The location of the unprecedented morning TV event has yet to be announced, but the group’s performance coincides with the release of its highly anticipated new album, “No Line on the Horizon,” which hits stores Tuesday March 3.
The lead single from U2’s much-hyped new album last night failed to breach the U.K. Top Ten, with the band hitting the charts at their lowest point in over a decade.
“Get On Your Boots” was the highest new entry of the week in the U.K., but fans were bitterly disappointed that it only charted at 12.
This is in contrast to the Irish charts, where the first single from album No Line on the Horizon shot straight to the top spot.
Online U2 fan forums last night blamed a host of factors for the relatively low U.K. placing, ranging from the changed nature of the charts to internet leaks.
Certainly the changed attitudes of the record-buying public mean that album sales will be the true barometer of the band’s popularity. But unless the single rises up the charts in the coming weeks it will mark U2’s worst performance since 1997’s “If God Will Send His Angels.”
That song was the fifth single from the Pop album and was not aggressively hyped or marketed in the way “Get On Your Boots” has been. And while number 12 is a respectable position for most bands, the world-conquering might of U2 has only failed to dent the U.K. top 10 four times in 25 years.
The band have enjoyed a remarkable run of success since their very first number 10 hit “New Year’s Day” in 1983.
Elsewhere in the charts, last week’s Brit Awards had a huge impact on the record-buying public.
The controversy started with the leak of U2’s “No Line On The Horizon” last week. The album appeared on file-sharing sites after Universal Music’s Australian arm accidentally began selling downloads two weeks early. But on Friday, the technology blog Techcrunch sparked privacy concerns when they posted a rumor claiming that Last.fm, the CBS-owned music streaming and social networking site that allows registered user to keep track over their digital listening habits by “scrobbling” tracks played on computers, MP3s players and other streaming sites, had shared private user data with the RIAA that could identify individuals who had listened to the unreleased U2 tracks.
If you ask Canadian record producer Daniel Lanois about how U2’s work-in-progress album sounds, he’ll say it’s “fantastically innovative” and “some of their best work.”
But before Lanois gets back to tinkering with the tracks — the album is one of 2009’s most anticipated releases — he’s tackling his real “dream project,” touring in support of his own music.
Lanois just finished two weeks of recording work with the Irish mega-band in New York and will now play a handful of shows in Ontario and Boston before flying to London, England, for another 10 days in the studio with U2.
Playing music live is a critical part of being a good producer because it helps reinforce what makes a good song that connects with listeners, Lanois said in a telephone interview.
“By performing live it really helps me to do better work in the studio, because you become aware of what works in the presence of an audience,” he said.
“It’s a necessary part of one’s awareness and education, and you’ll make better records if you play live.”
Lanois has several albums and dozens of production credits to his name, and has worked with some of the biggest acts in music including Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel and Emmylou Harris.
He helped mould some of U2’s classic albums by co-producing The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. He also co-produced All That You Can’t Leave Behind and one song off How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.
Bono and The Edge will appear on the Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show on Absolute Radio this Thursday at (gasp) 6:00 a.m.
If you’d like to submit a question for them, enter to win a signed copy of No Line on the Horizon, or share your favorite U2 song with the station, follow the link.
House cleaning has begun to welcome the new album. If you have not been over to the new site. Now would be a good to stop over. just days ahead of the new album. We’ve moved the furniture around and given the place a lick of paint. The title of the story is a line from one of the new tracks, Unknown Caller, but it kind of captures what we’re doing with U2.Com. We’ve spent a few months giving the site a complete makeover – and responding to some of the features you said you wanted to improve your U2 online experience.
An ANTON CORBIJN moving image/SEE-SAW FILMS PRODUCTION
Said Taghmaoui
Music by U2 with Brian Eno and Danny Lanois
Line ProducerRosa Romero EditorJames Rose Art DirectorMark Digby Make-Up & HairAaf Corbijn CinematographerMartin Ruhe Executive ProducersBono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr
Story by Anton Corbijn/Bono
Produced by Iain Canning, Emile Sherman
Directed by Anton Corbijn
01. UNKNOWN CALLER
02. BREATHE
03. WINTER
04. WHITE AS SNOW
05. NO LINE ON THE HORIZON
06. FEZ-Being Born
07. MAGNIFICENT
08. STAND UP COMEDY
09. GET ON YOUR BOOTS
10. MOMENT OF SURRENDER
11. CEDARS OF LEBANON
Titles written by U2/Brian Eno/Danny Lanois and published by Universal Music Publishing BV/Opal Music, except in North America by Upala Music Inc/BMI
* “Cedars of Lebanon” includes a sample of the recording “Against The Sky” performed by Harold Budd and Brian Eno from the album “The Pearl” (Virgin/EMI 1984 – ENOCD13). Licensed courtesy of Virgin Records Limited.
The composition “Cedars of Lebanon” contains elements from “Against the Sky” written Harold Budd and Brian Eno and published by Universal Songs of Polygram International Inc / Toyon Music / Opal Music London. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
© 2009 U2 Limited. The copyright in this film and artwork is owned by U2 Limited and is under exclusive licence to Mercury Records Limited in the UK, Interscope Records in the US, and Universal Music Group for the rest of the world.
“Late May 2008 – at a band meeting I was introduced to the new songs. The reason for letting me in so early on this sonically and lyrically different U2 record is that the band have this idea for me to make some kind of moving imagery to go with the record. The thinking is that as a lot of people buy music from the internet and are likely to hear this on a computer or mp3 player, their listening pleasure could be heightened by visuals. Instead of just seeing a pack shot of the record sleeve, or a still photograph of the band for 45 plus minutes, as is often the case now, why not have a moving image for the duration of the record? It is not essential to the record, you can either watch it or ignore it. Brilliant! As always, U2 are thinking ahead, not so much having one foot in tomorrow’s door, as having built the house to which that door is the entrance.
“Bono talked me through the songs and the record as a whole. For the first time he had created characters for this record, and wrote lyrics about their lives or from their perspectives. The record had an essence of time to it, most songs had a number or time references connected to them, as if going through a 24 hour period. Although I didn’t want to translate the lyrics visually, I felt that making use of one the characters Bono wrote about would be interesting. It became the Parisian motorcycle cop of northern African descent, who threw it all in to go back to see his girlfriend in Tripoli. I was going to make a silent movie, with a touch of a story to it. We prepped late June-early July, shot late July, edited in August and were ready for the record’s November release. Fantastic! However, it was at this point that the band decided to go back into the studio and work on the record a bit more. As U2 never do anything in half measures, the record that emerged from the studio in late December 2008 was a very different one than the one I’d made images for. Not only had the running order changed, now there were completely new songs on the record while another song had gone, new lyrics without the characters had emerged, and different sounds dominated the songs I had worked on. Disaster! Thankfully, we worked on a solution that saw LINEAR keeping its own running order and songs, whilst only changing edits for the 10 songs, those that are also on the new U2 record, to their newly created identities. Thus LINEAR is a very interesting hybrid version of No Line On The Horizon, partly how it was in May 2008 and partly how it is now. Tomorrow is always partly yesterday. Apparently.”
Anton Corbijn
January 2009
The new U2.com is now live, and with it comes the news that many fans have been waiting for: Yes, U2.com members will have access to a subscriber-only ticket pre-sale. Wisely, there’s no mention of “guaranteed tickets” or any of the stuff that led to trouble back in 2005. Other tour-related benefits for members will include things like “exclusive photography,” backstage video, and access to Willie Williams’ tour diary.
Membership also includes U2:Medium, Rare and Remastered, a 2-CD set of songs that were previously available on The Complete U2 (the iTunes digital box set), on the deluxe editions of recent album remasters, and on the b-sides of various singles released this decade.
The cost of new membership has gone up again — it’s $50/year now, up from $45 last year. Renewals will be $32 until March 2nd. Use the link to learn more about the membership package, and be sure to come back and vote in our poll at the bottom of this page: Do you plan to join U2.com this year?
With the explosion of the internet, fans now have an easy means to contact each other to exchange bootleg recordings. There are many U2 mailing lists which allow for the trade of bootlegs, and still other lists which are dedicated to the trading of bootlegs. Many fans also maintain webpages which list the material that they have for trade. Often you do not need to have recordings to trade to make use of these services, as fans often will offer to make copies for blank CDs and postage in return.
Traditional sources of bootlegs for sale still exist. If you are lucky, you may find bootlegs at your local record store. Mail order is another good source for finding recordings for sale, and there are several music stores on the internet that carry live imports
Larry Mullen, Jr., was born on October 31, 1961, in Dublin. He was two years behind Bono in high school but both noticed each other. It was Larry who posted an ad on a bulletin board at school looking for musicians to start a band. Paul Hewson (aka Bono) was born on the 10th of May, 1960, in Dublin. He was a very outgoing person in high school who responded to Larry’s note saying that he could play guitar and sing. He really couldn’t do either. Adam Clayton was born in Oxfordshire, England, on March 13, 1960, and moved to Dublin after his father got a job flying for Aer Lingus. Although he was not a very good student, he was always very polite to everyone. He was the only bassist to respond to Larry’s note. Dave Evans (aka The Edge) was born on August 8, 1961, in East London. His family moved to Dublin a year later. He was often known as a loner early in high school. He took piano and guitar lessons and often played with his brother, Dick. Both showed up to “U2’s” first little gathering at Larry’s house (60 Rosemount Avenue in Dublin). They set up in the Mullens’ kitchen and played the Rolling Stones “Brown Sugar” and “Satisfaction.” At this point, the entire group of hopefuls for the band included Larry, Dave and Dick Evans, Adam Clayton, Paul Hewson, and Ivan McCormick .
Bono, which is a shortened version of Bono Vox, his original nickname, got the name through a group of friends who were known as the Lypton Village. The name, which means “good voice” in Latin, was taken from the name of a hearing aid shop in Dublin.
Some reports say Edge was named by Bono because Dave was always on the fringe of things. Other stories suggest Bono gave him the name because of the sharp lines and angles of his face when he was a teenager.
In Lypton Village they thought it strange that you should go by a name given to you by your parents, when that name might not really suit you. The nicknames were often associated with a facial thing and it would then also apply to the person’s character. So The Edge had this prominent jaw line & was always on the edge of things: like an observer. Bono’s first Village name was: Steinhegvanhuysenolegbangbangbangbang. (!) Paul McGuinness became known as “The Goose.”
U2 360 WorldWide Tour 