March 2014 Archives

Amid rumours that the band have halted work on the new album, a spokesperson has confirmed that U2 are on schedule for the 2014 follow up to No Line on the Horizon

Sean Michaels, The Guardian

Despite fresh claims that U2 have pushed their new record and world tour back to 2015, a spokesperson for the band has confirmed that their 13th album is still on course for this year.

The band, who are nearing completion of a record that was expected this summer, had been rumoured to halt plans on the new release and instead book studio sessions with Adele writer/producers Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder. While the switch in producer from long-term collaborator Steve Lillywhite is yet to be addressed, a spokesperson for the band has dispelled claims that the album will be delayed until 2015: "U2's album is planned for this year, is still on track and touring plans haven't been confirmed yet," they told the Guardian.

By Andrew Hampp and Shirley Halperin

Billboard

Fresh off the Oscars, the band quietly delays its fall tour and album, while inviting Ryan Tedder and Paul Epworth into the studio

The media blitz U2 has enjoyed during the first two months of 2014 has been virtually unrivaled - unless you're maybe Pharrell Williams and his Vivienne Westwood hat. Since mid-January, the band has won a Golden Globe; performed at the premiere of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and the March 2 Academy Awards; appeared on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter; and starred in a Super Bowl commercial funded by Bank of America and (RED) that debuted the track "Invisible."

Such momentum certainly signaled a proper return to music and touring was in the cards for U2 in 2014. The group had been diligently working with producer Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) on an album still described as "unfinished" in mid-February to The Hollywood Reporter. Billboard has confirmed with multiple sources, however, that the album has now been pushed back until 2015, with the band recently scheduling additional sessions with producers Ryan Tedder and Paul Epworth. (Danger Mouse remains onboard as the project's central producer.) "It seems to be taking longer for them to finish an album as they get older, but the great thing about U2 is that the whole of a record is always better than the sum of its parts," says a source close to the project. "That magic that the band always seems to capture ... they have yet to capture it."

U2 performed a soulful rendition of "Ordinary Love" at the 86th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California. The Hollywood audience gave the band a standing ovation as the song came to a close. Unfortunately, U2 did not win for "best original song", as that award went to "Let it Go" from the Disney film "Frozen". In 2003, U2 was nominated for "The Hands that Built America", an original song from Martin Scorcese's "Gangs of New York", and they also lost. Also, Benedict Cumberbatch executed a fantastic "photo bomb" when the band members of U2, accompanied by their wives and girlfriends, were posing in front of the camera on the red carpet.

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