Tim Adams interviews Bono
Tim Adams speaks to Bono about the origins of the Make Poverty History campaign and persuading a reluctant Bush administration to provide over $50 billion in aid to Africa.
Vid courtesy of Guardian News and Media Limited
Pete The Chop
U2 News Aggregator
Birthday cake and famous friends for Bono’s party
Brad Pitt helped Bono celebrate his 48th birthday in Monaco over the weekend.
The ‘Fight Club’ star joined the U2 frontman and his wife Ali Hewson for an intimate dinner party at Sass’ Café, where they enjoyed an elaborate meal washed down with red wine and champagne on Friday night.
Although Brad’s pregnant partner Angelina Jolie didn’t join them, Bono’s bandmate The Edge was there along with Monaco’s Prince Albert.
The cafe’s maitre de said: “It was really quite a surprise. It wasn’t organised in advance. We only got called on it that afternoon.”
The meal, which began at 10pm, was finished off with a strawberry cake lit with candles.
A staff member described the party as “tres speciale”.
Last week, Angelina – who is rumoured to be pregnant with twins – and Brad took their four children, Maddox, Pax, Zahara and Shiloh, to visit Bono’s home in Eze, France.
The superstar couple are currently in France to prepare for the birth of their rumoured twin daughters.
Brad and Angelina have forged a close bond with Bono and his family as they only live 15 minutes away.
- Tonight & Independent Online (Pty) Ltd.
Happy Birthday, Bono!
Well, well, well, another year older!!
Happy Birthday, Bono.
Your tireless efforts in making a difference in Africa is inspiring. You haven’t hitched yourself to a cause, the cause has hitched itself to you. Lead the charge!
God bless you time & efforts.
All the best from your friends at U2Exit.com
Glen Campbell covering U2 on new album
Editorial Note: Okay, I was pushed back in my chair when I saw this news item come across the U2 Exit News desk, but should we surprised by much these days?! I guess not.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Rhinestone Cowboy is trying on some more fashionable threads.
ADVERTISEMENT
Country singer/guitarist Glen Campbell is following in the footsteps of artists such as Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond by recording a new album designed to inspire a new generation of fans.
“Meet Glen Campbell,” due in stores on August 19, features covers of tunes originally performed by the likes of the Foo Fighters (”Times Like These”), U2 (”All I Want Is You”), and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (”Walls”), his Capitol Records label said on Tuesday. (more…)
U2 still Ireland’s richest entertainers with €618m
U2 are reportedly top of the rich list of Irish entertainers for the 12th consecutive year.
Reports this morning say the Dublin super-group have a combined fortune of €618m.
Michael Flatley is the second-richest entertainer with an estimated €465m.
This year’s overall Sunday Times rich list is reportedly headed by Dublin-born model Hilary Weston, who married into a retailing dynasty in Canada, giving her an estimated fortune of €7bn.
- Independent News & Media
U2 SCRAP WORK AND START AGAIN
Rockers U2 are scrapping all the tracks they have written for their next album to start all over again - ditching a year’s worth of work.
The band has been working on the follow up to 2004 LP How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb for the past 12 months, but they’re far from happy with the results.
Guitarist The Edge reveals bandmembers have mostly messed around in the studio - and they have now decided to get stuck in and finish the record.
He tells CMUMusic.com, “We went into this project allowing ourselves the indulgence of making music without thinking about where it was going to end up. We’re starting to get serious now”.
- ContactMusic.com
The Edge hosts charity auction amid work on new U2 album
By Sandy Cohen, AP Entertainment Writer
Guitarist the Edge takes a break from recording new U2 album to host charity auction
LOS ANGELES (AP) — For the second year in a row, the Edge is putting his money where the music is.
The U2 guitarist announced Wednesday he will donate two Gibson guitars and other items from his personal collection to the “Icons of Music” auction benefiting Music Rising, a charity the Edge co-founded to replace musical equipment lost or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. (more…)
Temple Bar chief backs U2 plan for Clarence
THE architect at the centre of the 1990s regeneration of Temple Bar yesterday said if ambitious plans like those for U2’s Clarence Hotel were on the table back then he would have backed them.
James Howley, who oversaw much of the regeneration of the cultural centre of Dublin, told a hearing of An Bord Pleanala into plans to transform the Clarence site: “It is important to understand the meaning and essence of the term conservation, which is often mistakenly confused with those of preservation.” (more…)
U2 Frontman Bono to Attend 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Good Friday Agreement
The lead singer for the Irish rock band U2 is expected to attend the 10th anniversary celebration of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland on Friday, April 11. He will be one of over 200 expected guests to attend. Ireland’s Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, former British premier Tony Blair, US Senator George Mitchell, Northern Ireland politician John Hume and Africa campaigner Bob Geldof are also expected to attend.
The Good Friday Agreement, signed in Belfast April 10, 1998, led to the creation of the administration between pro-British Unionists and pro-Irish Nationalists in Belfast.
Ahern has stated, “It is particularly appropriate that we honour Tony Blair, his achievements and his huge personal commitment to the cause of peace in Northern Ireland as we mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.”
- Finditt
U2 Returns To Studio, Preps Early Reissues
After an Easter break, U2 is back in the studio in Dublin to work on its next album with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. “Everyone [is] still hoping the new album will be out this year,” reads a post on U2.com.
The as-yet-untitled disc will be followed by a 2009 tour, U2’s first since recently cementing a 12-year deal with Live Nation Artists.
In other U2 news, Universal has set a July 22 release for remastered, expanded editions of the band’s first three albums: “Boy” (1980), “October” (1981) and “War” (1983).
Guitarist the Edge is overseeing the reissues, which will include the original album on a single-disc, 180-gram vinyl and in a two-CD package featuring B-sides, rare tracks and live material.
The reissue program began last fall with “The Joshua Tree,” which featured a previously unreleased video for “Red Hill Mining Town” and a host of other rarities.
- Billboard.com
BONO FINALLY MAKES A DEAL
April 9, 2008 — AFTER more than two years, Bono has finally found a buyer for his co-op apartment at 300 Central Park West. The Post’s Braden Keil reports that the U2 frontman sold his three-bedroom, fourbath co-op in the Eldorado for $4.9 million after first listing it for $5.5 million. Under his given name, Paul Hewson, the singer and his wife, Ali Hewson, paid $3.4 million for the 16th-floor pad in 2001. The couple listed the place after buying a larger duplex penthouse down the street in the San Remo from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2005 for $14.9 million.
- New York Post
The Richest of the Rich
THE Sunday Independent in Ireland published its annual list of who’s making what over there, and to absolutely no one’s surprise, U2 top the list of wealthiest entertainers, with a healthy bank balance of €900 million. Nice! “The band, which has traditionally split earnings equally among Bono, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, the Edge and manager Paul McGuinness, has begun to divide up its vast portfolio among their respective families,” says the Indo. Clearly, the relatives won’t have any financial worries in the future!
Coming in second is Michael Flatley, who’s said to have €590 million to his name. Chicago-born Flatley resides full time at his Castlehyde mansion in Co. Cork with wife Niamh and son Michael Junior. “He has a wide range of investments,” says the paper. Putting it mildly! (more…)
U2 signs to Live Nation in concerts deal
Live Nation, the promoter that owns or manages venues such as Wembley Arena and Manchester Apollo, has signed an $80 million (£40 million) upfront deal with U2 that will tie the Irish rock band to its venues for the next 12 years.
The deal underlines the growing battle for live rights and cements the Irish four piece into a long-term deal, where previously the band worked with New York-listed Live Nation on a tour-by-tour basis.
Bono, lead singer of U2, said: “We’ve been dating for over 20 years now; it’s about time we tied the knot.” Live Nation has produced every U2 tour since 1997 but company bosses first worked with the band in Toronto in 1980. (more…)
U2 Signs Merch Deal With Live Nation
US concert promotion company Live Nation has signed U2 up to for 12-year deal for merchandising.While U2 will stay with Universal Music, all merchandising, digital and branding rights will now be controlled by Live Nation.
The deal will be global.
Live Nation has managed U2’s world tours for the last 20 years.
Licensing rights, sponsorship opportunities, fan club and web site activity as well as marketing and creative services will be handled now by Live Nation on behalf of the band.
The deal falls short of a similar agreement the company signed with Madonna last year. Under the Madonna deal, the touring company will also release all of Madonna’s new music once her Warner deal runs out after her forthcoming ‘Hard Candy’ album.
Live Nation shares closed at $11.83 on Friday, down from 12 month high of $24.09
by Paul Cashmere, Undercover.com.au
Edge of reason
The edge has spoken of how his great friendship with fellow bandmates has contributed to the longevity of U2.
The U2 guitarist credits their three decades of music success to the comradeship that has bonded them together.
In an intimate interview with RTE presenter John Kelly, to be broadcast next week, the Edge reveals how it’s the music that keeps him sane.
“There’s something about performing our songs in front of a large crowd which works and it’s to do with the fact, I think, that a lot of those people at those shows are there to celebrate not just their favourite band, or a favourite band of theirs, but part of their history,” he said. (more…)