Latest U2 News & Information

BONO and THE EDGE were among the sold out Olympia Theatre audience in Dublin, Ireland checking out R.E.M’s latest material on Saturday night (30Jun07). The Losing My Religion band are staging five ‘Working Rehearsals’ at the venue to test new songs ahead of an upcoming album and tour. R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills told the crowd the band chose Dublin for their pre-tour workout because R.E.M. consider the Irish to be "some of the best fans in the world". Walking onstage holding a Guinness, frontman Michael Stipe started the set with new songs Living Wells and Staring Down, admitting some of the new tracks had yet to be performed by the whole group. Other new songs included Mr. Richards, Houston, Man Size Wreath and Till The Day Is Done. R.E.M. wrap up their Dublin residency on Wednesday (04Jul07) and then return to America to complete work on a new album.

- ContactMusic 

This weeks video: Vertigo U2 iPOD / iTunes Commercial 2004

U2 frontman BONO knew former British Prime Minister TONY BLAIR would be a great leader, because he can play guitar. Blair played the instrument during his teenage years in rock band Ugly Rumours - something Bono believes helped make his years as Prime Minister a success. He says, "They’re often very clever (guitar players), very studious - they spend hours in the bedroom practicing - you know, swottish.

"What I admire the most about Tony Blair is that despite all accusations of a slick PR machine, spin doctoring and the like, he has almost all of the time exposed himself to bad press and outcry for doing the things he believed in." Blair officially stood down as PM on Wednesday afternoon (27Jun07) and has been replaced by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.

Our good friend Matt McGee over at atu2.com is embarking on a new book project called U2 Diary. He has put the call out to U2 fans world wide to help write it by sending in any helpful information like stories, photo or fact.

He has samples of what would be helpful info and what wouldn’t be helpful at his new website http://www.u2diary.com/ 

Good luck Matt! We can’t wait to see it on the shelves in our local book store.

This weeks video is: The Sweetest Thing

The Sweetest Thing was written for Bono’s wife Ali when he missed her birthday in 1986.
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(U2.COM) Jeremy Irons and Sinéad Cusack were with Bono at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin last night, celebrating the poetry of WB Yeats.

Bono read ‘The Host Of The Air’, ‘When You Are Old’ and ‘He Wishes For The Clothes For Heaven’. The event was aired on RTE’s arts show The Eleventh Hour and you can listen again here (Select ‘Listen To The Latest Show’, it starts about three minutes in)

Yeats was born in Dublin on June 13, 1865 and last night’s tribute, hosted by novelist Josephine Hart, was part of the library’s Summer’s Wreath programme, a month-long series of events celebrating the legacy of the poet.

‘Language changes shape all the time - in the playground, on the street corner, in hip-hop, in pop songs and in rock songs,’ Bono told UK Radio Four’s Today programme this morning. ‘But Josephine’s passion is to hear it reverberate.’

Listen in on the Radio 4 interview here (Select the 8.30-9am segment and scroll through to 08.50). As for why the Irish so revere Yeats: ‘He is the thing we are not - succinct!"

(Incidentally, the title for this story is also from Yeats: ‘Tread softly for you tread on my dreams’.)