U2: South American Craze!!!!!!!!!!!

That U2 has a huge fan base in South America is not news. We have just to remember U2 3D the movie which showed the  South American fans at their height. So it`s not surprising that the pre-sales in Argentina were sold out in hours,  as also the sales in Internet and at the box offices, a second show has been announced for Brazil  for April 10th and there are strong rumours that Chile will see the band on 25th March.
While we wait for more concerts confirmations...here goes a reminder of what U2 was like in Argentina for the Vertigo tour in 2006...

UNO, DOS,TRES, CATORCE!!!!!

www.u2.com

Killing Bono: Neil McCormick's first impresions

Neil Mc Cormick

 

The story of Telegraph music critic Neil McCormick’s youth has been made into film. Here, he talks about his involvement with the writing and filming.
 It’s the story of my life as a failed rock star, which is a very strange thing to see unfold on a movie screen. Most people deemed worthy of the biopic treatment have actually done something memorable, even historical, warriors, sports legends, entertainement superstars, great peace activists.

All I did was royally screw things up for myself, while my school friends in U2 went on to achieve everything I ever wanted. But actually more people have the experience of failure than success, so there is a kind of everyman quality to a loser’s story, which is what drives the film.

It took six years to get this movie made, and mostly I just tried to stay out of the way. Dick Clement and Ian LaFrenais wrote the script, and I think they know what they are doing.
The director, Nick Hamm was absolutely charming and determined to get it made against all odds, but I usually only heard from him when he wanted to complain about something. “The problem with your life,” he once told me, “Is that it doesn’t have a third act. But don’t worry – we’re going to give you one.”
I started to get involved towards the end, particularly regarding the authenticity of the U2 scenes, but I tried to let the professionals do their job. I’ve already told my story in my book, this is kind of a riff on that, and I don’t want to get too precious about it. I’m being played for laughs, but, on the other hand, I’m being played by Ben Barnes, so I can’t really complain.

 Killing Bono, official trailer, due to hit UK theaters in Spring 2011.

Official Poster:

www.telegraph.co.uk //http://killingbonoblog.com/

 

Second Night in Melbourne: Dedicated to Michael Hutchence

Another rocking night in Melbourne tonight with Bono leading everyone in a chorus of Happy Birthday to Jay-Z and guests in the house including The Pretenders and Blondie.

Adam Clayton, explained Bono, was 'getting even better looking - the international man of mystery' while Larry has been 'staying up very late and seeing the town of Melbourne.' This city, said Edge, was even better than he remembered it.

Lots of highlights but maybe the stand-out moment came with the opening bars of 'Stuck In A Moment', the first time it's been played in 2010, and dedicated to the man it was originally written for, ' a friend we really miss.'

'We miss Michael Hutchence and this is a song we wrote for him...'

'I'm not afraid of anything in this world
There's nothing you can throw at me that I haven't already heard
I'm just trying to find a decent melody
A song that I can sing in my own company...'

Setlist

1. Return Of The Stingray Guitar
2. Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet)
3. New Year's Day
4. Get On Your Boots
5. Magnificent
6. Mysterious Ways
7. Elevation
8. Until The End Of The World
9. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Movin' On Up (snippet)
10. Stuck In A Moment
11. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
12. In A Little While
13. Miss Sarajevo
14. City Of Blinding Lights
15. Vertigo / Rockaway Beach (snippet)
16. Funky Town (snippet) / Crazy Tonight / Relax (snippet) / Two Tribes (snippet)
17. Sunday Bloody Sunday
18. Scarlet
19. Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
Encore(s):
20. One / I'll Stand By You (snippet)
21. Amazing Grace (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name
22. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
23. With Or Without You
24. Moment of Surrender

More pics.

www.u2gigs.com/www.u2.com

We are Better than U2!!

Hamish & Andy are an Australian comedy duo formed in 2003 by Hamish Blake and Andy Lee. They currently host the radio program The Hamish & Andy Show which airs in Australia on the Today Network. Most famous for their work on television as correspondents on Rove from 2007 to 2009, they also created the sketch comedy series Radio Karate in 2003 and Real Stories in 2006, and hosted the variety show The Hamish and Andy Show in 2004. In addition, they have made numerous appearances hosting events, and competing on game shows and in celebrity sporting events.
It was Hamish & Andy's last radio show and the live event was part of their "Thank You Tour" around the country. While they were singing their own song called "We are Better than U2" , they had a surprised guest appearance...



Knighted by Bono...

Gallery.


www.atu2.com/www.fox.com.au

Melbourne, Australia, first night

Mercy and Bad in the show as the band mix up the set list for the opening night in Melbourne.

Edge and Bono opened the show from the b-stage tonight, coming round to meet during The Return of the Stingray Guitar. 'G'day!' said Bono, slipping effortlessly into the local language,  and with that came the opening bars of Beautiful Day and it all kicked off.
It's been four years since the band were last here and it was pretty clear from the off that we were going to have a night to remember. 
'What do you think of our space station? It's taken us all over the place and tonight it brings us down under.
'Good to be back in Australia and in Melbourne in particular,' added Bono. 'We feel at home in Melbourne.'
Plenty of thanks and name-checks tonight including Michael Coppel ('been promoting us since we first played in Australia') and an old friend, Natalia Imbruglia, who is in the house.
'We've been doing this a while, Adam, Edge, Larry and I,  and we're still figuring out so much musically, spiritually  - keep coming to see us we're still pilgrims.'
Our highlights  of this opening night of eight in Australia were a storming version of 'Boots' with Larry Mullen standing up at the drum kit and the reception for Magnificent when Bono asked, 'Where are we going? St Kilda, Fitzroy. Richmond. Melbourne...'
And after promising new music for audiences here, Bono was true to his word: 'Let's play you a new song. Brand new song. This is Mercy.' Coupling that with Bad was a show-stopping moment in the set, matched only by the reception for Miss Sarajevo.

Setlist 

1. Return Of The Stingray Guitar

2. Beautiful Day / Here Comes The Sun

3. I Will Follow

4. Get On Your Boots

5. Magnificent

6. Mysterious Ways / My Sweet Lord

7. Elevation

8. Until The End Of The World / Anthem

9. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

10. Mercy

11. Bad

12. In A Little While

13. Miss Sarajevo

14. City Of Blinding Lights

15. Vertigo / Highway to Hell / Devil Inside

16. Funky Town / Crazy Tonight

17. Sunday Bloody Sunday

18. Scarlet

19. Walk On / You’ll Never Walk Alone

20. One

21. Amazing Grace / Where The Streets Have No Name

22. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

23. With Or Without You

24. Moment of Surrender

Article that appeared in HeraldSun.com.au

U2 has proven that size does matter in the world of rock concerts.

Their 360 Degrees Australian tour, launched in Melbourne tonight, revolves around a super-sized claw-shaped stage that managed to dwarf Etihad Stadium.

It was hard not to be in awe of the Claw; the kind of thing only the biggest band in the world could pull off - they have always dreamt large.

The structure - shoehorned in the middle of the venue - moved all the state of the art screens, lights and speakers above the band for the 360 degree view the tour boasts.

A ring of catwalks and moving bridges let the band get closer to fans in their quest to find intimacy in the world's least intimate venues.

"What do you think of our space station?," Bono asked the crowd.

No one works a stadium like Bono, dropping in shoutouts to Fitzroy, St Kilda and Richmond before lost single Magnificent.

But technology and stadium staging aside it's those songs that drew 60,000 fans out tonight.

Beautiful Day and I Will Follow set the agenda; a clever mix of their biggest (I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Mysterious Ways, Vertigo) and best (Bad, One, Miss Sarajevo) to appeal to their wildly diverse and wildly loyal fanbase.

It means Bono can quote Leonard Cohen in one song, AC/DC in another, even Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Only U2 could manage to get rap icon Jay-Z to open for them, a man whose "limitless talent" Bono praised.

The rapper added a verse to U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday during their set.

While his lyrical skill was lost on some members of the crowd during his own set - hopefully some minds were opened as Jay-Z and his band showed how hip hop can work live.

His brilliant set featured anthems like 99 Problems, Run This Town and Dirt Off Your Shoulder but it took the instant classic Empire State of Mind to get the rapper the respect he deserved.

Sadly rumored appearances by Kanye West and Jay-Z's wife Beyonce did not eventuate.

And luckily the predicted rain was another no-show.

Picture gallery.

www.u2.com//www.heraldsun.com.au

Bono hints at new U2 album

Bono has revealed that U2's current '360 Tour' might inspire the band to record a new studio LP.

The band's current tour has re-energised U2's group dynamic, according to the singer.
"We did some really good shows, (but) they just keep getting better and better, though. We're getting harder and harder; tougher," he told MTV News. "More attitude, more punk rock and more emotional, in another way."
"This strange thing has happened as the tour's went on - we've been playing new songs. We may even have a new album by the end of the tour."
"The thing about the '360 Tour' is, the spectacle is not actually this spaceship that lands in the middle of the stadium... the spectacle is the crowd, and the ability of the crowd to see each other and involve each other.
"There's this kind of call and response that goes on with the band and the crowd, and this sort of strange electric shock that goes through the stands, like a big Mexican wave of music that just travels around this virtuous circle."


www.rte.ie

Jay-Z's on his Relationship with Bono

Billionaire rapper Jay-Z's new book Decoded  hits shelves in Australia, coinciding with his performance at U2's concert in Melbourne today. Random House Australia says the book provides "unparalleled" insight to the relationship between Beyonce's husband and the supergroup frontman Bono.

The two were first introduced in a cigar room in London. Jay-Z and U2's Bono collaborated for their benefit song "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" as part of the "Hope for Haiti Now." Now they are teaming up again as Jay-Z supports U2 in the Australian leg of their '360 Degrees' world tour.

In Decoded, JAY-Z talks about his first encounter with Bono and the friendship they developed.

"Bono's got such a pure soul and positive energy - his eyes almost literally light up and dance when he's excited," writes the richest rapper in American entertainment industry.

In his highly personal narrative, JAY-Z discloses what it was like meeting Bono for the first time and what he said to make Bono go back into the studio to rework an already finished album.

"One night I ran into him [Bono] and he told me he'd read an interview I'd done somewhere. The writer had asked me about the U2 record that was about to be released and I said something about the kind of pressure a group like that must be under just to meet their own standard," Jay-Z tells the readers.

"Bono told me that my quote had really gotten to him. In fact, he said it got him a little anxious. He decided to go back to the studio even though the album was already done and keep reworking it till he thought it was as good as it could be."

Jay-Z had performed at U2's concert in Auckland, New Zealand. He then flew in to Melbourne over the weekend with his wife Beyonce Knowles and rapper Kanye West, with whom he is working on a collaborative project. The supergroup U2 will play at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne today.

(c) Intl. Business Times Australia, 2010.

http://au.ibtimes.com/