miracle drug

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

U2 treat Toronto to a Pop-selection

Boom. Cha. While we await full reports from our troops on the ground, we’re going to tease you with this short and simple statement: They played Discotheque!

Set: City of Blinding Lights / Vertigo / Elevation / Electric Co. / The Ocean / Beautiful Day / Miracle Drug / Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own / Love and Peace or Else / Sunday Bloody Sunday / Bullet the Blue Sky / Miss Sarajevo / Pride / Where the Streets Have No Name / One / Discotheque / The Fly / With or Without You / All Because of You / Fast Cars / Yahweh / 40

Daniel Lanois plays guitar on One, Eddie Vedder joins them near the end for a few bars of Ol’ man river. The ‘Pop Muzik’ intro starts the encore and the screen shows PopMart imagery.

Atomic Details

U2log.com has learned a few more details from yesterday’s preview of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb in Australia, including the running time and producer of each song:

1. Vertigo 3.11 (Steve Lillywhite)
2. Miracle Drug 3.54 (Steve Lillywhite)
3. Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own 5.05 (Chris Thomas)
4. Love & Peace 4.48 (Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois)
5. City of Blinding Lights 5.46 (Flood)
6. All Because of You 3.34 (Steve Lillywhite)
7. A Man & A Woman 4.27 (Steve Lillywhite)
8. Crumbs From Your Table 4.59 (Steve Lillywhite)
9. One Step Closer 3.48 (Chris Thomas and Daniel Lanois)
10. Original of the Species 4.34 (Steve Lillywhite)
11. Yahweh 4.22 (Chris Thomas)

Other details emerging from the preview:

  • The second single will be released on February 5, 2005, and the third on May 16, 2005.
  • U2 will perform around 10 shows in Australia and New Zealand during their tour.
  • “City of Blinding Lights” was originally called “Firefly” and was the track the band were thinking of contributing to the “Spiderman” soundtrack. (We had heard it was called “Sky Hawk.”)
  • The band will be doing some video shoots in Dublin in the next few weeks.
  • The band have been working on live versions of the new songs in rehearsals and will return to rehearsing once Bono’s commitments to DATA have been fulfilled.