September 2010 Archives

Business slumps as recession hits

By Cathy Hayes, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Though the band has made a mint from the latest 360 tours, the hotel owned by Bono and The Edge in the heart of Dublin has not been faring too well.

The Clarence Hotel in the fashionable Temple Bar area has been undergoing tough times as the recession hits the travel and tourism business in Dublin

Losses before tax for 2008 are up 50 percent from €1m to €1.64m and revenue dropped to €3.3m from €5.2m.

LA Times Music Blog, Pop & Hiss

As far as solving the music industry's financial woes, U2 manager Paul McGuinness still hasn't found what he's looking for. But he's not about to stop beating the drum.

The new issue of Rolling Stone has an abridged version of a piece McGuinness wrote for the UK edition of GQ addressing the file-sharing and piracy issues that he believes are largely the source of the meltdown of the music business in recent years. It's an update and expansion on ideas he put forth at the international MIDEM music conference in Cannes two years ago, an event at which I spoke with him at length about some very specific recommendations on how to address those issues.

Now, as then, he holds Internet service providers -- and the giant telecommunications corporations that control the vast majority of ISPs -- responsible, arguing that they've built their industry to a large extent by providing free content, often irrespective of the intellectual property rights of musicians and other creative types responsible for that content.

When I sat down with him in Cannes, he noted that ISPs have no qualms about promptly shutting down the accounts of users who don't pay their ISP bills; they should do the same for those who illegally share copyrighted Web content like music.

by John D. Luerssen, Spinner

The U2 camp is apparently plotting its next round of remastered and expanded reissues. But word that the band's 1991 classic 'Achtung Baby' is being sonically tweaked came from an unlikely source: singer-songwriter and indie producer John Vanderslice.

"They're remastering Achtung Baby in next room!!" Vanderlice tweeted from a Los Angeles recording studio, where he was putting the finishing touches on his forthcoming album with the Magik*Magik Orchestra. According to Slicing Up Eyeballs, Vanderslice subsequently added, "Any suggestions for witty opening salvos to drop on U2 crew when I barge in on 'Achtung Baby' remastering session?"

Wrens frontman Charles Bissell, of all folks, jumped in on the fun to write, "At some point say, 'that sounds even better than the real thing.'"

Pittsburgh Steelers' Dan Rooney goes "Bono"

by Andy Sheehan

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, sources say U2 has decided to end their two-year world tour "360" in Pittsburgh.

The venue - Heinz Field on the North Shore.

Heinz Field had been trying to book U2 all along, but until recently the band had no plans of playing here, deciding to end its tour in Minneapolis on July 23, 2011.

But Pittsburgh had a powerful ally - U.S. Ambassador to Ireland and former Steelers chairman Dan Rooney.

Sources say it was Rooney's influence that convinced the band to add one more date to the tour and play right here in Pittsburgh.

Ambassador Rooney flew back from Ireland Wednesday for the Steelers opener, but through a spokesman declined to comment on U2 and the concert negotiations.

Daily Mail

by Daily Mail Reporter

The band's visit was one of the most hotly-anticipated events in the Turkish cultural calendar.

And U2 certainly made the most of their short visit to Istanbul.

Bono packed in a meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogen, a wild night of partying and a hike across Istanbul's Bosphorus bridge, all before playing a concert in the city on Monday night.

Ahead of the gig, U2's first ever in Istanbul, Bono talked about the importance of the bridge, which connects Asia and Europe.

'Last September I was asking, what would be the most inspiring thing about Istanbul? And I said you know it is the bridge between the east and the west. It is the bridge between Europe and Asia, it is the bridge between the secular and religious. It is very important.,' he said.

Hürriyet Daily News

With his band's visit one of the most anticipated events on Istanbul's cultural calendar this year, U2 singer Bono took time out of preparations for Monday's concert by meeting Sunday with Turkey's prime minister.

The meeting at the prime minister's office at Dolmabahçe Palace featured Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader's daughter, Sümeyye Erdoğan, Turkey's chief European Union negotiator, Egemen Bağış, and State Minister Hayati Yazıcı.

Bono gave the Turkish prime minister a red iPod Nano, which he said would benefit the Global Fund to Fight Against AIDS.

The Irish rock star also told ErdoÄŸan he knew the prime minister was a great fan of Turkish classical music. The prime minister then posed with the band for the press to take photos although the rest of their meeting occurred behind closed doors.

By Alice Neville, New Zealand Herald

Many U2 fans were shocked yesterday to find their "cheap" tickets came with an online surcharge of almost $20 a transaction.

Tickets to the Irish supergroup's November 25 show at Mt Smart Stadium went on sale in the morning, with advertised ticket prices ranging from $39.90 to $349.50. Tickets are still available.

The cheapness of the tickets was due to the tour's new stage structure - a raised platform will let punters see from all four sides and allow more people in. The concert promoters said that because more tickets could be sold, they could be cheaper.

But for those buying tickets online - the only option unless you could get to a ticket outlet such as Real Groovy (which charged a fee of $4 a ticket) - a surcharge of at least $19 was placed on top of the total transaction price.