ON THE ROAD WITH U2

Memphis Mullen:  One month from tomorrow I leave for the U2 360 tour, a journey that I have been planning for over a year. I am so excited!! For 2 ½ months I will be driving across America to all 16 US shows. Along the way, meeting great people, visiting great places, and recording everything for my book and documentary.

The U2 360 tour will bring me to Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Oakland, Anaheim, Baltimore, Michigan, Miami, Nashville, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, New Jersey, Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh. In between all of these concerts, I am also going to visit Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, the Lewis and Clark Trail in Montana, Lana Turner’s birthplace in Idaho, Portland, San Francisco, Palm Springs, Hollywood, Milwaukee, James Dean’s grave in Indiana, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and the Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

While on the road, I will write daily updates, including pictures and videos, that I will post here on U2TOURFANS and on my blog On the Road with U2. Throughout each day, I will also be posting on Facebook (U2TOURFANS and Deena Dietrich) and Twitter (U2TOURFANS and MemphisMullen).

In addition, I hope to do a live broadcast report from each U2 concert, either before or after the show. I also hope to get video from inside the U2 concerts and live tweet the set lists.

I would also like to have U2 Fan Meet Ups on the night before each U2 concert. There are already pre-concert parties with U2 tribute bands planned in Denver, Seattle, Baltimore, Nashville and possibly East Lansing that I am attending. So if there is enough interest, we would like to organize U2 Fan Meet Ups in Salt Lake City, Oakland, Anaheim, Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, New Jersey, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh for the nights before the U2 concerts.

Thank you to everyone who is supporting me – both with your kind words and reading my posts. Nobody has been more supportive than U2TOURFANS, without whom none of this would be possible.

I look forward to seeing you this summer ON THE ROAD WITH U2!



ON THE ROAD WITH U2 – My Musical Journey

Inspired first by Hunter Week’s documentary 10MPH, then Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, and my whole life by U2, I decided to write my U2 tours memoir called On the Road with U2. 10MPH was about these guys who left their secure corporate jobs to follow their passion of making documentaries. Similarly in Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert writes about how she took a year off from her life to take a pilgrimage for self-awareness through adventures she had always wanted to take. Hunter Weeks inspired me to pursue my passion and Elizabeth Gilbert inspired me to write about it.

In January, I gathered all my journals since mid 1997 and began writing about my adventures on the U2 tours I have been on from ZooTv to 360. This summer I will continue to write about the U2 360 tour while I’m on a 2 ½ month road trip across America to all 16 US shows. It’s more than just the U2 concerts. It is about the people I meet and the places I see along the way.

I have met so many amazing people by going on U2 tours. I met Tasha, who is now one of my best friends, in the GA line in Pittsburgh on the Elevation tour in 2001. In fact, I made a lot of friends on the Elevation tour. We still keep touch and meet up every few years on the U2 tours. And now through twitter, facebook, my blog and U2TourFans, I have met lots of new U2 fans that I cannot wait to meet in person at the U2 concerts this summer.

My love for U2 has brought me to many great places. The best was Dublin, Ireland. I spent a summer in Dublin studying at Trinity College in 1998. U2 wasn’t playing a concert in Dublin, but I became interested in Ireland because U2 are from there. I went to Las Vegas, my second favorite city, two times because U2 played there on the Vertigo and 360 tours. I have been to Vegas two other times, but U2 playing there gave me a reason to go two more times. I had always wanted to go to Chicago and see a Cubs game at Wrigley and U2 gave me the excuse to go. U2 opened their 360 North American tour with two shows at Soldier Field in Chicago. I went to both shows, and I finally got to Wrigley. I love Chicago now. I went back again for Lollapalooza, and I’m going back twice this year – for U2 in July and for Lollapalooza in August.

I have had some great experiences with U2 over the years on the various tours. The first time I met Bono was in 1992 at Giants Stadium the afternoon of the opening of the ZooTv Outside Broadcast tour. He liked the ‘One’ shirt I had made. He autographed a book I had, but I noticed he was spelling my name wrong, so I corrected him. Then he put his head on my shoulder and arms around my waist as we posed for a great picture. A few weeks later in Philadelphia we were let inside the stadium for the sound check. I had three great moments with Larry on the Elevation Tour in 2001: he gave me his drumstick at the end of the show in Jersey, I finally met him and he hugged me in Baltimore, and he gave me his champagne bottle during his 40^th birthday concert in Providence.

I have seen 59 fantastic U2 concerts since 1992, each special in the their own way. This summer I will see 16 more U2 concerts as I drive across America to all the US shows while writing about my adventures On the Road with U2.



U2’s Last show in Sao Paulo

Last Night (Wednesday 4/13/2011) was the last of three shows for U2’s 306 Tour.  The show started at 21:43 with “Even Better Than The Real Thing” followed up with “I Will Follow” The show lasted about 2hours.

Fans around the world got a special treat, U2 was broadcasted across a couple of different approved sources and of course a couple non-approved one.

Bono remembered the children again killed in the massacre at Relaengo last week. The tribute, which was already made during the first show as, they played Moment of Surrender.

Bono was a bit chatty with the fans, and that did not seem to hide the fact this stop has taken a toll on his voice. Often asking for a little help to get thru some songs, and the crowd surely jumped right in. What the fans did notice is that he mixed some Spanish with Portuguese to converse with them, the crowds did not seem to mind.

Bono said “In Brazil and South America, we saw that we are here to listen and see you. Usually we sing to the public. But here you are singing for us. Usually we do a show for the public. But here, you are making a show for us. ” The reward came soon after when the band amended the track “I Still have not Found What I’m looking for,” which was sung by the chorus of fans.

Ten minutes later, the Irish singer Seu Jorge called to the stage - rolling back the language and referring to a musician in Rio as “Saint George”. The pair did a duet of voice and guitar of the song “The Model”, the German band Kraftwerk. In an interview with the G1 this afternoon, Seu Jorge said that it was he who suggested the band.

After the moment of collective ecstasy, Bono talked about the political activist from Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi, who was twenty years under house arrest and dedicated the song to her.

The show also had the tracks “In the name of love,” “Beautiful Day”, “One,” “Vertigo” and “Zooropa” - the latter had already appeared on Sunday and had never been performed in its entirety by the band alive. “Get on your boots” also appeared, dedicated to Ronaldo.

Towards the end of the show, before “Where the Streets Have No Name”, Bono made the venture into Portuguese, quoting the phrase used in advertising Lula - “I am Brazilian and never give up.” Soon after, gave “good night, Brazil, adios, South America,” and thanked the governor of São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin, “by giving the stadium” and “help us bring our dream to you.”

The show ended at 23h54 with “Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me,” “With or without you” and “Moment Of Surrender.”

The song ended, Bono earned his final tribute to the public and thanked the 89 000 spectators for the success of the band’s career. “” Thanks for giving us a great life, “the singer said, aware of how it got there.



U2 Live from Sao Paulo Tonight

Bono / U2 360 Tour / File Photo

U2 tour makes its last stop tonight in Sao Paulo, which sold out wherever he goes, gets live broadcast today from 21.30.The last U2 concert in the capital may be accompanied by real-time audio, the band’s official website, the u2.com.

Follow via twitter #U2360BRA

The first show was held in the state capital on Saturday. On stage at Morumbi, the group released the intro to “Train of Eleven” and later paid tribute to murdered children in school by Wellington Menezes Tasso da Silveira, Realengo, in Rio de Janeiro.

On Sunday, the homage was repeated, but the Brazilian music repertoire was chosen for the “My Girl. “

With the second show in the city, the Irish broke the record for the most lucrative tour of music history, with sales of $ 558 million. Until then, the title belonged to the British Rolling Stones.

In addition to Sao Paulo, the transmission of audio from tonight’s show will come to Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela

I STILL HAVEN’T FOUND WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR

Memphis Mullen: My top five favorite U2 songs are I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Luminous Times, Gone, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, and Heartland. To me songs are wonderful because of their lyrics – and the drums. A good lyric touches my soul, gives me chills, and makes the song for me.

My favorite U2 song is I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, off The Joshua Tree. It was my first favorite U2 song and what solidified me as a U2 fan, along with Larry Mullen Jr. With or Without You introduced me to U2, but it was I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For that made me a fan. And 24 years later, I still have not found what I am looking for. But I like the journey, the quest for what truly makes me happy. Every time I hear I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For in concert, it brings tears to my eyes. Luckily I have heard it on every tour I have been to. Besides being a fantastic, spiritual and uplifting song, I Still Haven’t Found is an amazing video – my favorite. It captures U2 during The Joshua Tree era in Las Vegas, my 2^nd favorite city

Luminous Times, a b-side off The Joshua Tree, is the song that gives me chills every time I hear it, even though I have listened to it over and over again the past 24 years. The lyrics are so passionate and the way Bono sings them is so heart wrenching. I absolutely love it! My favorite part of Luminous Times, the part that really gets to me is,

            ‘I love you ‘cause I need to

            Not because I need you

            I love you ‘cause I understand

            That God has give me your hand

            He holds me in a tiny fist

            And still I need your kiss

            Hold on to love’

U2 have never played Luminous Times in concert. When I met Bono on the ZooTv tour, I told him how much I loved Luminous Times and asked if they would ever play it in concert. Bono answered me by saying they were thinking of putting out a b-sides album. (Huh? That’s not what I asked.) Then before the 360 tour began, Edge mentioned that they were thinking of playing some b-sides that they had never played before like Luminous Times.

Gone, off Pop, has one of my all-time favorite lyrics. The lyrics are true, which is why I really identify with this song. My favorite part of is,

            ‘You’re taking steps that make you feel dizzy

            Then you learn to like the way it feels

            You hurt yourself you hurt your lover

            Then you discover

            What you thought was freedom is just greed’

U2 really rock out with Gone in concert. Luckily I went to Popmart and Elevation, so I have heard it in concert. A great moment was on the Elevation tour in Pittsburgh on May 6, 2001 when I scared my new friend Tasha (whom I had just met in the GA line that day) and her sister by screaming SO loud when U2 started playing Gone. I don’t think either of them will ever forget Gone.

Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, off Achtung Baby, means a lot to me. It is a very emotional and angry song that breaks my heart. In fact, I made my first love sit down and listen to the lyrics as I read them to him after he had broken up with me. If I could have written a song about us, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horse would be it. These are some of my favorite lyrics, 

            ‘You’re dangerous ‘cause you’re honest

            You’re dangerous, you don’t know what you want …

            Well, you tell me things I know you’re not supposed to

            Then you leave me just out of reach …

            Well you lied to me ‘cause I asked you to …

            The doors you open

            I just can’t close …

            Don’t turn around, and don’t look back

            Come on now love, don’t you look back!’

I was fortunate enough to go to ZooTv, so I have heard Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses in concert. And I also heard it once on the Vertigo tour and twice on the Elevation tour.

Heartland, off Rattle and Hum, is more about the feel of the song for me, rather than its lyrics. I honestly think I like it so much because it was playing in Rattle and Hum when U2 visited Graceland – combining my 2 passions, Elvis and U2. My front license plate on my car is U2HRTLD. U2 have never played Heartland in concert. When I met Bono on that same day on the ZooTv tour, I also told him how much I loved Heartland. He agreed it was a great song, but moved onto the next person before I could ask him about playing it in concert.

Hopefully I will find what I’m looking for this summer while On the Road with U2 driving across America to all 16 US shows. I’ll be the one crying during I Still Haven’t Found What Found What I’m Looking For and screaming if U2 plays Gone or Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and passed out on the floor if they play Luminous Times or Heartland.



The Greatest Show in The World

U2 concert is the greatest show on Earth, says critic

The U2 concert is the greatest show on Earth. It is worthwhile to ensure the entrance and run to see Bono of U2 to run the show on Brazilian stage. Who says it is the Alexander Column in Petillo blog affiliates of Rede Globo. “It’s two hours of celebration and fellowship. Can you exorcise, believe, forget it. Putting out. After all, for it was that rock concerts were invented, “says the blogger.

The praise for Bono are not few. “Bono is the greatest frontman in the world. Every step, look, gesture, and speech are rated, great - without exaggeration, the extent to thrill, entertain, make everyone feel at home there. “ On show in Sao Paulo, U2 recalled meeting with Dilma and paid homage to victims of Rio de Janeiro.

The matter came quickly to the U2 Trending Topics Twitter Brazil. And the compliments are constant: “the best rock show I’ve ever seen. There is nothing equal to U2. Whether in technology, sound, emotion, Bono and U2 gives concert worth the same ticket. Come back more often to Brazil” Summarized Esteban Cardoso, internet Campos do Jordao.

THE JOSHUA TREE

Memphis Mullen - My favorite album is Joshua Tree. It is the album that introduced me to U2 when I was a freshman in high school in 1987. My first memory of being a U2 fan is hearing With or Without You. I remember it was the fan favorite video on MTV in 1987.

But what really hooked me, besides Larry Mullen Jr., was I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. I remember blaring it from my boom box as I walked down the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. Coincidently, Larry is on the cover of the single for I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, which I have as a poster framed on a wall in my bedroom.

Besides I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, other favorites of mine off The Joshua Tree are Red Hill Mining Town, Running to Stand Still, Trip Through Your Wires, In God’s Country, and b-sides Luminous Times, Walk to the Water, Deep in the Heart and Spanish Eyes. I love the b-sides of The Joshua Tree as much as, if not more than, the songs that made it onto the album. I’ve only heard three of my favorite Joshua Tree songs in concert because I did not go to the Joshua Tree tour because my mom thought 14 was too young to go to a concert.

Even though I had all of U2’s albums, Joshua Tree was what I listened to constantly from 1987-1991 - along with Rattle and Hum, which I love almost as much because to me it is Joshua Tree part 2. The Joshua Tree was also all I watched for five years. I taped everything off MTV – the documentaries, the videos, the concerts, the award show appearances, and the interviews. My favorite is the documentary Outside It’s America – I know it by heart.

The Joshua Tree is truly a part of me. I think because it was my first U2 album and all I listened to and watched for five years. It’s just so ingrained in me. Its songs are second nature to me. Like being home, they are comforting.

This summer while I am On the Road with U2 driving to all 16 US shows, I am going to make the pilgrimage to The Joshua Tree. For 24 years, I have wanted to visit the actual Joshua Tree and the places U2 were filmed for the cover of my favorite album.



Want to hear U2 Live from Sao Paulo

Bono /U2360 Tour Several reports are coming that Wednesda’s show from Sao Paulo will be broadcast live on radio by Brazillan station Oi FM, 

The band bid farewell to South America this Wednesday with a live audio webcast of the third show from Sao Paulo.

The show will be free on the web and terrestrial radio in South America and worldwide to U2.com subscribers.

U2 fans across South America can follow the U2360° show from  Morumbi Stadium in Sao Paulo via Terra u2.sonora.terra.com.br and also on radio in Brazil on OiFM.

Quote from U2.com - 

‘U2 have had a great time in South America - they’ve played fantastic sold out concerts in Santiago, Buenos Aires and here in Sao Paulo. This webcast and live radio broadcast in Brazil gives U2 fans who couldn’t get a ticket, the chance to hear a great show.’ said U2 Manager, Paul McGuinness.
 
The live broadcast will begin on u2.sonora.terra.com.br and OiFM at 9:30pm. Terra’s live stream will be broadcast into Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.  U2.com subscribers logging in on the night  will also have access to the webcast.
 
Following last night’s  second show at Morumbi Stadium in Sao Paulo, U2360° broke the record held by the Rolling Stones’ Bigger Bang Tour for the most successful tour ever.  With 26 shows remaining before the tour finishes in Canada on July 30, U2360° will also set a new record for ticket sales, with the final figure to be in excess of 7 million tickets sold.
 
Terra will broadcast the concert audio directly from the stadium, with digital quality, during a special edition of  Sonora Live, sponsored by Intel.

‘The U2 Sonora Live Special will be a milestone in the history of Sonora, broadcasting live and for free to all South America,’ says Terra Media Vice President, Sandra Pecis.  

Country specific landing pages for webcast:
AR: u2.sonora.terra.com.ar
BR: u2.sonora.terra.com.br
CL: u2.sonora.terra.cl
CO: u2.sonora.terra.com.co
PE: u2.terra.com.pe
VE: u2.terra.com.ve
EC: u2.terra.com.ec

The live broadcast will begin at 9:30 pm local time in Sao Paulo