Tiger Woods distracted by mystery blonde at U2 concert

Tiger Woods might be at a deafening U2 concert but in a new picture that’s emerged, he seems to be a bit distracted by a mystery blonde.

The under fire golfer was captured exchanging small talk with the woman during the gig in Dallas in October.

Woods is heading for the most expensive split in sports history after his wife told friends: “Divorce is 100% on.”

Elin Nordegren plans to walk away from her marriage to the scandal-hit star with £175million, half of his £350million fortune.

The Swede is said to want rid of him once and for all over his affairs. Friends of the mum-of-two confirmed the split. One said: “She’s made up her mind. There’s nothing to think about, he’s never going to change.”

The deal would eclipse the £100million paid out by US basketball star Michael Jordan to ex Juanita Vanoy. Tiger’s troubles deepened last night after it emerged a woman who claims to have his love child wants £2million for her silence.

Teresa Rogers, 48, had a daughter in 2003 after a fling with the golfer. Rogers is believed to have hired lawyer Gloria Allred who is thought to have negotiated a £3million payout for another of Woods’ supposed lovers, Rachel Uchitel, 34.

Vote for U2's 360 Tour 2009 Fan Video

Editor Note:  In case you lived under a rock for the past year and you found this website by mistake. Here is a small refresher before we ask you to vote. Real fans you know the story by now. So go directly to the bottom for the voting details.

The U2 360° tour that recently ended its first leg in the U.S. has taken the stadium show to a new level. The sheer scope of the production is mind-boggling. It took two years to design and develop, travels on 180 trucks, employs more than 400 people — including 12 system engineer/techs — and uses an astounding amount of audio and video gear. The best thing about the show is the communication and contact between the band and the audience provided by the 170-foot-tall steel structure perched over the stage.

Originally inspired by the Theme Building at Los Angeles’ LAX airport, the four-legged “spider” incorporates all of the lighting, some of the 12 manned cameras and spots, massive speaker arrays and a huge 360-degree vertically expandable LED video screen.

And as ridiculous as it sounds, once the show starts, you forget it’s there: Instead of being the elephant in the room, the structure focuses attention on the band and how they interact with the crowd, both near and far.

The inner ring nearest the main stage gives more than 3,000 fans close proximity to the band, while the outer ring gives the band access to standing and seated concert goers farther out.

At different times during the show, The Edge, Bono, Adam Clayton and even drummer Larry Mullins Jr. use two moving bridges to perform between the areas and are followed by video and audio all the way.

Voting: When the tour started we agreed to collect videos from every show from fans, guests, U2Tourfans team and crew. Its easy for us to say we have 50 to 60 videos from each show. Now the boys don’t mind punters shooting video. They are not cool with people selling them. Most fans would never buy or sell a bootleg video. (we hope) We have a process to post the videos to our channel (U2TOURFANS) or our Fan page on Facebook. We have selected a couple of videos to be the video of the year. Voting starts today and runs thru Monday - We ask that you vote only once per day (12hr) and that you view all the videos before voting.  Lets have some fun - Vote  Now- Please share and post your thoughts.

Leaves in the wind

The Edge  has developed a Web site promoting the five-home development for above Malibu’s Serra Retreat as environmentally friendly.

A proposed residential development above Serra Retreat that has environmentalists pitted against each other will go before the California Coastal Commission next month at its meeting in Huntington Beach.

The project calls for five homes in unincorporated county land just outside Malibu city limits, and has received international media attention because one of the partners in the ownership is David Evans, known to music fans as U2 guitarist The Edge. A proposed 1,600-foot long private road that will connect the City of Malibu to the development is not up for Coastal Commission consideration. The Malibu City Council in January chose to delay a vote on that road until the Coastal Commission rules on the homes.

So what does The Edge have to say about all the noise from his future neighbors

Dear friends,

Thanks for taking the time to look over the information on this website. I never thought I would have to resort to this form of communication, but because of recent inaccurate media coverage, I felt compelled to set the record straight.

I hope you will agree that my partners and I have worked diligently to design homes that meet the highest environmental standards; that fit appropriately and aesthetically into this beautiful part of Southern California; and that are truly remarkable examples of the best architecture and design.

Why did we go to so much effort? Because my family and I love Malibu. We’ve maintained a residence here for more than a decade, and once our new home is finished we expect to spend much of our time here. We want to create something that we can be proud of.

We all acknowledge and understand the concerns arising from our immediate neighbors and neighborhood about the disruption that any building project causes on daily lives. We take this into consideration and are doing our utmost at looking for ways to minimize this disruption.

I hope the facts and background we’ve included on this site will reassure anyone who may have concerns about our project. I know how quickly rumors can spread and misinformation can multiply. We’ve tried to address those as fully as possible.

The California coast is a true natural treasure, and I believe in responsible design that honors such a unique location. I am confident we have done just that.

Thank you again for visiting.


The Edge

Check out the site yourself and hey if you want to live next door and think your going to stop over and have a beer think again. -

U2 Wembley highlights on BBC2

BBC Radio 2 will air a one-hour show with highlights from U2’s August 15th concert at Wembley Stadium. The program is scheduled for next Monday, December 21st, at 7:00 pm (which is 2:00 pm ET in the U.S.). It should be streaming online via this page (see the “Listen Live” link in the upper right). Reported by(via U2tour.de)(@U2) and other media outlets.

Check back with us later today - We have a little treat for you.

U2 Rakes in half a billion dollars

Do you have to ask who one of the Top Touring Artist of the Decade? U2 walks away from the Billboard magazine list recapping their chart tracking for both 2009 and the entire decade. Coming in at #2 with nearly a billion dollars in gross revenue from touring - ($844,157,925) The Stones take top honors by only 25M.

 

Billboard tracks and ranks everything to do with music, here are couple of positions for the boys. Noticeably, streets seems to not be ranked.

U2

  • #1 Touring Artist of 2009
  • #2 Touring Artist of the decade
  • #19 in 2009 “The Billboard 200 Artists” (whatever that means; they were not in “Hot 100 Artists” nor in “Top Artists”)
  • #9 in 2009 Digital Album Artist of 2009
  • #87 in Artists of the Decade (but not in “Hot 100 Artists” of the decade)
  • #44 on “The Billboard 200 Artists” of the decade
  • #25 Top Rock Song Artist of the decade

All That You Can’t Leave Behind

#68 on “The Billboard 200 Albums” of the decade

How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

#124 on “The Billboard 200 Albums” of the decade

No Line On The Horizon

  • #18 The Billboard 200 Albums of 2009
  • #5 Top Rock Albums of 2009
  • #12 Top Digital Albums of 2009
  • #25 Top Digital Albums of the decade
  • #4 Top Alternative Albums of 2009
  • #5 Top European Albums of 2009
  • #18 Top Canadian Albums of 2009

The Best of 1980-1990

#41 Top Catalog Albums of the decade

“Beautiful Day”

#90 Top Rock Songs of the decade

“Magnificent”

#96 European Hot 100 Singles of 2009

“Get On Your Boots”

#99 European Hot 100 Singles of 2009

Resources: Billboard,@U2  

U2 Concert Tickets Break Records in Moscow

Almost 9 thousands of tickets to the concert of U2 in Moscow were bought in the very first three days of open sale, which greatly surpasses ticket sales to similar events in Russia.
      
      Tickets to the concert of the legendary rock band U2 announced to be given on 25 August 2010 in Luzhniki Sports Palace became available from December 11. Earlier, from 9 to 11 December only members of the international fan club of the U2 could book the tickets.
      
      “Though it is more than half a year till the concert, the tickets are already available. Open sale of the U2 concert tickets, which can be bought through Kassir.ru, has already beaten all records of ticket sales in Russia” - the organizers of the concert claim.

U2tourfans refreshed site

A note from the Editor:

Greetings U2 Fans: Over the last year we have been working on the development of a fan based U2 site that can provide you with the most current videos, stories and photos from the current U2 360 tour and of course back ground stories about Bono and the boys.

We too are fans and we know that you have lots of fan based sites to view and to follow. Now with twitter you can get updated info about your fan site without even going to the site.

Since we introduced the site added the U2tourfans tool we have watched our visits grow with us. Currently we have over 20,000 regular daily followers between all our channels. That does not include our first time visitors which we are very proud to say we have passed our 1M visitor mark back around October this past year. We had added guest writers and have hosted twitter chat sessions as well as a very active YOUTUBE channel.

Now we begin to look towards 2010 and we have a lot more in store for you. Today we start our refresh period. This will take a couple of weeks. Once we are done you will have a totally new U2 fan based site to launch us into the new year. 

Take a look at the fresh new look and please leave us some comments. Your feedback builds our community.

We like you have our challenges. This has been a tuff year for lots of people around the world. When we ask for a donation to help off set some of the costs of the site we know we are asking you to make a commitment to us. Our site is totally free. We plan to never charge for any content. Your donation helps us with the costs directly associated with running a site. The development, videos, concerts, and of course 2010 ticket costs all come from your donations.  Please consider any amount and make a contribution today. Thank you for your support and now back to the music.  Cheers Dre 

 

 

U2 Endures

A view from the cheap seats

Editor:  I was looking over my notes and I found some thoughts on Letterman’s show. Its a bit dated. However I thought I would share it. We are working on a couple of new story ideas and we have been kicking back a bit before the start of the New Year.

Dave Letterman Show 2009Once it was announced that U2 would take over the Letterman show I knew I would set the DVR and stay up to watch, at the time I did so out of sense of duty and loyalty to the band. I have always been a fan of the band. It had been some time since I have seen the boys live. I worked in the industry and kind of walked away from attending live shows. In fear of that I could truly enjoy the show from the front of the house after years of being in the back of the house, watching the PUNTERS arrive with their sodas and popcorn.

My first U2 song was New Years Day and while this may sound unbelievable it truly was New Years Eve in St Louis and I was outside with my friends listening to this amazing sound coming from the radio. I was hooked. I locked into everything U2 and played all the songs on my radio show avoiding the program director in fear of losing my job.

So it’s Monday night and the fervor has come back. This time it was stronger for a couple of reasons. I of course wanted to hear some old U2 before the commercialization period but hey let’s face it this was TV and I was not going to get my chance to re-live my college days.

Now I am older and up past my bedtime waiting, listening and yet not at all worried about getting up in the morning. This night was dedicated to the rebirth of U2. As Bono had said before this album is different.  At the time I had no idea what truth he spoke only that I was ready for a new U2 album.

The band has changed, yes, but that’s what makes them endure, what makes them relevant to new fans everyday, what creates the fervor for each and every one of them.  U2’s ability to resurrect themselves new every few years is what has helped them to survive and thrive and what has brought them to a point where they can monopolize Letterman for an entire week.  And every now and then, when the band strikes a certain chord or Bono attempts to make physical contact with his audience—either the one present before him or the one he knows is at the other end of the camera lens—I am reminded, once again, of the fervor this band is capable of creating time and again.

I wait for the tour and know that I will have a chance to introduce the next generation, my twins.



Paul McGuinness and the Piracy Affair

Paul McGuinness and the Piracy Affair

By  Nikki Vanasse

Blackstone, MA

Editor Comment:  We had a chance to invite Nikki back. Please share your thoughts and comments. This is the only way our writers know what you think.

Paul McGuinnessAs Feedback gave way to The Hype, Paul McGuinness was in the right place at the right time; his “baby band” is born.  Never really fancied himself a band manager, but he gave it a whirl.  It was proven to be a match made in heaven; U2 had their lofty goals early on and Paul was a no-nonsense business man in training.  It was only natural that the two forces would come together.  From the beginning, he made all the right moves, including suggesting they all split the songwriting credits and ownership of their music.  His rationale?  If everyone is on an even pay scale, you have a better shot at harmony.  You can’t say Paul McGuinness doesn’t have smarts.

I’ve always admired what Paul McGuinness brought to U2’s table.  He’s got the loyalty and passion of Peter Grant without all the trouble.  He’s also a smart businessman, and you won’t find many who will dispute that.  It’s rare these days, for a band to have a manager so involved in it all, they are all on the same page.  So much so that from the beginning, the four lads agreed that Paul was really “the fifth Beatle”.

I have to admit though, that it is troubling for me to swallow the recent positions that have been taken by Mr. McGuinness.  I’m just surprised that a manager of his caliber isn’t a step ahead on this.  I’m talking first about his position on file sharing, and how ISPs and even government should be involved in creating legislation that will prevent the stealing of music.  

For ISPs to cut off any customer lifting a track for free?  It’s going to be hard, since the internet is not regulated.  And is that what we really want?  Regulation of the internet?  But it’s the only “free forum” we really have, isn’t it?  We like to keep it that way, thank you very much.  It’s not so much that I feel it isn’t right to steal music, but I also think that in an age of multiple releases and box sets and live recordings, it’s a wee bit expensive for my budget.  So where’s the happy medium?  And more importantly, how are the artists who are struggling for recognition and their own following going to really make any money at what they do?  It seems that the lesser-known artists depend on the live show.  Many give there music away and get people to the shows.  Maybe it’s that simple.

It feels strange to me, McGuinness’ rant (I call it a rant only because the MIDEM ‘08 speech went on forever) about the current state of the music industry, blaming everyone for the troubles it’s been experiencing.  These guys have been blessed with some serious coin.  Sure, they had a bomb with the Pop Mart tour, and they’ve been known to lose money and struggle meeting their lofty goals as far as touring goes, but the coin allowed them to REALLY stretch themselves and try driving down some new avenues.  It was their choice and they could afford take the risk.  U2 is not in any financial crisis.

The fact is, the game has changed, and the way we find and acquire music has certainly changed.  It’s a wonderful journey of discovery.  It would seem to me that U2 has enough clout to really shine here and figure out a new business model.  They are in the ultimate position to really lead the charge and make an even BIGGER impression.

Bono/Paul Secondly, this corporate sponsor business.  When I saw the show this past September, I fell in love all over again.  And then Bono ended the night with the list of sponsors he had to thank.  I don’t have a problem with giving thanks for some help, but I miss “thanks for giving us a great life”.  While I did hear that, the nod to Live Nation and Blackberry sounded louder.  He reminded me of a NASCAR driver being interviewed after winning the race.  He sounded uncomfortable with it.  I often wonder if any other fans noticed that.

The industry isn’t in balance, it’s too much business.  When I think of balance I think of Bill Graham.  That guy was great at the business and a BIG FAN of the music.  There’s not enough art represented anymore.  The key is to find out how to push your product out to the people and get somehow compensated for it.  What’s the answer?  We don’t know yet, although it would make sense to make the shows more accessible, more scaled down, and have more live shows on a lower scale, less expensive and draw your crowds.  At this junction, it seems silly to think that file sharing will be stopped.

The times they are a changing.  It’s about what moves the very core of our being.  It’s time that the industry redefines itself because to fight the tides of change on this level, in order to keep a status quo, is futile.  You’ve got to evolve.  And that’s something U2 has proven they can do.

Do you agree or not with Paul McGuinness? Join in the discussion. Share your thoughts -



Brian Eno hated one of U2’s songs,Which one ?

“Where the Streets Have No Name” is the opening track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree. It was released as the album’s third single in August 1987 . Bono was inspired to write the lyrics by the notion that it is possible to identify a person’s religion and income based on the street on which they lived, particularly in Belfast. Amidst difficulties recording the song, producer Brian Eno attempted to erase the song from the recording tapes. The song’s signature is a repeating guitar arpeggio utilizing a delay effect that is played at the beginning and end of the song.

 

The song peaked at #14 in Canada, #10 in The Netherlands and #4 in the United Kingdom. The song has become one of the band’s most popular songs, and it has remained a staple of the band’s live act since the song debuted in 1987 on the Joshua Tree Tour. The song was notably performed on a Los Angeles rooftop for the filming of its music video, which won a Grammy Award for “Best Performance Music Video”. Rolling Stone ranked the song at #28 on its list of the “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.”

Where the Streets Have No Name is more like the U2 of old than any of the other songs on the LP, because it’s a sketch - I was just trying to sketch a location, maybe a spiritual location, maybe a romantic location. I was trying to sketch a feeling. I often feel very claustrophobic in a city, a feeling of wanting to break out of that city and a feeling of wanting to go somewhere where the values of the city and the values of our society don’t hold you down.

An interesting story that someone told me once is that in Belfast, by what street someone lives on you can tell not only their religion but tell how much money they’re making - literally by which side of the road they live on, because the further up the hill the more expensive the houses become.

You can almost tell what the people are earning by the name of the street they live on and what side of that street they live on. That said something to me, and so I started writing about a place where the streets have no name.

Legendary producer BRIAN ENO hated U2’s iconic song WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME so much; he tried to erase it in the recording studio.

The track, from the band’s 1987 album Joshua Tree, went on to become one of their most famous hits, and was named by Rolling Stone magazine number 28 in their 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of all time.

But U2 owe its release and subsequent success to a young technician who physically fought Eno, who produced the record, to stop him from wiping it from existence.

During an appearance on Elvis Costello’s Spectacle TV show, guitarist The Edge reveals, “He had witnessed us try so many ideas it was all grey. So he decided to erase it and start again.

“He sent our junior engineer out of the room so he could erase it. The engineer had to physically grab him and pull him out of the control room.”

This video was directed by Meiert Avis. The song was performed to playback on the rooftop of the Republic Liquor Store at East 7th Street and South Main Street in Los Angeles on 27 March 1987. The scenes including the police shutting the video down due to safety concerns are real. In 1988, the music video won a Grammy Award for “Best Performance Music Video”.

At the beginning of the video, a radio broadcast of the band’s song “Bullet the Blue Sky” can be heard. The main concept of the video was a homage to the Beatles’s final concert, which was on the rooftop of their record company headquarters in London.

Crowds were invited via the radio announcement, which caused the chaos that sparked police to try and stop the shoot. It was later noted that had things been more organized, the video would have looked nothing like the Beatles’s last performance.

Bono Tax WTF?

Bono Tax WTF?

Ireland’s Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has introduced new measures that will hit the Irish rich where they live, literally. Major figures such as Bono and others members of U2, as well as many leading businessmen, are essentially tax exiles from Ireland despite being citizens.

Now however, if you hold an Irish passport and have extensive holdings in Ireland, Lenihan said he will introduce a $300,000-per-year  levy on “all Irish nationals and persons domiciled here who earn more than $1.5 million in income worldwide, and who have capital located here worth more than $7.4 million.”



U2 scores big in 2009

U2 Top Grossing Concerts 2009

The concert industry continued a recession-proof boom in 2009, with U2’s “360 Tour”leading the way, according to year-end numbers issued by ticket resale marketplace StubHub.

The eBay unit’s gross dollar sales for concert tickets increased 40% from 2008, marking a second consecutive year of growth at that level, while there was a 65% increase in concert ticket volume.

U2’s elaborate show was the top-grossing tour of the year, as well as the top-grossing concert tour in StubHub’s 10-year history, outdoing “Hannah Montana”and Police tours in 2007-08 and Madonna’s “Sticky and Sweet”trek of last year.

Trailing the Irish band as top grossers this year were Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, the Dave Matthews Band, Elton John, the Jonas Brothers, Kenny Chesney and Metallica.

U2 was responsible for nine of the 10 top-grossing individual concerts of 2009, with a pair of shows at New Jersey’s Giants Stadium heading the list. A Springsteen venue-closing concert at Giants Stadium ranked 10th.

 

U2 Best Album 2009 Rolling Stone Poll

U2’s No Line On The Horizon tops Rolling Stone’s Best Albums of 2009 poll 

U2’s latest album No Line On The Horizon has emerged as the topper in Rolling Stone magazine’s Best Albums of 2009 poll.

The release is U2’s 12th music album, and has beaten Bruce Springsteen’s Working on a Dream, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix and Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3, reports Contactmusic.

Meanwhile, U2 have also scored the Best Song of 2009 honour with Moment of Surrender.

The song beat Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys and Bruce Springsteen’s Outlaw Pete among the editors’ picks.

Christopher Lawrence released a free bootleg remix

As the buzz increased tonight we thought we would introduce the fact that Chris has released a free bootleg remix of U2’s massive single ‘I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight’. We have created a link for the download below.

The single is the fifth track from U2’s new album ‘No Line on the Horizon’. It was one of the highlights of U2’s recent European leg of the tour.

‘I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight’ was originally released in the UK on September 7th by Mercury. Other artists who have released remixes include Dirty South, Fish Out Of Water, and Redanka.

Christopher Lawrence kicks up the energy level a notch with this hot new bootleg remix built around a groovy acid bass line and syncopated percussion. Use of the original vocals create dancefloor tension in the build up out of the breakdown. Classic progressive house and trance sounds were used effectively but sparingly to give the track room to breathe.

Christopher Lawrence Christopher says of the remix “being given the opportunity to remix one of U2’s songs was a dream come true. Bono’s voice is a such a signature sound to the band’s identity, I felt it was important to use as much of the original vocals of the song as possible to maintain the integrity of the song”.

U2 collaborated with will.i.am in the creation of the track. It was first developed by Brian Eno under the title “Diorama” during a break in the recording sessions. Several of the song’s lyrics were influenced by Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Bono stated to Q magazine that the lyrics “[sound] like a T-shirt slogan to me”, also noting that it was No Line on the Horizon’s equivalent to “Beautiful Day”.

U2 Tour Should Gross $750 Million

Bono / Paul The U2 tour will probably gross $750 million by the time it finishes in 2010, according to band manager Paul McGuinness.

He told the Financial Times that the 44 sold-out dates since June, which saw the band play in front of 3.2 million people, grossed about $320 million.

With a similar number of dates planned for 2010, he calculates the full tour should gross about $750 million including merchandise sales, dwarfing the $389 million the act grossed on the Vertigo tour in 2005 and 2006.

He says using the 360º stage has enabled each venue to increase capacity by one-fifth. Partly because of the custom-built, claw-shaped set, the tour costs are about $750,000 a day, “whether we play or not.”

He says the tour should still be “highly profitable” but very often that gross figure is carelessly written about as having gone “straight into Bono’s pocket.”

McGuinness also told the FT about the importance of attention to detail when auditing the band’s payments from record companies and publishers.

“On not one of those occasions did we fail to uncover an underpayment,” he said.

 

No Line references to God

Many people have argued that U2 is really a Christian band that has achieved the ultimate crossover success.  Others say they were a Christian band that have fallen away from their faith.  I argue that they are a band that express their whole lives in their music, faith, love, dirt, everything.  It shouldn’t surprise people when someone who has a lot of faith then expresses it in their music. 

Many people see the Joshua Tree album as the defining moment in the argument, particularly the song I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. 

Critics point to this song as U2’s declaration of faithlessness (This was a hot topic when I was younger and one of the reasons my mom didn’t want me to listen to U2).  I say it is only a natural response to the difficulties of maintaining faith. 

If you start at the top of a mountain traveling to a village in the valley, as you wind your way down the trail you sometimes reach points you don’t see your destination anymore.  Sometimes during these times it seems hard to travel on but when you see your destination again you receive renewed energy and pick up the pace.  Some think U2 in …Looking For are describing one of those moments you find yourself on a particularly long stretch of road were you can’t see the village below.  The point is, though, you keep walking and you will reach it eventually. The best list of bible references has been maintained Angela Pancella( @U2).We have included some of Angela’s work here. 

“We’ve found different ways of expressing it, and recognized the power of the media to manipulate such signs. Maybe we just have to sort of draw our fish in the sand. It’s there for people who are interested. It shouldn’t be there for people who aren’t.”—Bono on faith, quoted in “U2 at the End of the World”

No Line On The Horizon

“Magnificent”

“It was a joyful noise” — Psalm 100:1: “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.” (King James; see also Psalm 66:1, Psalm 81:1, Psalm 95:1-2, Psalm 98:4,6)

“Justified till we die” — the concept of being “justified” shows up all over the place, particularly in Paul’s letters, see for instance Romans 8:30: “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (King James)

“You and I will magnify” — Luke 1:46-55 is the song of Mary known as the Magnificat for its first line, rendered in King James as “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

“Moment of Surrender”

“It’s not if I believe in love/But if love believes in me” — echoes 1 John 4:10: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

“At the altar of the dark star” — See “Slide Away” (below)

“Unknown Caller”

“3:33 when the numbers fell off the clockface” — see the cover art for All That You Can’t Leave Behind and its reference to Jeremiah 33:3: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Bono told Rolling Stone, “It’s known as ‘God’s telephone number.’”

“Cease to speak that I may speak” — may reference Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

“I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”

“Is it true that perfect love drives out all fear” — more 1 John 4, this time 18: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

“Stand Up Comedy”

“I can stand up for hope, faith, love” — 1 Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (See “Elvis Ate America.”)

“God is love”— 1 John 4:16: “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” (I’m just going to start calling this album 1 John 4 from now on.)

“White As Snow”

“Who can forgive forgiveness where forgiveness is not/Only the lamb as white as snow” — John 1:29: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (Also see Exodus 12 for a description of the sacrificial lamb of Passover being without blemish.)

“Cedars of Lebanon”

Oh gosh, mentions of the cedars of Lebanon are scattered throughout the Bible. See Song of Solomon 5:15: “His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.”

Go, shout it out, rise up -

Salome: The [Axtung Beibi] Outtakes

In the winter of 1990, U2 were hard at work in Hansa Ton recording studios in Berlin, Germany. The ultimate result of this effort would be the November 1991 release of their next album, Achtung Baby. However, in December 1990 that album was a great ways off, because U2 (unlike most other bands) entered the studio with very few lyric or song ideas.

Instead, U2 came into the studio to create as well as record. Here they sought inspirations for songs from playing together. They would etch out ideas while improvising around some basic idea, or riff. Since all this jamming was taking place in a recording studio, even the simplest of ideas was captured on tape. The highlights of these tapes were then edited down and compiled into “working tapes” recorded onto DAT (Digital Audio Tape) cassettes. Tapes of this nature were used to hold possible song ideas, as well as a means for Brian Eno (and others) to hear the band’s progress and make suggestions about the music.

In April of 1991, it was announced that the tapes had found their way into the hand’s of bootleggers. Since then, the U2 working tapes have been pressed in a variety of forms:

May 1991: The New U2: Rehearsals and Full Versions
The debut pressing of the sessions. Available on vinyl only, as two separate double album packages. The covers were identical except for the colors of the lettering. One cover featured silver lettering, while the other had gold. In this pressing both LP’s of the silver lettered album proved to be identical. This resulted in four LP’s being released, but with only three LP’s worth of material.

June 1991: The New U2: Rehearsals and Full Versions
It was widely rumored that the set had been pressed again, but this time without any duplication between the LP’s. If true, this meant that there were now four LP’s worth of material available.
 

November 1991: The New U2: Rehearsals and Full Versions. This time the pressings were released as a boxed set of 5 LP’s. Surprisingly, there was no duplication within the set. All of these LP’s were pressed on translucent vinyl, in either blue or green (pink pressings have also been rumored).

February 1992: Salome: The [Axtung Beibi] Outtakes This was the release that had been deemed “too hot” to ever be pressed. The complete three and half hours worth of material were now available as a triple compact disc set. Since these CD’s were mastered from the original DAT recordings, there’s no quality loss between the original working tapes and these CD’s. Thus the sound quality is far superior to the LP’s. The title (Salome) is believed to have been a working title used during the Achtung Baby sessions, but it’s not clear which song it was refering to. With these releases U2 found themselves in the dubious position of being:

“the first major band to have studio sessions released before the finished product was either released, abandoned or the group broke up”.

U2’s manager Paul McGuiness reacted to the bootlegs by releasing a press statement accusing the bootleggers of cheating the fans by passing off inferior material. He also stated that the finished product had evolved by leaps and bounds from what was being illegally circulated.

Regardless of the superior polish of the finished material released as Achtung Baby, the material found on the bootlegs is fascinating in and of itself. The most compelling aspect of the bootleged material is that, rather than offering slightly alternative versions of tracks found on the finished record, they instead reveal the songwriting process itself. Familiar solos, bass lines, bridges and riffs abound, and there is also a host of interesting songs that didn’t find their way onto Achtung Baby.

 

 

U2
S A L O M E
The [Aktung Beibi] Outtakes
1991/1993

CD 1

01 - Salome #1
02 - Where Did It All Go Wrong #1
03 - Where Did It All Go Wrong #2
04 - Heaven And Hell
05 - Doctor Doctor
06 - Jitterbug Baby
07 - Got To Get Together
08 - Salome #2
09 - Here Comes The Sunset
10 - Chances Away
11 - Chances Away (Short)
12 - I Feel Free #1


CD 2

01 - I Feel Free #2
02 - Sweet Baby Jane
03 - Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses #1
04 - Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses #2
05 - Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses #3
06 - Take Today (Instrumental)
07 - Even Better Than The Real Thing
08 - Blow Your House Down #1
09 - Blow Your House Down #2
10 - Laughing In The Face Of Love
11 - Wake Up Dead Man
12 - Take Today (Vocal)


CD 3

01 - Calling Out To Someone
02 - Laughing In The Face Of Love #2
03 - Acrobat
04 - Salome #3
05 - Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses #4
06 - Wake Up Dead Man (Mix)
07 - [Unnamed] (Instrumental)
08 - Salome #4
09 - Salome #5
10 - Salome #6
11 - Salome #7
12 - Salome #8

 

There were now 5 LP’s worth of material available, which came to a staggering total of 3 hours, 27 minutes, and 28 seconds.