Irish Times

Rock giants U2 are celebrating the success of their Broadway record-breaking hit Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark after it shattered Broadway box office and attendance records during the last week of 2011.

Bono and The Edge wrote the music and lyrics for the show, which was once branded the biggest flop on Broadway but took in $2,941,790 (€2.25m) over nine performances last week.

"For all the problems, there was magic on the stage," said Bono. "Things did get chaotic and messy after our producer Tony Adams died.

"But this week's news has us all giddy again and we are raising our glasses to Tony, to our indefatigable cast, crew, creative- and production team."

Footage of Grafton Street show emerges online

Footage of Bono busking in Dublin over Christmas has emerged online - scroll down and click below to view a clip of him singing 'Silent Night'.

The U2 frontman hit Grafton Street in the Irish capital for his annual festive fundraising performance on December 24, where he was joined by Damien Rice and The Frames singer Glen Hansard.

However, according to the Daily Star, local police didn't recognise the famous trio and tried to move them on.

The 'source' commented:

He was surprised when the police tried to stop him. Bono found the funny side though and the issue was soon resolved.

The 'mole' continued: "Although he always dresses down for the tradition, it was strange the police failed to spot one of the nation's most iconic men."

Bono speaking on behalf of
The Ireland Fund on May 6, 2010

Bank pledge continued support to Irish scheme

By Buzz Brady, IrishCentral Staff Writer

(Originally posted on December 13, 2011)

Irish rock legends U2 have pledged to support Ireland's talented youth with their continued investment into the Music Generation Scheme.

The Irish band have pledged to invest $2.2 million (€1.7 million) to help young people in Cork City, Laois and Wicklow get both vocal and tuition access in their locality.

U2 guitarist the Edge said: "Access to music for children and young people is something that is very close to our hearts. We believe that every child should have the choice to get involved in music, irrespective of their background.

by Ray Waddell, Billboard

Any year in touring that includes the figure $736,421,586 can only be considered a good year for business.

That mind-blowing sum is the final tally for U2's historic 360° tour, a three-year behemoth that shattered preconceived notions (and capacities) for stadium shows, forever changed the paradigms of concert production and moved more than 7 million tickets around the globe.

When it wrapped in July, 360° went down has the highest-grossing and biggest ticket seller in the history of the business. Of those totals, $293.3 million in box office and nearly 3 million in ticket sales were generated during the Billboard touring calendar, which ran from Nov. 1, 2010, to Nov. 8, 2011-and easily enough to make 360° the top tour of the year.

NEW YORK (AP) - Bono is afraid of Alicia Keys.

While Keys talked about being pregnant and empathetic when filming her documentary about AIDS in Africa, the U2 singer chimed in and said: "She's scary, isn't she? She's scary."

Bono went on to say that Keys has "lioness energy" and that her role as a new mother won't allow her to "let other mothers suffer."

He made the comments at the premiere of Keep a Child Alive with Alicia Keys, a documentary which followed a visit to South Africa during last year's World Cup with a pregnant Keys and five Americans. It airs on the cable television Showtime channel on Dec. 1, which is World AIDS Day.

Genevieve Carbery, The Irish Times

A LINE-UP of big names in the music business have re-recorded U2's hugely successful Achtung Baby album in a new special recording to raise funds for Africa.

Patti Smith, Snow Patrol and Depeche Mode are among the artists on the recording.

(Ahk-toong Bay-Bi) Covered was released for download yesterday to raise money for Concern Worldwide's work in crisis-hit east Africa. The 12-track album features covers by three Irish artists: Mysterious Ways by Snow Patrol, One by Damien Rice and The Fly by Gavin Friday.

By Patrick Healy, The New York Times

In a new interview with Esquire magazine, the theater director Julie Taymor accuses Bono and the Edge of U2 - her former collaborators on the Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" - of maligning her as exhausted and overwrought as a bogus explanation for ousting her from the production in March and then overhauling the show as they saw fit.

Edge, who wrote the music and lyrics for "Spider-Man" with Bono, had previously used those two adjectives to describe Ms. Taymor's state of mind last winter. Of those adjectives, Ms. Taymor told Esquire, "I think that those were important to paint a picture of a director who you needed to release in order to make this big change. I had to be characterized that way in order for something to happen." After her firing, "Spider-Man" shut down for three weeks to insert new dialogue and scenes that Ms. Taymor's former colleagues had been secretly preparing and sharing with the producers during the winter.

Bono, at least, had no idea about her energy or psyche last winter, Ms. Taymor said, because he was mostly absent while she was making changes to "Spider-Man" during preview performances.

Jim McCarthy, Fast Company

This post originally appeared on Fast Company.

Everybody has a concert story. Whether it's lifting Wayne Coyne aloft in his human-sized gerbil ball at a Flaming Lips show, camping out all night for Springsteen tickets, or being hypnotized by Skrillex's beats, you've probably got a story, too.

Though individuals' narratives about their concert experiences remain in many ways unchanged, the concert industry itself has evolved over the past 10 or 15 years, because now, it's overtaking album and record sales (digital or otherwise) as the primary source of revenue for big names in the music industry.

Written by Sean Highkin & Liam Demamiel, One Thirty BPM

Sean Highkin and Liam Demamiel delve into the sprawling catalog and career of U2 in our next Discussions feature.

LIAM DEMAMIEL: Most U2 conversations invariably end up on the subject of Bono, and I can't really think of any other frontman who polarizes listeners as much as the man in the sunglasses. I know we are both big U2 fans, what are your thoughts on him?

SEAN HIGHKIN: I can sort of see why he's such a divisive figure. There is a strong contingent of rock fans that can't stand rock stars who have aspirations beyond being entertainers. I don't get it myself. The amount of money and awareness Bono has used his celebrity to raise for poverty, hunger, and AIDS is unparalleled in the pop music. People see him acting all buddy-buddy with world leaders and roll their eyes, because our first reaction when we see someone worth hundreds of millions of dollars talking about hunger in Africa is to question their intentions. But I don't think anyone can argue that Bono hasn't done a whole heck of a lot of good for society as a rock star.

by Jonathan Wayne, U2Station.com

Rock bands and rock n' roll stars all have one thing in common: an inflated ego. After all, how could one band not feel envy for another band who broke through and made it to the "Top of the Pops"? Success and failure is part of life when you're trying to be on top of the world. So do yourself a favor and check out the new hillarious trailer below for the upcoming film "Killing Bono", set to be released on November 4 in New York City (and November 11 in Los Angeles and elsewhere).