U2, Pete Seeger, Sinead O’Connor In PBS ‘Music of Ireland’ Doc
U2, Pete Seeger, Sinead O’Connor In PBS ‘Music of Ireland’ Doc
by Ann Donahue, L.A. | helmikuu 10, 2010 3:40 EST
U2 - Welcome Home
“The Music of Ireland – Welcome Home,” a documentary featuring interviews and performances from U2, Pete Seeger, Sinead O’Connor and the Chieftans will debut on New York public television station WLIW on Feb. 17, then rollout to other PBS affiliates throughout March.
“Music of Ireland” will be available as a CD and DVD in a number of outlets: Barnes & Noble is the exclusive brick and mortar retail partner and will debut an in-store promotional campaign on March 2; Amazon.com will feature all the CD tracks digitally on a 45-day exclusive starting that same day. In addition, the CD and DVD will be bundled as a bonus for those who donate to public television during pledge drives.
The CD was produced by John Reynolds, and features new material by Clannad’s Moya Brennan – who also hosts the documentary – O’Connor, the Chieftans, former Irish Tenor Ronan Tyanan and Shane MacGowan of the Pogues, among others.
The documentary “Music of Ireland” opens in 1960 with the success of the pioneering Clancy Brothers, and includes Liam Clancy’s final U.S. television interview before his death. Other interviews include “Riverdance’s” Michael Flatley, Bob Geldof and Academy Award-nominated director Jim Sheridan.
A sequel to the “Music of Ireland” is planned for later this year, and will focus on U2, Celtic Woman, The Cranberries, The Corrs, the Irish Tenors and songwriters Glen Hansard and Damien Rice.
The documentary was executive produced by The Elevation Group’s Denny Young, who previously produced “Bonefish Grill’s Notes From The Road” for Ovation, and is presented by WLIW in association with WNET.org and Tourism Ireland.
“For such a small country to produce such amazing talent and the way their music defines the people is just extraordinary,” Young says. “It has fascinated me for most of my life and is something I wanted more people to be in tune with.”
Why do U2 want to play Glastonbury?
Why do U2 want to play Glastonbury?
By Neil McCormick Music Last updated: November 24th, 2009
U2: ultimate outsiders?
U2 are to headline Glastonbury this year, on the festival’s 40th anniversary. There has been some predictable scepticism expressed about this from the anti-U2 brigade, although it seems a bit of a no-brainer to me: rock band plays rock festival – let the controversy begin!
Like last year’s headliners, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, the Irish group have a long established reputation as outstanding live performers, which has helped make them one of the most consistently popular live attractions of the last few decades. It was probably a given that U2 would get to Glastonbury sooner or later (The Rolling Stones are really the only other band of that stature never to have played the festival), the real question being why has it taken them 26 years.
The answer lies partly in the fact that U2 just don’t need Glastonbury, or any other festival. They are one of the few bands who can pull mass crowds under their own steam on a regular basis anywhere in the world. And, certainly since they ascended to stadium status with The Joshua Tree in 1987, they have put a great deal of care and effort into creating their own unique and artfully integrated live environments. Whenever the issue of Glastonbury has arisen within the U2 camp, the same questions tend to arise, which, if I might paraphrase the succinct directness of their very pragmatic drummer, boil down to: “So, if I understand this correctly, we wouldn’t be playing to our fans, right? It’s not our sound system? It’s not our lighting rig? And we would be doing this for a fee that would be less than we would make on the gate at our own gig? And the point of this would be …?”
So what has changed? Well, Glastonbury itself, for one thing. It has become a kind of something-for-everyone entertainment smorgasbord. There may still be a quasi hippy ideal of the Pyramid stage headliner connecting to the audience in a mystical way as the sun goes down and the lights go up, but you can’t have Radiohead every year. It’s hard to see how having one of the world’s greatest rock bands at the top of the bill is any more unlikely to appeal to the mass of festival goers than other recent headliners, such as Jay Z or Sir Paul McCartney.
But the whole music business has changed, beset by technological challenges that have not just damaged recorded music sales but provided so much choice that it is becoming ever harder to achieve the kind of universal, crossover audience that U2 are used to. They may have a huge fan base, but for them to remain a truly effective force in the wider world of popular music, they need to find new ways to reach out to people who are not, perhaps, their natural listeners.
I imagine the band see Glastonbury as an opportunity to woo the sceptics, that increasingly shrill minority of mockers who loudly denigrate their every move. Bono has the instincts of a perennial suitor, a rock and roll travelling salesman who almost sees it as a matter of pride to be able to sell his wares to the most reluctant customer. The fact is the general public loves them, as their sell out live shows (this year alone, U2 have performed to over 3 million fans and grossed more than $300 million in ticket sales) and multi-million selling albums attest (although their latest ‘No Line On The Horizon’ has been widely perceived as a four million selling flop, low sales by U2’s standards, it is nonetheless amongst the best selling albums in the UK and the world this year). But somehow U2 have never belonged in the rock fraternity that seems to locate Glastonbury as its spiritual home. They have never actually been part of a British rock scene. In earlier days, U2 did play festivals. But never Glastonbury, probably because they were never invited. Coming from Ireland as post-punk rockers in the early 80s, they were critically aligned with the Liverpool new-psychedelic scene of Echo & The Bunnymen and Teardrop Explodes, but were viewed suspiciously by those bands as over-eager Irish interlopers, rivals rather than peers. And while they have certainly had their champions amongst critics (in the UK, The NME’s influential, polemical and cerebral critic Paul Morley was an unlikely early supporter) they have always had their vocal denigrators, who use them almost as short-hand for naffness: too sincere, to epic, too ambitious to ever be cool. U2 achieved success on their own terms, almost completely outside of the framework of the British music scene, and actually more on an Irish-US axis.
There is still something about playing Glastonbury that is a badge of honour amongst British bands, and I know that is something that appeals to Bono. There is a fraternity that exists in at least the perception of a shared experience, where the bands not only mingle back stage, striking up new friendships and alliances, but are perceived to share the trials of the often embattled festival goers themselves. Indeed, the regularly appalling weather of the worst Glastonbury festivals seems to be a positive bonus in this regard. Bonds are formed in the mud and rain. Bands wear those wellies with pride.
U2 live are a fairly irresistible force. They have passion, commitment, charisma, imagination and the kind of songs you can find yourself singing despite yourself, delivered with the showmanship and warrior skills of a gang who have been playing together all their lives. And with Bono at the helm, they are a band of seducers: put them in front of even the most sceptical crowd and they will do everything in their power to win them over. It may be a greater challenge to perform to an audience that is not, naturally, their own, but if they deliver at Glastonbury, the ripples could spread out into the wider musical community of both fans and artists. For all their success, U2 have been outsiders in the British rock scene. On some level, Glastonbury still represents a kind of inclusion. With these kind of stakes, I think U2 at Glastonbury could turn out to be legendary.
Second Show For Montreal, 2010
Second Show For Montreal, 2010
21 November 2009
A second night at the Montreal Hippodrome has been added for the 360° Tour next year – it will be on July 17th.
The show will go on public sale on Monday November 30th and a presale for U2.com subscribers will open this coming Tuesday.
We’ll be emailing our subscribers with presale details. Click here for the latest information on 2010 dates and onsales. (On this tour grid you can also see which presale groups go on sale on which day.)
Anyone joining U2.com as a subscriber this week, can enter the presale on Wednesday. When you subscribe you also qualify to be sent the limited edition U2 Remix album as soon as it comes off the press. Here’s the lowdown.
Starbucks Enlists U2, Dave Matthews and John Legend for Charity CD
Starbucks Enlists U2, Dave Matthews and John Legend for Charity CD
Posted on Nov 17th 2009 12:30PM by Emily Tan
With the holidays just around the corner, Starbucks has just made your next coffee run about more than just a Grande Gingerbread Latte. The coffee giant has teamed up with (RED) — the movement to help eradicate AIDS in Africa — and released a limited-edition album titled ‘All You Need is Love.’
Starting Nov. 17, customers who spend $15 at participating Starbucks throughout the US or Canada will receive a free copy of the four-track CD while supplies last. The album features special recordings by longtime (RED) advocates U2, Dave Matthews Band, John Legend and Playing for Change, who give the Beatles’ ‘All You Need is Love’ a reggae makeover.
Starbucks will also be donating $1 to support the Global Fund for each CD that is given away. To preview the songs on ‘All You Need is Love’ and find out more information, visit the Starbucks Love Project.
U2 & Lionsgate Court Oscar Nod for New Song: “Winter”
U2 & Lionsgate Court Oscar Nod for New Song: “Winter”
The “Best Original Song” portion at the Academy Awards is one of the annual Hollywood award show’s weirder categories. Most years I have no idea who is even nominated until the live broadcast when the host introduces Sting, Randy Newman, or whoever’s pretending to have written a song inspired by a film they likely haven’t seen in full that year. But then Three Six Mafia wins a gold statue, indie singer/songwriters Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová upset three nods for Enchanted, or Elliott Smith shows up to play “Miss Misery” dressed all in white, and they’ve grabbed my attention again.
In order to stir up some hope that next year’s broadcast will include a similar event, we’ll be posting from time to time on a few interesting possible nominees that come across the radar, starting with U2:
The Wrap reports that Lionsgate Films are plotting a big Oscar campaign for Brothers, a drama starring Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Tobey Maguire, and U2 have penned a song for the Academy’s consideration. “Winter,” a tune that is also supposedly included on Songs of Ascent, the forthcoming sister album to No Line on the Horizon, can be streamed here or embedded below.
What do you think? Will an Oscar be joining Bono, the Edge, Larry, and Adam’s respective Grammy collections? The Playlist doesn’t think so, but Bono’s foray into spoken word at 3:47 makes for some damn good Oscar bait if you ask us.
U2 fined a ‘paltry’ €36,000 for breaking noise rule
U2 fined a ‘paltry’ €36,000 for breaking noise rule
By Louise Hogan
FINES imposed over U2’s breach of noise-level regulations during their Croke Park homecoming concerts have been branded “paltry” in comparison to the estimated €20m the concerts made.
Promoters MCD have been hit for €36,000 by Dublin City Council after the rockers soared over the barrier 12 times during their three concerts in July.
“It is a paltry penalty, it really isn’t a disincentive. They would write that off in terms of planning for such things,” Pat Gates, chair of the Croke Park Area Residents’ Alliance, said.
“Any fines that do accrue to the city council should be invested back into the local community as they were the ones that put up with it.”
Around 240,000 fans flocked to see the rock group over the three days. According to US website Billboard.com, U2 had earned more than €67m ($100m) from the first 13 shows of its 360 Degree tour, including €19.4m ($28.8m) during the three shows at Croke Park.
A spokesman from Dublin City Council confirmed an environmental officer had clocked the band soaring over the 75 decibel noise level set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on 12 separate occasions.
Pollution
They were fined €3,000 per breach, which amounted to €36,000. The spokesman confirmed MCD had carried out their own noise pollution checks which showed they were in breach.
However, the super group are not the only ones to break the noise barrier. Last year, promoters were hit with penalties after Bruce Springsteen clocked up nine breaches at the RDS, while a Boyzone concert also broke the barrier.
Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna said promoters MCD had a “good reputation” and would have provided their own figures on noise pollution to the city council.
“The noise disruption does affect people’s enjoyment of the area so when the limits are set they should try to adhere to them,” he stressed.
He said the fine may not have been a large amount in terms of the U2 concerts but in many cases promoters took financial risks staging other events throughout the year.
Angry residents had staged protests as the stage from the 360 Degree tour was taken apart.
They were annoyed at planning permission granted to the U2 crew to work throughout the night. Mr Gates said residents were next week due to hold further discussions with GAA officials over further concerts.
- Louise Hogan
Irish Independent
http://www.independent.ie/
Rock History 101: U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
Rock History 101: U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
By Joe Marvilli on November 7th, 2009
Rock ‘n’ roll and political protests have gone hand in hand since the dawn of the genre. From the Beatles’ “Revolution” to Muse’s The Resistance, artists have always found ways to point out society’s problems and give a voice to the people being affected. Many of these songs are either a call to somewhat violent change (Rage Against The Machine) or a movement of peace (”Imagine” by John Lennon). However, U2 was one of the first groups to combine the two beliefs into an idea of aggressive pacifism. This idea culminated in the creation of one of their most well-known songs, “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” first came together in 1982 while U2 were just starting to work on their third album. Bono was on his honeymoon with his wife Ali Hewson, leaving The Edge to begin working on the music in Ireland. After one particularly miserable day in which Edge got into a fight with his girlfriend and doubted his songwriting abilities, he channeled all his anger into a piece of music that would become the song’s main riff. Though both sets of lyrics deal with the troubles in Ireland, Edge’s original lyrics were much more blunt and risky. Starting with the line, “Don’t tell me about the rights of the IRA, UDA,” the track was strongly anti-terrorism. The lyrics were later changed to ensure the safety of the band and their families, as well as to promote a message of tolerance on both sides.
The final version of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” was the opening track to U2’s third album, War. Kicking off with Larry Mullen, Jr.’s militaristic drumbeat, the song moved away from the echo-laden guitar the band had used on their first two albums. Instead, the guitar notes were icy and had a brittle feel to them. The accompaniment of Irish violinist Steve Wickman helped to connect the track to traditional Irish music. The Bloody Sunday mentioned in the song called back to the 1972 incident in Derry where British soldiers fired on a crowd of protesters, killing 14 of them. Bono directed his anger in the lyrics to the loss of life in general, rather than pointing fingers. With lyrics like, “And the battle’s just begun/There’s many lost, but tell me who has won/Trenches dug within our hearts/And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart,” Bono conveyed the sadness and anger over such a loss of life.
Like many of U2’s songs, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” has evolved and changed throughout the years it’s been played live. When U2 performed the song on the War Tour, there was some trepidation on how the crowd would react, especially their Irish fans. There were some who saw the song as a glorification of the Troubles and a call for revolution. In order to squash these ideas, Bono introduced the song by saying, “This song is not a rebel song. This song is Sunday Bloody Sunday.” This statement, combined with the white flags that waved behind the band on stage, helped bring forth the song’s non-partisan intention for a peaceful solution.
U2 continued to perform “Sunday Bloody Sunday” as a staple of their live set. As their popularity increased, the band chose it as the opening number of their two-song set for Live Aid. With U2 flags sticking out of the crowd everywhere, the band played a passionate performance during which Bono had the entire Wembley Stadium singing the words “No more!” along with him.
The song reached its live peak during the Joshua Tree Tour. On November 8, 1987, a bomb placed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army exploded during a Remembrance Sunday commemoration in Enniskillen for those killed in all conflicts involving the British Army. The bombing killed 11 people and became the latest stage of the Irish conflict. Later that same day, U2 performed one of the angriest and most passionate versions of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in their career. It started off with just Edge and Bono before the rest of the band kicked in halfway through. After Edge’s solo, Bono unleashed one of his most scathing rants against the violence occurring in his home country.
“And let me tell you something. I’ve had enough of Irish Americans who haven’t been back to their country in twenty or thirty years come up to me and talk about the resistance, the revolution back home, and the glory of the revolution, and the glory of dying for the revolution. Fuck the revolution! They don’t talk about the glory of killing for the revolution. What’s the glory in taking a man from his bed and gunning him down in front of his wife and his children? Where’s the glory in that? Where’s the glory in bombing a Remembrance Day parade of old age pensioners, their medals taken out and polished up for the day. Where’s the glory in that? To leave them dying or crippled for life or dead under the rubble of the revolution, that the majority of the people in my country don’t want. No more!”
After the tour ended, Bono mentioned at one point that the band may never play the song again, since it became real on that day that the performance would never be bested. For the next few years, U2 kept to their word. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” wasn’t played on any of the dates for the 1989 Lovetown Tour. It made a few appearances during the band’s 1992-1993 ZooTV extravaganza, but it was mostly left out of the set.
The song only really returned midway through the band’s 1997-98 Popmart tour. The tour was the most extensive U2 had done up to that point, with dates in South America, Japan, and South Africa. One of the most special dates of the tour occurred when the band visited the war-torn city of Sarajevo. During ZooTV, Sarajevo was under siege by the Serbian Army looking to add the city to a new Serbian state. The conflict lasted for about four years, leading to thousand of deaths and injuries. U2 was closely involved with trying to get help to the citizens of the city and wanted to play there during the conflict. It was deemed too dangerous, though, so the band waited until their next tour to play Sarajevo. It was during this show that “Sunday Bloody Sunday” made its return, albeit in a very different structure. The Edge performed a slow solo version of the song that emphasized the sadness over the violence rather than the anger. It was this version of the song that Edge continued to play for all the remaining dates of the tour, dedicating it to Sarajevo every time.
During U2’s successful Elevation Tour, the “…Sunday” returned in its full band version. This time around, the song was centered on Ireland again. While the Troubles in Ireland had been resolved by 2001, U2 played the song in tribute to those who died in the Omagh bombing of 1998. The bombing killed 29 people in Northern Ireland and was carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army, a splinter group of the IRA. The attack was seen as a response to the nearly completed peace process occurring in the nation. During performances, Bono would ask for the crowd to “Turn this song into a prayer.” During their emotional concerts at Slane Castle, Bono recited off the names of all the victims of the bombing in tribute to the lives lost. After 9/11, the song was played in tribute to those who died in the terrorist attacks. Instead of talking during the middle break, Bono instead hugged an American flag.
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” found itself placed in the middle of a political trio of songs on the Vertigo Tour. All three songs, but mostly “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, centered on the theme of coexisting. The song was played immediately after “Love and Peace or Else” and segued into “Bullet the Blue Sky.” As it started, the word “coexist” was displayed on the video curtain with the Islamic crescent, the Star of David, and a Christian cross making up letters in the word. After Edge’s solo, Bono would usually drive the point home by saying, “Jesus, Jew, Mohammed, it’s true. All sons of Abraham.” This version of the song focused on the growing religious conflict around the world and was a call for all faiths to realize that they’re much more similar than they think.
Recently, this past year, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” became re-contextualized yet again as a tribute to the 2009 Iranian election protests. The song was also a focal part of the transition between the two parts of the main set. Bono has mentioned in interview that the first half is a personal journey, up until a techno version of “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight.” The backing beats and looped vocals fade out as “Sunday Bloody Sunday” kicks off the political half of the set. As the band played through the song, Iranian writing and footage from the protest appeared on the screen, tinted in a shade of green.
The live history of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” has shown how versatile it is as a song. A track originally written as a call for peace in Ireland has spread throughout the years to a call to the end of all conflicts. Its message is backed by the power of the lyrics and music that it contains. It’s a number that fans love to hear played live. However, every time they do, there’s one line that comes through over and over. “How long must we sing this song?”
U2 Fans Outraged By 12-Foot Barrier
U2 Fans Outraged By 12-Foot Barrier
By Seraphina
It was great news for both U2 fans and those who wished to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall when the prominent band announced a free show to honor the 20th anniversary.
However, there’s been a slight addition to the location that have left eager concert-goers mad and confused. According to the Associated Press, a 12-foot metal barrier has been built that will block any view of the U2’s show at all. A wall was built where a wall was taken down… Ironic, to say the least!
MTV, who is organized today’s event as part of the MTV Europe Music Awards, says that they were obligated to build a temporary fence “around the site to ensure the safety and security of the attendees at the event as well as residents and businesses in the area” after they had talked to the city and Berlin police.
The barrier was covered with white tarp and many upset fans already tried to break it down. Many felt that it was built so that everyone would be forced to watch the show on TV to boost MTV ratings.
U2’s publicist has not made a comment so far.
There were 10,000 available tickets to the free show and all of them were sold out within three hours. U2 is a big band, and honoring a big event such as the fall of the Berlin wall was bound to be in the news. It just surprises us because it’s making the news for something as silly as this.
What do you think of MTV and their wall?