The U2-GTA (Greater Toronto Area) group today announced that it has organized a U2 fan festival. INTO THE HEART will take place November 7-9, 2003, in Toronto, Canada. Fans worldwide are invited to attend and celebrate all things U2. Festival highlights include performances by Canadian U2 tribute bands Elevation and October, and L.A. band Exit. Additional information and an online registration form are available at the festival’s web site.
Month: September 2003
Talk About The Passion
Interesting tidbit from a recent article about R.E.M.’s current tour, reproduced at R.E.M. fansite extraordinaire Murmurs:
U2, with its 1980s piety and epic arpeggios, often seems to transcend this earthly plane; its music is imbued with a universal spirituality akin to organized religion. And like Catholicism, U2 tends to place a certain amount of distance between itself and its worshipers.
Changes at the Zoo
Get Tanked
Attention all bored U2 fans! A new fan site may provide a solution to your boredom. Ready for the Laughing Gas is a parody U2 news site whose aim is to provide something fun to read while waiting for U2’s next album.
Currently you can read interviews with The Edge and Larry, and learn about a new spoken word piece Bono is doing.
RFLG’s webmaster emphasizes that nothing at the site is real. It’s all made up.
Well sorted
The African Well Fund announced it has provided funding for two well building projects in Africa. The funding has been generously donated primarily by U2 fans from around the world. More information about this project can be found at www.africanwellfund.org.
Eine kleine Nightmare
U2web.org, far away from the claws of the RIAA, are offering the In A Little While Nightmare On Wax Remix from a Cafe del Mar compilation for download. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Several sites offering U2 bootlegs have (been) shut down over the last couple of weeks, including the popular and might we say essential U2bloodredsky.com.
I Love, I Love, I Love My Calendar Band
Who says Larry never smiles? You can see the drummer grinning in the newly available U2 2004 Official Calendar. The calendar features 14 photographs of the band taken by Anton Corbijn. Scans of all the calendar images may be viewed at U2guatemala.com.
McG and Mullen @ The Fringe
Mullen and McGuinness turned out to see Gavin Friday perform his one man show ‘I didn’t come up the Liffey in a bubble’ at the Dublin Fringe Festival on Tuesday. While your humble editor played photographer and guardian angel to Friday & crew, she spotted McG and other luminaries among the 250-strong audience, but somehow managed to miss the diminutive drummer. All eyes in the venue were on the fabulous and fearless Mr Friday anyway, who spoke of his influences, loves, losses, successes and failures and somehow managed to pay tribute to his lifelong friendships with affluent Prods without dropping the B-word once.
Another Benefit Concert for Bono?
A spokesperson for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria told the Associated Press that Bono has promised to appear in a concert the Fund is organizing as part of a campaign to raise its profile and receive greater funding. The date and location of this concert are under discussion. The concert does not appear to be the same one being organized in Nelson Mandela’s name (see Mandela SOS Concert Rescheduled); however, Mandela was mentioned as another who has promised to appear at the concert to benefit the Fund.
Zig-Zagat
U2 are on yet another one of those all-time best-of lists. This one, bizarrely enough, was engineered by Zagat, the organization best known for their restaurant and nightlife guides. U2 placed twice on the list, at #4 for The Joshua Tree and #10 for Achtung Baby (always the bridesmaid, never the bride). Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run topped the list, subtly implying that the entire sample of votes was taken from 40-year-old men who live in New Jersey. (We’ve got nothing but love for the Bruce, really.)