Author: Pauline

Translation: Florian

Monday, October 8th : Berlin

Bono and President Joachim Gauck

Bono and Bill Gates have been involved in a partnership for more than 10 years. Bill Gates considers himself such a pair as « odd » yet convincing thanks to the financial power and popularity both men represent.

Twelve years ago Bill Gates and his wife Melinda founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a philantropic foundation which aims at improving care and education in poor countries. As far as he is concerned, Bono created the ONE organization back in 2004,which goal is also to help developing countries by fighting poverty and pandemics in Africa. Throughout their commitment both men want to raise public awareness and pressure political leaders.

Bono et Bill Gates started their campaign by visiting the first economic power in Europe: Germany. Bono talked with President Joachim Gauck for about twenty minutes before meeting ONE members. Few information leaked from this interview but there’s no doubt Bono‘s persuasion power succeeded in convincing Joachim Gauck to help fight poverty.

Tuesday, October 9th: Brussels

Bono and the European Parliament’s President Martin Schulz

On Tuesday Bono was in Belgium in order to prevent the funding of development assistance to fighting poverty from being hit by the financial cutbacks the European Union wants to set up for the 2014-2020 budget. His schedule for that day le dhim to meet and convince the presidents of the three main UE institutions: José Manuel Barroso (President of the European Commission), Martin Schulz (President of the Europen Parliament), and Herman Van Rompuy (Président of the European Council).

After the meeting with Bono, José Manuel Barroso stated: « Saving lives and preventing disease are both a human imperative and a smart investment on which responsible governments and international organisations must deliver. I will therefore push for member states to agree the Commission’s proposal for a 20% increase in external aid for the next European budget.» Mission accomplished for Bono: he managed to maintain the European assistance and maybe get it increased.

As far as Martin Schulz is concerned, he agreed with Bono on supporting the development assiatance and added: « European development aid, after all, is one of the EU’s greatest successes, changing the lives of millions of people all over the world, from measles vaccines to access to water, to the education of women and children. »

Wednesday, October 10th: Paris

Bono, Bill Gates and the French President François Hollande. Photo ©REUTERS

On the next day our two very busy activists stopped in Paris. After a visit to the Treasury Department and a meeting with Pierre Moscovici (chancellor of the exchequer),Bono et Bill Gates headed to the Elysée Palace where French President François Hollande was expecting them for a discussion which last 45 minutes.

France, which is the fourth world contributor to development assistance (0,46% of its gross national income, that’s to say €9.35 billion), decided it would maintain the funds used to fight poverty. Moreover, 10% of the income from the financial transaction tax will be dedicated to this fight. Bono insisted on thanking the French people for their support: « The French support more than any European country using this approach and we want to thank them, especially in these difficult times of crisis. Me, I’m a rock star who is extremely rich and spoiled so I understand even better the sacrifices that are made. »

Bono, Bill Gates and President Hollande also talked about the situation in Sahel – a country in which more than 18 million people suffer from food scarcity, and about the need for financial transparency from the extractive and forestry industries in order to fight corruption.

Thursday, October 11th: London

Bono and Nick Clegg, the English vice-Prime Minister. Photo ©Getty Images

Last stop of this humanitarian journey: England. Bono has a meeting with the chancellor of the exchequer Joe Swinson, and United Kingdom’s vice-Prime Minister Nick Clegg. U2 ‘s singer saw in Nick Clegg an ally to fight for more transparence from companies; the vice-Prime Minister even underlined: « There need to be strict new rules about how payments to developing countries from the oil, gas and mining industries are recorded».

It looks like the week the weird duo composed of Bono and Bill Gates experienced showed results: the main European leaders reiterated their support to the humanitarian cause, regarding both the aid spent on Third-World countries and the need for transparency from companies. The next few months will be crucial ones as they will confirm – or not – what was promised by those governments and institutions.

the last word to Bill Gates, who wrote on his blog this week: « Melinda and I have many friends, allies and valued partners in our philanthropic work, but few as creative, energetic and inspiring as Bono. ».

Copyright 2012 U2 France / http://www.u2france.com/actu

Adam, Larry, Bono et The Edge in the late 70s.

Posted by Florian (Thank you for the transcript)

authors : U2 and Neil McCormick

«So I put the now legendary notice up. I think the wording went something like: “drummer seeks musicians to form band.” I just thought of it as a bit of fun, it was never anything else. No big ideas, no expectations, really.

After the notice went up, people asked if I knew “Yer man Paul Hewson, he plays guitar.”, I said I didn’t but it tourned out everybody knew who he was and what he did and who he was going out with, so it didn”t take long for me to discover who I was going to have to deal with.

Edge and Dick (TN : The Edge’s brother) were basically like one person, they were into inventing things and they played a yellow guitar that they had made together, so it took a while to work out which of them would be in the band.

I knew of Adam, he used to wear a long sheepskin Afghan coat, he had tinted glasses and he smoked. Some people were saying to me : “You know that weirdo in the Afghan coat? He has a bass.” It didn’t matter if he could play it. Adam was in.

So on Saturday 25 September 1976, this odd group of people convened in my kitchen in Artane. And that’s where it started.»

Copyright 2012 U2 France / http://www.u2france.com/actu

Bono with one of the balloons – Paris, September 18th 2010.

Author : Pauline, translated by Florian

“Run” and “wait”: I feel like my day of September 18th 2010 was mostly about that. Wait for a year between the concert tickets presale and the actual date of the show, wait during the journey on the train on the evening of the concert, wait for 10 hours in front of the Stade de France gate – half of the time up and packed, wait for the end of the horrible Interpol gig – which we wouldn’t have expected to be as bad as first part, and finally wait for U2 to enter the stage while the clock is ticking on the Claw’s screen…

And run, of course. Run in the morning to go catch the train, run to catch the subway which is about to leave to the stadium station, wait to reach the stadium gate, and run again once inside the stadium. Run while admiring this massive stage, run while going down the stairs leading to the stands, run even when the Security Officers ask you to walk, run from a checkpoint to another, and ultimately run once the pit is reached in order to get as close as possible to the barrier.

Mission accomplished, you’re at the forefront, right under The Edge‘s nose. That’s just the insolent good fortune of five fans who took the challenge to be at this very spot and who succeeded. We survived the crowd movement when the stadium gates opened, just as the Heaven gates would – our own fans nirvana, we also survived the pushing and shoving when entering the pit. The art of slipping through is what allowed us to queue jump in front of other people in that crowd which was waiting at the pit entrance. Too bad for good manners, too bad for apologies: you sneak around using your elbows, you don’t say you’re sorry, everything is at stake right now! Good manners won’t let our dream slip through our fingers. Too bad for the girl who falls right by my side – probably kicked around too much by the crowd, I barely look at her and don’t even think of stopping by to help. After so much running and so much waiting, and being just a few feet away from the stage, all I want is U2 to appear as soon as possible. Nothing else matters.

I didn’t even notice the 96000-people crowd that was filling the stadium on that night. I was all alone with U2, they were playing just for me. When The Edge started with the chorus of Sunday Bloody Sunday with his eyes closed, he was just playing for me, and Adam surely came my way to meet me while playing Mysterious Ways. That’s the whole point of being at this front row that is so coveted: you can’t see others. Even if you feel the energy radiating from the audience and the communion with the band it leads to, you really feel like being as close as it can get to the four Irish guys – even feeling like being alone with them.

That was not my first U2 show yet it leaves me with an unexplainable memory that was not present on my first concert – my first U2 show for which I had been waiting for four years. This day of September 2010, no doubt, was the day of a great concert. A very good one.

(NB : More videos available on Stroubidoul‘s YouTube channel)

Copyright 2012 U2 France / http://www.u2france.com/actu

Image by Clad63 – available in high-definition on his Facebook page

Posted by Pauline and translated by Florian

Do you have an opinion on U2 albums? Have a voice

Our ‘Ressources’ section gives access to an area called Album reviews in which each and every fan can share his opinion on one or more U2 albums. It’s an opportunity to tell others what you like – or not – on every album, and what you feel about songs.

You don’t need to be a graduate with a special U2 distinction In order to have a look at what a review looks like, you can for instance read posts by Chris and Lionel on Achtung Baby, or others on Pop and No Line On The Horizon.

English-speaking fans can also give us their opinion by heading to the English section of the Resources area, we’ll take care of the translation and then add it to the French version of the website. Same thing if you’re a French speaker: your review will be translated into English.

If you can’t find how to post your review or have any trouble writing it, do not hesitate to tell us so by adding a comment to this article or sending an email to Pauline.

Copyright 2012 U2 France / http://www.u2france.com/actu

That’s what Peter Neill is asking you.

This professional photographer whose specialty is music photography has a portfolio which includes Billboard magazine, Coldplay and U2. During U2‘s 360° Tour he captured with his camera Sheffield’s concerts in 2009 and Paris’ ones in 2010 ; you can take a look at the result on his Facebook page.

Now Peter Neill is asking you the following on Facebook : “U2 People, Have you any interest in a U2 photobook, coffee table style.. If I can find a book printer with the right pricing so I can sell it affordably I may do one?” With the good feedback he got from that idea, Peter Neill said next : “this was unexpected, I really have to make that book”. He’s starting the legal process in order to get his book printed. In order to do so he also needs your help: if you know a high quality book printing service with modest pricing, you can send him its information by mail: info@shootthesound.com

We also suggest you to go have a look at his Facebook page to add a ‘Like’ on his post, follow the project updates and take this opportunity to view the photos he made of other artists: they’re worth a look!

Copyright 2012 U2 France / http://www.u2france.com/actu