Larry Mullen Jr, Taxi Driver

Larry Mullen Jr. confessed he feels more like a taxi driver than a rocker as he ferries his kids around so much.

The drummer made the revelation after being asked about a typical day away from the group.

Father-of-three Larry added: "There's rarely a day when there isn't something to do with the band. But a lot of the time I feel like I should put a cap on my head and a sign over my car with taxi written on it.

"I spend a lot of time ferrying children, including other people's, to various houses.

There's swimming, ballet, soccer -- it goes on.

"And if you are left in charge, food is a big issue.

"Everyone wants different things. So I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. But I enjoy it."

Larry, 47, confessed having a family has left him with little time to indulge his passion for motorcycles.

He added: "I still love bikes. But I haven't ridden in a long time. Having kids changed that.

"Not only from the safety point of view. You have choices -- what are you going to do?

"Go off for three days with your tent or actually take care of your kids?

"In 10 years time I'll have as much time as I want to go off and do all those things." The millionaire star also revealed that he and his bandmates don't socialise as much as they used to after working in the studio.

He told Q magazine: "It happens occasionally. But when I'm finished on Friday, I'm straight home to see my family.

"That's my choice. So we spend less time on a social level. We're still friends, but it's a lot more difficult now.

"It's not the four guys fighting the world. That doesn't exist any more. The opportunity to just sit around the pub and have a pint and talk doesn't happen as often as it should."

I spend a lot of time ferrying children to ballet, swimming and soccer."


source:qmagazine,Jan 2009 issue

Under a Red Blood Sky (Part 1)

Surely among the U2-related things that brought aobut 2008 the release on DVD of "Live at Red Rocks" together with the lauching of U23D was to be highlighted.

Here is our review of the famous concert in Denver,Colorado,US,5ht June,1983.


"In the shadows, boy meets man".That line from "Twilight" on U2´s 1980 debut album, "Boy"captures so much about the mstery and intensit of U2´s early years.
Viewing the seventeen performances on"U2 LIve from Red Rocks", which was filmed on June 5, 1983, one can see a band straining beyond everything it had previously achieved to propel itself to a new ,unexplored place.

The words of Anthony De Curtis in the DVD booklet, was already an indicaiton of what awaited me when I bought the "Red Rocks" DVD. The first time I had an idea of this particular concert (before reading it in depth in U2 By U2) was the music video "Sunday Bloody Sunday" on the U218 Singles DVD.
When I read that the concert,previously released on VHS, (remember those?), would be re-mastered and released on DVD, I held my breath,hoping that I, living in the southern tip of Africa, would be able to buy it.
The DVD starts with a little documentary (aprox. 3-5 minutes long) showing air shots of Denver, Colorado, and Bono talking about he found Red Rocks a beautiful place, a place to make a statement...how righ he was! The camera shows what the amphitheatre looked like amidst the drizzly rain and fog...absolutely stunning!The fans were very optimistic, saying that the band should feel comfortable in the weather conditions, so much like Ireland.
The band was introduced, “good evening, a warm Red Rocks to a band from Dublin, Ireland … U2!” They ran onto stage, something I’ve never seen them do before! They start off the concert with a song from the ‘Boy’ album, ‘Out of control’, and immediately, I was captivated & drawn into their energetic performance willingly … the atmosphere was one of excitement and expectation, just waiting to see what U2 would come up with next. Bono rushed to the microphone, a huge smile on his face, and greeted the crowd with, “Good evening!” During the performance of this song, Bono & Edge move to the front part of the stage, and Bono asks the crowd: “Do you know who this is? This is The Edge!”

More on New Line on the Horizon

In the new issue of the prestigious mgazine Rolling Stone we still have more insight into the new songs that will appear on the album. If we were all anxious to get it, with all that is said about it we´d run to the music stores ASAP.(Yes, Boys the publicity is going well, you have us all on the edge)
Brian Hiatt from Rolling Stone reports on 10 of the songs:

"Get On Your Boots"
The likely first single, this blazing, fuzzed-out rocker picks up where "Vertigo" left off. "It started just with me playing and Larry drumming," the Edge recalls. "And we took it from there."

"Stand Up Comedy" (also known in other mag as "Stand Up")
Another hard rock tune, powered by an unexpectedly slinky groove and a riff that lands between the Beatles' "Come Together" and Led Zep's "Heartbreaker." Edge recently hung out with Jimmy Page and Jack White for the upcoming documentary It Might Get Loud, and their penchant for blues-based rock rubbed off: "I was just fascinated with seeing how Jimmy played those riffs so simply, and with Jack as well," he says.

"Crazy Tonight"
"It's kind of like this album's 'Beautiful Day' — it has that kind of joy to it," Bono says. With the refrain "I know I'll go crazy/If I don't go crazy tonight," it's the band's most unabashed pop tune since "Sweetest Thing."

"Unknown Caller"
This midtempo track could have fit on All That You Can't Leave Behind. "The idea is that the narrator is in an altered state, and his phone starts talking to him," says the Edge.

"Tripoli"
This strikingly experimental song lurches between disparate styles, including near-operatic choral music, Zooropa-style electronics, and churning arena rock.

"Cedars of Lebanon"
"On this album, you can feel what is going on in the world at the window, scratching at the windowpane," says Bono, who sings this atmospheric ballad from the point of view of a war correspondent.

"Magnificent"
"Only love can leave such a mark," Bono roars on what sounds like an instant U2 anthem. Will.i.am has already done what Bono calls "the most extraordinary" remix of the tune.

"Moment of Surrender"
This seven-minute-long track is one of the album's most ambitious, merging a Joshua Tree-style gospel feel with a hypnotically loping bass line and a syncopated beat.

"Every Breaking Wave"
A swelling soul-pop song, with bright synth sounds influenced by OMD and, Bono says, "early electronica." "You don't hear indie bands doing blue-eyed soul [like this]," he adds.

"No Line on the Horizon"
The title track's relentless groove began as a group improvisation. "It's very raw and very to the point," says the Edge. "It's like rock & roll 2009."

To read more you´ll need to get the January magazine issue.[Issue 1071 — January 22, 2009]

source:www.rollingstone.com/news/story

Did you miss us???

You bet we did!!! But it seems this week the new U2 single may be heard on the radio.
"Get your boots on" is said to be released this week to the pleasure of us all. But as this new album has been on hold for so long, we are not really sure of this either...Let´s just wait and stay tuned to our radios!!!


source:U2fanlife; pic:Q magazine

Highlights on Q Magazine Interview

The next issue of the famous music magazine brings us insight on the recording of "New Line on the Horizon" the longly awaited new U2 album.
These are some extracts...

'I think it's some of the best music we've ever written.' Larry








'I want people to listen to it as opposed to just buying it. I want this to be an album people go back to, and really get into, in-depth. Like all the records I love... I think we've learnt a few things over the years... I think it could be a bringing to bear of all those eureka moments from the past. And I think it could be our best album.' Edge



'We'd invited Eno and Lanois to come in as writers. It was a big step up for us to say, "We wanna open the thing up and that will determine the direction." From the first session Larry was performing on an electronic drum kit. Normally Larry drums so hard, it's very hard to spend hours working stuff up when you've got all this bang and clatter. But the electronic kit made him play in a certain way. So the music came from a different place.' Adam

'Bono had been talking about this religious festival and he mentioned it to me, thinking that I'd shoot it down. And I said, 'Actually, that's a god idea, I'd like to go back to Morocco." The last time I was there the food was shite. I was vegetarian, full-blown, verging on vegan, and so it was a difficult time. But underneath all the cultural shock I enjoyed it. So i was happy to go back. I felt musically it would be a very good thing. So we got together and it was an amazing experiment. Threw up all these ideas...' Larry on Morocco





'..I allowed myself to wear the clothes of characters that wandered into my imagination. So the guy in (new song) 'Cedars of Lebanon' is a war correspondent. I meet a lot of them in my other life. And I have a lot of empathy because I'd probably be one (laughs). And then there's this song that is called 'Tripoli' at the moment, which is this guy on a motorcycle, a Moroccan French cop, who's going Awol. He drives through France and Spain down to this village outside of Cadiz where you can actually see the fires of Africa burning...' Bono






'If you're gonna do a big guitar song I think you have to push it all the way, and that's where we ended up with that one. It started out with this very Moroccan-influenced rhythmic thing. And it's interesting that it's gone from North Africa to rock'n'roll - and in that process you really see how connected they are, the music of Africa and the United States. It's all there.'Edge on new song 'Stand Up'

'I don't know the answer to that. Initially, the idea was to do this esoteric thing and have a few hits there as well. It's kind of morphed into something else. I think there is experimentation in there.. it's just a different animal. It's not quite what people would expect a U2 experimental thing would be. I mean, if you think of Zooropa, or Passengers, this is not that. This has got a lot of weight.... I think it's some of the best music we've ever written.' Larry

'...you hear a band that has got to a stage in its life where it can genuinely hold its head up and say, "We like where we are." I think it's great we've actually said, "We're not going to rush this release." We're not going to apologise like we have for every other bloody record and say, "If we'd had more time this would have been better or that would have been better..." We've really got into these songs and they've been finished to the best of our abilities.' Adam



source:www.U2.com/www.qthemusic.com

Bono´s New Year in Scotland

Seems that Bono celebrated Hogmanay in the Highlands. Together with his wife Ali and Danish supermodel Helena Christensen, along with family and friends, he flew into Scotland for a New Year break at Ben Alder Lodge, the 26,000-acre Inverness-shire estate owned by one of the world’s richest men, Swiss financier Urs Schwarzenbach.

Bono’s group arrived at Inverness Airport on Monday and were taken to the Dalwhinnie estate in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes minibus. He was seen wearing a red kilt with Miss Christensen in the bar at the Silverfjord Hotel in nearby Kingussie.

Gillian Welsh, owner of the hotel, said : "We couldn’t believe we had such famous people in the bar. But they chatted with some of the locals, while Bono enjoyed a couple of pints of Guinness."

source: www.thesun.co.uk

New Year´s Day

To start the year with our favorite band, a memento from the 80´s...
Third song of the 1983 album "War". It is distinguisihed by Adam´s powerful bassline and Edge alternating between keyboards and guitar. It´s one of U2´s most frequently performed live song.
In 1983, Bono said of the song, "It would be stupid to start drawing up battle lines, but I think the fact that 'New Year's Day' made the Top Ten indicated a disillusionment among record buyers. I don't think 'New Year's Day' was a pop single, certainly not in the way that Mickie Most might define a pop single as something that lasts three minutes and three weeks in the chart. I don't think we could have written that kind of song.

"All is quiet on New Year’s Day.A world in white gets underway.I want to be with you, be with you night and day.Nothing changes on New Year’s Day..."

Starting as a love song, it changes into a song inspired by the Polish "Solidarity" movement.The video also features footage of Soviet troops advancing in winter during World War II.
Hope that the world could be quieter in 2009, things change in the New Year and all wars or attacks cease!!