Pete The Chop

Stephen Maguire

U2 were forced to pulled out of a planned trip to help Nelson Mandela celebrate his 90th birthday party -- to concentrate on their latest album.

The supergroup were due to join a host of other stars at London's Hyde Park on Friday for a special concert.

But the group backed out at the last minute -- with Bono and the Edge sending a video message instead.

The millionaire rockers are holed up in their Hanover Quay studios in Dublin putting the final touches to their new album which is expected to be released in October.

A source close to the band said they were bitterly disappointed they couldn't make the party.

"The band have always been supporters of the anti-apartheid movements and became personal friends with Mr. Mandela. They wanted to go but are simply snowed under," said the source.

Dozens of stars including Annie Lennox, Simple Minds, Leona Lewis and Coldplay sang for the world's most famous former prisoner.

Andrea Corr flew the flag for Ireland with a haunting duet with Queen guitarist Brian May.

A staggering 46,664 people, Mandela's former prisoner number, attended the concert.

© 2008 Sunday Mirror.

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Video Of The Week: Crumbs From Your Table recorded Dublin 2004

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VOTW: Crumbs From Your Table

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TWO hearts beating as one? Adam Clayton was dining a deux with a mystery lady last week in Expresso Bar in Dublin. Has the dapper U2 bassist found what he’s looking for? I, for one, certainly hope so.

Early last year, he sadly broke up with his fiancee, Suzy Smith. (Adam and Canadian beauty Suzy had chosen St Valentine’s Day 2006 to get engaged. They had been going out for eight years. Another time, another country, and besides…).

My Deep Throat in the U2 camp refused to be drawn on Adam’s new romance, as if I would tell anyone that three months ago, Adam started seeing a girl who worked in a bank.

“She looks very similar to Suzy. It was a very low-key relationship, if it is still on. That’s all I know.”

I know, however, that last Friday week, in Dublin, U2 listened to a rough mix of their album. Presumably, there was some celebrating in Han(g)over Quay afterwards.

- Barry Egan, independent.ie

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Adam’s mystery date

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U2 have reportedly turned down the chance to play at next year’s All-Ireland finals, which will mark the 125th anniversary of the Association.

The Irish super-group were asked by the GAA to entertain the crowd at Croke Park – where they played three sold out gigs in 2005 – during the half-time intervals of next year’s finals.

However, the foursome have other plans for the dates in question, explained Jarlath Burns, head of the planning committee for the anniversary event.

“They sent us a lovely letter back saying that they would love to be involved but unfortunately it’s not going to be possible as they are rehearsing a new album,” Burns told The Irish Mail on Sunday.

Despite the disappointment of not securing U2’s services, Burns has plenty of other extravagant plans he hopes will come to fruition during the GAA’s 125th anniversary year, says the paper.

He wants every inter-county pitch to have pained into it a new logo, which will incorporate a ‘125’, for the duration of the 2009 championships, while also hoping the St Patrick’s Day parade will take on a GAA theme.

by Dave Maher

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U2 decline GAA anniversary offer

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According to the french website Voir which interviewed Daniel Lanois there’s an interesting news about the new u2 album, one of the new tracks is called “The Cedars of Lebanon” and it draws inspiration from Jimi Hendrix. Could be a good album name too?

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Bono

I wanted to set the record straight on behalf of the members of U2 on comments made to the BBC by our much-loved and valued manager, Paul McGuinness, regarding Radiohead’s decision to make the music of ‘In Rainbows’ available as a download, using the ‘honesty box’ idea for payment.

We agree with our manager that this is a head-scratching and worrisome time for many musicians who, unlike ourselves, are depending on royalty or publishing cheques to pay the rent (particularly songwriters). We also agree that it is disturbing to see internet service providers and technology companies profit from the so-called ‘disintermediation’ of the music business when so many music lovers are losing their jobs. And while there is no doubt that it’s extremely difficult for a new artist to get the kind of investment on which U2 depended in the first few wobbly years of recording, we disagree with Paul’s assessment of Radiohead’s release as “having backfired to a certain extent.” We think they were courageous and imaginative in trying to figure out some new relationship with their audience. Such imagination and courage are in short supply right now…they’re a sacred talent and we feel blessed to be around at the same time.

With respect,
Bono

-NME

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U2 defends Radiohead in letter to NME Magazine

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Bono & Edge perform Happy Birthday for Nelson Mandela during the *Nelson Mandela at 90* concert on June 27th, 2008 from Hyde Park, London, England.

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Bono & Edge perform during the *Nelson Mandela at 90* concert

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Singer rejects manager’s claim that download ‘backfired’

U2’s Bono has sent a letter to NME this week (June 25) following the band’s manager Paul McGuinness’s comments regarding Radiohead’s decision to release their last album, ‘In Rainbows’, on a pay-what-you-like basis as a download.

Earlier this month, McGuinness said Radiohead’s album release “backfired” and that U2 would not be following the Oxford band’s example when they release their next record.

In the letter, printed in tomorrow’s (June 25) edition of NME, Bono says that he disagrees with his manager’s comments, calling “courageous and imaginative in trying to figure out some new relationship with their audience”.

“Such imagination and courage are in short supply right now,” he continued. “They’re [Radiohead], a sacred talent, and we feel blessed to be around at the same time.”

Read the full letter from Bono in the new issue of NME, out nationwide tomorrow.

-NME.com

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Bono: ‘Radiohead were courageous for ‘In Rainbows’ release’

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U2 fans from around the world donated over $26,000 to the African Well Fund to build wells in Africa in honor of Bono’s birthday. The African Well Fund is a registered non-profit organization that was formed by a group of U2 fans 6 years ago. Since that time they have raised more that a half a million dollars to fund clean water projects in Africa.

Schenectady, NY (PRWEB) June 23, 2008 — The African Well Fund and Africare are excited to announce that this year’s fundraiser to “Build a Well for Bono’s Birthday” has raised $26,554.77 to fund clean water projects in Africa. This year marks the 6th one in a row that U2 fans from around the world have come together to honor Bono’s May 10th birthday by raising money for clean water in Africa.

The fundraiser launched on March 16th and donations were collected through May 15th. After donating, fans signed an online birthday card for Bono at the African Well Fund web site www.africanwellfund.org . Their signatures and birthday greetings will be incorporated into a beautiful hand made card that will be sent to Bono in Dublin. For 6 consecutive years, the African Well Fund has held a fundraising campaign in honor of Bono’s Birthday. These campaigns have raised a total of more than $125,000 and have been used to fund water and sanitation projects throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

Water and sanitation projects, funded by U2 fans have been implemented by our partner Africare in Uganda, Angola and Zimbabwe and have changed the lives of thousands. In September 2006, two AWF board members traveled to Uganda to visit water projects that were built with the very first “Build a Well for Bono’s Birthday” fundraiser. They were accompanied by filmmaker Steve Buckwalter who produced a short documentary about the trip. The film may be viewed on African Well Fund’s YouTube page http://www.youtube.com/AfricanWellFund. . The film is also available in DVD format upon request, write to info@africanwellfund.org for more information on how to receive a copy.

The African Well Fund is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was founded in 2002 by a group of U2 fans. Since that time, AWF has raised more than $500,000 which has been used to fund clean water projects throughout the continent. All donations to the African Well Fund go directly to Africare, one of the leading private, non-profit, charitable organizations assisting Africa. It is also the oldest and largest African-American led organization in its field. Since its inception in 1970, Africare has delivered more than $710 million in assistance and support to 36 countries Africa-wide. To learn more about Africare and its programs, please visit www.africare.org .

The African Well Fund was founded to focus on one achievable goal: providing access to clean water to everyone in Africa. The African Well Fund believes that access to water is not merely a basic human need but a Basic Human Right.

PRWEB

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U2 Fans Raise Over $26,000 to Build Wells in Honor of Bono’s Birthday

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Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own [Acoustic]

Visit the U2tube for more…

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VOTW: Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own [Acoustic]

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Read the schedule at The Official U2Star Tv Page

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Activist rockers Bono and Bob Geldof challenged French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday to increase aid to Africa, saying France was failing to live up to commitments it made at a summit of leading industrialized countries in 2005. The U2 frontman and the former Boomtown Rats singer, who played an active role in the Live 8 [...]

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MANILA, Philippines - The wildly rumored U2 concert in Manila won’t happen this year, if it’s ever pushing through.

This was relayed to Inquirer Entertainment by promoter Francis Lumen, whose events company, Concertus Inc., was earlier negotiating to bring in the Irish superstar act.

“The problem is, we’re being required to hold it in a 100,000-capacity stadium, which we don’t have,” explained Lumen, who’s also president of MTV Philippines.

Although there isn’t any forthcoming U2 tour, either, the band has reportedly expressed a desire to perform in one Asian country. Lumen’s staff, tasked to scout for a suitable venue, failed to find one.

Keys to MoA

Meanwhile, MTV Philippines also announced that the Alicia Keys concert on Aug. 5 will be transferred from the Araneta Coliseum to the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay. The open-air grounds, said to have a capacity of 25,000, is also allegedly “more audience-friendly” than the Fort Bonifacio open field, which has a rough, unpaved surface.

But the main reason for the change in venue, Lumen pointed out, is that he wants to keep ticket prices low in the general admission section.

The 11-time Grammy-winning Keys, whose current live act includes a 48-member cast, has upped her talent fees, and to hold the concert at the Big Dome would correspondingly increase ticket prices, Lumen said.

By Pocholo Concepcion
Philippine Daily Inquirer

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PARIS (AFP) — High profile rockers-turned-campaigners Bob Geldof and Bono on Wednesday hammered G8 countries for falling far behind in aid pledges to Africa and urged France to take a stand as next EU president to end the “disgrace”.

Flanked by French tennis star Yannick Noah and Benin singer Angelique Kidjo, the pair of Irish rock’n'roll aid icons said a 2005 pledge by G8 nations to deliver an extra 22 billion dollars to Africa by 2010 was currently only 14 percent fulfilled.

“It is a disgrace that the rich world has failed so miserably,” said Geldof. “It is a disgrace that the lucky part of the world give a small fraction of its wealth to poor who live just 12 kilometres away,” he said, referring to the smallest distance between Europe and Africa.

With French aid to Africa cut back last year and the country due to take on the key post of rotating European Union presidency next month, President Nicolas Sarkozy had a special role to play, the campaigners said.

“European credibility is on the line,” Bono said.

Yet aid reaching the world’s poorest continent was making a measurable difference on the ground, the celebrity activists said.

Around 100,000 African lives a month now were being saved through programmes run by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, said its executive director Michel Kazatchkine.

Increased assistance meant more than two million Africans were on life-saving AIDS medication against only 50,000 five years ago, while 29 million children had entered school for the first time between 1999 and 2005.

“This is a continent that is going to take off,” said Bono, referring to Africa’s six percent annual growth rate.

“We are their neighbours, we should be their partners. If we fail, we have no right to that special relationship.”

Ireland had done well out of aid, as had Germany and France, he added. “Aid is a necessary foundation for the building-blocks of the 21st century,” said the U2 frontman.

Both Bono and Geldof were in Japan recently to urge Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to recapture Tokyo’s position as the global leader in overseas development as the next G8 summit approaches in July in Hokkaido.

France’s Sarkozy too, whom the pair have met several times, “could be a great help to us” in his six months at the EU helm, Bono said.

But as the country that propelled human rights onto the world stage, France must dig into its own pocket too to help Africa.

While Britain and the United States were on course to meet their G8 commitments, and Germany had taken difficult steps, France needed to pump up its aid flows “in the next few weeks so we can say we have at least half of the G8 on course,” Bono said.

G8 nations as a whole have delivered only three billion dollars to Africa at the halfway point between their 2005 pledge and 2010 deadline, according to figures from DATA, an anti-poverty advocacy group, and ONE, a non-governmental organisation that campaigns against global poverty.

- AFP

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Live Nation Inc Chairman Michael Cohl, the driving force behind the concert promoter’s wooing of superstars such as Madonna, has resigned, the company said on Friday after a disagreement over strategy.

Cohl, who was head of Live Nation’s artists division, has moved to a consultant role and stepped down from the board, the company said. Live Nation’s shares fell almost 10 percent in anticipation of the news carried in earlier reports.

At issue are “360 deals” under which Live Nation signed major name artists such as Madonna and Jay-Z, giving them big upfront payments in exchange for financial rights to nearly all their business activities, from recording to licensing, according to a person familiar with the talks.

Cohl wanted to sign more such deals at a faster pace, while Live Nation Chief Executive Michael Rapino preferred signing around four to six artists a year, the person said.

“We are committed to acquiring additional artists’ rights beyond the concert tour, including unified rights deals with select artists,” Rapino said in a statement, adding that the company was near to closing the long-term deal with U2.

“At the same time, we continue to take a disciplined financial approach and are focused on expanding cash flow and margins and increasing value for shareholders.”

Cohl said in the statement that he remained committed to helping Live Nation grow.

David Joyce, an analyst at Miller Tabak, downgraded Live Nation earlier on Friday due to the management uncertainty, but said after speaking with Live Nation’s Rapino he was reassured by the fact Cohl had not sold off his stock, even though he was stepping down from the board.

“Cohl’s never run a public company and wanted to build the business with much more quickly than Rapino,” said Joyce. “There’s still a good working relationship between Cohl and Rapino.”

But music industry sources questioned the ability of Live Nation to seal big-name artists after his departure.

“They can’t afford to continue to be in the 360 business without scale. Cohl’s the guy with the Rolling Stones relationship and other relationships,” said a music executive who declined to be identified.

“The deals they were doing were financially unsustainable, which probably would have bankrupted the company.”

Live Nation has not revealed the financial terms of its artists’ deals but the agreement with Madonna, which included recording rights, has been estimated to be worth $120 million over 10 years including a three-album commitment.

Miller Tabak’s Joyce said Live Nation indicated the fees paid to the stars were spread over the 10-year agreement rather than as an up front lump sum of cash or stock.

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Cohl will perform consulting services for Live Nation through June 2012 for a lump-sum payment of $4.5 million. It said non-competition clauses in his previous contract remained in effect. Cohl signed a nine-year non-compete agreement with Live Nation when he joined the business last year..

The shares of Los Angeles-based Live Nation fell 9.77 percent to close at $11.73 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Tiffany Wu and Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Ted Kerr and Andre Grenon)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

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