U2 Win Five Grammy Trophies

The Grammy Awards Show is over and U2 are winners. They won for every category they were nominated, again.

• Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own”
• Best Rock Song for “City of Blinding Lights”
• Best Rock Album for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
• Song of the Year for “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own”
• Album of the Year for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

Steve Lillywhite won a Grammy for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical category due to his work on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and Jason Mraz’s album, Mr. A-Z.

(Photo: Associated Press)

Seating Assignment

It seems the Grammy people have figured out that the quickest way to get Bono to the stage at tonight’s Grammy Awards ceremony is to put him in the aisle seat, where there will be fewer people to climb over and kiss on his way to the podium. With U2 up for five awards, Bono is sure to make a few trips to the stage — well, at least we’re rooting that he and his bandmates will. In addition to (hopefully) picking up some golden gramophone statuettes tonight, U2 will be performing “One” with Mary J. Blige. The Edge will also be a part of a musical tribute honoring New Orleans and Southern music with an “all-star supergroup” that includes Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello.
(Photo: Reuters)

Bono receives German media award

(image © media control GmbH)

Bono touched down in Baden-Baden on Tuesday to receive the Media Control 2005 German Media Award . He took to the stage accompanied by the Arcade Fire’s Wake up and was presented with the award by former German foreign affairs minister Joschka Fischer. Nikki Lauda, Boris Becker, Peter Maffay and other celebrities attended the event.

Media Control-chef Karlheinz Kögel said: ‘Bono is a crusader for Africa, who uses his fame and success to help people on that continent. He has made commitment his life goal, engages politicians and economists, pulls strings his own way and thus deserves to receive the German Media Award.’

Joschka Fischer ended his speech with a heartfelt: ‘Never stop, the world needs men like you.’

Award winners are chosen by a jury of German editors-in-chief who in their reasoning stated: ‘Bono talks about the emergency in Africa in a language that is loud and easy for alll to understand. In his speech for the World’s most powerful economic leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Bono lashed out at the inhumanity of capitalism and the complicity of those in power to the death of thousands of children, who die from hunger in Africa each day.’

Previous Media Award winners are former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Nelson Mandela, Francois Mitterrand and Boris Jelzin, Yitzhak Rabin, Yassir Arafat, Shimon Peres, Queen Rania of Jordanien und Queen Silvia of Schweden, Bill Clinton, Gerhard Schröder, Rudolph Guiliani, Kofi Annan and Hillary Clinton.

• Watch a video of the presentation (Speech by host Karlheinz Kögel, presentation by Joschka Fischer, long speech by Bono.)
• Pictures (use the dropdown for more images)
• More pictures at Getty Images

U2 receive Grammy nominations

U2 received a whopping five Grammy nominations from the Recording Academy today in the following categories:

• Album of the Year (How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb)

• Song of the Year (“Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own”)
• Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (“Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own”)
• Best Rock Song (“City of Blinding Lights”)
• Best Rock Album (How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb)

Friend and producer Steve Lillywhite also was nominated in the category of Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, for his work on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

The 48th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on February 8, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

City of Turin presents Bono with honorary citizenship

The City of Turin in Italy awarded Bono with Honorary Citizenship on September 15, 2003. City representatives were finally able to present Bono with the deed in Milan after U2′s show on July 20.

Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu are among previous honorary citizens of Turin. Bono is lauded for playing Kosovo stadium and donating the proceeds of that show to reconstructing the hospitals in Sarajevo, for his work on Jubilee 2000, Net Aid, and DATA.

- View a copy of the City Council’s ‘Motion N.33′: Download pdf.
- View the letter Turin sent to Bono: Download pdf

(Thanks to Michele Coppola, Consiglio Comunale, Città di Torino)

Springsteen to induct U2 into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Get the smelling salts! We nearly fainted when we heard that none other than The Boss himself — Mr. Bruce Springsteen — will be helping to induct U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Springsteen will be providing the induction speech honoring U2′s career at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York City on March 14.

In 1999, Bono provided the speech for Springsteen’s induction into the prestigious music foundation.

(Photo: Ruth Barohn/U2log.com)

47th Grammy Awards

Few people will have missed taking note of the 47th Grammy Awards this year. As it turned out, they ended up being a real treat for U2 fans. The band bagged the awards for all of the three categories the hit single Vertigo was nominated in: Best rock performance by a duo or group with vocal, best rock song (songwriters award) and best short form music video

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U2 Make Top Ten in Pazz & Jop Poll

New York City’s Village Voice newspaper has released the results of their annual music-critics uberpoll, the Pazz & Jop Awards, for 2004. U2 placed very respectably at #8 in the albums and #10 in the singles (“Vertigo,” naturally), in a poll that normally rewards less mainstream efforts. (And may we take a moment to say that if you were looking for a master list of music that you ought to be checking out, the Pazz & Jop tally is a definite must.) The site includes essays and comments on the major works, as well as a complete listing of each critic’s ballot, so it’s certainly worth browsing. Here’s critic Jonathan Valania’s pull-quote about HTDAAB:

Some bands have greatness thrust upon them, and other bands thrust greatness upon themselves. U2 knew that if they had it both ways, they could be bigger than Jesus. You simply cannot deny that they come in the name of love.

U2′s career honored at NRJ Music Awards

U2 were the recipients of a career achievement award at last night’s NRJ Music Awards in Cannes, France. Naomi Campbell presented the award to Bono, who expressed his love for the country, saying en français, “I’m not from this country, but I’ll make a little confession to you. It’s at the Côte d’Azur I feel at home.”

A video (wmv) of NRJ’s interview with Bono (French spoken over Bono) is available at the NRJ Music Awards site. Choose the “Videos” menu and then the “Bono remercie son public” link.
(Photo: Associated Press)

Bono ranks 6th in USA Today’s People of 2004

Bono is #6 in USA Today’s Top 100 people of 2004, as listed by Whitney Matheson.

She says: “This year he wanted to save and rock the world. And, boy, isn’t it refreshing to see them playing live on all the talk shows instead of using those suspicious “backing tracks?”"

Whitney picked The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart for the top spot.

U2log.com readers may be interested to know that another website created and by yours truly made it to #70 in Matheson’s list: Whedonesque.com‘s community is, she writes, ‘a comforting place’.