Latest U2 News & Information

The African Well Fund is accepting donations for its sixth annual Bono’s Birthday Well fundraiser, “Walk to the Water … Walk with Me,” through Saturday, May 10, Bono’s 48th birthday. Donations can be made at http://www.africanwellfund.org/Bono-Well-2008.html.

Donors to the Bono’s Birthday Well are invited to sign their names to an online birthday card that will be forwarded to Bono. Last year Bono sent a thank-you note to African Well Fund that can be viewed at the well homepage, http://www.africanwellfund.org/Bono-Well-2008.html. The well page also includes flyers, banners and avatars that can be uploaded or forwarded to spread the word on the fundraiser.

The first Bono’s Birthday Well fundraiser was held in 2003 with the intent of collecting $1,000 to build one well in Bono’s honor. That year, the African Well Fund collected more than $10,000. The second year, $15,000 was raised. More than $26,000 was collected for Bono’s Birthday Well in 2005. Over $32,000 was collected in 2006.

Last year saw the largest Bono’s Birthday Well total to date, with more than $34,000 collected. Those funds were used toward projects at several schools in Uganda implemented in partnership with Invisible Children and Africare. These projects are currently underway.

Tax-deductible donations to the African Well Fund are used by our partner organization Africare to fund various water projects in Africa. To date, African Well Fund donations have given more than 100,000 people in 10 African nations improved access to water.

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Editorial Note: Okay, I was pushed back in my chair when I saw this news item come across the U2 Exit News desk, but should we surprised by much these days?! I guess not.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Rhinestone Cowboy is trying on some more fashionable threads.
Country singer/guitarist Glen Campbell is following in the footsteps of artists such as Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond by recording a new album designed to inspire a new generation of fans.

“Meet Glen Campbell,” due in stores on August 19, features covers of tunes originally performed by the likes of the Foo Fighters (”Times Like These”), U2 (”All I Want Is You”), and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (”Walls”), his Capitol Records label said on Tuesday. Read the rest of this story »

Reports this morning say the Dublin super-group have a combined fortune of €618m.

Michael Flatley is the second-richest entertainer with an estimated €465m.

This year’s overall Sunday Times rich list is reportedly headed by Dublin-born model Hilary Weston, who married into a retailing dynasty in Canada, giving her an estimated fortune of €7bn.

- Independent News & Media

Rockers U2 are scrapping all the tracks they have written for their next album to start all over again - ditching a year’s worth of work.
The band has been working on the follow up to 2004 LP How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb for the past 12 months, but they’re far from happy with the results.
Guitarist The Edge reveals bandmembers have mostly messed around in the studio - and they have now decided to get stuck in and finish the record.
He tells CMUMusic.com, “We went into this project allowing ourselves the indulgence of making music without thinking about where it was going to end up. We’re starting to get serious now”.

- ContactMusic.com

By Sandy Cohen, AP Entertainment Writer
Guitarist the Edge takes a break from recording new U2 album to host charity auction

LOS ANGELES (AP) — For the second year in a row, the Edge is putting his money where the music is.

The U2 guitarist announced Wednesday he will donate two Gibson guitars and other items from his personal collection to the “Icons of Music” auction benefiting Music Rising, a charity the Edge co-founded to replace musical equipment lost or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Read the rest of this story »

A T-Shirt, designed by Bono for Hard Rock International, will raise funds to benefit cotton farmers and garment workers in Africa. The design features a fish soaring through the moon and stars. With Bono’s signature.

The ‘Bono Signature Series T-shirt’ is set on a black 100% African cotton t-shirt (men’s) and on a white 100% African cotton t-shirt (women’s) and it’s produced by edun LIVE, the ethical t-shirt company, founded by Bono and Ali.

‘Proceeds from sales will benefit Wildlife Conservation Society’s Conservation Cotton Initiative, which helps lift African farmers out of poverty by providing education on proper land management, organic cotton growing techniques and wildlife conservation.’

Order yours here

More about the Wildlife Conservation Society and its Conservation Cotton Initiative, here

Check out edun Live here

THE architect at the centre of the 1990s regeneration of Temple Bar yesterday said if ambitious plans like those for U2’s Clarence Hotel were on the table back then he would have backed them.

James Howley, who oversaw much of the regeneration of the cultural centre of Dublin, told a hearing of An Bord Pleanala into plans to transform the Clarence site: “It is important to understand the meaning and essence of the term conservation, which is often mistakenly confused with those of preservation.” Read the rest of this story »

The lead singer for the Irish rock band U2 is expected to attend the 10th anniversary celebration of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland on Friday, April 11. He will be one of over 200 expected guests to attend. Ireland’s Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, former British premier Tony Blair, US Senator George Mitchell, Northern Ireland politician John Hume and Africa campaigner Bob Geldof are also expected to attend.

The Good Friday Agreement, signed in Belfast April 10, 1998, led to the creation of the administration between pro-British Unionists and pro-Irish Nationalists in Belfast.

Ahern has stated, “It is particularly appropriate that we honour Tony Blair, his achievements and his huge personal commitment to the cause of peace in Northern Ireland as we mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.”

- Finditt

After an Easter break, U2 is back in the studio in Dublin to work on its next album with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. “Everyone [is] still hoping the new album will be out this year,” reads a post on U2.com.

The as-yet-untitled disc will be followed by a 2009 tour, U2’s first since recently cementing a 12-year deal with Live Nation Artists.

In other U2 news, Universal has set a July 22 release for remastered, expanded editions of the band’s first three albums: “Boy” (1980), “October” (1981) and “War” (1983).

Guitarist the Edge is overseeing the reissues, which will include the original album on a single-disc, 180-gram vinyl and in a two-CD package featuring B-sides, rare tracks and live material.

The reissue program began last fall with “The Joshua Tree,” which featured a previously unreleased video for “Red Hill Mining Town” and a host of other rarities.

- Billboard.com