September 2008 Archives

Belfast Telegraph,

U2 guitarist The Edge has revealed how he has fulfilled a dream by buying a £12m luxury yacht.

It was recently claimed that Bono had splashed out a small fortune on the Cyan, a 140-foot yacht with six cabins and accommodation for 12 guests.

But Edge spoke out last night to the Irish Independent to put the record straight.

"It's not Bono's yacht at all, it's mine. Bono doesn't know a thing about boats," he said.

"For years it was a dream of mine to own a yacht, but to be honest, it was a bit out of my league. So myself and a few friends got together, chipped in, and bought the Cyan. I don't know where the story that Bono owns it came from."

And Edge's wife Morleigh Steinberg has spent the past few months in the south of France overseeing a total redesign of the yacht, which included a new paint job.

Edge added: "She's now been totally refurbished and we're really happy with her. Morleigh has totally overseen all the work onboard and it's great. So it's now a really hip ship!"

Evening Herald,

U2 bosses are engaged in top-level negotiations about the Irish rockers playing the inaugural concert at the new O2 arena in the Point Village.

The Herald can reveal that plans are afoot to see the famous foursome performing at the new 13,000 seater arena as part of their world tour next year.

Given that businessman Harry Crosbie's ambitious €850m Point Village includes a proposal for a soaring U2 tower, alongside an exhibition chronicling their career highlights, the quayside venue seems a likely option for them.

Although it was recently claimed that the group had directly approached Croke Park chiefs to discuss playing a three-date monster concert there, music insiders dismissed the report as "pure speculation".

One source said: "No approaches have been made to discuss setting a possible date for concerts there. However, there have definitely been negotiations about them performing at the O2.

Plus guitarist praises Mercury Prize winners Elbow

NME, September 10, 2008

U2's The Edge has told NME.COM that his band are still writing songs for their next album.

The band recently decided to push back the release date of the follow-up to 2004's 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb', declaring they wanted "2009 to be our year".

However, while many were anticipating that the record would come out this year, U2's guitarist explained the band were still hard at work on the album.

"We're still writing and we're trying to take it to the next level," said The Edge. "Its taking a while, but I'm told there's no short cut to greatness!"

The U2 man - who spoke to NME.COM after presenting Peter Gabriel with Amnesty International's 2008 Ambassador of Conscience award in London today (September 10) recognising the legend's work in the area of human rights - also added the he was really pleased that Elbow won the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Prize for 'The Seldom Seen Kid'.

"They're a really good band, good for them," he declared, before joking: "More power to your Elbow!"

Copyright © 2008 NME.

Jonathan Cohen, Billboard

Initially expected this fall as a fourth-quarter blockbuster, U2's next album has been pushed to early 2009 while the band continues to write and record material. "I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there's more priceless stuff to be found?" Bono writes on U2.com.

Of late, the group has been recording in the south of France, having already logged time in Fez and Dublin with longtime collaborators Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite.

'We know we have to emerge soon but we also know that people don't want another U2 album unless it is our best ever album," Bono says. "It has to be our most innovative, our most challenging...or what's the point ?"

Bono says the band now has "50 or 60" new songs to consider for inclusion on the follow-up to 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

Title: TBC | Expected: TBC

Tom Doyle, Q magazine

As if to spotlight the pace with which U2 are close to completing their as-yet-untitled 12th album, Q's phone call to Edge is delayed by half an hour while he lays down an acoustic guitar overdub at the quartet's Dublin studio on a new song called "Get On Your Boots."

"Then we can put the mix to bed," the guitarist sighs with satisfaction. So this album is being completed as we speak? "Yeah. It's happening live in real time. It's totally frantic."

Having effectively abandoned their initial plan to work with Rick Rubin (although some material has survived), U2 took the unusual move of bringing in their long-time producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois as co-writers early on. "We thought, If we're all writing together we'll get more stuff and it'll be a more fruitful use of time," Edge says.

Experimental writing sessions held last year in Fez, Morocca, yielded numerous new songs. Some -- with the introduction of local musicians -- bear a distinctly North African flavour. A visit to the World Sacred Music Festival enhanced what Edge calls the "religious-sounding" tone of a few of the tracks. "But we don't want to be musical tourists," the guitarist states. "We came back with a certain flavour and influence of that trip and a sense of freedom."