“U2 fans have bigger egos than U2”

In this Irish Times interview Bono quotes will.i.am saying U2 fans have bigger egos than the members of the band:

“The thing about U2 that nobody seems to get,” says Bono, “is that the very things people think about us, which is the megalomania and the immodesty, they’re so far from the truth. People don’t see that. We had will.i.am doing some work on the new album and he was shocked by the absence of ego. He said: ‘Your fans have bigger egos than you do.’

Discuss.

Elbow’s Guy Garvey: ‘We Were Huge U2 Fans’

Guy Garvey, lead singer of the British band Elbow, says the band members were all U2 fans. Elbow, who won the 2008 Mercury prize, has recorded U2’s song Running to Standstill for the new War Child album, ‘Heroes’.

Guy Garvey - Elbow
Photo copyright cvodb, 2008

Garvey says it was the first song the band ever learnt together:

“We were huge U2 fans… it was the first thing we ever played together as nippers”, said Garvey. “It was too lovely a thing that we’d also covered it many, many moons ago.”

You can listen to Guy Garvey being interviewed by XFM’s Ian Camfield, and you can also hear Elbow’s lush cover of ‘Running To Stand Still’ on the XFM website.

The War Child album ‘Heroes’ will be released on February 16th.

Continue for the full tracklisting

Take your best shot…

… and send it to Matt McGee.

As you all know Matt runs atU2.com. Over the past few months he’s been busy writing his book ‘U2 – A Diary’ and he’s just handed in his manuscript – we know how that feels!. He’s now looking for pictures to illustrate the book. You’ll find all the details on his book blog. But he’s looking for the following in particular:

  • The “fan displays” at the Vertigo Tour gigs.
  • Photos of Bono changing his shoes during “I Will Follow” at the July 7, 2005, show in Berlin.
  • Photos of the PopMart Lemon getting stuck in Oslo, August 1997.
  • Photos of U2 fans in line at Point Depot for tickets, November 1989.

Think you can help?

Bono speaks on World Aids Day

Bono tells Paul Vallely of The Independent why people in rich nations can make a difference to the Aids disaster.

“Do the maths,” says Bono. “It costs about $5 a week to pay for the two pills a day it takes to keep someone with HIV alive.”

And, talking about the work the band has been doing on their new album Bono reveals, yes, here it comes, ‘The Edge is on fire’:

“World music this is not,” he says, though U2 fans will “feel the difference”. Polyrhythmic is the word he chooses with a self-deprecating laugh. “U2 in dancefloor shock. Normally when you play a U2 tune, it clears the dancefloor. And that may not be true of this. There’s some trance influences. But there’s some very hardcore guitar coming out of The Edge. Real molten metal. It’s not like anything we’ve ever done before, and we don’t think it sounds like anything anyone else has done either.”

U2log.com predicts the album will come out sounding just like U2, just the way we like it.

Read more and find out about Bono’s number one in Ghana

U2 photo auction for the African Well Fund

U2 fans get your wallets out. Win a real U2 photograph to decorate your wall and support the African Well Fund, all in one go.

12x36-u2-2005-1.jpg
{photos by Otto Kitsinger}

Nineteen U2 fans and photographers including our own Ruth Barohn have donated their best shots of the band (and one of their friend) to the 2nd photo auction in support of the African Well Fund‘s ‘Build a well for Bono’s birthday’ charity, organised by Phil Romans. Last year’s auction raised an amazing $11,000, so get bidding to top that number.

The photo auction starts April 14th, and will last for 7 days. The first auction starts at 12pm EST, and each auction will subsequently start at one minute increments.

Go check out the auctions on eBay.

The Little Red Book of Poe-ee-tree

It’s World Water Day, and a handful of U2 fans have put together the the Little Red Book of Poe-ee-tree. It’s fillled with short stories and poetry and all the royalties go to the African Well Fund.

The fans, from the US, Canada, the UK, France and Australia all used to post their poems in a poetry forum, The Heart, which was part of U2’s official fansite back in 2001-2003.

Today is the book’s launch day, so check out the book’s MySpace and buy it at Lulu.com.

All donations to the African Well Fund go directly to Africare (one of the leading private, non-profit, charitable organisations assisting Africa) to fund water projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Performance in the skies

tvasahi.jpg

Friday night U2 performed two songs, “Vertigo” and “Window in the Skies,” on the rooftop of TV Asahi in Roppongi, a posh area of Tokyo. The performance was aired live on the Japanese television show “Music Station.”

Hundreds of U2 fans gathered outside the studio in hopes of hearing the performance, but were disappointed to hear little over the traffic noise on the streets and the helicopters that were filming the performance. Only Larry’s intro to “Vertigo” could be heard faintly.

Video
Vertigo
Window in the Skies

These videos will likely be removed on YouTube by TV Asahi, so watch them while you can.

Ovation Travel Experiences to provide Vertigo tour packages

U2 fans who purchased Vertigo tour packages from ETS will be serviced by Ovation Travel Experiences (OTX) when the tour resumes later this year. The following press release, prepared by OTX, provides the details, as well as explains how fans may still purchase Vertigo tour packages.

PRESS RELEASE
HELLO! HELLO! OVATION’S BACK WITH VERTIGO!
September 6, 2006 – Kingston, Ontario

The long-awaited comeback of U2’s Vertigo tour is here! Fans from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Hawaii now have the chance to experience the rescheduled touring phenomenon already seen in North America, Europe and South America. We are proud to announce that Ovation Travel Experiences (OTX) is along for the ride! The staff at Ovation is dedicated to providing our customers with the best event experience possible, with a variety of concert packages for Vertigo 2006.

The music industry was shocked earlier this year to hear about the demise of ETS Travel Services, an industry pioneer dating back to 1973. Attention shifted immediately to the hundreds of clients who had booked with ETS, and were now searching for answers regarding their purchased U2 ticket packages! As one of the major selling outlets for ETS, Ovation Travel felt the effects of their closure first hand. Friends quickly found themselves without work, and the existing OTX staff struggled to keep our own product moving forward. Despite the confusion and hardship, we did not forget about those left in limbo that we had the chance to help! Ovation immediately contacted The Next Adventure (TNA) and offered our assistance to the U2 community, and to help solve the dilemma. The folks at TNA graciously promised to take care of everyone who had booked with the former ETS, providing quick answers to concerned U2 fans. With Ovation’s help, those fans were contacted and once again given the chance to see U2 live in concert!

Continue reading

18 Hours of U2 music

This Thursday (July 13), U2 fans may tune into Cleveland’s WBWC 88.3 FM radio for its annual U2 marathon, hosted by Mary Cipriani and Todd Richards. For 18 hours, Mary and Todd will spin U2 hits, rare tracks, B-sides, live cuts, as well as talk with special guests and give away prizes to listeners.

The marathon will be streamed on WBWC.com from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. EST. Email your song requests to Mary and Todd at request@wbwc.com.

Use this link to listen to the marathon in RealAudio.

Red is the new black

Gossip mailing list Popbitch this week claims Bono, dining in the Michelin-starred Patrick Guilbaud restaurant in Dublin, was overheard talking about a red Amex card and red iPod for charity.

Popbitch doesn’t mention which charity, but U2 fans will recognise these items would be part of the Red campaign to heighten AIDS awareness as mentioned here on U2log.com in the past.