Well the God I believe in isn’t short of’ cash, MISTER

Listening to some music a mix of U2 and well the 80’s and of course a mix in of current music. I began to think about how U2 has sifted through various images of religion, what does that mean to you and me? Our team posted the question this week. “U2 Music inspires you to do what?

Faithful U2 Fans

Give us some ideas. What does U2 music mean to you?” Inspired by U2 or is it inspired by Bono? At this point the lines are blurred, Bono is the ultimate front man, and yea we heard that Laim was voted the best front man in the latest issue of RS.

Maybe its religion that inspires you, maybe the thought that you are part of something greater and that you have someone watching out over you could that be inspiring?  It’s not any big secret. Bono, the Edge, and Larry Mullen Jr. had their own Bible study group in the pre-U2 days.

Their second album, October, is loaded with Christian images, and during its recording, critics hailed U2 as a Christian band, something that U2 has always denied. Bono got to hang out with Pope John Paul II before his passing in 2005. They’re just a rock & roll band, right?

Interesting if you label them a Christian rock band you have people from the right screaming how you can even think of them in such a fashion however a few churches are turning to U2. USA Today reports that the U2 Eucharist is a “traditional Episcopal liturgy” that refers to some of U2’s best-selling songs such as “Beautiful Day” and “Pride (In the Name of Love)” as hymns.

We shared stories about this concept before it involves combining U2 songs with related religious montages. Reverend Paige Blair, a parish priest in York Harbor, Maine, incorporated some of U2’s lyrics during a sermon in July 2005. Since then, she’s gone on to assist 150 churches with their own U2 Eucharists, and the idea are spreading like wildfire across 15 states and seven countries.

They’re not worshiping Bono, but choosing to use him and the band’s work as an example of spreading the word.

I thought about the question myself and as the editor of U2TOURFANS I wondered if I should share my personal thoughts. The team all agreed that I should at least share something with you the reader.

So here goes. “Well the God I believe in isn’t short of’ cash, MISTER!!” Think about that line for second, Churches all around the world ask you for a donation. Ask you to put faith in…. Fill in the blank.

Faith and Hope

I put my faith in God, Inspired ? Sure I am inspired daily by lots of images, music, and words. I can say that U2 has created a place for me to express and share my views with like minded people.

The bottom line; you don’t have to like my views, agree or believe however you should respect one another. It’s really that simple.

U2

U2’s music is a vessel to which we all could use to take a ride on. Bono has been blessed by the hand of God, he once said  “I just go where the life is, you know? Where I feel the Holy Spirit,” Bono told Christianity Today. “If it’s in the back of a Roman Catholic cathedral, in the quietness and the incense, which suggest the mystery of God, of God’s presence, or in the bright lights of the revival tent, I just go where I find life. I don’t see denomination. I generally think religion gets in the way of God.

“I am just trying to figure it out. Everybody wants to make an impact with their life, whether it’s small scale with friends or family—that’s really big, is the truth—or whether it’s on a grand scale, in changing their communities and beyond.

I just want to realize my potential.” He recalled one pastor’s recent advice: Stop asking God to bless what you’re doing. Find out what God’s doing. It’s already blessed. “That’s what I want,” Bono said. “I want to align my life with that.”

What do you want to align your life to?

U2 give to charity

RONAN McGREEVY:

U2 have given away the profits from their Irish concerts to charity, the band’s manager Paul McGuinness has revealed.

The band donated €5 million from their three Croke Park concerts in 2009 to Music Generation, a charity that provides funding for structured music education across the country.

Their three Croke Park concerts in 2005 would probably have generated similar revenues, while the band also played two concerts at Slane Castle in 2001.

Mr McGuinness said it had been the band’s practice “going way, way back” to give the profits away but it “was discreetly done in the past”.

He added: “Obviously we cover what the concerts cost to produce and there’s been a profit for a considerable time, and those profits have been distributed here.”

New album on horizon 

He also confirmed that the band are working on a new album to follow up their last release, No Line on the Horizon.

“I’m hoping that they will finish the album soon and it will be out this year.”

U2 guitarist The Edge turned up yesterday for the announcement that the Government will co-fund Music Generation from 2014 with a view to taking over the funding of the project in 2016.

U2 stepped in after the government stated in 2009 it could not afford to roll out a pilot project nationwide. The band provided €5 million with an extra €2 million coming from The Ireland Funds, including a $1 million donation (€760,000) from Bank of America.

Music Generation schemes are operating in Cork city, Laois, Louth, Mayo, Sligo and Wicklow. The money will allow for expansion into a further four areas: Offaly, Westmeath, Carlow and Limerick city.

Some 5,000 children have benefited from it either through structured lessons or through the buying of instruments.

The Edge said U2 had decided to lend its name to Music Generation because it would “be enhanced by association” with the band. “In most cases it isn’t, and it is not appropriate. In this case we really wanted to put our names to this because we feel strongly about it.”

He said the band had benefited from having music lessons in Mount Temple school, where they had all met, and he hoped others would be able to do likewise. “We also had the encouragement to use the music rooms when we first formed the band,” he said. “At that stage none of the members of the band had an idea where it would lead. We were just doing it because it was fun. The chance to pass that opportunity on is important.

“There’s been a tendency over the years for music not to be a top priority. The great thing about Music Generation is that it is putting it back where it should be as a top priority around the country.”

Larry Mullen Talks about "Man On The Train"

Larry Mullen Jr. reckons that the scariest gig of his life was acting on screen with Donald Sutherland, even though he has performed in front of millions.

Larry Mullen Jr / Man On The Train

Mullens makes his acting debut in new film ‘Man on Train’ which premieres on Friday in Dublin, and amateur Larry is keen on finding more acting projects after getting a taste for it.

In a remake of Patrice Leconte’s acclaimed 2002 French drama of the same name, Mullens plays a bearded thief opposite Sutherland. The movie see Mullen play a mysterious criminal who rolls into a small town planning to raid the local bank. Mullen is also listed as co-producer on the film.

Larry Mullen Jr

 Mullen revealed: “Overall, it was incredibly difficult. It didn’t come easy, necessarily, but when I looked back at it, I didn’t look as terrified as I actually was.”

He said: “There was nothing for me to bounce back on. It wasn’t like I could call Donald over and say, “Hey Donald, how was that? Was that okay for you? Should we have the lights this way? ‘

“I had no idea, I was wandering around, getting in the way and standing in the wrong places.”

And Larry admitted that as a musician, he sometimes felt out of his depth working on the massive project.

He added: “It was a terrifying experience, but when I was working with Donald I didn’t feel intimidated by him necessarily, I just felt out of my comfort zone and out of my depth.

Larry Mullen Jr.

“Therefore I had to dig deep and rely on instincts that I haven’t used for 25 years. For all those things it was a truly liberating and extraordinary experience, but it wasn’t easy.”

Overall the Dubliner is proud to have taken the leap from stage to screen. After weeks of filming in Canada, Mullen revealed: “I would really love to do it again. But it won’t be down to me, necessarily. It will be down to a director or a casting director taking a chance on a novice. I will never be a career actor, I don’t think.”

He continued: “I don’t think anybody can imagine the life that I’ve been lucky enough to have. It’s been an incredible journey.

“In my 50th year, to have an opportunity to act, and to act with such a great actor as Donald and with a great director like Mary, is not something that you can imagine.

“They’re things that you dream about. Not things that you ever think will become a reality, no.”

The opening night of new Irish film Man on a Train premiered at the Irish Film Institute on January 11th.

NOLO Most Thoroughly Christian Project Yet

Bono

Looking back over a body of work a theologian from Alabama, has classified No Line On The Horizon "It's the most thorough Christian thing they've done yet"

"Like the last two albums, No Line is much more overt in its Christian rendering of the world, what with lyrics like ‘Justified until we die/You and I will magnify/Oh, the Magnificent’ from the album's second track,” commented Steven R. Harmon, an associate professor of divinity at Samford University's Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala.

Bono/ U2/ 360 Tour

“Yet what qualifies this album as thoroughly Christian is not so much its pervasive biblical/theological images as its overarching eschatological vision” As quoted in the Associated Baptist Press.  The themes have got U2 ranked #41 on CCM list of greatest Christen music albums. The Joshua Tree was also included.

We of course know that all U2 songs do not have a Christian view however its hard to avoid the fact that most of the songs have a theme that keeps coming back and frankly seems to keep fans engaged.  The question of what's next has most U2 fans asking for the band to return to their roots to draw on the past and recreate songs that give us back our youth.

Bono/ U2/ 360 Tour / Faith

The fact that if your truly a U2 fan you know that this is not possible. U2 has changed many times already. The evolved U2 has grown with us, moved us towards becoming adults with our own children and our own ideas of whats right for the world.

Yet the idea of looking back to those years drives us to scream RETURN to the past.  We all await this new project with some fear that the band may have created their last project and that we will all have to face the death of  U2. However if you look at U2 with the eyes of a Christian you know that you can't have life with out death. Faith may have more to play with our fear of loss than our fear of change.

U2, Faith, Love and 2013

“The Lord is in the House tonight” Going to Church that’s what going to a U2 concert felt like for a few of the fans this past tour. Faith, Love and Hope rising beyond the 50 thousand screaming fans; all in one single space in hopes to see something magical beyond the walls that held them inside.

U2 Fans

U2 is a band on a mission, and a strong sense of integrity and purpose is the foundation for their music, lyrics, and relationships. They’ve sold somewhere between 100 million and 150 million records (CD’s) winning 17 Grammy Awards and of course inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. U2 survival in a industry where longevity is measured in months, the band has stuck together and racked up years’ worth of smash hits and signature songs.

So where do the boys from Ireland go now? The most successful tour ever and yet the album was considered to be lacking, rushed and not filling for some hard core U2 fans.  U2 has always been able to reinvent their music to fit the times.  Its not often you can follow a band thru your life and still believe in the music. U2 has grown up with their audience and it is very possible their new music will continue to have us follow. “Don’t forget about us,” Bono said during the 360 tours after many shows.

The sense is that the band has seen their better days and that in order for the band to continue forward they must reach into the pop audience and pull them thru to hear the new U2. What does the new U2 sound like? Heck if anyone knows. One thing is for sure they will come back 2013 with a “new” sound that will create some new fans and as always loss some fans.

True U2 fans know and expect change. Change brings growth and growth brings opportunity.

"Hope Your Journey Ends Well"

The Edge  came to the aid of some tourists from San Francisco when he reunited them with their lost passports and luggage this week. The father and his two children were shocked to find that a rucksack that contained their passports was missing when they arrived at Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney. "It was their last night in Ireland and they were supposed to be flying home the next day so the father was panicked," explained hotel reception manager Luighsighe Kenny to the Irish Daily Star.

A spokesperson for U2 said she believed the Edge was walking past Killiney DART Station with a friend and found the luggage. A contact number was left by the pair at the station for the owners of the luggage to contact them. The luggage was then delivered to the American visitors' hotel... With a special gift.

"The Edge left a souvenir U2 CD in the bag which was signed and had the message, 'hope your journey ends well'," explained Luighsighe.

Healthly Bono Ready for Next Challenge

BONO has thanked his family for putting up with him on his sickbed by taking them on a pilgrimage of the world’s holiest regions.

After spending nearly two years recovering from emergency back surgery in 2010 the U2 frontman celebrated by whisking his wife and nippers off on holiday.

He said: “I’ve possibly had the best year personally because I’ve spent most of it with my family. “Having been away on tour for so long, then taking so long to recover from my back injury, it was time for a trip. “I decided to take the family on tour as a little thank you to the kids for being so patient with me. “Because I wasn’t busy with the band we kind of went wandering. Once-in-a-lifetime sort of stuff, places like Africa and Central America. “We also went to Jordan and Palestine, Israel and Peru. “It was really great to have time off.”