Latest U2 News & Information

Happy 46th Birthday to the one who gave Bono his first (and only) job!!

National Geographic set to release film

U2’s concert film ‘U2 3D’ will be released in late January in 3D only in the US.

The film was shot in South America during the band’s ‘Vertigo’ tour and will be released by National Geographic Film Ventures.

The concert film was produced by 3ality Digital and directed by Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington.

Owens has been U2’s visual content director for more than 15 years, while Pellington directed the band’s ‘One’ video.

U2’s 3D film set to be released | News | NME.COM

CLAREMONT - U2 singer Bono left his bandmates behind Tuesday night for a speaking engagement at the Claremont Colleges, where he highlighted problems of poverty and disease in Africa and outlined his ideas for helping the continent.

Thousands of Africans die every day from treatable diseases such as AIDS and malaria, and though the developed world already provides aid to the continent, Africa needs more, Bono said.

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U2 frontman Bono is putting his Red Ducati motorcyle under the hammer for charity in a December auction.

The bike previously belonged to his U2 bandmate Adam Clayton and originally to the late INXS star Michael Hutchence.

Bono dedicated the bike to the singer and signed the fuel tank with the message “To Michael, Bono”.

Proceeds from the auction will go towards Riders for Health, a group which helps health care workers in Africa by providing them with vehicles and safety training.

Chief executive of the group, Andrea Coleman, said. “Bono’s commitment to Africa and his support for those living in poverty and ill-health is well known. And for us at Riders For Health, reaching those people in rural Africa is our focus and is a major challenge. Riders For Health knows that you can’t save a child unless you can reach her.

“Bono’s support for our work is valued highly and we thank him.”

Bono’s motorbike will be among many items going on sale at the International Motorcycle and Scooter Show in Birmingham on December 2.

Showbiz - News - Bono to auction off his motorbike - Digital Spy
Bono to auction off his motorbike

October 28, 2007 — U2’s Bono (pictured right, inset) monkeys around with Finn, 21 months, the son of filmmaker Ed Burns and supermodel Christy Turlington, at a Halloween party in TriBeCa’s Washington Market Park yesterday.

-New York Post

Five people employed by one of rock band U2’s companies shared almost €18 million in wages last year, the firm’s accounts show. Barry O’Halloran reports.

It could not be confirmed yesterday if the band’s members - Bono, the Edge, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton, and their manager Paul McGuinness - were the people paid by the company, as the accounts do not name the employees.

A representative of U2’s London-based management company refused to comment on the accounts yesterday.

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Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) — With an appearance by Bono and a concert featuring Gwen Stefani and Alicia Keys, organizers of a Manhattan fundraiser tonight to raise $1.5 million for AIDS promise it won’t be standard benefit fare.

At most galas, “you get your charity chicken, the entertainment goes on too long and the music is awful,” said Leigh Blake, executive director of Keep a Child Alive, a nonprofit that provides medicine for AIDS-infected adults and children in Africa and India. “Our event is not stodgy.”

Bono, the 47-year-old activist and lead singer of the Irish band U2, who was born Paul David Hewson, is being honored and isn’t scheduled to perform at Hammerstein Ballroom. Keys, the 26-year-old R&B singer, will take the stage before 1,200 guests, along with Sheryl Crow and Stefani.

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To celebrate the 20th birthday of its landmark album “The Joshua Tree,” U2 is reissuing the set in four different incarnations on Nov. 20 via UMe. The album will be available as a remastered single CD, a 2-CD set, a 2-CD/1-DVD collectible box and a double-vinyl package.

The single-disc will be housed in a jewel case, but the 2-CD set comes in a hard back case. The 2-CD/1-DVD version has a base and lid to accommodate the discs as well as five portfolio prints. Band members have contributed new liner notes for the package.

Of most interest to fans is the inclusion of rare material on the expanded editions. Although details have yet to be announced, “Joshua Tree” demos, alternate versions and B-sides from the period are expected to appear.

The DVD is understood to comprise a July 4, 1987, show at the Paris Hippodrome, as well as the documentary “Outside It’s America.”

Produced by Brian Eno, “The Joshua Tree” shot U2’s commercial fortunes into the stratosphere. The album’s first three tracks were huge singles, with both “With or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

- Billboard

**EDIT: Here is a run down of the track list as posted on the HMV website:

Disc One
1. Where The Streets Have No Name
2. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
3. With Or Without You
4. Bullet The Blue Sky
5. Running To Stand Still
6. Red Hill Mining Town
7. In God’s Country
8. Trip Through Your Wires
9. One Tree Hill
10. Exit
11. Mothers Of The Disappeared

Disc Two
1. Luminous Times (Hold On To Love)
2. Walk To The Water
3. Spanish Eyes
4. Deep In The Heart
5. Silver And Gold
6. Sweetest Thing
7. Race Against Time
8. Where The Streets Have No Name [Single Edit]
9. Silver And Gold [Sun City Version]
10. Beautiful Ghost / Introduction To Songs Of Experience
11. Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland)
12. Desert Of Our Love
13. Rise Up
14. Drunk Chicken / America

Disc Three - DVD
1. I Will Follow [Live From Paris]
2. Trip Through Your Wires [Live From Paris]
3. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For [Live From Paris]
4. MLK [Live From Paris]
5. Unforgettable Fire [Live From Paris]
6. Sunday Bloody Sunday [Live From Paris]
7. Exit [Live From Paris]
8. In God’s Country [Live From Paris]
9. The Electric Co. [Live From Paris]
10. Bad [Live From Paris]
11. October [Live From Paris]
12. New Year’s Day [Live From Paris]
13. Pride (In The Name Of Love) [Live From Paris]
14. Bullet The Blue Sky [Live From Paris]
15. Running To Stand Still [Live From Paris]
16. With Or Without You [Live From Paris]
17. Party Girl [Live From Paris]
18. ”40” [Live From Paris]
19. Outside It’s America
20. With Or Without You
21. Red Hill Mining Town

Mighty fine, if you ask us!!

An egg-shaped recording studio suspended from the top of a 600ft luxury apartment block was unveiled as part of the rock band U2’s plans for a skyscraper that will dominate Dublin.

The “pod” studio will dangle beneath a battery of vertical wind turbines and a huge solar panel, hanging free from the innovative energy centre for acoustic reasons.

Details of the U2 Tower, which will be the tallest building in Ireland, emerged as it was announced that a consortium led by the band has been selected as the preferred bidder to design, finance and construct the £140 million project.

Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen will team up with Lord Foster, who built the “Gherkin” tower in London.

The Geranger Ltd consortium consisting of Ballymore Properties, Patrick McKillen and August Partners (U2 members and management) beat off designs submitted by four other tenders: Treasury Holdings/Sisk; Mountbrook Homes, controlled by the developer Sean Dunne; the Dutch-based Royal BAM Group and the Riverside II Partnership.

All had been challenging for the contract to build the tower, regarded as the jewel in the crown of the band’s property portfolio in Dublin.

In keeping with Bono’s reputation as the rock star with a conscience, the accommodation will include 34 social and affordable flats. The remainder will be luxury apartments, while a five-star hotel will be built in an adjoining building.

The tilted triangular design, at the confluence of the Liffey, Dodder and Grand Canal, will include a public viewing platform.

The south face of the tower is to be clad in solar panels as part of its designers’ commitment to renewable energy.

The bidding process has not been without controversy as the U2 design has been favoured over the winners of a 2003 competition sponsored by the band.

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