Happy Anniversary Boys, Thanks for a great 30 years !
It all started in September back in 79. The debut EP was titled "Three" Since then like many bands Bono and the boys have matured, for the better or worse.
As we look back some may say that U2's creative peak has been proven to be far behind them:
Remember Joshua Tree (87) or Achtung Baby(91) those are the albums that have stood the test of time, ground breaking, hall of fame type work.
93 proved to be a testing year for the true fans. Zooropa considered by most as a misunderstood, misguided selection of songs. Later proving to be the final bowing achievement, some will argue that Pop(97) was a misfire.
U2 may seem to be poised to spend the last decade seemingly content to coast on their past triumphs. Generations of younger fans still flock to "Joshua" and "Achtung" in hordes and buy lots of concert tickets, while new offerings such as 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind" and 2004's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" offered hits, albeit all too close to the sonic DNA strand of past ones.
2009 along comes "No Line on the Horizon," U2 set out to leave behind "Leave" and "Dismantle" bring back Eno who is known for some great production work and Lanois as well as a dozen collaborators. Masterfull Will I am as a co-producer for the single "I'11 Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" now known as the Blackberry song.
The result was a more fulfilling set, however could it be more then "Joshua," "Achtung" or even "Zooropa" time will tell. The tour kicks off in America next week. Giving spark to lack luster CD sales, and whole new set of fans that just may think this last one was the "One" for them.
Before we get all teary eyed lets think about this could it be possible for another "Joshua" or "Achtung" could it be possible ? Remember lots of bands have gone back to their roots. Its the true creative process that brings out the best and worst in music, sometimes you have to take the good with the bad, its like a well defined marriage that celebrates 30 years.
Happy Anniversary Boys, Thanks for a great 30 years and to the next 30
Video Original posted by U2LOG -
Please welcome The Dalton Brothers
The Dalton Brothers were a short-lived fictional, spoof country band, created and performed by U2, as their own opening act, on three dates (November 1, 1987 - Indianapolis, November 18, 1987 - Los Angeles and December 12, 1987 - Hampton) of their Joshua Tree tour"fictional" only in that they did not exist separately from U2.
On those 
A video of the whole Los Angeles performance is featured as an Easter egg on the bonus DVD included in the Joshua Tree 20th Anniversary box set. To access the video, viewers have to enter a password by highlighting and selecting boxes with letters and numbers, the correct sequence being "Betty Dalton" - Adam Clayton's pseudonym
As a band, the Dalton Brothers simply disappeared after the three performances on the Joshua Tree tour. However, San Francisco's U2 tribute band Zoo Station dressed up as the Dalton Brothers for a one-night-only performance at Slim's in late 2007, including a country/rock rendition of Johnny Cash's hit Ring of Fire
Remixes U2 Goes Crazy
U2 fans will have more flavors of crazy then they'll know what to do with 'em.
The Irish arena-rock outfit drops its "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" single Sept. 22 from Interscope Records. The six-song collection includes the single version and mixes by Fish Out of Water, Dirty South, and three different mixes by Redanka.
"I'll Go Crazy" first appeared on the band's latest, this year.
Beta Testing New Site
Over the next few days we will be testing the site. Please visit all of the links click everything and provide us feedback via twitter.com/u2tourfans ( Direct Message Please ) also if you got this link you have been invited to see the site prior to launch. Yes, its very buggy and has errors. We are working thru them. This is why we ask you to not share anything- if you want to email us direct please do web beta at u2tourfans dot com - Thanks
Adam Clayton: Thoughts of Rock and Roll, Pride Video
I was not an obvious contender. I was actually pretty shy in school. My defence mechanism was to be the class clown. I remember getting into a lot of trouble for being disruptive, and I was brought in front of the headteacher, who said: “What’s going to happen to you? What are you going to do when you grow up?” And I said: “Well, I’m obviously going to be a comedian.”
From an early age I didn’t buy into the value systems of working hard in a nine-to-five job. I thought creativity, friendship and loyalty and pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable was much more interesting.
The longevity of U2 is primarily based on the friendship of four men who have grown up together. Four men who respect and support and love each other. We won’t let each other fail.
It’s very confusing when fame comes early on in your career. You get a little bit bent out of shape in terms of what’s important. Fame is like the dessert that comes with your achievements — it’s not an achievement in itself, but sometimes it can overpower the work.
I really enjoy the privileges of fame now. It opens doors and allows you to meet people, and you’re in control. When fame first happened I didn’t feel in control, and it closed doors to me.
I stopped drinking 12 years ago, and it was time. I’d had enough of drinking, drugging and nightclubs. It was a difficult decision to change my life, and it took a while to reprogramme, but I’ve no regrets at all. I’ve enjoyed every bit of my life. I’ve had the best of it both ways.
My greatest achievement is managing to cope with four fingers and four strings.
I feel there is a lot more to achieve. In the first 20 years I was functioning on instinct and attitude and rawness, and now I know what I’m doing and can apply those skills in a different way. It’s no longer about attitude and rawness, but it’s about sophistication and understanding.
In a loving relationship, as an expression of freedom and fantasy, I think sex is very important.
I don’t think I would ever try and repeat U2. I’d be very happy when U2 came to whatever end, and there is no end, really. But I would be happy to move on. It’s a very fast world, and a quieter world would be welcome.
Final thoughts:
Today we have selected Pride. Remember that you are one man, come in the name of love. America is just around the corner. Fans are ready, Stories yet to be filed, Videos yet to be shot, all in the name of music.
Happy Birthday, LCG1,LCG2 -
@ 2009/2010
U2 360 Tour Whats your top song from the show so far
Its Sunday here in the US and we are collecting our thoughts for the week ahead. The stories last week have been around the NFL and U2. You can read them here. Why not spend some time looking around the site today and reading those past stories you missed.
We have a new sponsor, which we think fits very nice with our site. If your flying to the next show, check them out. We have opened our FACEBOOK link up to expand the group. We just launched a poll over to the left. Let us know what you think. As for our thoughts. Just check out the video. Cheers - Remember we totally supported by our sponsors, sign up and follow us via twitter, or youtube
Whats up for next week. Trucks are rolling..............
Lighting 360 and Video
Remember the company Light & Sound Design (Now Named PRG) they originally furnished Willie Williams with the crew and equipment. For 360°, a total of 196 of PRG’s new Bad Boy hybrid luminaires are being used for both effects lighting and regular applications as part of Williams’ design.
Outputting a blinding 48,000 lumens, the unit was specifically designed to be the first true stadium-application moving light, opening up a new range of possibilities for leading-edge show designers.
After watching U2’s opening show, Mickey Curbishley, PRG’s president of global touring, told me: “It’s the first time I’ve seen the Bad Boy working in the environment that it was designed for. Conventional moving lights wouldn’t have been able to deliver this level of power and there’s no other light that could do this job.”
At times, the Space Station’s membrane has a sinuous, veiny look that suggests it’s part of a living organism. This illusion is created by gobos projected by a bank of seven Bad Boys behind the mix tower, while the high platforms project on to the back and sides.
Last November, PRG’s Robin Wain arranged to hire Wembley Stadium in order to demo six Bad Boys to Williams who immediately saw that it was the first true stadium moving light which, crucially, can be read through a video screen and allow creative gobo use in conjunction with bright LED displays.
Williams himself told TPi: “It is an astonishing piece of kit and its success is due to them starting with the application. The colours are very good [the vivid green and blue for ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ and ‘One’ have amazing depth] but I was shocked to find it doesn’t do colour mixing. However, I understand why they went in favour of output because when you’re in a situation like this, output is number one.
“I knew I’d be lighting the audience to some extent but instead of just washing them I wanted to do things with break-ups, gobos and some movement. I must say that I have banned the Bad Boy name from the lighting tower. Great light, appalling name! We feel more comfortable calling it the VLI as a tribute to the Vari*Lite and the Icon, although Jake still refers to them as nodding buckets!”
In fact, the Bad Boy could well be the love child of the Vari*Lite and the Icon, as it takes the best lensing and mechanical features from each. In addition to the optical clarity that comes from using high-quality lenses, the Bad Boy features also include smooth, fluid control of focus, zoom range of 8:1 (7° to 56°), and imaging thanks to high-speed servo motors and full-field 0 to 100% dimming.
It was designed with energy efficiency and carbon footprint standards in mind which, given the number of non-eco friendly aspects of the tour in general, is no bad thing.
In Barcelona, history came full circle when Rusty Brutsché, one of the original Vari*Lite design team, watched the opening show of the 360° tour with Curbishley.
It was in this city that he saw Genesis début the first VL rig and herald a new era. On a balmy night, 28 summers later, it was a virtual re-run of the past as Brutsché saw the Bad Boys — co-designed by himself and fellow VL original Jim Bornhorst — burst into life.
AND MORE FIXTURES...
Lighting requires a 12-14 hour load-in and as lighting associate Alex Murphy told me, his boss knew exactly which fixtures he would use for each song and how he’d use them.
Another role of one of the set cranes is to position eight Zap Technologies Big Lites in a circle on the roof of the structure.
PRG Mbox Extreme media servers feed the 1,200 Barco FLX-60 pixel modules that are implanted around the edges of both stages and the bridges. The video content team created special graphics that are sent to these LEDs.
Fog and haze machines get a workout on this tour. During the rehearsal fluid, the team were consuming 42 litres of fog fluid a day. Murphy commented that they are travelling with a full truckload of machines, including “Europe’s stock of Jem Roadies” and several Hazebase units.
Trying to call so many followspots with a Spanish translator for some of the bigger numbers was very stressful, according to Murphy.
There are 12 Lycian M2 long-throws in the trusses and 13 Strong Gladiators on all the high platforms, plus seven of the new Novalight Nova-Flower 2kW flower effects, supplied to PRG by Lightfactor Sales. The Nova-Flower features in ‘If I Don’t Go Crazy’, performing a larger-than-life, spinning disco effect.
All lighting equipment including power and data distribution is being supplied through the PRG Global Touring Group. A complete truss package — including PRG’s new BAT low profile truss support for followspot chairs — is also part of the deal.
And just as it seems that every lighting trick in the book has been pulled out of the hat, Bono returns to the stage for the encore, wearing a black leather jacket designed by Moritz Waldemeyer, featuring 240 lasers that extend the singer’s every move all the way across the audience.
So I was looking over the videos that best displayed the lights and the feel as well as what 90,000 fans would think. I found City Of Blinding Lights -with its driving bassline, delayed guitars, soaring rock ballad vocals and spine-tingling tremolo piano all add up to something rather too predictable. Yes, it's an accomplished and pristine production and seem to blend in with the lights.