U2's Bono named Dubliner

Irish rock singer Bono has just been nominated Dubliner of the Year. The U2 singer, no stranger to awards, claimed he was blindsided but delighted by the title and said being named Dubliner of the Year was the perfect way to wrap up a banner year for the Irish band.

“Dublin is a state of mind and a place. What’s being a Dub? I don’t know, but I am one and proud of it through and through. The messy head, all the earnest conversation, our spunkiness and punkiness, our sense of fun, the self-deprecating over-confidence.

“We are so many contradictions. Dubliner of the Year crowns a great year for me and the band, not everyone’s experience I know. I’m feeling very blessed and grateful, and deep down in my gut, I know this city has what it takes to be a world-beater once again. It already is, in my head.”

Paul Trainer the Editor of The Dubliner, the publication behind the award,  told the press that Bono was the natural winner for the 2010 title.

“Bono has inspired many of the articles we have published over the last ten years. Wherever he goes, he takes a bit of Dublin with him and in the last year he has taken our city to every corner of the earth. He is a Dubliner who makes us proud to be The Dubliner,” he said.

Fellow Dubliner Danny O’Donoghue from rising new Irish band The Script praised his hero as a success story which should be celebrated.

“Bono has got what most musicians search for all there life, heart. His belief changes others. He made it possible for Dubliners to dream, to think ‘what if?’ His belief and drive as a Dubliner got him to where he is today and we all need to be reminded that we drink the same water. So I congratulate Bono and say well done, keep flying the flag for Dublin and Ireland,” he said.



Curfew Ends U2 Show !

U2 360 Tour / Bono Curfew Ends U2 Show before “Moment of Surrender” was performed strict curfews of 10:30 PM local time struck before the band could start MOS.  The boys closed the should with “WITH or Without You” the first time MOS had not closed this tour. The boys were off the stage by 10:28 PM Local time.  Other setlist changes can be viewed from our rolling setlist list. 

Fears of a full-blown sci-fi convention soon took over as the band hit the stage with David Bowie’s Space Oddity blasting over the speakers.

But any thoughts that U2’s mind might not be on the here-and-now were quickly erased as the band launched into their anthem for living in the moment All that You Can’t Leave Behind’s Beautiful Day.

It was an inspired start and one that got the crowd on side early, the audience a slave to Bono’s every thrust and fist pump.

Bono ended the song by trailing off into a short take of In My Life - a nod to the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, on this very day three decades ago.

By the end of the night he had sung snippets of Rain, Dear Prudence, All You Need is Love and Stand by Me as well as replaced the lyrics to the band’s ode to Martin Luther King, Pride (In the name of love) to honor the slain Beatle - “1980, December 8, A shot rings out in a New York sky…”.

It was a touching moment and a reminder Bono is capable of shining the spotlight on others with as much intensity as he hogs it for himself.

When he does grab the crowd’s attention he has them in the palm of his hand, hamming it up along the band’s circular runway, mugging for the camera, taking photos of audiences members on their phones, as well as dragging one lucky woman up on stage to dance with, sing to and lean his head on her lap.

He even delivered a nod to Brisbane’s suburbs before one track, name-checking West End, the Valley and Paddington.

With any stadium show there are plenty of distractions and U2 360° had distractions like few others - the massive 72-foot screen pumps out fluid animation synchronised with the live sound and the light show on stage is truly awesome.

But there was little danger the decadent stage - what Bono affectionately referred to as “the spaceship” - would steal the show.

What mechanical monstrosity could overshadow a set list which contained flawless takes of Where the Streets Have No Name, City of Blinding Lights, Walk On, I Will Follow and Mysterious Ways?

No Line on the Horizon is the band’s commercially under-looked new album and two of its finest cuts were on show last night - Magnificent and Moment of Surrender.

Both tracks seamlessly fitted in with the classic material, a fact which hopefully inspires more fans to give the record another listen.

Miss Sarajevo was a heart-wrenching highlight, Bono tastefully handling Luciano Pavarotti’s operatic bridge, while In a Little While was heart-warmingly sweet, especially with footage of an astronaut from the International Space Station singing the lyric about a man taking a rocket ship into the sky at the songs climax.

An unreleased song, North Star, received an airing but the most obscure choice of the night was a brief run through October’s Rejoice as Bono paid tribute to recently released Burmese political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi.

With representatives of Amnesty International walking candles out on to the stage, Bono made it clear he would not be rejoicing for long with more than 2000 political prisoners still detained in the country.

Following a short break Bono returned to a darkened stage looking like an extra from Tron.

Wearing a laser suit with a bright red glowing microphone, he led the band through one of Achtung Baby’s finest cuts which previously had little more than a brief live outing on the Zoo TV tour - Ultraviolet (Light My Way).

They followed with crowd favourite With or Without You which had the audience singing like an English football crowd before the band said their goodnights to the strains of Elton John’s Rocket Man.

The spaceship had landed but it was a typically life-affirming and out-of-this-world flight.



U2 360° Heading To Chile

Live Nation Global Touring  today confirmed that U2 will return to Chile. The U2 360° Tour will visit Estadio Nacional in Santiago  on Friday March 25th, 2011 and special guests on the night will be Muse.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public on December 16th and  to Entel customers paying only with CMR Falabella cards on Monday, December 13th and Tuesday 14th via Ticketmaster.

 U2.com subscribers can enter a special advance PRESALE  beginning this FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10th at 10am (local) and running until this SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12th at 5pm (local).

Subscribers will be emailed ahead of this presale with details of timings.

U2 Brisbane Review

It was a beautiful night for U2 fans as the heavens smiled on the Irish supergroup, keeping the rain at bay last night for the first of their two shows at Suncorp Stadium, in Brisbane.

While the band’s 360 Degrees tour is a ”rain, hail or shine” extravaganza that delivers even in a deluge, the crowd of 45,000  some of who had camped outside the venue since Tuesday night to secure a front-row spot  were counting their blessings with just some early drizzle.

The spirit of John Lennon loomed large as Bono performed Stand By Me in honour of the 30-year anniversary of Lennon’s death before dedicating In the name of love to him as well.

Bono captivated the crowd and one woman in particular who he pulled up on stage, serenading and dancing with her during a sweet version of In a little while.

The set list was peppered with old and new hits… I will Follow, Mysterious Ways, Vertigo, Where the Streets have No Name, Elevation, Ultraviolet and so on.

With a massive catalogue there was always bound to be the odd song missed out (no Desire, Even Better than the Real thing, New Years Day) but how much can you cram into 2 hours and 15 minutes?

Bono got the gig of to one hell of start praising his Brisbane fans.

“Allow us to let us kiss your arse for one moment. Thank you for the life you’ve given us.”

Bono strutted around the stage, his natural domain with the Edge and Adam Clayton more than happy doing the occasional lap as well.

A brief sprinkle of rain was all we got, enough though for a mechanical umbrella to deploy and cover drummer Larry Mullen Jnr. Yep, this stage has got it all.

The importance of this day 30 years ago when John Lennon was murdered was not forgotten with Bono paying tribute to the singer.

You knew all the words, all the songs (perhaps fumbling through of the lyrics of the newer ones) and the crowd was in fine voice.

Bono appeared to have a couple of blips, at one point tearing out his ear piece and on another occasion losing his voice momentarily during With Or Without You.

A criticism? Hmmm….It should have finished one song earlier… With or Without you would have been perfect but, not unlike the monstrous stage they just had to go that one step further.

Full Set List

  • Return Of The Stingray Guitar
  • Beautiful Day
  • I Will Follow
  • Get On Your Boots
  • Magnificent
  • Mysterious Ways
  • Rain (snippet)
  • Elevation
  • Until The End Of The World
  • I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
  • Stand By Me (snippet)
  • North Star
  • Pride (In The Name Of Love)
  • In A Little While
  • Miss Sarajevo
  • City Of Blinding Lights
  • Vertigo
  • Thunderstruck (snippet)
  • I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight
  • Two Tribes (snippet)
  • Sunday Bloody Sunday
  • Scarlet
  • Walk On / You’ll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
  • One
  • Dear Prudence (snippet)
  • Where The Streets Have No Name
  • All You Need Is Love (snippet)
  • Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
  • With Or Without You
  • Moment of Surrender



Will.i.am on U2

The American music star, who is a member of the Black Eyed Peas, has revealed that he is a huge fan of the U2 lead singer, finding him incredibly motivational.

The traits he particularly admires in the 50-year-old Irish star are his dedication to making the world a better place and his ability to continue to produce great music hits.

“I look at U2 and think, ‘Wow, I hope our group can stay together that long and still make brilliant music,’” Will.i.am told British newspaper The Sun. “And just being around Bono and the guys is inspiring. It’s like how a government should be. Bono for president of the world, I say.”

Will.i.am revealed that he would like nothing better than to produce U2’s next album, at the same time as divulging that he has been suffering from an ear problem called tinnitus.

The issue means that Will experiences a constant ringing in his ears all the time, and music is the only thing that makes it feel better.

“I don’t know what silence sounds like any more. Music is the only thing which eases my pain,” he said. “I can’t be still. Work calms me down. I can’t be quiet as that’s when I notice the ringing in my ears. There’s always a beep there every day, all day. Like now. I don’t know exactly how long I’ve had this but it’s gradually got worse.”



Transformed for U2

It’s the biggest rig Lang Park has seen since Sam Backo.

But this monstrous structure will be well gone by the time the Broncos go around next year.

The centrepiece of U2 360° – the Irish supergroup’s current tour – started being assembled at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium yesterday but anyone could be forgiven for thinking a HG Wells novel had come to life.

The massive stage and “claw” supporting rig weighs about 590 tonnes and takes up almost half the stadium’s playing field.

The four-legged structure boasts 92 speakers as well a 22 metre, 5000 pixel full HD screen, which rises up and down from the height of 30 metres.

The structure takes five days to assemble - one day to lay down the stadium flooring, three days to build the stage and one day to attach the lighting and sound equipment.

Tour director Craig Evans said the size of the production dwarfed any project in which he had been involved.

“The original theory Bono had [of] a show ‘in the round’ the idea was to make it so big that it makes the stadium feel small and creates an intimate feeling in a stadium atmosphere,” he said.

“This show certainly succeeds in doing that. This stage does make the stadium feel small - it will create a feeling of intimacy with the band to the audience.”

With Brisbane suffering through a recent bout of wet weather, stage manager George Reeves said Bono would be pushing ahead with the Suncorp Stadium gigs in spite of any downpour.

“He loves singing in the rain, in fact he loves singing in the rain so much that he sings Singin’ in the Rain every time it rains so even if it’s raining everyone should be prepared to enjoy the show as well,” he said.

That is good news for the small group of U2 fans who began lining up outside Suncorp Stadium as early as Monday morning.

Sydney woman Katie Powell has been to every Australian U2 show since 1993.

She said the band’s recent Melbourne show was very involving and stacked up well against previous tours.

“You are just surrounded all around by it and you see them move around the stage,” she said.

“They don’t stick to one part, everyone in the stadium has a fair view of the show.”



Forget U2, Stones for Best Band

The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Guns N’ Roses and U2 have had their day as best group.

Download the latest by the National, Hot Chip and Broken Bells. If you’re thinking, “who?” Well, they’re relatively obscure groups that have produced some of the best new albums.

Brooklyn-based the National has made a great recording — “High Violet” — after a decade of refining understated rock anthems on four previous albums. Tracks such as “Afraid of Everyone” simmer nicely. Released on 4AD, with “You Were a Kindness” and other bonus tracks. Rating: ***½.

U.K. electropop rockers Hot Chip started out making dance songs such as “Ready for the Floor.” The title track of “One Life Stand” (EMI) has them settling in for a long-term relationship. Their too-cool-for-school minimalism will appeal to fans of the xx and the Chemical Brothers. Rating: ***.

Put on the Broken Bells’ eponymous debut CD (Columbia) and the opener, “The High Road,” jumps out with its slick chords. No surprise it’s catchy: The band’s members include Brian Burton, better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, mastermind of numerous hits. Rating: ***.

Danger Mouse is also a driving force on the Sparklehorse CD, “Dark Night of the Soul” (Capitol/ Parlophone). The long list of guest vocalists includes Suzanne Vega on “Man Who Played God” and Iggy Pop on “Pain.” Rating: ***.

I Am Kloot, “Sky at Night” (EMI). These Britons often are compared with fellow Mancunians Elbow, for whom success also was long delayed. They shine on ballads such as “To the Brink.” Elbow’s Guy Garvey co-produces. Rating: ***.

What is it with Manchester? Also hailing from the city are Delphic, whose dance moves on “Acolyte” (Polydor) recall New Order; Everything Everything, with a genre-defying debut “Man Alive” (Geffen); and the duo Hurts, whose first album “Happiness” (RCA) aims to capture the heights of the Pet Shop Boys. They don’t succeed, but try hard. Ratings: **.

A review copy from Jagjaguwar records, in a plain box and labeled “Public Strain,” had me baffled with its weird glacial melodies and off-key singing. It turned out to be a thing of beauty, the second album by Women, a misleadingly named Canadian quartet of guys. Rating: ***½.

Fans of Women’s psychedelic raves probably will appreciate Atlanta band Deerhunter, whose “Halcyon Digest” on 4AD is drenched in guitar fuzz. Rating: ***.

Second albums are often the hardest. Grinderman, Nick Cave’s latest band, stakes its claim to greatness with a rough- hewn series of riffs on “Grinderman 2” (Mute/Anti). Rating ***½. The impressive New York act MGMT isn’t so successful with its sophomore “Congratulations” (Sony): doubtless they’ll bounce back. 

U2 To Join Oprah Specials

U2 is tipped to join the A-list celebrities appearing on the Oprah Winfrey television specials downunder, according to The Australian newspaper.

The shows will be filmed at the Sydney Opera House Dec. 14, the first at 10 a.m. and the second at 5 p.m.

U2 is performing at ANZ Stadium in Sydney that night as part of a tour through Live Nation Australia and Michael Coppel Presents.

U2's Monster 2nd Downunder Show

Last night two of pop music’s superpowers came together for a pulsating night at Docklands.

Just over 60,000 fans crammed into an expanded-capacity Etihad Stadium to witness U2 360, the Irish superstar band’s bold achievement in stadium rock.

But before Bono and co landed, the American hip-hop superstar Jay-Z was entrusted with opening the monster double-bill.

He provided U2 with a winning mix of pop-cultural prestige and commercial supremacy few acts could, and he undoubtedly widened the night’s demographic. His wife, singer-actress Beyonce, however, was not to be seen.

Jay-Z also delivered pop hits, none better than last year’s epic Empire State of Mind, which drew the night’s first big singalong.

Still, much of his set was a little jarring for this rock-loving crowd and last night was unequivocally about U2.

It’s not difficult to get caught up in the logistics of the U2 production - the ”claw” is 50 metres high and carries 590 tonnes of equipment. But the stage, while vast, feels uncluttered and gives the band access to the crowd on all sides.

Almost miraculously, U2 delivers a sense of intimacy.

The sight of the four mates from Dublin, who have endured for more than 30 years together, entering the packed stadium by walking through the crowd as David Bowie’s Space Oddity blasts out is genuinely thrilling. It’s a nod of gratitude to fans, an acknowledgment that the quartet and their followers have stuck tight for so long.

Yet Bono was the irrepressible star last night. He used the elongated catwalks to strut, shadow box and spider dance through early parts of the set.

The U2 classics - With or Without You, I Will Follow, Where the Streets Have No Name, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Beautiful Day and One - were delivered in elaborate fashion.

Recent tracks Get On Your Boots and Magnificent were helped in part by Bono namechecking in the intro St Kilda, Richmond and Fitzroy. The gesture to Melbourne was lapped up.

City of Blinding Lights and Vertigo were also given fresh energy.

Songs regularly segued into others in almost mash-up style. Bad borrowed from All I Want Is You. And even the rain held off despite dire forecasts.

As for the sound, it was excellent to fair depending on where you were in the stadium.

”We’ve been doing this a while,” Bono said. ”But we’re still figuring out so much about music … Keep coming to see us, we’re still pilgrims.”

He then spoke of a strong connection the band has with Melbourne and launched into I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.

The band also played two new, unreleased tracks.

Both were strident efforts demonstrating that these rock veterans retain their hunger.

U2 perform at last show for Hamish and Andy

THOUSANDS of Hamish and Andy fans were treated to a free mini U2 concert this afternoon when the band performed Desire and Vertigo live on stage at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

The radio pair were performing their last national drive time show at the free event when the Irish rock stars made their surprise appearance while the boys were fooling around singing their own song, “We are better than U2”. 

Celebrating “pants-off” Friday, Hamish and Andy appeared on stage dressed in colonial style hats and jackets and short black boxers to begin the show

U2 then joined the duo on the couch on stage for a relaxed chat.

“The last time we spoke to you guys was on the phone in France, to actually meet you in the flesh… a bit too much flesh…” The Edge said.

Other special guests included Michael Paynter, John Farnham and Daryl Braithwaite. 

 

Farnham joked about following “you two and following U2 too,” before performing for the crowd. After Farnham wished them farewell, the boys teased about Farnham’s own farewell tours - at eight and counting.

At the end of the show the boys thanked their parents who sat in the audience and their girlfriends Megan Gale and Zoe Foster.

Hamish thanked Andy by giving him an “Andy” necklace and got himself a “Hamish” necklace.

Hamish told the crowd, “We really don’t know what it is we’re going to do next year,” before Andy added, “In the words of a great man, it’s far from over.”

The popular duo have been touring the country playing live shows for the past week as part of their farewell Thank You tour.

They announced their departure from the daily drive time show earlier this year to pursue their television careers, but are yet to announce any details.

But the boys won’t be gone from radio for good. They return next year with one drive show a week on Fridays for the national Today network. They will be replaced Monday to Thursdays by Fifi Box and Jules Lund.


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/u2-perform-at-last-show-for-radio-stars-hamish-and-andy/story-e6frfn09-1225965373032#ixzz173DANt8v



Bono says financial woes hurting AIDS fight

U2 TOUR FANS 360 Show SYDNEY (Reuters) - Financial tough times in developed economies are undercutting efforts to stop the global spread of AIDS, U2 lead singer Bono said on Tuesday.

“Times are hard in the Western world,” the Irish rock star and campaigner told Reuters after launching World Aids Day, marked around the world on December 1, at Sydney’s Opera House.

Bono said agencies established to arrest acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) “were fighting hard for funding” nearly three decades after the disease was first diagnosed.

He added that more money was needed to meet a target set by the Global Fund to eliminate the transmission of HIV from pregnant mothers to their unborn children by 2015.

According to the United Nations children’s fund UNICEF, over a thousand babies are born each day in Africa with HIV and about half of the HIV-positive women in Africa do not get the drugs they need to prevent transmission of the virus to their babies.

“In recessionary times, people have to tell their politicians this is important to them,” Bono said.

An estimated 33.3 million people worldwide had the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS in 2009, according to the latest figures issued by UNAIDS. There were 26.2 million in 1999.

There is no cure and no commercially available vaccine but combinations of drugs called antiretrovirals can keep patients healthy. However, the virus stays in the body forever and can reactivate if people stop taking the drugs.

“Some people think that the pandemic is on its way out and it’s job done,” Bono said. “It is really not so.”

(Reporting by James Regan, editing by Mike Collett-White and Paul Casciato)



U2's massive first Melbourne concert

U2 has proven that size does matter in the world of rock concerts.

Their 360 Degrees Australian tour, launched in Melbourne tonight, revolves around a super-sized claw-shaped stage that managed to dwarf Etihad Stadium.

It was hard not to be in awe of the Claw; the kind of thing only the biggest band in the world could pull off - they have always dreamt large.

The structure - shoehorned in the middle of the venue - moved all the state of the art screens, lights and speakers above the band for the 360 degree view the tour boasts.

“What do you think of our space station?,” Bono asked the crowd.

No one works a stadium like Bono, dropping in shoutouts to Fitzroy, St Kilda and Richmond before lost single Magnificent.

But technology and stadium staging aside it’s those songs that drew 60,000 fans out tonight.

Beautiful Day and I Will Follow set the agenda; a clever mix of their biggest (I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Mysterious Ways, Vertigo) and best (Bad, One, Miss Sarajevo) to appeal to their wildly diverse and wildly loyal fanbase.

It means Bono can quote Leonard Cohen in one song, AC/DC in another, even Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Only U2 could manage to get rap icon Jay-Z to open for them, a man whose “limitless talent” Bono praised.

The rapper added a verse to U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday during their set.

While his lyrical skill was lost on some members of the crowd during his own set - hopefully some minds were opened as Jay-Z and his band showed how hip hop can work live.

His brilliant set featured anthems like 99 Problems, Run This Town and Dirt Off Your Shoulder but it took the instant classic Empire State of Mind to get the rapper the respect he deserved.

Sadly rumored appearances by Kanye West and Jay-Z’s wife Beyonce did not eventuate.

And luckily the predicted rain was another no-show.

Bono Comments on PM AU World Aids Day

THE rock singer and activist Bono took some time out from his tour schedule to meet the Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, at the Sydney Opera House yesterday.

The pair had a 45-minute meeting with the co-chairmen of Make Poverty History, Andrew Hewett and Tim Costello, where they discussed Australia’s aid program and the challenge of global development.

A spokesman for Mr Rudd said Bono praised Australia’s bipartisan support to reduce poverty globally.



Slipped into Sydney

Slipped into Sydney on Saturday - as he has done many times before - and wasted no time heading out to some of his favourite watering holes.

The renowned Irish rock institution, who spent two weeks at Bungan Beach with his family in 2006 completely undetected, casually strolled into Rose Bay nosherie Catalina yesterday for a seafood feed with guitarist The Edge (aka David Evans) and the eatery’s owner, Michael McMahon.

Earlier in the day he had met with Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd to discuss poverty and aid.

On Saturday night, the sunnies-obsessed singer arrived unannounced at Icebergs Dining Room.

And, like all diners, he had to wait for a table at the “no bookings” restaurant.

“Bono was having a red cocktail but didn’t get to finish it because a table then became available,” said an onlooker.

Bono has been travelling with an entourage of five, including a burly Irish security guy.

While he will turn the Opera House and Harbour Bridge red tomorrow, the U2 360 tour actually will kick off in Melbourne on Wednesday night.

U2 By the Numbers

The tour, with a daily running cost of $850,000, arrived on six 747 jets to be assembled by a crew of 130.

“You compare a tour by the number of trucks they use,” production manager Jake Berry said. “The Rolling Stones ran 46 trucks. We are running 55. This is the biggest.”

The centrepiece of U2-360 is a so-called claw, an imposing bug-like structure that houses 200 tonnes of light, sound and video magic.

U2-360 stage designer Willie Williams said: “The breakthrough was to make it so big that it becomes part of the stadium. But, in a funny way, it’s invisible because the performance area is not connected to the structure.”

Indeed, the stadium of fans surrounding the claw and stage become part of the show, too.

“It’s a cross between a rock show and a sporting event because you can see the other people,” Williams says.

U2 redefined stadium rock with their ZooTV and PopMart tours. But U2 bassist Adam Clayton says U2-360 is revolutionary. “We know it’s a game changer,” he said. “These football stadiums can be quite imposing for music. But this has a different atmosphere. There is humour to it, almost something ridiculous about it. “You think ‘How is this going to work?”’

In terms of box office receipts, U2-360 is working incredibly well.

It took $123 million to be the highest grossing tour of 2009.

A back injury flattened the band’s lead singer, Bono, and tour profits, for most of this year.

U2-360 resumed in August with sellout dates across Europe. US dates are scheduled next year.

U2’s manager, Paul McGuinness, confirmed the $850,000 daily running cost of U2-360. “That’s the overhead cost of being out here whether we play or not,” McGuinness said. “It’s important we play regularly. There is a discipline involved.

“Even though we’re spending a lot of money, we’re making a lot of money.”

McGuinness knows U2-360 is a new model for stadium rock. “We’ve always done landmark productions, or so we think,” he said. “Being able to play in the round, in stadiums, is the holy grail.”

Put simply, in the round means up to 30,000 more seats, which equals lower ticket prices.

“I can assure you the costs of putting this show on are the highest in history,” McGuinness said.

“But the audience looks at the show and can see what we spent the money on.

“They see an incredible spectacle.”

Clayton agreed: “There is a financial risk when you do something that hasn’t been done before. It’s a bit like inventing the wheel.

“We’ve now proved you can do a show by hanging light and sound off a structure. But to build that structure is a very high price. You have to make sure your tour is doing all right.” Clearly, U2 are astute businessmen.

But McGuinness said the numbers must never get in the way of creativity.

“The reason for being good in business is so you can do what you like creatively,” McGuinness said.

“By and large, we have succeeded. There aren’t too many instances of the business getting the better of the creative process.”

Berry said U2-360 took the creativity of stadium rock to an end game – purely because of cost. “It’s like the Beijing Olympics,” he said.

Brazil and Argentina !

U2 will play Estadio Unico de la Plata in Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA on March 30th, and Estadio Morumbi, Sao Paulo in BRAZIL on April 9th, 2011.

Tickets for both shows go on sale to the general public on Tuesday December 7th but U2.com subscribers can enter a special advance presale for tickets beginning this Wednesday, December 1st and running until Friday, December 3rd.

Subscribers will be emailed ahead of this presale with details of timings.

Etihad Stadium No Rain Out

Regardless of the weather the boys will play !

The Irish band’s enormous “claw” stage sticks out of the top of Etihad Stadium, meaning the roof cannot be completely closed.

Fans should prepare themselves for wet weather, but possible thunderstorms and lightning will create more of a problem.

“If it rains we’ll get wet,” the band’s site manager Bart Durbin said.

“Unless there’s torrential downpours, that may affect it slightly, other than that the show goes on. The roof has to be open. We’ve done shows in the rain before. We get wet. It’s not the best thing but we’ll go on.”

The stage for the band’s 360 Degrees tour began being assembled inside Etihad on Friday. The weight of the stage, said to be the largest in touring history, has required extra reinforcement in the car park under the venue.

About 60,000 fans will watch tomorrow’s show, the first of U2’s Australian tour.

Three “claw” stages will criss-cross the country.

One is already being prepared in Brisbane for U2 shows there next week.

The tour, which ends in Perth on December 19, requires 48 trucks to transport the steel in the staging, 17 trucks for flooring and 60 trucks for the lighting and sound production.

Tickets are still available for U2’s shows tomorrow and Friday, with hip hop star Jay-Z as special guest.

Music fans will be hoping Kanye West, in town on a low-key visit to record an album with Jay-Z during down time from his U2 commitments, will join his fellow rapper on stage in Melbourne.

‘Spider-Man’ opens to mixed reviews

’60 Minutes’ went behind the curtain to give the world a glimpse at “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” on the evening it opened on Broadway. So far the reviews from the preview performance have been mixed.

The musical which was frequently delayed and cost $65 million to stage features music from U2’s Bono and The Edge. Entertainment Weekly said the music “sounded terrific…or bombastic”.

The snippet from ’60 Minutes’ (see right) features footage of Bono powering through some songs that he co-wrote. It also has some shots of the amazing visuals and wire acrobats zooming around the theatre.

On Sunday night the opening preview, at Foxwoods Theater in New York, lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes and included some pauses due to technical difficulties.

New York Post critic slammed the show calling it an “epic flop”.

He said “At various points, overhead stage wires dropped on the audience, scenery appeared on stage missing pieces - and the show’s star was even left swaying helplessly over them midair during what was supposed to be the climatic end to the first act.”

New York Daily News’ review also mentioned the stops and said that a number of the audience left the performance.

However the fans on the ground, speaking to the newspaper seemed impressed. One gentleman said “It was really good…I was pleasantly surprised.”

According to WENN the show’s scheduled full dress-rehearsal was to cancelled on Saturday night so Sunday night’s preview was the first time the show had been performed in full on the stage.

It has taken nine years for “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark”, the most expensive Broadway musical in history, to become a reality. Here’s hoping that it pays off.



Zuckland Review

U2 360 Tour Auckland, NZBono must have been itching like crazy through those leather pants to get out on stage and sing last night.

It’s been seven weeks between tour legs on U2’s monster 360-degree tour as U2 stroll on to David Bowie’s Space Oddity.

And the first things a pent-up Bono hollers are drawn-out “kia ora” chants as he struts, skips and runs around the circular runway. And kia ora to you too, brother Bono.

Then, with his trademark serenading stance - squat, gesture, grasp the air and sing - they break into Beautiful Day.

It’s the first of a string of sing-a-longs. The Irish band’s original and raw anthem I Will Follow is next up, then Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, and an all-in fist-raiser in Elevation.

Bono also acknowledges New Zealand’s sombre mood and struggles for words to express the band’s condolences to the Pike River miners and the people of Greymouth.

So he says, “In Ireland we sing”, and launches into I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, followed by the poignant One Tree Hill - written for New Zealander Greg Carroll, Bono’s roadie, who died in 1986 - which he dedicated to the “29 lost”.

As the song plays the names of all the miners are beamed onto the video screen in a touching tribute.

Earlier, support act Jay-Z also paid his respects to the Pike River miners, putting them alongside late hip-hop greats Tu Pac and Notorious BIG.

The big man of rap - who is the hip-hop equivalent of Bono if you like (although the rapper had darker shades when he came on during Sunday Bloody Sunday) - also got the party started with a set including hits Empire State of Mind, Run This Town, and Big Pimpin.

u2 360 Tour Auckland NZ But this was the U2 show and the claw stage is unlike anything to have landed in Aotearoa - it’s as if the aliens have set up camp in the middle of Mt Smart Stadium.

The giant claws arc out into the crowd, dwarfing them, but also drawing the masses in and making the set seem immense, yet intimate.

Then there’s the full-surround barrel-like video screen that becomes a cylinder like an inside-out kaleidoscope beaming everything from close-ups of the band to visuals of naked writhing bodies.

It’s testament to U2’s songs that the visual experience and scale of the production don’t overshadow the songs because tunes such as Where The Streets Have No Name and City of Bright Lights are powerful and chest-beating.