September 2014 Archives

U2 to tour indoor arenas in 2015

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The band's last major tour was the ambitious U2 360° Tour of 2009 to 2011

by Dan Stubbs, NME

U2 say they'll be touring their new album, 'Songs Of Innocence', in 2015 - and playing indoor arenas.

The move marks a scaling-back for the band, whose last major tour was the U2 360° Tour of 2009 to 2011, which saw the band play 110 shows in outdoor arenas and stadia around the world in support of 2009's 'No Line On The Horizon'. They performed in the round from within a bespoke, four-legged structure nicknamed 'The Claw', which had a wraparound video screen and multi-directional sound system.

Of the plans to tour next year, Bono told Absolute Radio: "We're going to be touring. We're going to start next year. We're going try and play The O2 [in London] and places like that, more indoors than outdoors this time, but we'll see where it takes us."

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"I think [the tour] will start small," says the Edge. "We certainly can't get any bigger then the last one."

by Andy Greene, Rolling Stone

In late 2010, U2 began recording a new album with producer Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton during downtime from their 360° world tour. They had little idea they were kicking off a four-year process, far and away the longest they'd ever spent on a single album. "The experiments and excursions we took with Danger Mouse at the start of the album recording were unashamedly unhinged and free of all critical judgement," says the Edge. via e-mail. "We were happy to suspend disbelief just to see where we could get to. Those early sessions were some of the most productive and fun U2 studio sessions I can remember."

According to Bono, who spoke to Rolling Stone over e-mail, the group ultimately recorded about 100 different songs. "We had great fun getting lost in the creative process," says the U2 frontman. "The thing that propelled us to reach deeper and aim higher was a new appreciation of the craft of songwriting." But he wasn't completely happy with the material produced in the early days. "We realized that some tunes are just better than others, some lyrics just more coherent, some soundscapes just more compelling," he says. "We found ourselves bored with material that just felt good or unique."

The Edge felt the same way. "At a certain point, as the songs were coming into focus, we could see that certain qualities, hallmarks of our work where not represented," he says. "This meant we needed to go off and write some new songs and rework a few that were almost finished."

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Black-and-white image features drummer Larry Mullen Jr. shielding his 18-year-old son

by Ryan Reed, Rolling Stone

U2 have unveiled the intimate cover image for their new LP, Songs of Innocence, which will be released in physical form on October 13th. The black-and-white photo, shot by Glen Luchford, shows drummer Larry Mullen Jr. shielding his 18-year-old son in a protective embrace. The band unveiled the image via their website on Friday morning, with frontman Bono explaining how the cover symbolizes the personal themes of the album.

"We've always been about community in U2, about family and friends," he says. "Songs Of Innocence is the most intimate album we've ever made. With this record, we were looking for the raw, naked and personal, to strip everything back. . . holding on to your own innocence is a lot harder than holding on to someone else's."

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by Melanie Finn, Independent.ie Showbiz Editor

As U2 frontman, Bono is well used to being hounded by fans.

But the Herald can reveal how he turned the tables in Dublin this week after getting his paws on a passer-by's two dogs for a Rolling Stone shoot.

Liberties native Ann Williams was left gobsmacked after running into the famous foursome doing photographs at the Guinness Storehouse for an upcoming shoot. But she had no idea that her two thoroughbred pooches - mother and son boxers named Holly and Rebel - would end up with starring roles in the session.

"I was bringing the two dogs for a walk on Monday evening and I couldn't believe it when I turned the corner and I saw the band standing there at the back of the Guinness Storehouse.

(Slash's comments on U2 begin at 2:13)

Guitar legend Slash has defended U2's controversial decision to team up with Apple and release their new album free to iTunes users.

Nick Bramhill, Irish Independent

The band was criticised by some in the music industry for giving away their LP Songs of Innocence to 500 million Apple iTunes customers.

And negative social media reaction also forced Apple to release a tool to remove the free album from its customers' accounts, with a dedicated webpage providing step-by-step instructions.

But Slash, former lead guitarist with Guns 'N' Roses, insists it was a clever marketing tactic, adding that it was a deal that only a band as big as U2 would have been able to cut.

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By Niall Murray, Irish Examiner

U2 lead singer Bono has labelled as "haters" the people who criticised the band online for the way their first album in five years was given away for free.

Songs of Innocence was gifted to an estimated 500m users of Apple's iTunes in a reported $100m (€78m) deal that coincided with the launch of the technology giant's latest devices almost a fortnight ago.

In a world exclusive, pre-recorded interview with RTÉ 2FM's Dave Fanning, the first DJ to play the album in full when it was released earlier this month, Bono said there has been some "real deliberate misunderstanding" of their relationship with Apple.

"This is a company which has, more than any other technological company, sought to get musicians paid," said Bono.

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"They might as well be selling Buicks," writes the host of KCSN's morning show

By Nic Harcourt, The Hollywood Reporter

U2 has always been about messages.

In the band's early days in Dublin, beginning with the 1980 album Boy and its hit single "I Will Follow," they openly addressed Bono and the Edge's Christianity, along with commentary on the Troubles in Northern Ireland. As the group got bigger, some 2 billion TV viewers watched in 1985 as U2 delivered their socially conscious lyrics at Live Aid, playing anthemic music with unbound zeal and earnestness. By the beginning of the 1990s, as Communism fell in Eastern Europe, the albums Achtung Baby and Zooropa reflected the hopes of a generation while taking a sarcastic swipe at the commercialism of modern culture that they themselves were a part of.

Make no mistake, U2 are an important part of rock 'n' roll history.

But what happens when the art becomes the ad? Complete with a $100 million media spend and the subtlety of an Ikea catalog stuffed in your mailbox or phone book chucked at your front door? What's the message today: Show us the money?

By Patrick Kevin Day, Los Angeles Times

So you were upset that Apple sent you the new U2 album to your iTunes, even though you didn't ask for it. Now what?

On Thursday night's "Conan," Conan O'Brien aired a possible new solution for Apple to utilize against the surprising backlash to the giveaway.

As the fake Apple executive "Marcus Pratt" says in the bit, "Apparently, to today's youth, giving away a free album from one of the best bands of all time is like going to their house and taking a gigantic crap on their doorstep."

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The four members of the legendary Irish band tell TIME about another new album in the works--and its secret Apple project that might just save the music industry

Catherine Mayer/Cupertino and Malibu, Time Magazine

Many, many people really, really like U2. It hasn't always been easy to remember that fact amid the caustic--and often hilarious--responses to the band's Sept. 9 release of Songs of Innocence. U2's decision to team up with Apple to deliver the new album to every iTunes subscriber, unasked, raised valid questions about consumer choice and personal space in a world that routinely infringes on both. Moreover, while Apple paid U2 for the album, critics of the deal suggest this point may have been lost on iTunes customers who got it for free. If so, that messaging is certainly at odds with U2's intentions.

As an article in the new issue of TIME reveals, Bono, Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr believe so strongly that artists should be compensated for their work that they have embarked on a secret project with Apple to try to make that happen, no easy task when free-to-access music is everywhere (no) thanks to piracy and legitimate websites such as YouTube. Bono tells TIME he hopes that a new digital music format in the works will prove so irresistibly exciting to music fans that it will tempt them again into buying music--whole albums as well as individual tracks. The point isn't just to help U2 but less well known artists and others in the industry who can't make money, as U2 does, from live performance. "Songwriters aren't touring people," says Bono. "Cole Porter wouldn't have sold T-shirts. Cole Porter wasn't coming to a stadium near you."

The Church of U2

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Photograph by Clemens Rikken/Hollandse-Hoogte/Redux

by Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker

A few years ago, I was caught up in a big research project about contemporary hymns (or "hymnody," as they say in the trade). I listened to hundreds of hymns on Spotify; I interviewed a bunch of hymn experts. What, I asked them, was the most successful contemporary hymn--the modern successor to "Morning Has Broken" or "Amazing Grace"? Some cited recently written traditional church hymns; others mentioned songs by popular Christian musicians. But one scholar pointed in a different direction: "If you're willing to construe the term 'hymn' liberally, then the most heard, most successful hymn of the last few decades could be 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,' by U2."

Most people think of U2 as a wildly popular rock band. Actually, they're a wildly popular, semi-secretly Christian rock band. In some ways, this seems obvious: a song on one recent album was called "Yahweh," and where else would the streets have no name? But even critics and fans who say that they know about U2's Christianity often underestimate how important it is to the band's music, and to the U2 phenomenon. The result has been a divide that's unusual in pop culture. While secular listeners tend to think of U2's religiosity as preachy window dressing, religious listeners see faith as central to the band's identity. To some people, Bono's lyrics are treacly platitudes, verging on nonsense; to others, they're thoughtful, searching, and profound meditations on faith.

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U2 and Apple: The latest announcement has more to do with medium than music.

by Zack O'Malley Greenburg, Forbes Staff

If for some reason you've still got a collection of cassette tapes, you'll probably find it very difficult to sell, trade, or even give them away. Compact discs are rapidly approaching a similar status. And, if U2′s Apple (AAPL -0.73%) album launch is any indication, so are MP3s.

Last week the band distributed free copies of its latest album, Songs of Innocence, to over half a billion iTunes customers as part of a deal with Apple valued as high as $100 million. Judging by some reactions, however, you'd think Tim Cook's company was offloading bedbug-ridden mattresses instead of new music by one of the most successful bands of our age.

"It's a gift from Apple," said U2 manager Guy Oseary. "If someone doesn't like the gift, they should delete it."

It's fascinating that anybody had to make such an announcement-and, in this writer's opinion, it's much more a symptom of the demise of the digital download than it is an indicator of intense antipathy toward U2.

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U2's album spam PR stunt has destroyed decades of legacy quicker than hitting a delete button. In fact, many millions of Apple customers were looking for their delete button as soon as they were spammed with a product they did not opt-n for.

by Paul Cashmere

Angry Apple customers were loud and fast on social media to complain about the digital violation after hundreds of millions downloads were shoved onto people's devices without permission.

What both Apple and U2 failed to understand is that not everyone is a U2 fan, especially not now. The band's reputation went immediately to tatters but their bank balance is looking good.

Depending on various sources, including the Wall Street Journal, U2 is estimated to have done a $100 million deal with Apple to give their album away "for free". The figure was not disputed by U2 manager Guy Oseary.

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U2's new manager Guy Oseary and Bono

By Andrew Hampp, Billboard

It has been a whirlwind nine months for Guy Oseary since he took the reins of U2's management after longtime manager Paul McGuinness announced his retirement last fall. That includes a Golden Globe, an Oscar nomination, a big Super Bowl campaign and the premiere of The Tonight Show in support of two songs that ultimately didn't make the final cut on Songs of Innocence, the history-making album that debuted to 500 million iTunes customers on Sept. 9.

With lead single "The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)" set to be featured in a massive media campaign from Apple, valued at $100 million by multiple sources, U2 has already scored arguably the biggest launch in music history. And it's one that's already fraught with a little controversy, from angry retailers to Grammy and SoundScan guidelines. Oseary, 41, rang Billboard on Sept. 11 to address the many questions about the launch, and what's next (another album?) from this landmark deal with Apple.

If you missed U2's epic performance at the Apple Press Conference on Tuesday, you can watch the whole 2 hour event right here (or if you just want to see U2, skip to 1:44 in the video). Watch it here in glorious high definition:

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by Zack O'Malley Greenburg, Forbes Staff

Yesterday, I wrote about Apple (AAPL +0.43%) and U2′s decision to team up for the launch of Songs of Innocence and what it means for Apple. As promised, today I'll explore the other side: what it means for U2.

For the Irish rockers, there's little left to accomplish. Already hailed as one of the top pop-rock acts of all-time, U2′s financial success has matched its outsized popularity. The group has sold tens of millions of records, and its last tour grossed $736 million, the highest total in history.

That sort of success has given the band an immense platform for its philanthropic agenda and often placed its members in the most esteemed company-witness Bono serenading Warren Buffett with a customized ode.

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Zack O'Malley Greenburg, Forbes Staff

Love Apple or hate it, there's no denying it's a unique company. Additional proof came at yesterday's product launch event in Cupertino, where Apple unveiled the iPhone 6 and a new smart watch-and managed to secure U2 as a featured act.

The Irish rockers debuted their a new single, "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)" at the end of the proceedings, part of a deal to release their new album, Songs of Innocence, for free to all iTunes customers. The LP will also be available for Beats Music subscribers, too; after October 14th, it will appear on other streaming services as well as bricks-and-mortar stores.

'Remember Us?'

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A letter from Bono, on the arrival 'of our new baby' - Songs of Innocence.

by U2.com

'Hello, bonjour, ciao, hola, hallo, zdravo, dobar dan, Dia duit, hæ, hej,hei, cześć, olá, ćao, namaste, sawatdee, jambo, pozdravi, Γεια σου, привіт, שלום, مرحبا, こんにちは, , سلام, 你好, Привет....

Remember us? Pleased to announce myself, Edge, Adam and Larry have finally given birth to our new baby... Songs of Innocence. It's been a while. We wanted to get it right for you/us. We just finished it last week and thanks to Apple and iTunes it's with you today. That's already amazing to me as it normally takes a few months to turn this stuff around.

Part of the DNA of this band has always been the desire to get our music to as many people as possible. In the next 24 hours, over a half a billion people are going to have Songs of Innocence... should they choose to check it out. That is so exciting. People who haven't heard our music, or weren't remotely interested, might play us for the first time because we're in their library. Country fans, hip hop afficionados from east LA, electro poppers from Seoul, Bhangra fans from New Delhi, Highlifers in Accra... might JUST be tempted to check us out, even for a moment. What a mind blowing, head scratching, 21st century situation. Over 500 million people... that's a billion ears. And for the people out there who have no interest in checking us out, look at it this way... the blood, sweat and tears of some Irish guys are in your junk mail.

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By Ben Sisario, New York Times

U2 may be giving a new album away, but it is still getting paid.

As part of what Timothy D. Cook, Apple's chief executive, called "the largest album release of all time," the company released U2's new "Songs of Innocence" free through iTunes on Tuesday, just after the band performed a new song, "The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)," at the close of Apple's product announcement event in Cupertino, Calif.

For what Apple said were up to 500 million customers in 119 countries, "Songs of Innocence" simply appeared in their iTunes accounts on Tuesday afternoon. But the deal that led to that release was carefully negotiated between U2 and some of the most powerful entities in music, including Apple; Universal, the band's label; and Guy Oseary, U2's new manager. Mr. Oseary works in the management division of Live Nation Entertainment, the global concert conglomerate.

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Neil McCormick gives the first verdict on the new U2 album, Songs of Innocence, which was announced at the Apple iPhone and iWatch launch

**** (4 STARS)

By Neil McCormick, The Telegraph

U2 have announced the release of their 13th studio album, Songs Of Innocence, available now and free to all iTunes customers. And, after several years' gestation, five producers, ever-shifting release dates and Bono publicly fretting that the biggest band in the world was on the verge of irrelevance, fans will be relieved to hear that it sounds a lot like U2.

It is an album of big, colourful, attacking rock with fluid melodies, bright anthemic choruses and bold lyrical ideas. Perhaps the most surprising thing is that, despite apparently being created in a spirit of self-doubt, it sounds fresh and cohesive, bouncing out of the speakers with a youthful spring in its step.

On first impressions, Songs of Innocence is not an attempt to create a grand masterpiece that redefines the band, but rather, as the title suggests, to reconnect them with an elusive pop elixir of youthful energy and passion. Lyrically, it reflects on the past, on their origins as a band and as individuals, which is unusual territory for the usually forward-looking Bono and the Edge (who share lyrical duties). Lead single and opening track, The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) sets the confident tone, with its "oh-way-oh" choral chant, glam rock stomping rhythm and surges of grungy guitar.

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by Rolling Stone,

Here's what you need to know about the band's most personal album ever

U2 took the stage at Apple's product-launch press conference in Cupertino today and surprise-released their new album Songs of Innocence with a mere five seconds of warning. The album, which was delivered free to all of Apple's iTunes users (a half billion of them), is "very personal," Bono tells Rolling Stone in an exclusive interview about the group's 13th studio LP. Read his full interview here.

1. The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
Produced by: Danger Mouse, Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder
More than any U2 album before it, Songs of Innocence goes deep into Bono and the rest of bandmembers' teenage years in Dublin in the Seventies. The first song captures the big bang of Bono's musical awakening: the first time he heard the Ramones. "Everything I've ever lost now has been returned," Bono sings. "The most beautiful sound I ever heard...We were pilgrims on our way." It sounds like the band are very purposefully not trying to sound like the Ramones here, though - instead, the track starts with powerful, almost "Mysterious Ways"-like burst of guitar from the Edge, and is driven by a lilting Bono melody and an overdubbed vocal refrain.

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by Rolling Stone,

In his only pre-release interview, Bono takes us inside the story of the band's 13th album, which was released today for free on iTunes

U2 surprised the world today by releasing Songs of Innocence, their first album in five years, as a gift from Apple, available for free immediately to anyone with iTunes. The band made the announcement with Apple CEO Tim Cook at a Cupertino press conference for the new iPhone 6, capping the event with a performance of the album's first single, "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)." After a standing ovation, Cook said, "Wasn't that the most incredible single you ever heard? We would love a whole album of that."

"The question is now, how do we get it to as many people as possible, because that's what our band is all about," Bono said. "I do believe you have over half a billion subscribers to iTunes, so -- could you get this to them?" "If we gave it away for free," Cook replied. And five seconds later, the album was unleashed in the largest album release of all time.

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