Latest U2 News & Information

Translated from lavozdigital.es

From the Institute of Development, Employment and Training council of Cadiz, is intended to raise awareness of the immense possibilities of Cadiz as ideal location for the filming of audiovisual productions, as this is a sector of significant economic potential.

Guillermo Blázquez, Head of Locations of producing NLTH Film LTD of London, this council has requested permits for timely recording of a video-clip for the band U2, although the singers in the group will not come.
The shooting is a motorbike that part of Paris and ends in Tarifa (the motorcycle never circulated across the beaches).

The date will be the next day on July 23, hours 21.00 to 04.00 am of 24.
The sites chosen by the company as a stage are: environment Market streets, the Cathedral Square, Candelaria Square and other streets of downtown besides the Campo del Sur, the area Baluarte de San Roque and Avda. Fernandez Ladreda.

The team is composed of shooting 18 people, between players and technical team.
With the recording of this video clip is shown once again that Cadiz is a city increasingly defendant not only for this type of work but for the shooting of films like James Bond or Captain Alatriste, among many others.

To read this article in it’s native language visit http://www.lavozdigital.es/cadiz/20080719/local/cadiz/proxima-semana-cadiz-sera-200807191225.html

Our friend Matt McGee has reported that the newest U2 album could be released on November 18th.

From twitter:
Rumor from a reliable source: New U2 album out on November 18.

That’s not that long, it’s time to end this non-U2 period!!

Read the rest of this story »

DUBLIN (AFP) - U2 megastars Bono and the Edge have won a green light for a controversial Dublin hotel project designed by renowned architect Norman Foster, they said Thursday.

The Irish multi-millionaires have faced opposition from heritage campaigners over the proposed 150-million-euro (238-million-dollar) reconstruction project of The Clarence hotel, a protected building on the river Liffey waterfront.

But the Irish planning authority, the An Bord Pleanala, has now given it the go-ahead after a long consultation period.

Read the rest of this story »

The Mighty Boosh star Noel Fielding has become friends with U2 guitarist The Edge, The Sun reports.

The surreal comic reportedly discussed music industry experiences with The Edge ahead of the Mighty Boosh band’s first live gig in Kent this weekend.

A source said: “Noel and The Edge have become really pally. The Edge has been giving Noel lots of guidance and advice about the band over the phone.

“He really loves the show and is keen to help out Noel any way he can.”

Fielding is also working on a Boosh album, which Mark Ronson is rumoured to be producing.

- ShowBiz, Digital spy

A work of art owned by U2 has been sold for over £5 million at auction, according to reports. The piece by Jean-Michel Basquiat went under the hammer at the Contemporary Art Sale at Sothebys in London yesterday.

“Untitled (Pecho/Oreja)” was bought by the Irish rockers in New York 20 years ago and has since been on display in their Dublin recording studio.

A spokesman for the auction house said a private buyer had bid £5,081,250, considerably less than the record fee for the artist, which stands at £7.5 million. Basquiat died of a drugs overdose in 1988, a year before the piece was picked out by U2 bass player Adam Clayton.

-Dotmusic

TWO hearts beating as one? Adam Clayton was dining a deux with a mystery lady last week in Expresso Bar in Dublin. Has the dapper U2 bassist found what he’s looking for? I, for one, certainly hope so.

Early last year, he sadly broke up with his fiancee, Suzy Smith. (Adam and Canadian beauty Suzy had chosen St Valentine’s Day 2006 to get engaged. They had been going out for eight years. Another time, another country, and besides…).

My Deep Throat in the U2 camp refused to be drawn on Adam’s new romance, as if I would tell anyone that three months ago, Adam started seeing a girl who worked in a bank.

“She looks very similar to Suzy. It was a very low-key relationship, if it is still on. That’s all I know.”

I know, however, that last Friday week, in Dublin, U2 listened to a rough mix of their album. Presumably, there was some celebrating in Han(g)over Quay afterwards.

- Barry Egan, independent.ie

Bono

I wanted to set the record straight on behalf of the members of U2 on comments made to the BBC by our much-loved and valued manager, Paul McGuinness, regarding Radiohead’s decision to make the music of ‘In Rainbows’ available as a download, using the ‘honesty box’ idea for payment.

We agree with our manager that this is a head-scratching and worrisome time for many musicians who, unlike ourselves, are depending on royalty or publishing cheques to pay the rent (particularly songwriters). We also agree that it is disturbing to see internet service providers and technology companies profit from the so-called ‘disintermediation’ of the music business when so many music lovers are losing their jobs. And while there is no doubt that it’s extremely difficult for a new artist to get the kind of investment on which U2 depended in the first few wobbly years of recording, we disagree with Paul’s assessment of Radiohead’s release as “having backfired to a certain extent.” We think they were courageous and imaginative in trying to figure out some new relationship with their audience. Such imagination and courage are in short supply right now…they’re a sacred talent and we feel blessed to be around at the same time.

With respect,
Bono

-NME

Singer rejects manager’s claim that download ‘backfired’

U2’s Bono has sent a letter to NME this week (June 25) following the band’s manager Paul McGuinness’s comments regarding Radiohead’s decision to release their last album, ‘In Rainbows’, on a pay-what-you-like basis as a download.

Earlier this month, McGuinness said Radiohead’s album release “backfired” and that U2 would not be following the Oxford band’s example when they release their next record.

In the letter, printed in tomorrow’s (June 25) edition of NME, Bono says that he disagrees with his manager’s comments, calling “courageous and imaginative in trying to figure out some new relationship with their audience”.

“Such imagination and courage are in short supply right now,” he continued. “They’re [Radiohead], a sacred talent, and we feel blessed to be around at the same time.”

Read the full letter from Bono in the new issue of NME, out nationwide tomorrow.

-NME.com

A painting by contemporary artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, belonging to rock band U2, will be auctioned next month.

The Contemporary Art Sale takes place at Sotheby’s in London on 1 July.

Untitled (Pecho/Oreja), completed in 1983, is expected to fetch £4-6m. The current auction record for a Basquiat work stands at $14.6m (£7.4m).

First spotted by bassist Adam Clayton in a New York gallery, the painting was was bought by U2 in 1989 and has since hung in the band’s Dublin studio.

“It seems especially appropriate that a work by Basquiat should end up in a music studio, since so much has been said about the relationship between his art and music,” said Oliver Barker, of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art department.

Basquiat first came to public attention as a graffiti artist in New York in the late 1970s and collaborated extensively with Andy Warhol in the 1980s.

He died of a drug overdose in 1988 and was later the subject of a film by fellow artist - and director - Julian Schnabel.

-BBC News