Bono has admitted that while out of action thanks to a bad back, he turned to an old friend for comfort – the cigarette.
The U2 frontman, who has smoked on and off over the years, underwent emergency surgery for a back injury in May, and was forced to put his feet up for two months.
The band had to cancel US gigs and an appearance at Glastonbury because of his injury and Bono – real name Paul Hewson – whiled the hours away with a spot of songwriting and smoking.
“One of the things you can do when you’re lying down like that is to write, so I wrote,” the 50-year-old told the News of the World.
“Lying motionless I also had time to think about the future, because I never think about the past.
“The other thing I did was to eat ice cream and I also started smoking again.”
Bono, the main vocalist of the band U2, will receive more than 13 million euros from his health insurance company, due to his back problems he was having lately. Bono had an emergency back surgery on the 21st of May, in Munchen, because of a hemiparesis of his legs. He was advised by the doctors to rest for at least two months. After Bono’s surgery, U2 announced the cancellation of the 16 remaining concerts of their “360 Tour”. The canceled shows were reprogrammed for August.
It hasn’t been a very good summer for concert tours but you can expect U2 to bring it like they always do as the band has just released the dates for their rescheduled North American tour. Now that Bono has been fixed up from his back injury, the rock stars are ready to bring the house down. All 16 of the shows that were slated for June and July that were cancelled have now been moved to next spring and summer. Ticket holders for the postponed dates should just hang on to their stub as the venues will be the same. Good job U2 tour organizers!
Bono has spoken out about the role his two daughters play in his activism.
“My kids are teaching me all the time. I have two girls [Jordan and Memphis Eve] who are both activists. They’re a total pain in the ass. If you think I’m a pain in the ass, they’re worse,” the U2 front man told Us magazine.
“They will not accept that the loss of life that we take as the way things are in these far off places when they know it’s so simple to change things. We just have to really want to.”
The singer recently underwent emergency back surgery in Munich prompting the band to cancel their summer tour.
“My wife is so gorgeous. [I was] going to miss her on the road!” he declared.
Oasis’ Liam Gallagher mustn’t have met a lot of U2 fans as he took a jab at the arena-filling rock stars, stating that the band shells out tons of cash to bribe people to come to their concerts. The British musician said “I have never seen a U2 fan. I have never seen anyone with a U2 shirt or been around someone’s house that has a f—ing U2 record. Where do their fans f—ing come from? Where are they? I reckon they buy them. With all the money they’ve made, they just bought a load of people and every time they do a gig they get a shovel and pile them into their gigs to make them look good.” This is what you call jealousy at its finest.
Irish rock star Bono called for stricter controls on internet music file sharing.
In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, he wrote: “The only thing protecting the movie and TV industries from the fate that has befallen music and indeed the newspaper business is the size of the files.”
The comment was intended to make a case for younger, less-established musicians whose files were fair game for file-downloading.
The U2 frontman explained: “A decade’s worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators – in this case, the young, fledgling songwriters who can’t live off ticket and T-shirt sales like the least sympathetic among us.”
Bono invited the movie industry to take action before it faces the same problem, saying it was only a matter of time before movies would be downloadable. “Perhaps movie moguls will succeed where musicians and their moguls have failed so far, and rally America to defend the most creative economy in the world, where music, film, TV and video games help to account for nearly four percent of gross domestic product.”
Bono alongside Irish singers and songwriters Damien Rice, Glen Hansard and Mundy took their talents to the streets of Dublin for Christmas last week. The group of musicians were busy busking, the term used for street prerformers playing for tips, on Grafton St. With all the proceeds going to Simon Community and the homeless. I wonder how much they made off of their performance. If that came as a surprise to everyone on the street, which I’m pretty sure was, I bet that they got a lot of money just from the sheer shock of seeing them out there doing what they did.
U2 have confirmed via video blog that their sold-out concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in California, Sunday 25th October 2009 will be streamed free, in full and live on YouTube. It’s the first time a show of this size will be streamed live.
The Rose Bowl show is the penultimate U2 show this year – with more to come in 2010 – and already is set to host the venue’s biggest ever audience of over 96, 000 fans. The 360˚ Tour, which has been critically acclaimed and “re-invents rock’n’roll”*, will now boast unique access for fans worldwide – as fans in territories yet to be visited by the tour, or not at all, will be able to enjoy the whole show online. Managed in partnership with Live Nation, this sell-out tour has broken attendance records in most venues it has visited – its success due in part to increased capacity coupled with a lower ticket price and great sight lines afforded by the stunning in-the-round stage set. Visit U2.com or youtube.com/u2official for details of how to join in this ground-breaking on-line event.
U2 manager Paul McGuinness said – “The band has wanted to do something like this for a long time. As we’re filming the LA show, it’s the perfect opportunity to extend the party beyond the stadium. Fans often travel long distances to come to see U2 – this time U2 can go to them, globally.”
YouTube will be streaming live across five continents. The show will be available in the usual You Tube way, as video-on-demand, following two full replays – after the live stream – on both U2.com and You Tube.
“YouTube is thrilled to be able to provide our global audience with a live streaming performance from one of the world’s greatest bands” – Chris Maxcy, Director of YouTube Partner Development. “We are always looking for new ways to connect fans around the world with their favourite artists, and this is the perfect opportunity to do just that.”
U2 Announces European Tour Dates for 2010
In the midst of the North American leg of their 360° Tour, U2 has announced their fall 2010 European Tour dates. The 12-stop tour will hit Germany, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Austria, Greece, Turkey, France, Spain, and Portugal. Tickets for many of the shows went on sale as early as this week, with more presales scheduled for October 5th-7th. Visit U2.com for all the information.
Also new on the U2 website are some pictures from the band’s most recent tour stops. Check out the photo gallery here.
U2’s twelfth studio album No Line on the Horizon, as well as their I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight Remix EP are available now on iTunes.
U2 kicked off the North American leg of their 360° Tour on September 13th, and cameras have been rolling during the shows and behind the scenes. Visit the official U2 YouTube channel to see video clips of songs from the concert, including “Your Blue Room” and “Vertigo” from the Chicago shows, a radio interview in Toronto, and an advance screening of an exclusive U2.com chat with the Edge.
Can’t get enough live U2? Download the new Blackberry app that lets you get inside the new album No Line On The Horizon. The app features song previews, news, tour updates, exclusive images of the band in the recording studio and on the road, and more! Find out the specifics on the Blackberry website.
No Line On The Horizon is U2’s twelfth studio album and is available now, in stores or through iTunes.
U2’s new single, “Magnificent,” was released on May 4th by Mercury Records.
The video for “Magnificent” was directed by French filmmaker Alex Courtes. Alex also directed the video for the band’s previous single, “Get On Your Boots,” and alongside his former creative partner Martin Fougeral won a Grammy award for the “Vertigo” video. The video for “Magnificent” was shot in the historic city of Fez, Morocco last month.
“Magnificent,” the second single from No Line On The Horizon, will be available in the UK as a download and on 7″ vinyl. The vinyl single will be backed with a live version of album track Breathe, recorded in the Somerville Theatre in Boston earlier this year.
No Line On The Horizon, the new album from U2 featuring the single “Get On Your Boots” is in stores now. The album is the band’s 12th studio album and their first release since the nine million selling album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, released in late 2004.
The new album, produced by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite, has been chose as Amazon’s “Deal of the Day” for today’s release and offers special pricing for one only.
No Line On The Horizon is also being released in a standard format with a 24- page booklet and in digipak format. The digipak includes an extended booklet and the album’s companion film “Linear” by Anton Corbijn. A limited edition package with album, cd and 64-page magazine will also be available, featuring the band in conversation with artist Catherine Owens, and new Anton Corbijn photographs. No Line On The Horizon will be released on 180gm vinyl.
MySpace Music myspace.com/music, the world’s premier online music portal, announces the exclusive world premiere of No Line On The Horizon, the new studio album from U2. Beginning on February Feb. 20th ,MySpace U.S. users will be able to stream the album in its entirety from U2’s official MySpace Music profile at www.myspace.com/u2, giving fans a chance to preview it before the U.S. release on March 3rd. No Line On The Horizon will be available for purchase on MySpace Music starting on March 3rd.
U2 recently premiered their latest video for the hit single Get On Your Boots on MySpace Music to fans around the world. No Line On The Horizon is the group’s highly anticipated 12th studio album and their first release since How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb came out in late 2004. Recording sessions for No Line On The Horizon were held in various locations around the world, including Fez, Morocco, the band’s own studio in Dublin, New York’s Platinum Sound Recording Studios, and Olympic Studios in London. Long-time U2 collaborators Brian Eno and Danny Lanois produced the album, with additional production by Steve Lillywhite.
For more information about U2 and to stream No Line On The Horizon, visit their MySpace Music official profile at: myspace.com/u2.
