U2 Single Plans Revealed at Oz Preview

A special preview of U2′s new album was conducted today in Melbourne, Australia, today for a small group of industry people. The Island rep in charge of the preview revealed U2′s next single will be released in February and a third single commemorating the 25th anniversary of the band’s first single will be released on May 16. (We were warned not to guess what the b-side will be.)

All hope for a promo tour for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb was squashed by the rep, who explained that Bono’s commitments to DATA do not allow for it. She confirmed the rumor that the tour will begin on March 1 in Miami.

In addition to hearing the new album, guests at the preview were given the opportunity to review the 48-page booklet for the special edition of the new album, compiled and written by the band.

Pictures from Memphis

Bono pals with one of the youth recepients of the Civil Rights Museum’s “Keeper of the Dream” awards at a public forum at Memphis’ Temple of Deliverance Church on Monday (Oct. 18).

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No Memphis Blues for Bono

Bono is in Memphis, Tennessee, to be honored by the National Civil Rights Museum with its 2004 Freedom Award.

Accompanied by his wife and daughters, Bono spent Monday morning at a public forum at Memphis’ historic Temple Deliverance Church, where an African group entertained, a local girls’ choir sang “Pride (In the Name of Love),” and he and Representative John Lewis (D-Ga), who will also be honored with a Freedom Award tonight, spoke about civil rights, AIDS, and poverty.

After the forum, Bono and his family toured the National Civil Rights Museum, where they were allowed to walk out onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, the location of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination.

Bono took time in the afternoon to participate in a short press conference with Rep. Lewis, where he addressed questions about possibly having to work with new leadership in America. After acknowledging both President Bush’s and Senator Kerry’s cooperation on the AIDS initiatives he supports, Bono said, “I plan to be a pain in their ass, no matter who wins.”

U2log.com will publish a full report on the forum, press conference, and tonight’s banquet and award ceremony in the near future.

We can share now that we did manage to get a moment of Bono’s time alone between events, and he had one thing on his brain: U2′s new album. Repeatedly he told us, “You’re going to love the new album! You’re gonna die. It’s so good!”

U2:CD:UK:OK

U2 performed four of their new songs from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London last Saturday evening (Oct. 16), for a future broadcast of the British music show CD:UK. Their set was “Vertigo,” “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own,” “City of Blinding Lights,” and “Miracle Drug.”

U2log.com reader Simon was one of the lucky 200 U2.com competition winners who were invited to watch the taping of the show. He tells us that before performing “Miracle Drug,” Bono spoke at length about the song being about a parapalegic boy who attended Mount Temple and how the boy gained the ability to make slight head movements because of a “miracle drug.” Also before “City of Blinding Lights,” Bono provided the same explanation about the song being about London and New York City after 9/11 as he did during the Top of the Pops performance.

Simon reports that all the music was pre-recorded and only Bono’s vocals were live. “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” was performed twice because Bono was unhappy with the first performance. Apparently, he did not like the audience waving their hands slowly in the air while he sang. Oh, Bono…

Another Bite of Apple

Rumor has it Apple plans to offer a U2-edition iPod that will come preloaded with every U2 album. It is believed the special iPod will be available to the masses the same week How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is released.

Update:

Pictures of U2 on TOTP

Pictures of U2′s TOTP performance in London are now available from the BBC website. Now we wonder what was Larry listening to in this picture?

Additional pics are available at Getty Images.

Bono’s Worldly Affairs

As U2log.com reported earlier, Bono will speak on the topic of global poverty and AIDS at the World Affairs Council International Speaker Series event in Portland, Oregon, next Wednesday (Oct. 20). The event, which will take place at Rose Garden Arena, is open to the public. Tickets are still available to purchase through Ticketmaster.

As a bonus to the program, ticketholders are offered the unique opportunity to submit a question for Bono through the World Affairs Council of Oregon’s web site. This will be Bono’s only public speaking engagement in the Northwest this year.

Befur A Live Audience

(img courtesy of CK)

The band played “Vertigo,” “All Because of You,” “Desire,” a short version of “She’s a Mystery to Me,” and “City of Blinding Lights” outside the BBC Studios tonight. U2Exit.com, as always, have .WMV video of the performance of “Vertigo,” which was performed with live vocals by Bono in front of a pre-recorded musical backing track (a la “Beautiful Day” in 2000 and all Top of The Pops appearances). We’re assuming the other tracks were full-on live, but since they’re meant to be used on future ToTP performances, perhaps they weren’t… Bono, much to our amusement, wore a straw cowboy hat and a pimpalicious fur coat. Hmmm.

U2log.com has heard from a number of people who attended the performance. Read on for their accounts…

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U2 perform live in BBC car park

U2 will be performing ‘Vertigo’ live in a BBC car park in West London on Friday evening.

The performance will take place for Top of the Pops, at the BBC studios in Wood Lane. The band will turn up around 7pm local time.

According to U2.com, any fans who turn up will get the chance to see the band perform from the street.

Update: The band will also appear on ITV’s CD:UK in the morning.

Your Soul Can’t Be Bought, Eh?

The iTunes / U2 love just keeps coming — now you can watch U2 shill for iTunes performing “Vertigo” in the traditional Apple iPod graphic style — color backgrounds, black silhouettes, white cords. The 30-second clip is available in Quicktime at the link above; the full-length, two-minute video is available only through the iTunes Music Store. (And while it’s there — check out the frontpage graphic at apple.com!) It’s possible that the live-action component of this video is lifted from the official “Vertigo” vid — the clothes and camera movements look about right — so if you’re wanting a sort of preview…

Update: Nope, we were wrong; this video’s all-new, filmed in September by excellent video director Mark Romanek (Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” NIN’s “The Perfect Drug”).