U2

[GnFnR87]

God I hate U2. It seemed to be music for old people ever since they were kids.

Hadn't heard the new single until now... sounds like a bad Muse rip-off.

As for the likes of Coldplay and all those others who've made millions out of bland, anthemic melancholy... that's what you get for a Catholic prayer group being the biggest 'rock' band in the world.

nope. thats what i used to think  before i actually listened to non-single U2 songs.

The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby are far from boring or bland.

[loretian]

The new album is decent.  I didn't like it so much at first.  Subsequent listens have revealed much more about the music, and I'm liking it a lot more.  I can't wait for this album to show up in stores so I can actually purchase it!  My younger brother, who is a huge U2 fan, absolutely loves it.

[GnFnR87]

i've only listened to a little bit but it sounds promising. critics are calling it the best thing they've done since achtung baby.

[loretian]

That's cool to hear.  It's awesome U2 is really trying to go outside of their comfort zone and do something new with this album.

One interesting thing is that I've noticed some of the songs have the "whoop whoop" (as they've been described) - type sounds like several songs on Chinese Democracy.

[D]

Ive never been a U2 fan

their new album got 5 stars in Rolling Stone


seems they could bang on some bongos and  play a ukulele and hum 10 songs and get 5 stars in Rolling Stone

[D]

Anytime an album gets 5 stars, I am intrigued to pick it up and hear the earth shattering awesomeness


I hear a few songs I really like, but for me, this shouldn't be a 5 star album. Bono's voice gets on my nerves after about 3 songs and I just don't hear what is so amazing.


I think CD absolutely destroys this.

[Butch Français]

i've only listened to a little bit but it sounds promising. critics are calling it the best thing they've done since achtung baby.

to me, that's not saying a lot.
Im absolutely sure this new album is just another pop recycle like their previous albums. at least judging from the few tracks Ive heard.

bland pop crap. makes me believe they'll never get back to writing stuff like their old better crafted songs...even though they weren't THAT great either.

[AdZ]

seems they could bang on some bongos and  play a ukulele and hum 10 songs and get 5 stars in Rolling Stone

You know, you never cease to amaze me.

[D]

Its the truth, some bands are so loved by the critic it really doesn't matter. Bob Dylan, U2, Bruce Springsteen can release anything and get 4 to 5 stars.

I just don't think they really fully consider what a 5 star album means. To give something 5 stars, u are basically calling it an all time great type thing

This album isn't that neither is Bruce's last one

[*Timothy*]

Pretty much all of bruce's work is at lest four stars though.


This new u2 album is pretty boring to me. same old same old . Course I have sorta grown out of them over the past couple of years . even the older album are a bit boring now.

[Dot]

Didn´t like it at first. Took a lot of listening time to get it. It doesn´t give us any new musical directions but it is a good album.

Check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98EmpuBcjLs it´s pretty funny

[Falcon]

Looks like U2 will be doing the stadium thing this summer as well..

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/03/09/u2-announce-360-degree-tour-details-first-us-dates/

[Eazy E]

I haven't seen them before... September 16 ? Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre... I might as well check this out, I'm curious of how they will set up the stage in the center.

[Falcon]

Playing Memorial Stadium in Norman, OK - capacity 86K for football...

Good luck U2..

[Falcon]

http://www.u2gigs.com/tour231.html

? 2009-09-12 - Chicago, Illinois, USA - Soldier Field
? 2009-09-16 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Rogers Centre
? 2009-09-20 - Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Gillette Stadium
? 2009-09-24 - East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA - Giants Stadium
? 2009-09-29 - Washington, District of Columbia, USA - FedEx Field
? 2009-10-01 - Charlottesville, Virginia, USA - Scott Stadium
? 2009-10-03 - Raleigh, North Carolina, USA - Carter-Finley Stadium
? 2009-10-06 - Atlanta, Georgia, USA - Georgia Dome
? 2009-10-09 - Tampa, Florida, USA - Raymond James Center
? 2009-10-12 - Dallas, Texas, USA - New Cowboys Stadium
? 2009-10-14 - Houston, Texas, USA - Reliant Stadium
? 2009-10-19 - Norman, Oklahoma, USA - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
? 2009-10-20 - Phoenix, Arizona, USA - University of Phoenix Stadium
? 2009-10-23 - Las Vegas, Nevada, USA - Sam Boyd Stadium
? 2009-10-25 - Los Angeles, California, USA - Rose Bowl
? 2009-10-28 - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - B.C. Place Stadium

[Eazy E]

Any mention when tickets will be on sale?

[Falcon]

Any mention when tickets will be on sale?

Keep an eye out here:

http://www.u2.com/tour/presale/index

[uzisuicide2002]

U2 hit the road on there stadium tour june 30th to play shows over seas. Then they hit the U.S. and are playing Septmber 20th at Gilette Stadium. http://360.u2.com/ would be cool to see them with gn'r! in the round like that 

[ppbebe]

I actually like their new horizon, much much better than that atomic bomb.



"the band will keep prices down for the tour. As U2?s manager Paul McGuinness said of the European pricing, ?U2 has always been at their best when surrounded by the audience, this staging takes a giant leap forward. With 85 percent of the tickets priced at less than 95 Euro, general admission floor tickets priced at 55 euro and at least 10,000 tickets at every venue priced at the 30 Euro price range, we have worked very hard to ensure that U2 fans can purchase a great priced ticket with a guaranteed great view.?"

sounds great.

[Doc Emmett Brown]

Shirley Manson Interviews U2 in Front of Small Audience at Capitol Studios in Hollywood
Tuesday, Mar. 10 2009 @ 9:15AM

By Randall Roberts

Shirley Manson, sitting on a stool in a sound room at Capitol Studios, confessed something in front of the 200 or so people cross-legged on the floor and in rows of chairs behind them as she awaited for the four members of U2 to arrive. Four bar stools, each with a microphone placed on the seat, sat empty beside her.

"I've never done this before," she said, her notes shaking in her hands. "I'm shitting myself."

The occasion was an interview she was conducting with the band for something called the U2 Radio Network, and the crowd was comprised primarily of radio industry professionals who no doubt the band was seeking to curry favor with in order to get better exposure for its new album. But the band has bussed in some real life fans, too, who you could spot because, well, they didn't look like radio professionals. This event has been billed as "an inside look at No Light on the Horizon," and Manson, of the band Garbage, has been shouldered with the responsibility of talking with the band.

We're promised by some lackey before the band comes out that tonight is going to be "filled with surprises," and considering we're in a recording studio waiting for a rock band to come out and talk about its new album, maybe we'll get a song or two. But there's no gear set up, just the empty stools and a pretty Scotswoman, so that's looking less and less likely.

The so-called U2 Radio Network counts down the seconds until the top of the hour. This is being broadcast live over the Internet to subscribers of the band's website ($50 a year), and since U2 is perhaps the most disciplined band in the world, of course everything's on time. Including the band, who, as the countdown hits blastoff and Manson introduces them, poke their heads from behind a door, and the small crowd erupts as Bono, the Edge, and bassist Adam Clayton walk out and take their seats. Missing is drummer Larry Mullins, who's not feeling well (though he ultimately arrived late and answered a few final questions.)

Like a lot of geeky shy white fellas growing up in the 1980s, U2 was my band (well, the Clash was my band, but U2 mattered a hell of a lot). I was discovering politics and rock simultaneously, and Bono and the boys taught me about outrage, right and wrong. I became pissed about Bloody Sunday before I knew what it meant, got to know the streets of Dublin through the band's words, and though they ultimately alienated me (it had to do with a humorless lawsuit they filed against SST and Negativland), U2 always been a band that I've admired (though at times begrudgingly so). Not that that matters; I'm just saying that after years of covering rock bands and realizing that they're way way way less interesting offstage than they are on it, U2 has managed to retain some of the respect and admiration that others have pissed away with dud albums, failed songs and shallow interviews.

So it was easy to appreciate Manson's feelings of "shitting herself" -- though that particular image isn't one I'd ever considered before -- and I was totally ready to listen to what the band had to say and then be disappointed by the mere fact of their humanness.

In fact, though, the band was pretty awesome; they were smart and funny and thoughful as they answered Manson's questions about songwriting, about using both Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois as producers and songwriters on the record. We learned about the tour, about the songwriting process, about how the band has managed to stay together for 30 years. We listened to four or five songs from the record, and, like the attention whore that he is, Bono during the playback sat on his stool and earnestly sang along to the songs he and the band had created. It was endearing, actually, to watch one of the world's most famous men listening to his music and mouthing the words; it was like he was a 19-year-old kid singing along to his favorite songs.

Random things we learned about the band (and we learned a lot; Manson was an engaged, intelligent interviewer who steered, rather than dictated, the conversation): Bono is very much inspired by Jeff Buckley's voice, and what the late singer did with it. He talked about learning how to sing, about an instance early in the band's career when a friend confided to Edge and Bono that it might be a better idea if Edge were U2's singer. He relayed a great story about, quite literally, "finding his voice" as he hit a note that he'd never hit before, "and it rang."

Edge apparently has been spending time in Los Angeles of late. According to Bono: "Edge has a soft spot for LA, seeing as though he fell in love with a California girl."

Bono gave a shout-out to both Interscope Records president Jimmy Iovine, who was leaning against a wall and no doubt wondering how this band managed to escape his grasp (they're affiliated with LiveNation now), and former LA Times music critic Robert Hilburn, whose support in the early years Bono says helped establish the band on the west coast.

The band confirmed (in a roundabout way) that they'll be following up No Line with a new album tentatively slated for the fall. Said Bono: "We're absolutely forbidden from telling you that we are doing that," he said to much laughter.

We learned that "Moment of Surrender" was the band's attempt at writing a song as powerful as Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale," and that Bono thinks that Adam Clayton's bass playing is hitting some sort of peak. (We also learned that Clayton is as shy and humble and kind as has been reported, and that he very much prefers his place behind Bono and the Edge.

We learned that Bono does a really good impression of Mr. Burns from the Simpsons, and can self-deprecatingly assume the accent of a British literature professor when talking about intent and lyrics and writing. We learned that Bono, who never hides the fact that he's kind of a short fellow, considers the stage to be "one big platform shoe," which is a cool way to think about it.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/shirley-manson-interviews-u2-i/