Moving Stars and Earth for Water event coming up

As reported a couple of weeks ago, U2 will participate in the Moving Stars and Earth for Water event (from their Tampa U2360 show) tonight.

The “cities & personalities” page for U2/Tampa mentions a chat and a performance:

Guy Laliberté has a space-to-earth conversation with very good chum Bono and U2. They will discuss the uniqueness and beauty of the Earth in the solar system. U2′s performance will be supported by images of our blue planet, taken from the International Space Station.

The 2 hour event starts at 8:00 P.M. EDT and can be viewed online.

U2′s Beautiful day in MS awareness video

U2 is backing a campaign to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis. Their song Beautiful Day is the soundtrack of a global campaign film highlighting different aspects of MS.

Check out WordMsDay.org for details.

“100 percent of U2 RED Zone tickets profit goes to charity”

“All of U2′s income raised from the auction of Red Zone tickets will be donated to charity,” says a U2 spokeswoman according to the Belfast Telegraph.

U2 will give away 100 percent of their income from the “RED Zone” VIP auction ticket sales at up to 100 worldwide concerts.

Up to 600 stage-front tickets per gig are being sold off this way. The minimum starting bids are between €95 and €1,015. This would mean U2 is donating an estimated €9m of their U2360 summer tour profits to charity.

All of the profit that Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr earn from the sale of tickets in the ‘Red Zone’ will go to charity. The charity-style partnership Global Fund, which helps fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, will benefit from a large donation and other good causes expected to receive payouts are charities focusing on Africa.

Previously: Ticketmaster auctions off (RED) Zone Packages

Well alright, AWF Auctioning Signed U2 LP

The African Well Fund is launching its second Build a Well for Bono’s Birthday auction, this time a “The Joshua Tree” LP signed by Bono, Adam Clayton and The Edge is up for bid. The auction will take place on AWF’s eBay page from Sunday, March 22, World Water Day, through Wednesday, March 25. Bidding will start at $70 to coincide with the “70 Days to Change the World” Bono’s Birthday Well theme.

The LP was donated by a U2 fan who got Edge’s signature in New York on March 6 when U2 played Fordham University for “Good Morning America,” and Bono’s and Adam’s signatures when U2 was in Los Angeles on March 9 for the first night of the “U2 3 Nights Live” radio broadcasts.

“At first, I had no intentions of donating my autographs,” the donor said. “I am a huge U2 fan, so to have a Grammy-award-winning album signed by three members of the band was the ultimate treasure. But I kept feeling God tug at my heart and he led me to the scripture in Matthew 6:19 about not storing treasures on earth. I believe that when God blesses us beyond our needs, those additional blessings are for the purpose of meeting the needs of others.

“A friend sent me the link to the African Well Fund auction of U2′s ‘Under a Blood Red Sky’ CD and that’s when God prompted me to donate my ‘Joshua Tree’ album to help build a well for Bono’s birthday,” the donor continued.

The closing bid for the “Under a Blood Red Sky” deluxe CD/DVD reissue signed by Bono, Clayton and The Edge was $449. AWF volunteer Ayesha Marcel got the CD/DVD autographed by the three U2 members.

“I was thrilled to see that the auction was so successful, especially during these difficult economic times,” Marcel said. “Many thanks to everyone who bid on the reissue and to the winner: your generosity will go a long way toward helping the AWF fund a water project in Liberia, so cheers to you.”

Proceeds from both auctions will benefit Build a Well for Bono’s Birthday projects in Liberia. Learn more about the fundraiser.

Ticketmaster auctions off (RED) Zone Packages

Ticketmaster.nl is auctioning off VIP-tickets for two (RED) Zone areas, adjacent to the U2360 stage. A similar deal is in place for the Gothenburg, Sweden show. The packages include:

- Special VIP entrance and greeting by (RED) Zone Hosts
- High profile General Admission areas on the field adjacent to the stage runway
- Built-in seating for pre-show comfort
- Access to special concession and merchandise stand
- As a special bonus, the top 10 highest winning ticket bids for each show will also receive a pre-show backstage tour of this highly anticipated, revolutionary product design.
(RED) Zone Packages are only available by Auction on ticketservice.nl. All non-ticket elements provided by Live Nation. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to support (RED) and the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. The auction starting bid is: € 95,- You must raise your bid by at least € 5,-

It’s all in the name of charity and, as Bono said: “Rich people have feelings too”.

Bono, Brandon and Coldplay do it together for War Child

Immediately after Wednesday night’s Brit Awards, Coldplay and The Killers performed a benefit concert for War Child at Shepherd’s Bush in London. Bono and The Killer’s Brandon Flowers joined Coldplay on stage to play The Killers’ All These Things That I’ve Done together. U2tour.de was on the scene and captured this picture. Click it to see it enlarged.

The NME reports:

Then, having only rehearsed minutes beforehand backstage, The Killers and Bono joined Coldplay onstage to perform ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ together.
Although the U2 man was a bit shaky on the lyrics to The Killers song, the three frontmen led the crowd through a rousing sing-a-long as they repeated the tracks “I’ve got soul/ but I’m not a soldier” refrain.
“This is going to be the best encore you’ll ever see!” declared Martin as the three acts wrapped up the night.

U2 play Get On Your Boots at the 2009 Grammy Awards

U2 opened the 51st Grammy Awards with Get On Your Boots. Starting out behind the band, Bono threw familiar shapes against the backdrop of a large screen showing images – different from those used in the video – and the lyrics to the song. Later he moved out in front near the crowd, removing his trademark shades to reveal his new mascara-look while belting out the final bars of the song: ‘Let me in the sound, let me in the sound…’

Unfortunately, the crew didn’t hear his plea. Sound is apparently not the main priority for the Grammy Awards organisation.

Bono: ‘A big deal for our band’

Bono’s video message for the ONE campaign as posted on the ONE blog.

Bono blogs

“As the sun arcs over the Manhattan skyline and the markets start dancing nervously out of time, the lyrics I’ve been scribbling over breakfast have been removed and replaced by spreadsheets with large numbers in tiny font as we wrestle with EU budgets in advance of meetings later today with Presidents Sarkozy and Barroso.”

Thus writes Bono on the Financial Times Millennium Development Goals Conference diary. Bono shares his blogging duties with Jeffrey Sachs.

We’d love it if he’d blog about music.

Own a piece of U2

Would you like to own The Edge’s Gibson Explorer? Well, you can if you have deep pockets. The Edge and U2 have donated some extraordinary stuff to the Music Rising auction and you can have a look at the items now on Auction Network.

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