Good Morning America, it’s U2 at Fordham University

U2 played a short set in front of students at Fordham University in New York, broadcast live on Good Morning America on Friday, March 6.

Setlist: Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (break) Beautiful Day, Breathe, Vertigo

Continue to watch “I’ll go crazy, Beautiful Day, Vertigo and the GMA interview

U2 stop London traffic with a gig on Broadcasting House

U2 played Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Vertigo (with snippets of Substitute and She Loves You) and Beautiful Day on top of BBC’s Broadcasting House in London’s Langham Place tonight while about 5,000 fans watched from below. Police closed Portland Place in Westminster to divert traffic away from the area.

The short set was broadcast live on BBC digital TV (‘red button’)

Preparations for U2′s London rooftop gig underway

U2tour.de have captured crew preparing for U2′s ‘secret’ concert, while fans are waiting in front of the building. The band are going to play from the roof of the BBC’s Broadcasting House, at the top end of Regent Street on the corner of Langham Place.

Tune in to Radio 1 online for a live report from 7.15pm GMT.

Note the P.A. one step down from the rooftop, captured by liamam:

U2′s 12-page interview in Hot Press magazine

Bono talks about taking on characters to write the songs on No Line On The Horizon: “I’d just kind of worn out my own biography or autobiography. The last two albums were very personal. And I’m not sure if I could bear it any more, let alone anyone else. The irony is, of course, as Oscar Wilde taught us, the mask reveals the man. So you end up in fancy dress revealing your true self. You end up in these very emotional places which you shouldn’t understand, but somehow do.”

There’s a 12-page interview with U2 in Ireland’s Hot Press magazine this week. The interview will eventually be available from HotPress.com, after the magazine goes off sale two weeks from now. Here’s a lovely hi-res image of the cover. And you can read an excerpt from the U2 interview on Hotpress.com now.

U2 on Fridaynight with Jonathan Ross

click to enlarge

U2 recording their performance for the BBC’s Fridaynight with Jonathan Ross, as posted to Twitpic by Ross (@wossy) That’s actor Clive Owen in the foreground.

click to enlarge
And here’s Bono fixing Clive’s tie.

According to Ross they played Get On Your Boots and Breathe. A U2log contributor in the audience let us know the band also recorded Boots for their Comic Relief appearance in March.

Guess the title of U2′s upcoming tour

Live on French radio station NRJ on Monday night, U2 were asked what the title of their upcoming tour will be. Bono replied – excusez his French:

“It’s something to do with kissing the future and fucking the past…”

Can you guess the title?

Continue for a summary of (part of) the interview

Details of U2 and Anton Corbijn’s film “Linear” revealed

U2 has released details on Anton Corbijn’s film Linear, starring French actor Said Taghmaoui (Three Kings, Lost), which accompanies the album No Line on the Horizon. Linear’s credits are available from nolineonthehorizon.com and include the running order of the songs as featured in the film.

01. UNKNOWN CALLER
02. BREATHE
03. WINTER
04. WHITE AS SNOW
05. NO LINE ON THE HORIZON
06. FEZ-Being Born
07. MAGNIFICENT
08. STAND UP COMEDY
09. GET ON YOUR BOOTS
10. MOMENT OF SURRENDER
11. CEDARS OF LEBANON

Corbijn reveals:

“As U2 never do anything in half measures, the record that emerged from the studio in late December 2008 was a very different one than the one I’d made images for. Not only had the running order changed, now there were completely new songs on the record while another song had gone, new lyrics without the characters had emerged, and different sounds dominated the songs I had worked on. Disaster!”

If you buy the hardback book box format, magazine format or digipack format of No Line On The Horizon, you will be able to access and download the film from the website by entering your details, and unlocking the download by entering the cd into your computer’s dvd/cd-drive.

Stills from the movie can be found on suckingrockandroll.com.

Irish author Christopher Nolan dies

Link to this video

Irish author Christopher Nolan (43) has died. Nolan suffered from cerebral palsy and used a pointer attached to his head to write three books. His autobiographical work “Under the Eye of the Clock” won the Whitbread Prize in 1988. Nolan, who attended Mount Temple Comprehensive school, inspired U2 to write the song ‘Miracle Drug’.

Irish Times obituary

Rolling Stone: “U2′s Five Star Masterpiece”

The review’s not online yet, but the March 5 issue of music magazine Rolling Stone awards U2′s New Line on the Horizon no less that five stars. The cover of the issue says “U2′s Five Star Masterpiece”.
(via M2)

Update: review now available on RollingStone.com

“No Line on the Horizon is closer to the transitional risks — the Irish-gothic spell of 1984′s The Unforgettable Fire, the techno-rock jet lag of 1993′s Zooropa — but with a consistent persuasion in the guitar hooks, rhythms and vocal lines.”

NLOTH has also managed to win back the heart of Irish journalist John Waters (Author of ‘U2 – Race of Angels’), prone to contemplating the band within its Irish context. In the Irish Times he writes — while Ireland suffers its worst recession since the 70′s — “If, as we have previously noted, music is prophetic as to the drift of wider reality, then this album may be the most hopeful thing you will hear all year.” You can read the rest of John Waters’ thoughtful piece on IrishTimes.com.

U2 Lands a Big Kiss on The Brits

U2 kicked off the Brit Awards at Earls Court in London tonight with Get On Your Boots.