July 2010 Archives

The Courier-Mail

THE second week of December is firming as the window of U2's return to Brisbane, provided Bono bounces, ah... back from surgery.

Moves are under way to get the Irish rock monolith sorted for a Suncorp Stadium assault, the preferred venue after the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre left a bad taste in the group's mouth in 2006.

It's understood police licensing have signed off on the event, however, a well-placed industry insider said U2 management were still awaiting a medical report on Bono's back before locking a date in.

Dave Hollister, of the R&B act behind No Diggity, says he's in the studio with Bono and the Edge, 'redoing some classics'

Sean Michaels, The Guardian

If their Spider-Man opera wasn't already WTF enough, U2 are now apparently collaborating with a member of Blackstreet. Dave Hollister, one quarter of the 90s R&B group, is allegedly helping the Irish band "re-do" two of their earlier songs.

Hollister revealed his involvement on Monday, posting to Twitter: "In the studio working with U2! Man I'm excited! Bono baby!!!!!!!!!!!!" Despite 12 exclamation points, Hollister and U2's fans do not - for some reason - move in the same online circles, and it took several days for the Bonosphere to begin gurgling its incomprehension.

According to Hollister's subsequent tweets, U2 are "redoing some classics", and he is helping them rework two tracks: All I Want Is You, from 1988's Rattle and Hum, and Grace, from 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind. Neither much resemble No Diggity.

Lady Gaga, Beyonce, AC/DC also make biggest paydays

By Chris Barth, Rolling Stone Magazine

U2's massive 360° Tour has helped propel the band to Number One on Forbes' annual report on top-earning musicians. Bono and Co. scored the top spot on the list by netting $130 million in the past 12 months. They're followed by AC/DC -- who just wrapped their 108-city Black Ice world tour on June 28th -- with $144 million. Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen and Britney Spears round out the Top Five.

Forbes calculates rockers' earnings based on net income from ticket sales, record sales and endorsement deals between June 2009 and June 2010. Unsurprisingly, album sales didn't drive most artists to the top of the list -- giant tours and strategic corporate team-ups were responsible for most of the profits. Lady Gaga is the youngest performer in the Top 10, bringing in $62 million to score her first-ever appearance on the list thanks partially to partnerships with Polaroid, Virgin Mobile and Monster, who puts out her Heartbeats ear buds. Gaga just edged out Madonna, who has made the countdown for the past four years and raked in major cash last year on her giant Sticky & Sweet Tour.

by John D. Luerssen, Spinner

Although the Sex Pistols were a significant early influence on U2, frontman John Lydon could care less. The notoriously contentious Rotten -- aka Johnny Rotten -- thinks that Bono and the boys have no business making music.

"U2 -- that's a band that never should have existed," Lydon snapped during an interview with the Daily Star. "There's no life experience in any of their songs."

Lydon made the remarks during efforts to publicize the return of Public Image Ltd., his post-Pistols band. The PiL mastermind also explained he was "astounded" by the fact that his experimental post-punk troupe hasn't been inundated with bids to play the many European summer festivals.

"We haven't had any offers," Lydon moped. "They have been quite negative, which has astounded us because PiL is the perfect festival band."

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"I'm going to be fighting fit next summer in the U.S.," Bono tells fans

By Rolling Stone Magazine

In late May, the biggest rock tour in history hit a speed bump: Bono underwent emergency back surgery in Munich for a compressed sciatic nerve that forced U2 to postpone the summer leg of their mammoth 360° Tour and cancel their headlining spot at Glastonbury. After nearly two months, the band has broken its silence in a homemade video shot by drummer Larry Mullen Jr., in which all four bandmembers give fans the good news: Bono is healthy, the band is in the studio, and U2 will be back in American stadiums in the summer of 2011.

Look back at three decades of U2, onstage and off.

Revealing he's "very well," Bono says he's "feeling strong, feeling confident, and I am ready, rebuilt by German engineering -- better design I'm told." The 360° Tour, originally scheduled to launch June 3rd in Salt Lake City, Utah, will now kick off May 21st, 2011 in Denver. Bono's swift recovery is permitting the band to play its summer 2010 dates in Europe as scheduled, beginning August 6th in Turin, Italy. All tickets previously sold for the North American tour will be valid at the rescheduled performances, and additional dates and cities will be added to the current 16-show itinerary.

Mary Carolan, The Irish Times

U2 GUITARIST Adam Clayton gave his former personal assistant Carol Hawkins full authority to operate his bank accounts but "couldn't be bothered" over a period of about four years to read bank statements which would have suggested he was "haemorrhaging" a huge sum of money, the Commercial Court was told yesterday.

Michael McDowell SC, for Bank of Ireland Private Banking Ltd, said Clayton seemed to think the bank should have noticed more than €4 million was missing from his accounts between 2004 and 2009 when he had not.