should start the next show under a single, naked light bulb.

The tour was due to start in the spring of 2014, but, what with one thing and another, ended up being delayed for a year, so we had a very extended design period.


LD: What were your design goals, as well as the band’s?

WW: As ever, this U2 show was borne of dialog with the band. Every U2 tour has had some kind of touchstone from which everything has grown—white flags, The Blues, architecture, a job reapplication, and of course, once it all stemmed from a pair of wraparound shades. On this project, the genesis was narrative. It’s the narrative that runs through the album: the story of four teenagers growing up in ‘70s Dublin looking out of their bedroom windows and trying to figure out how they fit into the often violent and disrupted world outside.

LD: We talked at LDI about this notion of two different shows, alternating nights. Did that happen?

WW: We fully intended to have two different set lists and make it a pair of shows. This idea survived all the way to the beginning of the music rehearsals, at which point it became apparent that it wasn’t really viable. I really believe that they could have rehearsed enough songs for two shows, and I would have very much enjoyed being able to delve into the catalog, but the question of which songs would be left out of any given show became too big to get around. The potential upset that a punter buys a ticket for the “wrong” show, depending on their personal taste, began to make it a bit of a minefield.


LD: What is the overall feel of the design?

WW: We appear to have created a mash-up of performance, sound, video, and lighting, some of which I honestly don’t think anyone has been seen before. It’s quite a strange show in some ways, but the arc of it manages to hang together in an unexpected and pleasing way. The centerpiece is this screen-bridge-stage-light-rig hybrid object which at times is the performance area and at other times obliterates the performance area. I say it’s the centerpiece, but for much of the show, we completely ignore it, opting for the most basic rock ‘n’ roll stance imaginable.

At the other extreme, the more theatrical moments combine all of the show elements in a new and entirely modern way. After half an hour of no-bullshit rock ‘n’ roll, a giant double-sided television fills the airspace of the arena. We show some pictures, and then the singer climbs into the television, and we see him in there, physically part of the video images, hanging in the middle of the room. It’s really quite odd but entirely magical.

http://livedesignonline.com/

Noel Gallagher on U2's show: It's a psychedelic experience

Noel Gallagher, currently touring the US with his High Flying Birds, was at the second show in San Jose last night.

Afterwards he spoke to U2.com. Here's what he thought of the show.

'I thought it was as great a leap forward as it was when I saw ZOOTV the first time, which itself was a great leap forward from Rattle and Hum. If it's at all possible to get a great leap forward from that, then tonight was it.

It was theatre.

It starts off as a punk rock gig but then it gets intimate, there's a lot of truth in it about where they come from and the people that they are.

At points it's quite touching when you see footage of people like Bono's mum and his kids, stuff like that, walking up the street they grew up on.

Visually the band were explaining it to me for a good six months but I still had no idea about this screen they were talking about, it didn't make much sense to me at all - most things don't with Bono at four o clock in the morning. But tonight, I don't like to use the phrase, but this is a game changer, not only for them but for shows in general. It is something competely different.

You don't expect to have that screen in that position and doing that thing... and the beauty of it all is that it still does not take away from what a great band they are.

It was always going to be a contentious thing what they did with the album release but I think it paid off tonight because the stories of the songs have been told visually and it works, I really do think it works in a visual sense.

For people who haven't seen it, they play inside of a video screen and it's something else, it's like watching a television but you kind of forget sometimes that they are actually there on stage and they are playing live. It's a psychedelic experience.

I've been a fan since hearing 'New Year's Day' in 1983 and I've seen them loads of time. With the greatest respect in the world when I saw the 360° Tour I thought that was the end of something, and not in a bad way. I thought, this is so staggering and huge and tall, so amazing, I thought this was the end of something and I wondered what the beginning of the next thing will be - and here it is.

It was staggering - and only the fourth show. I can't wait to see it again.'

www.u2.com

Sons and Fathers

'From father to son / In one life has begun

A work that's never done / Father to son.'

(Dirty Day, U2)

Sons and Fathers, a  new collection of essays, features  53 famous sons reflecting on their relationship with their dads. Bono, Larry, Edge and Adam have all contributed, as well as Paul McGuinness, his own son Max, and Gavin Friday - and proceeds from the book's sales will go towards the Irish Hospice Foundation, and Hospice Africa Uganda.

Bono and Bob Hewson 

"Bono planted the seed for this book with his gift of the tender drawings he made of his father towards the end of his life, when words had ceased," writes Sharon Foley, the CEO of the Irish Hospice Foundation, in a preface which explains the genesis of the project. Bono's father Bob Hewson had been cared for in a hospice during his final days, and the singer afterwards offered his drawings to help raise money for the foundation.

"I had taken to drawing him as he slept," Bono writes in his own essay, "... to meditate on what a special, talented man I had been given for a father."

The book itself reads like an expanded meditation on that unique and often testing bond between a father and son. Bill Clinton contributes (agonisingly, his own father died three months before the president was born; "I always missed the most important person I never met," he confesses)... along with the likes of Paul McCartney, Julian Lennon and Daniel Day-Lewis.

In a moving reflection, Sting reveals that he'd waited all his life to get a compliment from his father - and finally received one as his dad lay dying. "'We have the same hands, Dad, look.' I am a child again, desperately trying to get his attention. He looks down ... 'Aye, son, but you used yours better than I used mine.'" As Colm Tobin puts it in his introduction, "It is the job of the son to live in the shadow of his father's dreams, sometimes to fulfill them ... or indeed outshine." 

Bono describes the father/son relationship as a dance, but it's more akin to boxing than ballet. "We danced until his death, the ancient ritual of son versus father," he says.

And this dance - played out in so many intriguing contexts within the book - seems universal, which is perhaps why the collection feels as powerful as it does. For Paul McGuinness, the context was World War Two; his dad flew missions for the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command.

"What it was like," he asks, "for a kid of twenty-one to fly off in a Lancaster bomber with primitive navigational equipment, responsible for his crew's lives, responsible for finding their destination, being shot at by enemy aircraft, dodging flak, seeing other planes hit and destroyed, is unimaginable. He must have been terrified. I'm sure he was affected by it for the rest of his life," he reflects.

For Edge, the formative moments came in altogether more peaceful surrounds, in the countryside, while... fishing. "It was an important time for my father and me but the connection made between boy and nature has also remained," he recalls. "I still love to go into the wilderness to reconnect with - exactly what I don't know. Maybe the idea of a primal existence and a more natural pace of life... Maybe it's to finally catch the one that got away."

Adam's dad Brian Clayton is "a practical man", in his son's eyes. "He is not naturally affected by music or art and I think," Adam writes, "he believes that getting in touch with his feminine side was listening to my mother."

Nevertheless, when Adam wanted to get his hands on a decent bass (to succeed his first, ineffective guitar), it was Brian who - on one of his regular trips to New York - was commissioned to head into Manny's of 48th Street to track down a Fender Precision. "I often think of what it was like for him to enter that music shop," Adam, says, "and, armed with only a little information, engage with a salesman and hope to be treated fairly and respectfully. I wonder how it was for him to carry it back to Dublin explaining to work colleagues that it was an electric bass for his son Adam, 'who couldn't really play it'."

U2 and their fathers

Larry admits to struggling with his own contribution - which felt too much for him like writing an obituary, while his dad is still "very much alive" (and in his 91st year!). "Anyhow," he says, with characteristic economy of words: "I know he could write a far better piece about himself than I ever could. He still has a way with words. I still play the drums."

The cut-and-thrust between boys and men doesn't seem to diminish as these particular men grow older. (Neither does their fame prevent parental admonishment.) Larry admits that having bought his dad a laptop 10 years ago, he still receives "touching messages that usually include solid advice and the occasional well-intended blow to the solar plexus." You're never too old, it seems.

As Bono reflects in the book's foreword: "It's a mysterious thing, the relationship between fathers and sons ... " We certainly gain some telling glimpses here into the mysteries which have shaped some of these highly influential - and highly influenced - figures. As well as gaining a chance, perhaps, to reflect more upon our own.

Bob Hewson once told his boy: 'Your problem, son, is you're a baritone who thinks he's a tenor.' But Bono's own meditation on Bob yields an ever deepening conclusion:

"I have no scientific evidence to back up the claim that sometimes a close relation, in passing, bequeaths us a gift. Something to get us through. I can't explain this, but I do know that ever since my father died, my voice changed. I can sing those B's and A's with an ease I never had before. I am now a tenor pretending to be a baritone."

www.u2.com//http://hospicefoundation.ie/

'The Child is father of the Man', as Wordsworth once put it. It's a work that's never done.

Sons and Fathers can be pre-ordered here. 

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.

U2 to buy Hanover Quay site

U2 are to buy the site where they recorded many of their best-selling albums after the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) agreed to sell it for about €450,000.

The authority forced the band to sell its old riverfront studio on Hanover Quay for an undisclosed price in 2002 to allow public amenity works relating to the development of the Grand Canal Harbour area. As part of that deal the authority promised the band the top two floors of the 32-storey tower it was planning to build on an adjacent quay, a project that was subsequently put on hold.

The authority said in a statement issued on Tuesday that in light of its imminent dissolution and the recent approval by An Bord Plenala for the North Lotts and Grand Canal Planning scheme, it would not be proceeding with a proposed compulsory purchase order of 16 and 18 Hanover Quay.

It said that Jones Lang LaSalle, acting on behalf of U2, was to acquire the authority’s interest in the site at 16 Hanover Quay.

The historic site is where U2 recorded many of their best-known albums.

http://www.irishtimes.com/

Andrea Corr on U2

The Corrs singer Andrea Corr spoke to Q about why she thinks U2 are the most influential band of the past 25 years, describing Bono, The Edge and co as a "unique and incredible band to watch perform.


The Corrs' Andrea Corr on why U2's Bono & The... por Qmagazine


http://www.dailymotion.com/Qmagazine

The sights and sounds of 'Songs of Innocence' - top 10 locations that influenced the evolution of U2

by Ed Power

U2's latest album, Songs Of Innocence, may be their most personal yet. The record is suffused with the sights and sounds of seventies Dublin – to an unprecedented degree, Bono bares his soul as he sings about growing up on the northside of the city, losing his mother at age 14 and the traumas he experienced at a time when Ireland was still a depressive and sometimes violent place.

To mark the LP's release here are some of the locations name-checked on the record as they exist today, alongside several other landmarks that have played a part in U2's story.

Cedarwood Road, Glasnevin

Internet searches for 'Cedarwood Road' are estimated to have increased one gazillion percent since the release of U2's 13th album. "You can't return to where you never left," croons Bono on the brittle dirge of the same name, "It was a war-zone in my teens/I'm still standing on that street."

The singer grew up at number 10 Cedarwood Road, several houses down from life-long friends Gavin Friday and Guggi Rowan (to whom the tune is dedicated). The street hasn't changed much since Bono's adolescence. On radio this week, old neighbours recalled the future global star as a polite young man with a considerate disposition. “I grew up just a few doors literally from the Hewsons," neighbor Bob Conway said. "On Cederwood road we started hearing Bono and the three boys practicing in the garage.”

A memorial to the victims of the Talbot Street bombings

Talbot Street, Parnell Street, South Leinster Street

On May 17 1974, three UVF bombs ripped through central Dublin (a fourth detonated in Monaghan an hour and a half late). Thirty three people were killed, including the mother of an unborn child at term. The atrocity is addressed on the new LP on the track Raised By Wolves.

"On any other Friday I would have been at this record shop, but I cycled to school that day," said Bono in an interview. "The bomb tore apart the street. I escaped but one of my mates was around the corner with his father, and it was a very hard thing for him to witness and I'm not sure he really got over it."

Des Kelly Interiors

The State Cinema, Phibsborough


A cutting edge movie house when it opened in 1954– replacing the beloved Phibsborough Cinema – The State today endures an afterlife as Des Kelley Interiors show-room. In the seventies cinemas often doubled as live music venues. On September 1978 The State hosted a gig by New York punks The Ramones. In the audience, Bono was deeply moved by their passion and work ethic (they toured practically all year). He reflects on the concert, its impact on him as an artist, on The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone), the opening number on Songs Of Innocence.

Mount Temple Comprehensive, Malahide Road, Clontarf

In September 1976, 14-year- old Larry Mullen Jr posted a missive on the notice board at Mount Temple Comprehensive School seeking band-members. Several fellow pupils responded, among them Paul Hewson, Dave Evans and Adam Clayton. U2 were up and running. A rare example of a socially progressive school in an era when Irish education was still in many respects in the dark ages, at Mount Temple students were encouraged to explore their creativity. It remains open today – other past pupils include former Miss Ireland Amanda Brunker and comedian Andrew Maxwell.

60 Rosemount Avenue, Artane

Rosemount Avenue, Dublin

Larry Mullen Jr's family home, it was here the proto-U2 (then without a name) held their first band meeting. In fact it was more 'audition' than meeting. A skilled drummer, it fell to Mullen to decide who was in and who was out. Several neighbourhood friends were politely rejected. Dave Evans and Adam Clayton made the cut (everyone was impressed by Clayton's Afghan coat). Then a slight-looking young man turned up – he couldn't play an instrument and yet everyone was struck by his charisma. "I was in charge for the first five minutes,' Mullen remembered. "As soon as Bono got there, I was out of a job."

The site of the old Dandelion Market in Dublin's city centre

Dandelion Market

In an era when much of Dublin resembled a mouldering bomb-site, the Dandelion Market offered a whiff of cosmopolitan glamour. Opened in 1970, it became a haven for counter culture in the city. You could buy dyed t-shirts, flares, studded leather watch-straps – most anything , in fact, so long as it was legal. In the twilight of its existence the Market became synonymous with U2. Through May and June 1979, the band delivered a six week Saturday afternoon residency. The admission was 50 pence and the shows were all ages, giving many teenagers their first experience of rock and roll. "People talk about these gigs as being legendary," Mullen later recalled. "They were. The Dandelion was where we really hit our stride."The Market had shuttered by end of year, to make way for St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre.

Bonavox Hearing Specialists, North Earl Street

Bonavox, Dublin City Centre

Still in business, this hearing aid store played an unwitting part in the transformation of shy, awkward Paul Hewson into global rock star Bono. In his teens, Bono and friends had a habit of bequeathing absurd nicknames on each other. Early monikers applied to the young Hewson are said to have included 'Steinhegvanhuysenolegbangbangbang' and 'Houseman'. It was Gavin Friday who came up with "Bonovox", inspired by the store the teenagers regularly tramped past on their excursions to town. At first Bono rejected the moniker – upon learning Bonavox was latin for 'good voice', he changed his mind.

McGonagle's, South Anne Street, Dublin

The old indie-rock dive off Grafton Street is today a Hackett men's clothing store. U2 played the venue in 1978 and received one of their earliest reviews, from Hot Press journalist Bill Graham. In his write-up, Graham seemed cautiously smitten: "U2 are impressive contenders with the appetite and talent to improve beyond their already creditable status".

Project Arts Centre, East Essex Street

Project Arts Centre, East Essex Street, Temple Bar

In May 1978, Paul McGuinness, a well-heeled Trinity College graduate, was persuaded to attend a Project Arts Centre gig by U2. He wasn't sure about the songs – the band were very much in their 'embryonic' phase. However, he was struck by their enthusiasm and dedication. Accompanying him was Hot Press journalist Graham, who had campaigned for McGuinness to oversee the group's affairs. Last November, after 30 years, McGuinness stepped down as U2 manager.

Sandymount Strand

One of U2's early, iconic photoshoots was on Sandymount Strand, with the 'twin towers' of the Poolbeg Generating Station in the background. Clearly the chimneys meant something to U2 – they would subsequently feature in the video to Pride (In The Name Of Love).

http://www.independent.ie/

Rumours, rumours, rumours: are U2 filming a new video?

The rumours started some days ago when the Samuel Becket Bridge in Dublin was closed for (apparently) the filming of a new U2 vid.
As usual, tweets galore started to appear with "evidence":

And the subsequent pics which leave  everything to the imagination of anxious fans.









The pictures don't say much but something was going on in that bridge!!!

“Samuel Beckett Bridge closed because #U2 are filming a video, according to security. They’ve obviously found their single”. @conor_pope

It seems that @conor_pope  knows better!!! 

But that's not enough for die-hard fans and soon the name of the (in)famous song came to our ears : "Summer Nights"
Luckily this time there was confirmation from Contact Music:


Dublin's Samuel Beckett Bridge has been closed off due to the reported filming of a U2 music video for their new single 'Summer Nights'. Security guards were seen wandering around the nearby quays to stop people taking pictures of the set. Director Mark Romanek - whose name appears on the project's clapper board - was also behind the music video for the band's latest single 'Invisible'. - Dublin Ireland - Sunday 24th August 2014 

 With pictures:





And the saga goes on, this time we travel to Lough Sheelin where ,apparently, U2 have not been fishing but filming (once again) the so much awaited upcoming new vid. This time, our news source comes from the local newspaper Anglo-Celt:

Was U2 video behind Lough Sheelin fireworks?

The strict secrecy surrounding filming over Lough Sheelin, which culminated in a fireworks display lighting up the night sky on Monday, August 25, has sparked rumours that the event was commissioned for U2’s latest music video. Rock legends Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen are currently working towards the release of their thirteenth studio album following a five-year hiatus. The band has, in recent days, been suspected of filming in Dublin, only for claims to be made that the closed set on Samuel Beckett Bridge at the weekend was for “an up and coming band” named ‘Summer Nights’. The phrase ‘summer nights’ is contained in the lyrics for ‘With or Without You’. The Cavan shoot took place over several hours at Kilnahard pier, on the northwestern shore of the lough. Cavan County Council have confirmed to The Anglo-Celt they were aware filming was taken place on the lake, that a two-day filming permit was attained, and that gardaí and the emergency services were also placed on notice. The Celt understands that filmmakers were forced to seek an alternative location for filming beyond the confines of the capital given the magnitude of the pyrotechnic explosion to be shot. -


And there's a video!!!! (of the fireworks)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpnAL8_RENU

Local man John Brooks, who lives on the banks of Lough Sheelin spent hours wading through soft swamp to catch a glimpse of what was taking place out on the lake. He adds that earlier in the day, after rumour first broke that U2 might be filming at the location, he saw a blacked out luxury bus type vehicle travel in convoy with other “expensive looking” cars. He described the fireworks show going on about for three-and-a-half hours, “in blasts of five a time or what have you. “The actual road down to the pier was closed off, so I spent hours standing in freezing cold water and in the reeds to get a good look at what was happening. “At one stage they had something like a laser show which took place, and big spot lamps which they were beaming right up into the sky. Whatever they were at, whatever it was for, it definitely was a big deal. "Apart from the rigs they had for letting off the fireworks they had two or three boats patrolling making sure no one could get near from the water”, he said.


Yet ,we mortal fans are still to wait...something that being fans of U2 we are used to doing.


http://u2fanlife.com/http://www.anglocelt.ie/http://www.atu2.com/