Latest U2 News & Information

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

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

Producer Gives Update On U2 Album | CJBK

By: Don Kaye

U2 has been working on its new album since late February at its recording complex in Dublin, Ireland, where the group has once again turned to longtime producer Daniel Lanois to sit behind the sound console. Lanois recently described how the sessions were going: “It’s going well. Very inventive, a lot of hopes and dreams in the room. (Singer) Bono’s a hell of a fighter, and as long as he’s got me in there, I’ll fight along with him, you know. It’s just quality, innovation, better songs, choruses that will communicate in a stadium setting…he wants it all. He wants great bass riffs. There’s still mystery in the room and they really want to do their best. They want it out for the fall as well.” Read the rest of this story »

From his work on The Joshua Tree to, more recently, that on How To Build An Atomic Bomb, Daniel Lanois and U2 have a strong and unique bond. Lanois says the relationship is almost other-worldly.

“I think we work well together because there’s kind of a premonitional force in the room when I work with these guys,” he says. “We sense that something might be right but we’re not convinced yet and it’s still the unknown. It’s that unknown that keeps us going. We want to do something original. Bono wants to say something that has never been said before. We know we’re going to have to roll up our sleeves, put our thinking caps on and do beautiful work.” Read the rest of this story »

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Bono has insisted that the new U2 album will be “radical and uncompromising”.

The singer claimed he couldn’t give any details away but argued that it wouldn’t be worth the band’s time producing a record that was anything less than “great”.

Speaking at the European premiere of U23D, he said: “Who needs another U2 album unless it’s a really great piece of rock ‘n’ roll? You young people better watch out!

“We have to do something really extraordinary to be able to get out of bed these days.”

He added: “If I told you [about the album] I’d have to kill you. And if I did tell you they’d probably have to kill me too.”

Producer Daniel Lanois revealed earlier this week that the Irish rockers had begun work on the follow-up to 2004’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

- DigitalSpy

The well-oiled musical machine known as U2 is currently cooped up in Dublin with longtime cohorts Briano Eno and Daniel Lanois working on its forthcoming album, according to Billboard. The iconic Irish rockers have spent time prior to this amassing new material on three separate occasions in other exotic locales, such as Morocco and France, and Lanois purports the results to be “prolific.”

Moreover, Lanois hinted at the much-speculated notion of a double disc due to the luxuriant nature of these sessions. The yet-to-be-titled album will serve as the follow-up to the band’s 2004 release, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

In addition to the aforementioned news, U2 has revealed a new charity single titled “The Ballad Of Ronnie Drew,” which will initially be available in Ireland only this Friday, February 22 and a week later on CD. The song boasts appearances by the Pogues’ Shane MacGowan, the Frames’ Glen Hansard, Sinead O’Connor, Andrea Corr, Damien Dempsey, Ronan Keating, Chris de Burgh, Gavin Friday and members of the Dubliners. At the request of Ronnie Drew himself, all proceeds collected through this tributary endeavor will go to the Cancer Society.

Story by: Joshua Pressman

U2 producer Daniel Lanois has been talking about the recording of the band’s new album, which resumes this week in Dublin’s Windmill Lane studio.

“We’ve had a few very successful jam sessions so far, including one in Morocco,” the Canadian enthuses. “I’m very excited about what we’re doing. Everyone has an appetite for breaking new ground and everybody wants to make a masterpiece.

“We’re not taking anything for granted. We don’t think it’s going to be easy. In fact, it’s always hard work and I like it that way. When the work is hard, you know you’re busting through something that hasn’t been done before.”

Asked what the follow-up to How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb will sound like, Lanois says: “I can tell you a little bit about the fundamental quality. It’s very much hand-played but it’s also electro.”

- HotPress NewsDesk

U2 has hit the studio in Dublin to continue work on its next studio album with longtime collaborators Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. “We’re going to try and break new sonic ground and deliver a masterpiece,” Lanois tells Billboard.com. “The sleeves are rolled up. Bono is all charged up with a lyrical angle.”

As previously reported, U2, Eno and Lanois have spent time working on new material on three prior occasions in France and Morocco, and Lanois confirms the results are prolific.

“There’s so much material,” he says, referring to speculation that the sessions could yield two new albums. “When you get Eno and I and those guys in the room, before lunch there’s like eight things.” Read the rest of this story »

MANILA, Philippines - As talk persisted among internet chat groups
that the Irish rock band U2 is set to play in Manila, Inquirer
Entertainment sought to verify the wild rumor.

The information we gathered was exciting enough to share with readers.
“Yes, we’re working on it,” said an officer of Concertus, an events,
concerts and marketing affiliate of MTV Philippines. Read the rest of this story »

Although releasing the documentary film Here Is What Is on DVD next month, as well as a CD of the same name, musician and acclaimed producer Daniel Lanois is probably packing his bags now. On Monday, he’s off to Dublin to begin recording with U2 on their next studio album, the follow-up to 2004’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

“I’m going to work with them in a week,” Lanois says from Los Angeles.

“We’ve had a few very successful jam sessions so far, including one in Morocco. I’m very excited about what we’re doing. Everyone has an appetite for breaking new ground and everybody wants to make a masterpiece. Read the rest of this story »