Ali Hewson: Her Heroes

 Ali Hewson’s Heroes

The Edun Co-Founder and Wife of Bono Pays Tribute to Her Inspirational Friends

Ali Hewson couldn’t possibly have guessed how life would turn out when she met her future husband at Dublin’s Mount Temple Comprehensive School in 1975. Her high school sweetheart, Paul, is now known as Bono, perhaps the biggest rock star (and according to Time in 2009, one of the most influential people) in the world—thanks to his many charitable initiatives. In 2005, the couple launched Edun, a fashion company that promotes trade above aid in Africa and other developing countries by using factories that pay fair wages, creating jobs and encouraging investment in these areas. These days Hewson divides her time between family, campaigning and running the now multinational company. Meet the people who most inspire her:

Cristina Cisilino (founder of ethical accessories brand Made and charity Made Africa)

Cristina, who is Italian, lives in Kenya and has raised her boy there with her husband Gerson [Barnett], who’s from England. The two have immersed themselves and it hasn’t been easy, but they’ve made the commitment and have stuck with it. Now, she has a thriving business and is making a difference to the community that she’s involved with, and they make a great product—that’s what’s really wonderful about it.

Sharon Wauchob (Edun’s Creative Director)

Sharon was brought up on a farm in Northern Ireland, and she gets how difficult it is for these people and the elements they are against. She has so many different ideas about how the clothes can look, and is so willing to make it happen—she came to Kenya with us last week for a day! She has a brand new baby and is such a hard worker, and everything she does has a thoughtfulness to it and a respect.

Aweko Jofka

Aweko is a woman I met in Africa in February who is part of the Conservation Cotton Initiative, and she blew me away completely. We met her in a mud hut with her husband and her seven children. She’s a lead farmer, which means she organizes all the meetings for, and oversees, 250 farmers, making sure they get all the information they’re supposed to have and attend all the meetings they’re supposed to attend. She got the highest yield from the crop in January. On top of all of that she was eight months pregnant with her eighth child. You feel so small when you’re around people with that strength and ability.

Louis le Broquy

Louis is a painter and the embodiment of the three things I find most inspirational in people: humanity, humility and humor. He’s 94 now, and is one of the gentlest human beings I’ve ever met. He paints a lot of heads, and he’s able to translate the language of the mind into the language of the eye. He’s a true artist.

Angélique Kidjo

Angélique is from Benin, West Africa. She lived there until she was maybe 12 or 14 and then had to leave because of the political situation, and lives in Paris now. She’s a jazz singer who was signed to Island records, and she’s still looking back towards Africa to do work there and trying to fix the issues there. Apart from being an amazing singer and artist, she has held onto a huge amount of humanity.


www.nowness.com

Moment of Surrender in Frankfurt

'Be with you, be with you, night and day...'.  

Second show in Europe opens with The Return of the Stringray Guitar again but this time, after Beautiful Day, the set list changes, we're into New Year's Day and after that the 360 spaceship heads way out into orbit.

'Danke Kasabian for giving us lift off, ' says Bono. 'I want to thank you all for coming out tonight,  I hope you like our space station… truly, we built this to get closer to you.'

Another capacity crowd at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt with 'Happy Birthday Edge!' signs competing for attention with the Irish flags. We spotted  Helena Christensen at the mix, along with Michael Stipe and Bono has special reason to be grateful tonight.

'I'd like to say a personal thanks to a team of German doctors who are the reason I am here tonight, a great and gifted team.
'I have been rebuilt using the best engineering in the world, German engineering. I have 'made in Germany' now stamped on my ass. I have never felt better,  I feel like… like a Mercedes Benz.'

A rocking riot of a show tonight but there are tender notes too, everyone gathered at a huge music show just days after the tragedy at the Love Parade dance festival in Duisburg. And on that poignant note, the show closes.
'For everyone who lost their life - for their friends and familes. This is Moment of Surrender.'

Picture gallery.

www.u2.com

Adam Speaks to U2.com

 While in Turin, Adam speaks to U2.com about the tour, their performance and the possibility of releasing an EP.

www.u2.com

Frankfurt Under U2 Assault!

Setlist:

   1. Return Of The Stingray Guitar 
   2. Beautiful Day
   3. New Year's Day
   4. Get On Your Boots
   5. Magnificent
   6. Mysterious Ways / My Sweet Lord (snippet)
   7. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Movin' On Up
       (snippet)
   8. Glastonbury
   9. Elevation
 10. In A Little While
 11. Miss Sarajevo
 12. Until The End Of The World
 13. The Unforgettable Fire
 14. City Of Blinding Lights
 15. Vertigo / It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel
        Fine) (snippet)
 16. Crazy Tonight / Discotheque (snippet)
 17. Sunday Bloody Sunday
 18. MLK
 19. Walk On

        Encores:

 20. One
 21. Amazing Grace (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name
 22. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
 23. With Or Without You
 24. Moment Of Surrender

www.u2.gigs/www.u2.miracle

Ready for the Second Gig!

The Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt is ready for this evening´s concert.

Here´s the audio of the two new songs:

"North Star"

Singer Michael W. Smith joined the band in the studio during the Atomic Bomb sessions and worked on at least one track with them entitled “North Star”. That track, which was a tribute to Johnny Cash, has not yet surfaced officially or unofficially in any form. A song introduced by Bono as “North Star” was played in Turin during the U2 360° Tour, however it is unknown whether or not this is the same song that was worked on during the sessions. – Wikipedia





And "Glastonbury", the song the band composed for the festival:





www.u2exit.com (audio)

Successful Gig, New Album and B`Day Celebrations

"It´s great to be back" says Adam in this video.

The First gig of the new lap of the 360º Tour is a blast. Not only did they debute new songs but also re-debuted songs that had not been played live for long, for example "Miss Sarajevo".



Hot Press talks to Paul McGuinness minutes after their Turin show.

A new U2 album is potentially on the cards before the end of the year.

It is the kind of news likely to have the top dogs at Universal Music rubbing their hands in glee. And it has been confirmed to Hot Press by U2 manager Paul McGuinness.

"I hope there will be another record pretty soon," Paul told Olaf Tyaransen.

Pressed as to how soon might "pretty soon" be, the prospect of an album this side of Christmas was revealed.

"If I was being wildly optimistic, I'd say before the end of the year," he laughed.

The band have already discussed a work in progress under the working title of Songs Of Ascent, a lot of material for which had been recorded before the year's plans were disrupted by the back injury that put lead singer Bono out of action and required spinal surgery. Fans may take encouragement from the fact that U2's current touring activities will come to an end early in October – opening up the possibility that the final shaping of an album could take place over the following month.

"There’s a mixture of material available now," Paul McGuinness reveals. "Some of it’s been recorded. Some of it is called Songs Of Ascent, then there’s Spiderman material, then there’s some new stuff. I mean, Bono’s always a bit over-optimistic on these occasions, but I heard him telling an Italian journalist that he had four albums ready. That’s not quite it! But that’s what he was saying [laughs]."

A considerable batch of material was close to being finished in the Spring.

"There was a lot of very strong material already in the can earlier this year," Hot Press editor Niall Stokes confirmed. "They debuted 'Glastonbury' last night in Turin, which is a really beautiful song, and a potential single. And also 'North Star', which was performed acoustically – it is a classic U2 idea, which has fantastic resonance. And there is a lot more brilliant stuff where they came from."

Bono came through his first gig back in flying colours, further encouraging speculation that the U2 flying machine is fully back on track.

"The show went extremely well," Paul McGuinness reflected, speaking from a police motorcade immediately after the show. "It was really superb. No weakness, no mishaps physically. And I thought he sang particularly well. The production performed perfectly. It was kind of a perfect night, really."

So it's business as usual for U2?

"Yes... we're much relieved."

And the deserved break came during the weekend when they celebrated their success and The Edge´s birthday in Eze with family and friends like Guggi, Gavin Friday and Paul Mc Guinness among others.Reports say that they sang new songs to their guests.

www.hotpress.com/www.u2.com/www.u2miracle

Rolling Stone in Turin

U2 opened the first show of their European summer tour, at Olympic Stadium in Turin, Italy, with the unknown and the familiar. The first song was a brand new, unfinished number, "Return of the Sting Ray Guitar." It was so new it didn't have a real ending — the band just stopped playing after four minutes of a hard pneumatic groove, driven by the Edge's crunching-fuzz guitar.
But that riff and power came with a reassuring sight: Bono, on stage for the first time since he underwent spinal surgery nine weeks earlier, strutting along the whole outer rim of U2's giant stage. He often stopped to do boxing-dance moves, throwing punches like a fighter happy to be back in the ring.
Bono's restored energy was dramatic confirmation that U2's world tour, now set to run into next year, was only interrupted, not derailed. But the band took that extra time to change the show in profound ways. U2 are still travelling with the most extravagant hi-tech spectacle in stadium-rock history. But they have made the set list less about their last album, No Line On the Horizon, and more about continuing history. Of the 24 songs in the set, three were revived from deep in the catalog: "In A Little While," from All That You Can't Leave Behind; "Miss Sarajevo," from The Passengers album; and the Batman Forever movie theme "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me."
Bono and the Edge also debuted an acoustic ballad "North Star" in complete darkness, illuminated only by the cell phone lights of the crowd. "Let's see if we can turn this place into the Milky Way," Bono said. The crowd came close. And U2 finally got to play the song they had written especially for their aborted June show at the Glastonbury festival. Simply called "Glastonbury," it was another furious package of Bono's wailing, the Edge's rudely distorted guitar and the stern forward drive of drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton.

The third running theme throughout the night — with liftoff and rebirth — was gratitude. For every leap in the air and bout of shadowboxing, Bono expressed relief and thanks. The blessings and wonder in "Beautiful Day" were repeated again and again in his voice and lyrics, in "Magnificent," "Get On Your Boots," "City of Blinding Lights" and the final encore, "Moment of Surrender."
Early in the set, after "Mysterious Ways," Bono stopped to introduce his bandmates and thank them for "their strength and patience." He also told the crowd how much he appreciated the letters and best wishes from fans during his recovery. But he added, "that time is past. We're very much for the future."

Then Bono led U2 into a stirring charge through the Joshua Tree song, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." He sang it like he's ready to go the distance. 

By  David Fricke

www.rollingstone.com