RED strikes back at ‘costly’ claims

Paul Vallely at The Independent refutes claims made by advertising trade magazine Ad Age that Bono’s RED campaign spends more money on advertising than it raises for Africa.

“The money RED has raised means that some 160,000 Africans will be put on life-saving anti-retrovirals in the coming months, orphans are being fed and kept in school in Swaziland and a national HIV treatment and prevention programme has begun in Rwanda. Some 99 per cent of funds raised go directly to life-saving schemes.”

On the RED website, CEO Bobby Shriver also reacts to the article in Ad Age:

“Your article says that $18 million and soon to be $25 million (when we have completed our most recent accounting) is a “meager” amount. It’s five times the amount given to the Global Fund by the private sector in four years.”

Vertigo tour concludes in Hawaii


Photo by Ruth Barohn/U2log.com

(Click on the above photo to see a slideshow of photos from the Honolulu show by Ruth Barohn/U2log.com.)

We’ve heard from our staff and friends who attended the final show of the Vertigo Tour in Honolulu, Hawaii. Everyone reports it was a fabulous show — perfect in every way. Our first report from our I-Wanna-Blog-for-U2log contest winner, Tim Nafus, was a text message before the show that read “So many red shirts, it’s like being at a Cardinals’ game.” Funny, Tim. Tim will be enjoying some time in Hawaii before he gets down to the business of providing a proper report of the show for us. In the meantime, we offer some great photos of the show from Ruth Barohn and dish on who from the celebrity world was in attendance.

The mix desk saw the likes of Kid Rock, Pierce Brosnan, Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) and his family, Scott Ian (Anthrax), and someone who “may or may not be one of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.” In the guest seats were Ben Affleck, Bill and Melinda Gates, Susan Buffett, Bobby Shriver, Mira Sorvino, and the cast of the television show “Lost,” including Evangeline Lilly, Dominic Monaghan, Terry O’Quinn, Josh Holloway, and Ian Cusick. Jeremy Piven of “Entourage” was the only celeb spotted inside the ellipse.

For the final Vertigo show, there were special guest appearances in the forms of Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day joining U2 for “The Saints Are Coming,” and Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam joining the band for a performance of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

The final word of the tour came from Larry Mullen Jr., who was left alone on stage as the band concluded “All I Want Is You.” Larry thanked the audience for coming and said, “See you real soon,” leaving fans wondering if U2 will be performing concerts again sooner than anyone might expect.