U2.COM : 'He Made The Impossible Possible.'

The Edge has been speaking about the passing of Mark Fisher, groundbreaking stage designer, architect and friend of the band who worked with them for more than twenty years.

'Mark Fisher's vision and genius was his ability to translate dreams into reality. With his talent and passion, he created designs which never failed to push every concept to the absolute limit. He made the impossible possible. And it always looked beautiful.

'Mark was a dearly beloved member of the U2 family and we shall all miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.'

(Photo: Steve Humphreys.)

U2.COM : 'This Is'

At the Olympia Theatre in Dublin a wonderful crowd of Irish musicians celebrated the songs of Aslan and paid tribute to Christy Dignam. 

All the way from Electric Lady Studios in New York City U2 took part with a performance of Aslan's 'This Is'. As MC Guggi put it afterwards, 'That wasn't too shabby'. 

U2.COM : A Night For Christy

Dublin's Olympia Theatre will host a unique collection of artists this Friday, a collective show of goodwill for Aslan's Christy Dignam. U2 will take part from a studio in New York and the entire show will be streamed live in venues around the world. MC for the night will be the artist Guggi.

Along with U2, performing Aslan's 'This Is', the show will feature performances from Bressie, Danny O'Reilly (The Coronas), members of Horslips, Ryan Sheridan, Paul Brady, Shane MacGowan, Mary Black, Don Mescall, Tom Dunne (Something Happens), Jerry Fish, Steve Wall (The Stunning), Gavin Friday, Mark Feehily, Paul Walsh (Royseven), The Riptide Movement, Jedward, Gavin James and Kiera Dignam. 

All the performers have handpicked their favourite song from the Aslan setlist and are stepping into Christy's shoes for one night only. Venues in Dubai, Germany, Czech Republic, Australia, Canada, the UK and across Ireland will be carrying the show live, with more being added every day and the full list announced later in the week onwww.aslan.ie.

'With the gig selling out in a few hours a lot of fans who have supported the band for years were not able to get tickets.' said Aslan's Billy McGuinness. 'This type of gig will never happen again so its great to give people a chance to see it by streaming it live from the Olympia.' 

Venues interested in participating should contact mark@amamusicagency.ie directly. (Details of the web address for the stream to follow.)

U2.COM : Sunday Bloody Sunday For Agit8

Last week, on a rooftop in New York City, the band recorded an acoustic performance of  'Sunday Bloody Sunday' - and dedicated it to democracy in Iran.

The track is part of ONE's campaign to harness the power of protest songs to demand action against extreme poverty at the G8 summit. 

Remember the amazing reaction to Sunday Bloody Sunday on the 360 tour?  Every night it went out in support of the Green Movement that sprang from the 2009/10 Iran elections. The response from across the world - including in Iran - was phenomenal.

As the 2013 elections approached, the band were asked by Iranian human rights activists to contribute their music again.  As Bono says, at the beginning of the performance, 'Greetings from New York City to the good people of Iran...'

U2.COM : Get Up, Stand Up

The ONE Campaign has mobilised dozens of musicians from around the world to launch agit8, an urgent call for action against extreme poverty in the run up to the meeting of G8 political leaders in Northern Ireland. 

U2 Angelique Kidjo, Ed Sheeran, Will.i.am, Mumford and Sons and Elvis Costello are among those joining artists from several countries in Africa in recording brand new versions of classic protest songs 'because protest leads to progress'.

'The scandal of extreme poverty and the disgrace of needless child deaths really can be ended but it won't happen without action now,' says Kidjo, a special adviser toagit8. 'Throughout history, we have seen great progress when people join forces to demand change. If enough people add their voices to the chorus of protest, world leaders will be forced to hear us and act.'

A pretty great collection of covers includes two U2 tracks, Sunday Bloody Sunday and 'Pride' - news on what U2 have covered coming soon. 

Find videos of these new performances of classic protest songs are at ONE and on Spotify.

Bono, co-founder of ONE, quotes the great agitator Nelson Mandela. 'Like slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome. Millions of people... are trapped in the prison of poverty. It is time to set them free. Sometimes if falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation.'

ONE has also collaborated with filmmakers, actors and activists including Richard Curtis, The Found Collective, Chiwetel Ejiofor and People Speak to create a 30-minute film celebrating how protest, and its music, can catalyze progress in history. The film will be projected onto the Tate Modern in London at 10pm tonight, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Join the campaign to end extreme poverty here. 

Coldplay’s Chris Martin rumored to be helping U2 with their new album in New York

U2 are currently recording their 13th album - perhaps with a little help from Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.

Chris, who is a long time fan of U2, was seen arriving at Electric Lady Studios in New York City where Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. have been working on their new album with producer Danger Mouse.

A source from fan site atu2.com seen the Coldplay singer’s arrival at the studio followed by Larry Mullen Jr. about two minutes later, writes the Irish Examiner.

"Shortly after that, a van arrived with three guitars - each with a white label that said 'U2/Edge' - and our reporter actually helped bring the gear into the studio.

"He saw Larry and Chris Martin together in another room before heading back outside."

Although Chris denied being in the studio when approached, U2 later posted a photo of themselves and Chris meeting the founder of the Inside Out Project, an art initiative which hosted a number of works throughout New York City in May.

In contribution to the project, U2 also did a video shoot of an acoustic version of their song ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ on the roof of Electric Lady Studios on Friday, the Irish Examiner reports.

One lucky Irish bar owner, whose residence is just next door to Electric Lady Studios managed to catch all the action and even snap a few pics.

“As the owner of Pour George sports bar located at 35 West 8th Street in Greenwich Village, I along with a few of my lucky patrons had the rare opportunity to see U2 perform live on a rooftop opposite my bar,” Garrity, a native of Knock, Co. Mayo, told us.

“They sang a slowed down version of ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ which was amazing.  Bono was super friendly to all of us and took the time out to chat. He said he will drop by next week for a pint at Pour George.”

Rolling Stone have said that the new album could be released in the fall: "We very much want to have a record out by the end of the year, September, October, November; that kind of time," bassist Adam Clayton said.

"We're working with Danger Mouse, who's a smart guy. He's on it; he's excited. It's a great team and feels very liberating at the moment – anything goes. We have an abundance of riches, we could make three or four different records and justify that to ourselves, but to make the best record you can, you have to steer away from the ones you can make easily. We're really trying to get into territory that we're not comfortable in. If that makes sense."

source : http://www.irishcentral.com/

U2.COM : At Downing Street For Mencap

Edge was in London recently for a Mencap  reception hosted by Samantha Cameron at 10 Downing Street. Mencap is the national voice of learning disability in the UK.
 
As well as sharing news of the past year, Mencap chief executive Jan Tregelles outlined plans to reach a million people with information about learning disability and the help the organisation offers.

Other Mencap ambassadors at Downing Street included Sunday Times journalist Kate Spicer, whose brother Tom has Fragile X Syndrome, and Radio 2 DJ Jo Whiley, sister of Frances, who has a learning disability. Jo, a longtime friend of U2, is MC of Mencap's annual music nights The Little Noise Sessions  - Edge and Bono performed at Little Noise in 2007.

'Not many people know what a learning disability is,' explains Edge. 'Or the challenges people with a learning disability face. I've seen how much work goes into Mencap and want to continue to see it flourish.'
 
Edge was accompanied by his cousin Ciara Lawrence who works for Mencap as a celebrity booker and campaigns assistant. Caroline White blogged about the eveningfor MENCAP and had a chat with Edge.
 'I had to speak to him! So I got my introduction and also met his wonderfully inspiring cousin Ciara who has a learning disability and works for Mencap. She excitedly told me how she had just got married and showed me her wedding ring. The Edge told of what a special day it had been, his pride (see what I did there?) gushingly obvious. I said to her, 'That’s one pretty cool cousin to have,' and The Edge was quick to chip in that, actually, 'she’s one pretty cool cousin to have'. Lovely.'

U2 Working On New Album With Danger Mouse

"There were shades of 'Achtung Baby,'" says longtime producer Daniel Lanois

Update: sources tell Billboard that the band is aiming to release their next album in December, although no plans have yet been finalized.

U2 could be nearing completion of the band's next studio album, according to fansite @U2.

Last Friday (May 31), the band members spent the day at New York's Electric Lady Studios, along with Danger Mouse, who was completing mixing duties. Also spotted was Coldplay's Chris Martin, although it's unclear whether he will actually be featured on the forthcoming, so far untitled new LP.

In a January 2013 interview with The Sun, Bono proclaimed the new record could take 10 years, as long as the band got it right. However, in an interview last March, bassist Adam Clayton claimed the band was targeting a fall release for the new album.

"We very much want to have a record out by the end of the year, September, October, November; that kind of time," Clayton said. "We're working with Danger Mouse, who's a smart guy. He's on it; he's excited. It's a great team and feels very liberating at the moment -- anything goes. We have an abundance of riches; we could make three or four different records and justify that to ourselves, but to make the best record you can, you have to steer away from the ones you can make easily. We're really trying to get into territory that we're not comfortable in, if that makes sense."

In another recent interview, longtime producer Daniel Lanois commented on new U2 songs, which Bono played for him. "It sounded amazing, very, very big and powerful-sounding," he said. "Some of it was adventurous. There were shades of 'Achtung Baby.'"

There is no confirmed title for the album, although "Songs of Ascent" and "10 Reasons to Exist" have been rumored.

The quartet's last album, "No Line on the Horizon," came out in 2009 via Interscope, debuting at No. 1 in 30 countries, including the United States.

source : http://www.billboard.com/

Bono & The Edge, InsideOut [video]