Pete The Chop

If you’re a paying member of U2.com, I’m betting you got an email earlier today just like the one above. A lot of friends said they got this email, too.

Thing is, U2.com — I’m not one of your European subscribers. I live in Washington state. And the folks I’ve been trading emails with today also live somewhere in North America.

These things are not the same.

To be fair, I’ll bet that the folks at U2.com requested that Fanfire send out an email just to the European subscribers, but Fanfire somehow screwed up those instructions and sent to pretty much the whole list of paying members. So, yes, this is probably a Fanfire mistake. But as long as U2 and U2.com continues to associate with the clueless people that run the fan club for them, it also reflects poorly on the band and the official web site.

(Related: Some folks that are still waiting to get their Artificial Horizon vinyl are reporting that the $30 charge has just appeared on their credit cards. It’s from Beatles.com. Perfect, isn’t it?)

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Geography Tip for U2.com

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Here’s an interesting one: mandolin, piano, marching drum rolls and Derek Webb.  I like it. You can listen and download it for free at SoundCloud.

It’s track #6 on Webb’s  Democracy Vol. 1 CD, which is a recording of covers chosen by votes from his fans and is available for $6 here. Webb has been releasing online a cover a month in 2010. I don’t know if the track order indicates the number of votes each song got, but it took until June for the U2 selection to appear (after the Beatles: understandable; Coldplay: forgivable; Bob Dylan: also understandable; Gnarls Barkley: intriguing; and Sufjan Stevens: obvious for Derek Webb fans).

Webb, formerly of Caedmon’s Call, is Nashville-based and has been on the path with his last few albums of being more and more outspoken on matters of faith and politics in America. He reminds me of the original artist who sang on “Streets,” not so much in voice by in conviction.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

“Streets” Cover by Derek Webb

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“There’s a lot of things, if I could I’d rearrange” is one of my favorite lines in “The Fly.” One thing I’d rearrange is the fact that my hotel was non-refundable by Giants Stadium, and as I’m writing this I should be inside the stadium listening to an opening act. But, thankfully there are always silver linings that emerge. For example, we are currently in a severe thunderstorm warning with the prospect of some wicked thunderstorms occurring around the same time U2 would be taking the stage. We had an awful storm this morning that caused the power to go out, and with us staying only 2 miles from the stadium, it wouldn’t have been fun for U2’s crew either. Mix that with highs today in the upper 90s with horrible humidity, it was certainly a day that was “hot as a hair dryer in your face.”

As our plans had to change, we decided to head into New York City with the family and stumbled upon the Hilton Theatre in Times Square. Outside it is quite clear that it is the home of the Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark show. Posters are proudly displayed outside the theater and they are most certainly using “Music by Bono and the Edge” as the primary marketing. The actors are secondary in the main marketing at the theater.

Peeking in, gear boxes are being stored near the doors and in the lobby area. Speaking with a theater staffer working at the stage door, he said that rehearsals are going strong and that previews are still slated for late October/early November. The box office will not open until just after Labor Day in early September. He said that rehearsals are not at the theater currently.

While there wasn’t anything exciting happening at Giants Stadium this evening, I still felt a little bit of enthusiasm and excitement knowing that it would appear that it’s all systems go for Spider-Man.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Stuck In A Moment

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Variety reports that the “U2 360 at The Rosebowl” Blu-ray DVD’s BD-Live content “marks the first Blu-ray title to be produced in the U.K. with BD-Live content. It was installed through specialty content production company the Pavement.”

“Users are given a live feed of the band’s progress throughout the tour: The first download will feature a video that U2 filmed for users, in which they apologize to fans for missing a leg of their tour,” Variety states.

Um, really? That’s the *same* video that is found on U2.com.

So, why the hype around the BD-Live content when it would appear you can get the same from the band’s own website? It was my hope that the BD-Live content would add something that you couldn’t find anywhere else. It disappoints me that so far this is not the case.

The company who installed the BD-Live content is quick to mention, “It’s important that the world knows the tech is out there,” says Pavement founder Andy Evans. That’s all fine and well if the content is fresh, but when it’s nothing more than a rehash of content already available, then it’s nothing worth tooting a horn about.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

BD-Live vs. U2.com

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Lady Gaga, Beyonce, AC/DC also make biggest paydays

By Chris Barth, Rolling Stone Magazine

U2's massive 360° Tour has helped propel the band to Number One on Forbes' annual report on top-earning musicians. Bono and Co. scored the top spot on the list by netting $130 million in the past 12 months. They're followed by AC/DC -- who just wrapped their 108-city Black Ice world tour on June 28th -- with $144 million. Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen and Britney Spears round out the Top Five.

Forbes calculates rockers' earnings based on net income from ticket sales, record sales and endorsement deals between June 2009 and June 2010. Unsurprisingly, album sales didn't drive most artists to the top of the list -- giant tours and strategic corporate team-ups were responsible for most of the profits. Lady Gaga is the youngest performer in the Top 10, bringing in $62 million to score her first-ever appearance on the list thanks partially to partnerships with Polaroid, Virgin Mobile and Monster, who puts out her Heartbeats ear buds. Gaga just edged out Madonna, who has made the countdown for the past four years and raked in major cash last year on her giant Sticky & Sweet Tour.

Power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z both appear in the Top 10 individually, although Beyoncé out-earned her husband by $24 million last year. Kenny Chesney is the highest-ranked country musician on the list at Number Nine, earning $50 million dollars.

U2's 360° Tour requires $750,000 a day in overhead, but the giant show earned the band $311 million in gross box office receipts in 2009 alone. The band was recently forced to postpone the summer leg of the trek to spring 2011 due to Bono's back injury, which required surgery. Other touring woes may have an effect on the list next year considering this summer has been especially cruel on live acts. "In today's world artists have to tour to make money," Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni told Forbes. "They can't just sit at home and collect their royalties and expect to make their mortgage payments."

Copyright 2010 Rolling Stone

Tags: Business News, acdc, beyonce, britneyspears, brucespringsteen, businessnews, jayz, kennychesney, ladygaga, u2360tour // Comments Off

A few years ago a friend “borrowed” my soft cover version of this striking photo-essay of a book that includes Bono’s National Prayer Breakfast speech from 2006.  It was just yesterday that I finally felt it was time to tell him to go ahead and keep it and get me a replacement.

I looked it up on Amazon and got a touch of heartache when I saw the hardcover version marked down to their bargain price of $5.20.  Sigh … this should not be.

But maybe the silver lining is that if you haven’t yet purchased one for yourself or are already doing your holiday shopping for family and friends, how could you go wrong with this book, this topic, this author AND this price? (And there are even lower prices for new ones in Amazon’s secondary market sellers.)

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

On The Move: Apparently Not Fast Enough for Amazon

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by John D. Luerssen, Spinner

Although the Sex Pistols were a significant early influence on U2, frontman John Lydon could care less. The notoriously contentious Rotten -- aka Johnny Rotten -- thinks that Bono and the boys have no business making music.

"U2 -- that's a band that never should have existed," Lydon snapped during an interview with the Daily Star. "There's no life experience in any of their songs."

Lydon made the remarks during efforts to publicize the return of Public Image Ltd., his post-Pistols band. The PiL mastermind also explained he was "astounded" by the fact that his experimental post-punk troupe hasn't been inundated with bids to play the many European summer festivals.

"We haven't had any offers," Lydon moped. "They have been quite negative, which has astounded us because PiL is the perfect festival band."

Spinner.com © 2010 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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In a recent interview with London’s Daily Star, Sex Pistols front man Johnny Rotten proclaimed “U2 — that’s a band that never should have existed.” He went on to say that there’s “no life experience in any of their songs,” as he whined about not getting any bids to play the summer music festivals (U2 would have in Glastonbury).

He’s re-launched his band Public Image Ltd. to very little fanfare, and while he’s making ridiculous comments like these, I’d say that’s no surprise. Maybe it’s not so cool to be rotten anymore?

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Rotten Says Rotten Things About U2

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The U2 summer concerts that were postponed after Bono’s back surgery have been rescheduled for the spring and summer of 2011. The band was supposed to start the second U.S. leg of their “360″ tour on June 3 in Salt Lake City, but Bono had to undergo emergency surgery in May. Live Nation announced Tuesday that the [...]

Tags: Bono, Larry Mullen, U2 News, U2 No Line On The Horizon, adam clayton, the edge, u2, u2 concerts, u2 the claw, u2 tickets, u2 tour, u2360, u2360 tour // Comments Off

Tom Krueger has been a fan of U2 since The Unforgettable Fire back in 1984. Now he's directed 'U2 360° Live at the Rose Bowl'. In an interview for our Subscription Site Tom told us about he  first came to work with the band, his role during the live show and how he ended up shooting the Rose Bowl show for the DVD/Blu-ray.

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Live Nation Entertainment announced today that the U2 360° tour dates in the US, which were recently postponed due to Bono’s emergency back surgery, have all been rescheduled for Spring/Summer 2011 with all tickets being valid at the rescheduled performances.

The 2010 European tour, which has not been affected, begins as scheduled on August 6th in Turin.

U2’s manager Paul McGuinness thanked fans for their ongoing support, “We’re delighted the dates are rescheduled and in all the same venues we originally planned to play. It hasn’t been easy to accomplish this and I’d like to thank the managers of the many venues and sports teams across North America and Live Nation Global Touring for their help and cooperation in making this complex new plan possible. Above all we want to thank the U2 fans for bearing with us. They’re the best and the band wants to get back to where they belong, surrounded by their audience.”

The U2 360° Tour is produced by Live Nation Global Touring and sponsored in 2010 by BlackBerry.

The North American Tour rescheduled dates, are confirmed as follows:

May 21	Denver, CO	Invesco Field	(formerly June 12/10)
May 24	Salt Lake City, UT	Rice Eccles Stadium	(formerly June 3/10)
June 01	Edmonton, AB	Commonwealth Stadium	(formerly June 23/10)
June 04	Seattle, WA	Qwest Field	(formerly June 20/10)
June 07	Oakland, CA	McAfee Coliseum	(formerly June 20/10)
June 17	Anaheim, CA	Angels Stadium	(formerly June 6/10)
June 18	Anaheim, CA	Angels Stadium	(formerly June 7/10)
June 26	East Lansing, MI	Spartan Stadium at MSU	(formerly June 30/10)
June 29	Miami, FL	*Sun Life Stadium previously Dolphin Stadium	(formerly July 9/10)
July 05	Chicago, IL	Soldier Field	(formerly July 6/10)
July 08	Montreal, QC	Hippodrome	(formerly July 16/10)
July 09	Montreal, QC	Hippodrome	(formerly July 17/10)
July 11	Toronto, ON	Rogers Centre	(formerly July 3/10)
July 14	Philadelphia, PA	Lincoln Financial Field	(formerly July 12/10)
July 20	East Rutherford, NJ	New Meadowlands Stadium	(formerly July 19/10)
July 23	Minneapolis, MN	TCF Bank Stadium	(formerly June 27/10)

Tickets for the previously scheduled performances will be honoured at the door. Tickets for the rescheduled performances will be available at www.livenation.com and all usual outlets.  Refunds if required available at point of purchase.

Additional dates and cities to be confirmed.

- U2.com

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Peter Rowen is someone that U2 fans should know very well.  If his name does not ring a bell, his face certainly will.  He  was photographed for the cover of   U2’s  iconic  albums,  Boy and War.  He is also the younger brother of Bono’s childhood friend, Guggi.

Peter, now 36, has gone on to become an award-winning photographer.  I am a big fan of his work which ranges from weddings to fashion, sports and a certain Irish band. In 2001, he went behind the camera to shoot U2 at their Slane Castle concert.  He even hopes to shoot them once again on their upcoming 360 Tour.

The following piece was just published.  Here he talks about his association with U2 and his own photography.  I hope you enjoy it.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

U2 Boy Wonder to Picture Perfect

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"I'm going to be fighting fit next summer in the U.S.," Bono tells fans

By Rolling Stone Magazine

In late May, the biggest rock tour in history hit a speed bump: Bono underwent emergency back surgery in Munich for a compressed sciatic nerve that forced U2 to postpone the summer leg of their mammoth 360° Tour and cancel their headlining spot at Glastonbury. After nearly two months, the band has broken its silence in a homemade video shot by drummer Larry Mullen Jr., in which all four bandmembers give fans the good news: Bono is healthy, the band is in the studio, and U2 will be back in American stadiums in the summer of 2011.

Look back at three decades of U2, onstage and off.

Revealing he's "very well," Bono says he's "feeling strong, feeling confident, and I am ready, rebuilt by German engineering -- better design I'm told." The 360° Tour, originally scheduled to launch June 3rd in Salt Lake City, Utah, will now kick off May 21st, 2011 in Denver. Bono's swift recovery is permitting the band to play its summer 2010 dates in Europe as scheduled, beginning August 6th in Turin, Italy. All tickets previously sold for the North American tour will be valid at the rescheduled performances, and additional dates and cities will be added to the current 16-show itinerary.

"I actually wanted to apologize for the trouble that this injury has put you all through," Bono says, acknowledging that purchasing concert tickets and making travel plans is "a very big deal" for fans the band doesn't take for granted. "Thank you for standing by us in our hour of need." He adds that the serious back injury, which struck the day after his birthday, was "not a lot of fun for me," but the forced rest proved inspirational: the band has written "some great songs" they've been recording -- the video is shot in a studio -- and "might be playing them onstage."

Check out all of U2's appearances on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Before the camera turns to Bono, Mullen jokes that the Edge has "been quite promiscuous recently," a reference to the guitarist's surprise Glastonbury guest spot alongside Muse. "You don't want to sit idly by, so I got out there to see what the singing talent is like," the Edge says. "But you know the funny thing, it just wasn't the same. ... we've got the best singer and he's looking very well right now."

In a statement, U2's manager Paul McGuinness said rescheduling all the shows in the exact same stadiums "hasn't been easy," thanking the venues and sports teams for helping facilitate the process. As Rolling Stone previously reported, the 360° Tour requires $750,000 a day in overhead, a 170-ton stage, 200 trucks and more than 250 speakers. "Above all, we want to thank the U2 fans for bearing with us," McGuinness said. "They're the best and the band wants to get back to where they belong, surrounded by their audience."

Rescheduled 2011 U2 Tour Dates:
May 21 - Denver, CO @ Invesco Field (formerly June 12, 2010)
May 24 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Rice Eccles Stadium (formerly June 3, 2010)
June 1 - Edmonton, AB @ Commonwealth Stadium (formerly June 23, 2010)
June 4 - Seattle, WA @ Qwest Field (formerly June 20, 2010)
June 7 - Oakland, CA @ McAfee Coliseum (formerly June 16, 2010)
June 17 - Anaheim, CA @ Angels Stadium (formerly June 6, 2010)
June 18 - Anaheim, CA @ Angels Stadium (formerly June 7, 2010)
June 26 - East Lansing, MI @ Spartan Stadium at MSU (formerly June 30, 2010)
June 29 - Miami, FL @ Sun Life Stadium (previously Dolphin Stadium) (formerly July 9, 2010)
July 5 - Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field (formerly July 6, 2010)
July 8 - Montreal, QC @ Hippodrome (formerly July 16 ,2010)
July 9 - Montreal, QC @ Hippodrome (formerly July 17, 2010)
July 11- Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre (formerly July 3, 2010)
July 14 - Philadelphia, PA @ Lincoln Financial Field (formerly July 12, 2010)
July 20 - East Rutherford, NJ @ New Meadowlands Stadium (formerly July 19, 2010)
July 23 - Minneapolis, MN @ TCF Bank Stadium (formerly June 27, 2010)

Copyright 2010 Rolling Stone

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The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled today that a government policy that can lead to fining broadcasters for airing a single curse word on live television is “unconstitutionally vague” and potentially a violation of the 1st Amendment.

This all came to light back in 2003 when Bono exclaimed during a live awards show that U2 winning a Golden Globe was “really f-ing brilliant.”

Of course, Janet Jackson’s exposed breast during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2006 didn’t help matters. Following that incident, Congress voted to increase the maximum fine for each violation to $325,000.

Today’s ruling will help prevent crippling fines for slips that censors aren’t quick enough to catch, and provide a little breathing room for…em…wardrobe malfunctions.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Appeals Court Ruling is *&%#%^ Brilliant!

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Live Nation have announced that the US and Canadian dates, postponed following Bono's back surgery, have now been rescheduled for next year.  'The band want to get back to where they belong,' said Paul McGuinness, 'Surrounded by their audience.' Check out all  the new dates in the Spring/Summer of 2011.

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