from http://www.therockradio.com

 

 

Pearl Jam to open for U2

Pearl Jam has opened for legends like Neil Young and Tom Petty, and now the group will open for U2 for the first time since 1993. According to Billboard.com, the Seattle band will warm up the crowd for the Irish superstars in Hawaii on December 9th, capping a brief run of rescheduled dates for U2 that includes shows in New Zealand, Australia and Japan. Pearl Jam itself just completed a U.S. tour on Sunday, July 23rd, with the second of two concerts in George, Washington.

 

U2's upcoming Pacific jaunt is making up for dates that were postponed this spring due to an unspecified serious illness in the immediate family of one of the band members, believed to be a daughter of guitarist The Edge.

 

U2's Vertigo tour, which got underway in spring of 2005, is the top-grossing trek in history with over $333 million in ticket sales.

 

Pearl Jam will begin a European tour in late August that will extend to the end of September, before the band heads to Australia itself in November.

From http://www.showbuzz.cbs.news.com

 

 

U2 Brings Kanye, Pearl Jam On Tour

Dates Rescheduled After Illness In Band Member's Family

 

July 21, 2006

 

U2 has rescheduled a host of dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan that were postponed this spring due to an unidentified serious illness within the immediate family of a band member.

 

Pearl Jam and Kanye West will share support duties at the shows, which get under way Nov. 24 in Auckland.

 

West, who was scheduled to open the Australia and New Zealand shows the first time around, will fill that role for all the make-up dates in those territories. Pearl Jam will join U2 Dec. 9 in Honolulu, marking the first time the bands have shared a stage since 1993. That gig will also feature a set by U2 stage manager Rocco Reedy's band Rocco and the Devils.

 

Ticketholders for the original Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii shows are being asked to retain their tickets, as they will be valid for the new dates.

 

The band was unable to reschedule a planned show in Yokohama, Japan, so has instead confirmed a Nov. 29-30, Dec. 4 run at Tokyo's Saitama Super Arena. Fans with tickets for the Yokohama show will be eligible for a special pre-sale for the makeup dates.

 

As it stands now, U2's Vertigo tour is the top-grossing tour in history at more than $333 million, which bests the Stones' $320 million Voodoo Lounge tour. The Stones' A Bigger Bang tour, however, is expected to top $400 million by the time it wraps in September.

 

Here are U2's new tour dates:

Nov. 7: Brisbane (QSAC Stadium)

Nov. 10-11: Sydney (Telstra Stadium)

Nov. 16: Adelaide (AAMI Stadium)

Nov. 18-19: Melbourne (Telstra Dome)

Nov. 24-25: Auckland (Ericsson Stadium)

Nov. 29-30, Dec. 4: Tokyo (Saitama Super Arena)

Dec. 9: Honolulu (Aloha Stadium)

 

 

From http://www.fmqb.com

 

 

A new official U2 book, U2byU2, is set to hit stores on September 22. The book is said to be the definitive U2 story, with 1,500 photos (including previously unreleased shots) and conversations with Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. as well as manager Paul McGuinness. According to U2's Web site, "For the first time each member of U2 – and manager Paul McGuinness - has told their own story from their earliest childhood memories to their first meeting with each other, from those opening chords in Larry’s kitchen to becoming the biggest band in Rock & Roll

From http://www.all headlinenews.com

 

 

U2's Bono Is MTV's Pop Star Of The Century

 

August 1, 2006 6:15 p.m. EST

 

 

 

Music Television (MTV) has named U2's lead singer Bono as the most influential pop star of the last century during its 25th Anniversary celebration, Tuesday.

 

MTV made the announcement after concluding a survey it commissioned to determine which among the leading pop icons was considered the most popular by fans.

 

More than 4,000 people took part in the Rock Royalty survey with the majority choosing Bono to be the most influential artist during the last century.

 

Michael Jackson and Madonna came second and third respectively, and were celebrated, along with the top 15 artists, in an artwork that places them on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

 

The 25th anniversary of MTV was punctuated with a day of special events and commemorative programming.

 

The 12 other celebrities featured in the MTV artwork were: Kurt Cobain, Prince, Eminem, Kylie Minogue, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Sir Elton John, Beyonce Knowles, Robbie Williams, Pete Doherty, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.

 

Sir Elton was shown wearing one of his flamboyant party wigs, while Bono is depicted making a peace sign.

 

Singers Gwen Stefani, Adam Ant, Pink and the Spice Girls were also included in the top 25 but were not included in the collage.

 

MTV was launched on August 1, 1981 and is now broadcasting to an estimated 1.3 billion people in 178 countries on 78 different channels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From http://www.upi.com

 

 

U2's Bono serves as preacher for a day

RALEIGH, N.C., Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Rock singer Bono of U2, speaking as a preacher, won over 350 evangelical ministers at Hope Community Church in Raleigh, N.C., a report says.

 

The Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer said the videotaped words of the Irish singer were telecast to the pastors at the church who were taking part in a conference organized by Illinois' Willow Creek Community Church.

 

"The main thrust of the Scriptures is to meet Christ in working with the poor," the U2 front man told his viewers.

 

Willow Creek, one of the nation's first "megachurches," had organized the event as part its annual three-day conference to help develop leadership abilities in over 70,000 pastors worldwide.

 

The preaching efforts were also another step by the 46-year-old singer in his efforts to draw attention to the ongoing plights of the world.

 

The newspaper said Bono has been attempting to gain the support of the world's churches for his attempts to fight poverty, AIDS and other rampant issues that face the world's poor.

 

:huh:

From http://www.tonight.co.za

 

 

U2 moves part of empire from Ireland

August 9, 2006

 

London - Irish rock band U2 has transferred part of its business empire out of Ireland due to changes in tax laws there, Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper said on Tuesday.

 

In a report from Dublin, it said the band had moved part of its publishing company U2 Limited to the same Dutch finance house used by the Rolling Stones because royalties are virtually tax-free in the Netherlands.

 

There was no immediate comment on the report from U2's British publicists, RMP Management, nor the Irish finance ministry when contacted by AFP.

 

According to the Daily Telegraph, the band - whose frontman Bono campaigns against global poverty - made the move in response to Ireland imposing a €250 000 cap on tax-free incomes.

 

 

The ceiling was announced in the Dublin government's last budget in December 2005, removing the tax exemption on royalties previously in place and from which U2 and other Irish singers and bands benefited in their early years.

 

U2 were reportedly the world's biggest music earners last year, with an income of about €217-million. U2 Limited deals with the band's royalty payments and was based in Dublin, the newspaper said. - AFP

 

:mellow:

From http://www.contactmusic.com

 

 

DUBLINERS PROTEST AGAINST PROPOSED U2 TOWER

 

 

 

Irish rockers U2's plans to build a 31-floor tower in Dublin have been met with protests from locals, who fear it will be a "monstrosity". The BEAUTIFUL DAY hitmakers have recently been granted permission to commence work on the 100-metre (984-foot) high structure, but residents in Dublin's Ringsend suburb are desperate to hang onto their low-rise heritage in the riverside district. DAMIEN CASSIDY, who is a member of the Ringsend Environmental Group, says, "This tower is going to appear as a monstrosity in what used to be a small maritime village." The U2 tower is set to become Ireland's tallest residential development and will house apartments and recording studio space.

09/08/2006 12:40

 

 

Scotty are you buying an apartment there? :D

 

hasnt he just bought a magazine?

29.09.2006

‘I used to think they liked me…’

 

In New York for the book signing earlier in the week, Bono and Edge talked with John Norris of MTV. Catch our edited highlights.

 

MTV: You guys have done big events before, the Super Bowl, Live8, but there had to have been something special about last night.

 

Edge: Yeah. It really was. It was one of those moments where the heart and the soul of the whole occasion were just so amazing. And the reaction from the crowd who were there to see a football game really … I mean they went nuts. It was because they got it, they knew what we were going to do and the spirit of the event, and it was amazing. It was really very moving.

 

MTV: Tell me about the decision in doing this particular song and the choice of working with Green Day.

 

Edge: We have a charity (Music Rising) that’s trying to replace the instruments - first the professional music of the area but also we’re moving on to churches and schools. They approached me about the re-opening of the Superdome and said, ‘Could you put something together for the pre-game show ?’ I thought about this song that was one of my favorite songs from growing up, (a song by) The Skids called ‘The Saints Are Coming’. First of all (there was) the obvious connection with The Saints team… then when I was looking up the song lyrics I realized it was perfect on so many levels, almost as if it was written for this event.

We’d met with Green Day in LA around the time of the Grammy’s and we were talking about trying to find something to do and I thought this is the perfect situation … it’s perfect for them. So I got in touch with Billy Joe and he listened to the song and was like ‘this is great.’ I was pretty sure that if we came up with a great thing to do together in the Superdome, that they would be up for it, and they were.

 

(Bono arrives)

 

MTV: It had to be something special last night….

 

Bono: It was kicking when we went off; those Green Day boys are something. You know there was something going on in that place that was more then a Super Bowl - it was a city fighting for its dignity and getting it back, demanding that their city rise up from the ashes, you (could) feel it in the room.… it was the people of New Orleans in their sort of sports cathedral going mad.

 

MTV: Now speaking of books, about a year and a half ago we were in a Boston book store and you were there talking. This (‘U2 by U2’) is something altogether different, this is pretty comprehensive.

 

Bono: Yeah I mean I didn’t want to do either book , and (this) book, which is a series of conversations we’ve had together, I’m very glad that I’ve done it and it’s over but this is the history of U2 - which is much more than any one members history. That what’s peculiar about it - the whole seems to be a lot greater then the sum of the parts and though I think we are all very interesting people, on our own a lot less so.

 

MTV: Eighteen months of interviews that Neil did with you - how do you remember all these details and stories?

 

Edge: Well that was the fun actually, having to go back and dig out all the photographs and to rack your brains about all the stories about how things came together and Neil was very rigorous. It happened with me a couple times - I’d say something and he’d get back to me and say ‘I think you’re wrong, I talked to Larry and Adam and they say it was the Wednesday night.’ So you had to, along the way, correct things you remembered incorrectly. But that was the great thing about the five memories … and that’s why I think it’s more accurate (than) it would have been if it was one persons point of view.

 

Bono: As a band we’re not very good at looking back, and we don’t encourage it in each other. We’re much more into the future and the present then we are into the past. (But) sometimes it’s worth just realizing what it took to get you there - and especially for new bands it’s going to be an important book as you realize one, just how bad we were and two, how chemistry overpowers all obstacles.

 

MTV: U2 fans (may) think they know everything they need to know about this band. Is there anything they can learn from this book?

 

Edge: Absolutely, (they) will definitely learn stuff. I learned stuff that I didn’t know about the rest of the band. I used to think they liked me … and stuff like that.

 

Bono: Personal hygiene turns out to play an important role in the success of any rock and roll band…..

 

 

 

 

http://www.U2.com

05.10.2006

The Song They Wish They'd Written

 

Larry cites Block Rockin' Beats by The Chemical Brothers. Adam cites Back to LIfe by Soul II Soul. Edge cites Wonderwall by Oasis. Bono cites ... er... seven tracks by seven artists.

 

To mark twenty years of Q Magazine the band are on the cover of the British music monthly (one of twenty covers with twenty artists) and looking back over two decades.

 

In 1986 Larry recalls driving a green Land Rover, Edge an 'ivory 1969 Triumph Herald', Adam ' a Maserati Ghibli... or it may have been my Golf' and Bono had 'just bought a hearse for spare parts'.

 

Adam thinks the first album he bought on CD may have been 'Songs to Learn & Sing' by Echo & The Bunnymen, Larry recalls buying Aja by Steely Dan, Edge bought Midnight Love by Marvin Gaye and Bono can't remember the first CD but says Santana's Abraxas was the first album he bought.

 

As for the songs he wishes he'd written, Bono lists: 'Brownsville Girl, Bob Dylan and Sam Shepard; Unfinished Sympathy, Massive Attack; Live Forever, Oasis; The Last Song I'll Ever Sing, Gavin Friday; Lucky Man, The Verve; Almighty Love, Emm Gryner.'

 

http://www.u2.com/news/images/thumbs/20covers.jpg

 

 

By the way, voting is still open in the Q Awards - your chance to nominate the 'Best Live Act' and 'Best Act in the World Today'. Who might that be then?

 

 

 

from U2.com

 

09.10.2006

'U218 Singles'...

 

.. is the title of the single disc 'best of' coming in just a few weeks. Featuring 16 of the band's best known songs, 'U218 Singles' also includes two new tracks produced by Rick Rubin at Abbey Road Studios last month. A limited edition bonus live CD comes with it... and a DVD's on the way too.

 

Still waiting to hear about the tracklisting on 'U218 Singles' but the bonus live CD will feature 10 songs from the Vertigo Tour stop in Milan last year while the 'best of' DVD is a collection of videos from 'U218 Singles'.

 

The first of the two new tracks is the collaboration with Green Day on The Skids’ 'The Saints Are Coming', released as a single later this month.

 

 

 

Bono Makes Fighting AIDS a Win All Around

 

USA Today, October 12, 2006

 

Steve Sternberg

 

 

Proclaiming "Shop until it stops," U2 singer and activist Bono will join Oprah onstage today to tape Friday's televised U.S. launch of Product RED, an effort to enlist consumers in the war on global AIDS.

 

Starting Friday, shoppers who buy Converse Chuck Taylors made with African mudcloth, RED clothing from Gap, certain Motorola cellphones or items from a special Giorgio Armani collection will automatically make a contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. Up to 50% of the revenue from RED sales will go to the Global Fund. Bono, Oprah and other celebs will kick off the buying spree by doing their own shopping today in downtown Chicago.

 

RED's goal is to increase the amount of cash donated to the global fund from private corporations, who, prior to the launch of RED in the U.K. in March, had contributed less than $2 million, according to the 2005 annual report. Since then, corporate contributions have topped $10 million.

 

Rather than asking corporations for one-time contributions, Bono and the Kennedy clan's Bobby Shriver hit upon the idea of what Bono calls "punk capitalism" — enabling companies to profit by supplying consumers with items they covet, at the same time making generosity hip and easy.

 

"It's judo," Bono says. "It's taking the motion going forward of the American consumer and using it to defend people who don't have the power on their own."

 

Richard Feachem, executive director of the Global Fund, says: "The power ... of RED is its win-win model. Consumers get the latest hip products, companies get a boost to their sales, the Global Fund gets vitally needed support for life-saving programs in Africa."

 

Bono and Shriver have been friends and collaborators ever since the U2 singer contributed a song to a Christmas album produced by Shriver to benefit the Special Olympics. In 2002, the two founded DATA, for Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa, an organization designed to pressure donor governments to relieve developing countries of their crushing debt so they could begin to revive their economies.

 

When they founded RED, the two began making the rounds of retailers, trying to attract those with the broadest reach.

 

"Once we heard the concept of RED, we knew it was right for our brand," says Dave Maddox of Converse. "The great thing about RED is that the things you want to buy are going to help people. It sounds simple, but it's the genius of what Bobby and Bono want to do."

 

A Who's Who of stars has signed on to represent various RED products: Steven Spielberg, Chris Rock, Jennifer Garner and Penelope Cruz, among others. Even Maria Shriver, Bobby's sister, contributed time for a video destined for Motorola phones, says Leslie Dance, corporate vice president of marketing for Motorola.

 

Copyright 2006 USA TODAY

 

12.10.2006

'Best International Live Act'

 

In the 2006 Vodaphone Live Music Awards presented in the UK last night.

 

Along with U2, other winners included Muse, Razorlight, The Who, Take That and Gorillaz.

 

http://www.vodafonemusic.co.uk/index.cfm?a...=16_musicawards

Former U2 Stylist Heads to High Court Over Stetson Tug-of-War

 

Irish Independent, October 17, 2006

 

Cathy Madden

 

 

She still hasn't found what she's looking for, but she's not giving up the ghost just yet. U2's former stylist Lola Cashman will make her long-awaited High Court challenge to the decision by a lower court that she must return items of wardrobe to the band, including a pair of Bono's trousers, on Tuesday.

 

The decision to bring the case to the High Court is a major move by Ms Cashman and her legal team because if they lose the case, Lola would face a substantial legal bill.

 

The band successfully sued Ms Cashman in the Circuit Court in June and July of last year over a pair of trousers, a sweatshirt, a Stetson hat and a pair of earrings that appeared for sale at Christies auction house in London.

 

The stylist had worked with the band during the Joshua Tree tour during the Eighties and claimed that the items had been given to her. U2 had written to the auction house to query the stylist's ownership of the items. That led to the court action during which both Bono and Larry Mullen Jnr appeared.

 

The case came before the Circuit Court president Judge Matthew Deery the morning after the band played Croke Park as part of their Vertigo World tour in the summer of 2005.

 

A jaded-looking Bono told the courtroom, packed with journalists and members of the legal profession eager to get a glimpse of the show, that the Stetson had taken on iconic status, and giving it away would be tantamount to the Edge giving away one of his guitars.

 

Judge Deery agreed, saying the weight of the evidence was against Ms Cashman's version of events. He also ordered her to hand over a special Christmas decoration, 88 Polaroid pictures and 117 other photographs of U2 members which were taken during their Joshua Tree tour in the late Eighties.

 

He was satisfied that the photographs had come into existence as a result of Ms Cashman's employment with the band, and the film used was purchased with money provided by U2.

 

Meanwhile the stylist has instituted parallel proceedings in the London courts alleging the letter the band wrote had defamed her.

 

The Circuit Court heard it claimed that the band had taken the action here to hamper those proceedings.

 

However Judge Deery said it was appropriate that the ownership of the items be resolved in an Irish court. He said the band seemed to be "extraordinarily successful", and it seemed unlikely to him that they would have pursued the claim if it wasn't important to them.

 

Ms Cashman's High Court appeal is listed for this Tuesday. It is not yet known if members of U2 will appear on the day as they are on a world tour, with three Tokyo gigs scheduled for next month.

 

© Irish Independent, 2006

 

Bono: 'I looked like Nana Mouskouri before stylist'

 

Irish Independent, October 18, 2006

 

http://www.atu2.com/files/news/14/4414.jpg

 

Bono today admitted he looked like singer Nana Mouskouri before Lola Cashman -- the stylist at the centre of a High Court battle with the band -- joined the U2 team.

 

The now immaculately turned out singer told Dublin's High Court he hired Ms. Cashman to bring some coherence to the band's look as it toured in America.

 

As Bono faced a second day of tough cross-examination, he also came face to face with some of the band's prized possessions which have landed him in the courtroom.

 

When a bright red Christmas bell with the words America Loves U2 1987 inscribed and two mugs -- one which was chipped -- were presented to him as he sat in the dock, the rock star laughed.

 

However, he maintained Ms. Cashman's apartment could be like an Aladdin's Cave, as it was only in recent years they realised how much memorabilia she had taken.

 

The U2 frontman spent a total of three-and-a-half hours in the witness box fighting to get his belongings back from his former stylist.

 

The rock star, whose real name is Paul Hewson, was giving evidence at an appeal hearing brought by Ms. Cashman against a court order demanding she return their belongings.

 

The band had last year successfully sued for the recovery of Bono's trademark Stetson hat, a pair of metal hooped earrings, a green sweatshirt and a pair of black trousers, which they said she took without permission.

 

Ms. Cashman claims she was given the items, estimated to be worth €5,000 as gifts during U2's Joshua Tree tour in 1987.

 

In 2002, Ms. Cashman put some of the items up for sale at Christie's. She claims two letters sent to the auction house from U2 lawyers seeking their return were defamatory.

 

She has since has started proceedings against the band in the High Court in London and maintains the band's claim was brought to stop the defamation case.

 

The band are also fighting for the return of a number of other items which had been seen in her apartment including a video tape, video monitor, rosary beads, hundreds of photographs, the mugs and Christmas decoration.

 

John Rogers SC, for Ms. Cashman, said his client maintains she was gifted the items and that while Ms. Cashman was clearing out the band members' clothing she filled black sacks to be disposed of.

 

He maintained he never handed over items from his wardrobe to the stylist at the end of the tour, especially his iconic Stetson hat which had been his idea to use when promoting the album.

 

Ms. Cashman's employees, Z Agency, warned U2's management of the possibility of a book when they tried to negotiate her job in 1988. The stylist denied the claim.

 

In 2003, she penned Inside the Zoo with U2 in which she detailed problems Bono had with his weight and trivial items such as missing teeth from guitarist the Edge's comb and food-stained white T-shirts worn by drummer Larry Mullen.

 

Bono left the Dublin court house at lunchtime today. He will not be present for the remainder of the hearing.

 

 

© Irish Independent, 2006.

 

 

 

Bono designs guitar for children's charity

 

And you could snap it up if you're rich enough

 

NME, January 05, 2007

 

 

 

 

A guitar designed by Bono is to be auctioned off in aid of a children's charity.

 

The U2 singer provides a centrepiece for the new Born to Rock exhibition at Harrods in London, which celebrates the history and influence of the electric guitar.

 

A host of big names have customised guitars for the project, and Bono's features images from his children's book Peter and the Wolf, published in aid of the Irish Children's Hospice.

 

The guitar will be auctioned in aid of the charity.

 

The centrepiece of a season called Harrods Rocks, the Born to Rock Exhibition features rare models including the first known electric guitar known as the "Frying Pan," as well as models plated by legends like Jimi Hendrix and Muddy Waters, and newer bands like Oasis and Kasabian.

 

Other names customising guitars include Graham Coxon and Bryan Adams.

 

 

© NME, 2007.

 

Cool :yahoo:

 

Thanks Twinkle :dance:

Ahum.... I never said I was going to buy it for you Superman :blink:

Ahum.... I never said I was going to buy it for you Superman :blink:

 

Please :( :wub:

 

Well.....I might.....but you'll have to be a very good boy :whip: