No Rapture, Just Faith

Tim Heufeld wrote an article earlier this week that we did not have a chance to share our thoughts on. “God is in the house” in deed HE is.  For the last three decades U2 has written songs of faith, hope and love going thru phases as most Christians do. Tim pointed out that on two albums “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” and “No Line on the Horizon” could be considered as U2’s grounded works.

Denver’s show had a couple of interesting dynamics going on; of course it was the first show back in the USA after a long winter break. Fans with bend up emotions seemed a bit flat or were it the idea that the Rapture was to happen during the show period; secretly I have over heard some fans longing for it to be true. The ultimate U2, with faith and an MP3 player on her side, she waits the coming of the LORD (hum new lyric)

Bono and the Boys never claimed to have lock on faith, love and God, only that one should find peace and why not in God, true that Christians look at U2 and wonder how they can be Christian with drinking, and partying and well frankly enjoying life.  Clearly how can they be? Simply put God is in everyone and how you choose to live your life is really a choice you make, it’s not mine or yours to say this person is more God like we are all in God’s image.  U2 only provides the tools for you to make your own choice. We looked over Tim’s U2 Rapture Playlist and believe its worth a listen. Try it -

Just one last thought the Denver show take a look at this video, is Bono suggesting that this is the end of time, or was it just part of the song. Ether way it was very interesting to see for the first time on this stage Bono reaching his hand across the bridge to The Edge. The trusses never touch and Bono drops a flower, what symbolism; what poetic faith.   

Bono: My understanding of the Scriptures has been made simple by the person of Christ. Christ teaches that God is love.

TOP TEN RAPTURE PLAYLIST

10. “Tomorrow,” October (1981)

Won’t you come back tomorrow / Won’t you be back tomorrow
Will you be back tomorrow / Can I sleep tonight

Open up, open up to the love of God / To the love of He who made the blind to see
He’s coming back / He’s coming back
I believe Him / Jesus is coming / I’m gonna be there

9. “Stateless,” The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)

I’ve got no home in this world / Just gravity, luck, and time
I’ve got no home in this world / Just you and you are not mine

Stateless / Weightless / Stateless

8. “A Sort of Homecoming,” The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

And you know it’s time to go / Through the sleet and driving snow
Across the fields of mourning / To a light that’s in the distance

And you hunger for the time / Time to heal, desire, time
And your earth moves beneath / Your own dream landscape

7. “Last Night on Earth,” POP (1997)

She feels the ground is giving way / But she thinks we’re better off that way
The more you take the less you feel / The less you know the more you believe
The more you have, the more it takes today

You got to give it away / You got to give it away
Well, she don’t care what it’s worth
She’s living like it’s the last night on earth

6. “Gone,” POP (1997)

You get to feel so guilty got so much for so little
Then you find that feeling just won’t go away
You’re holding on to every little thing so tightly
Till there’s nothing left for you anyay

Goodbye, you can keep this suit of lights
I’m be up with the sun / I’m not coming down

5. “I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight,” No Line on the Horizon (2009) (Live U2360 Remix of course!)

It’s not a hill, it’s a mountain / As you start out the climb
Listen for me, I’ll be shouting / We’re gonna make it all the way to the light
But you now I’ll go crazy if I don’t go crazy tonight

4. “Where the Streets Have No Name,” Joshua Tree (1987)

Where the streets have no name / Where the streets have no name
We’re still building, then burning down love / Burning down love
And when I go there I go there with you / It’s all I can do

3. “Walk On,” All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)

You’re packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen

Leave it behind

2. “Until the End of the World,” Achtung Baby (1991)

Waves of regret and waves of joy / I reached out for the one I tried to destroy
You, you said you’d wait / ‘Til the end of the world

1. “Elevation,” All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)

You elevate my soul / I’ve lost all self-control
Been living like a mole / Now, going down, excavation
I and I into the sky / You make me feel like I can fly so high
Elevation

Play list credit: Tim Heufeld

Love Rescue Me

Eric Shivvers By:Eric Shivvers

As I open this venture with U2tourfans, I would like to thank Andres for reaching out and letting me become part of the family. I think that’s part of U2-fandom culture. A band and a bond bring us together. We are interesting. We are diverse. We have passion. We are U2 fans. 

I think we look at U2 as heroes. They make music and change the world. They are the bullhorn of our consciousness. But even our heroes need heroes and two nights ago, U2 paid tribute to one who is an American icon, Bob Dylan. Dylan’s an American treasure who is profound in his lyrical style.

What we hear in his song The Times They are A-Changin’ had direct influence on U2. Listen to Sunday Bloody Sunday, you will find the soul of the Irish battle cry’s not that far from the musical craftsman from Minneapolis. In fact, it is almost a response from across the pond.

Love Rescue Me, which U2 performed the other night in Salt Lake City in honor of Dylan’s 70^th birthday, is that haunting song found on Rattle and Hum and co-written with Dylan.

It’s one of my favorites and quite possibly the simplest tune the band has ever written musically. The song barely has three chords, which makes the lyric take front and center stage. Much like Dylan’s songs, one can strip away Edge’s arpeggio style and you have a story. This one is Bono’s ode to his pious self. The love he seeks out in the song is religion as the wordsmith in the verse exposes Bono’s earthly self. 

U2 are fans of music and they expose us, the legion of followers, to those who influenced them. If one person read this and went to iTunes to listen to snippets of Dylan classics, then writing Love Rescue Me was the right thing to do, regardless of Rattle and Hum’s backlash in the press. In fact, I can be honest and say I drift away from U2, listening to bands they turned me onto.

Like older brothers, or sisters, who influenced their younger siblings with what they were listening to on their record player, U2 did that to me as I am an only child. I never had that sibling bond behind the bedroom door. I had friends who steered me one way or the other but it was U2 who sort of showed me the musical way and for that, I am eternally grateful.  

Welcome Eric Shivvers !

Editor Comments:  Greetings U2 fans around the world, as we start the 3rd leg of the 360 Tour I wanted to find some thing new and refreshing for you. I have had a chance to read a ton of U2 media ( Books, Websites and Sermons) I came across Eric Shivvers a couple of months back. As I was reading I began to nod my head in agreement, Music is the sound track of my life. When I was working in the music business I lost that concept of being a fan, just a fan nothing more. I became so focused on the performance and the sound that I pushed aside those feelings of just a fan to become better at what I do within the industry.

Fast forward: U2 is the sound track for my life. It all started with “New Years Day”  which was not the first time I heard or saw them, it was just a period, second in time that I was moved to making a difference. Don’t we all just want to make a difference? Eric’s book is inspiring and uplifting and most of all its a true fan book speaking from the heart.

Please join me and lets welcome Eric to the team. Eric Shivvers is a freelance graphic designer who turned to writing in the fall of 2006 when his mother could no longer pick-up the phone due to Alzheimer’s. Eric wrote in a cathartic manner, keeping alive the memories of the good times they shared. What Eric discovered was the Irish rock band, U2, sat in the background, playing the soundtrack to his life. Eric’s recently self-published memoir,I’m a Fan: How I married U2 into my life without going to the altar is the result of his writing journey. 

Watch for Eric’s contributions to appear today. Please share your comments and thoughts with all our writers thats how we become better at crafting our stories for you.  Thanks being a fan - Andres

Amazed and Idolised

Frazer Harrison, Getty ImagesBono and The Edge made their appearance on American Idol last night during the season finale at the Nolkia Theatre in LA. The performed “Rise Above 1” Reeve Carney is the singer/actor that plays Peter Park in the Broadway production. The U2 marketing machine has timed this perfect once again with the release of the digital version available on Itunes. As the song comes to an end ana actual Spiderman swung from the ceiling and tried to plant a kiss on the lips of the judge Jo Lo who elected to tap her fingers on his lips.  Twitter was a buzz for a few days when we broke the news that they had planned to appear ( while news of U2 the band was to appear) However it was just Bono with his shades, and The Edge taking full advanatage of the promotional value of American Idol.  Take a look -

Thank you Salt Lake CIty !

Photo Credit @Leahu2 U2 360 Tour SlC SALT LAKE CITY — For U2 fans, Tuesday was a Beautiful Day (and night) at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Rock icons U2 returned to Salt Lake CIty more than a year after the band had to postpone the start of their North American tour.

“Thank you for coming out. And thank you for your patience,” lead singer Bono told the more than 50,000 fans who attended Tuesday night’s show. Outside Rice-Eccles, dozens of people who didn’t get tickets lined up along the gates to listen and catch glimpses of the band on the giant video screen.

The energized crowd jumped in unison with their fists in the air as U2 opened with “Even Better than the Real Thing” followed by “I Will Follow” off their 1980 debut album Boy.

Bono showed no lingering effects of the back surgery, moving and dancing around the giant stage to fan favorites like “Mysterious Ways,” “Elevation,” “Beautiful Day” and “Pride (In the Name of Love).”

While some things change, “Some things remain the same. Nothing phases this man,” Bono said pointing to The Edge who was outstanding on lead guitar on songs like  “Until The End of the World,” “Get On Your Boots” and a great return of “All I Want Is You” to the set list.

U2 did what it does best, mixing music and social awareness. Before the show, the giant LED video screen (which was the most impressive part of the massive stage) scrolled numerous factoids from number of births today, the barrels of oil pumped today, number of cell phones sold today to the number of video games played online. The band even threw in local statistics such as Salt Lake County’s unemployment rate and a running count of how many people had entered Rice-Eccles Stadium (50,000 as of 15 minutes before the show, and climbing).

  The band arguably didn’t achieve lift-off until after a quiet duet between Bono and The Edge on “All I Want Is You,” and a quick take on the Bob Dylan-penned “Love Rescue Me.” After the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to the now 70-year-old Dylan – no, he wasn’t there – the show really picked up.
Even though they’ve had numerous smash hits, it’s unlikely the band has a more well-loved song than “Pride.” And even though at 27 it’s likely older than many of the folks who were singing the words in the capacity Rice-Eccles Stadium crowd, it still sounds fresh, vibrant and politically poignant – even in completely conservative Utah.

U2 360 Tour SLC Set List 2011The show may have gotten too political for some when Bono repeatedly touted the work of Amnesty International and sang “Scarlet” as a full-fledged tribute to recently released Burmese political leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent 20 years as a political detainee. It was a fairly emotional scene as the band played video of the freed woman advocating the importance of individual action, which she said was “louder than any rock band.”

Other music highlights included all-too quick run through of The Beatles’ “Here Comes The Sun,” (which reminded met that I’d worried way too much about the weather for this show. It was absolutely dry, clear and just about perfect) “Zooropa,” “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “City of Blinding Lights” and “Vertigo.”

The big finale was arguably a last tribute to Dylan when Bono rambled through a verse of “Blowin’ In the Wind,” before segueing into the huge hit “Where The Streets Have No Name.” Interestingly, the band closed on the far less known “Moment of Surrender” from 2009′s “No Line on the Horizon.” Like the rest of the show – even though it wasn’t exactly what you expected – it lived up to the hype. Bono and The Edge head off to LA to be on American Idol on Wednesday night

Who is Memphis Mullen ?

We have been talking for a couple of months now about Memphis (M2) as the crew here likes to call her. Yea we know of the other M2 and we think his pretty cool too - Anyway 

Talk about a passion U2 she has it however take that passion and double it for Larry Mullen Jr. Her concert journey started in Denver a couple of nights back with the kick off of U2’s USA leg of the 360 Tour. 

If your a U2 fan you understand the passion and drive that one has for the boys from Ireland yet you have to wonder what would make a fan change her career and embark on the journey to write and document the ultimate U2 fan story. Its an adventure that we are sure to follow daily as she reports from the around the tour, meeting fans like you and discovering new fans.

Success does not come without challenges. Memphis will be on the road for 2 full months and in order to complete this book she will need some support from all of us. Lets all reach in to our pockets and take out our starbucks money and make a donation to her book.  Please join the whole team in welcoming  Memphis Mullen - “On The Road with U2”  

Hey be sure to stop her along the way, take a photo, grab some cool stickers and just cheer her on !  

Bono and Edge Yes 2 American Idol, No U2 Band

Bono and Edge will appear alongside Reeve Carney, who plays Peter Parker, and cast members from SPIDER-MAN Turn off the Dark which is set to open on Broadway,  June 14.

After winning the Top Touring Artist Award at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night (May 22), U2 members Bono and the Edge are set to perform on the American Idol season 10 finale this Wednesday. An announcement posted on U2.com confirms that the bandmates will appear alongside cast members of the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which is currently back in revamped form and running in previews with one new song, and classic hits from the band, woven into the production. Bono and the Edge are the show’s composers. 

This statement about U2’s performance is wrong - U2 is not performaning only Bono and The Edge -

U2’s “Idol” performance will be part of the episode that reveals whether Scotty McCreery or Lauren Alaina is the season 10 champ. After the appearance, the group’s 360° tour will continue to rock stadiums in North America through July 30, with support from the Fray, Lenny Kravitz, Florence & the Machine and Interpol during various dates.

Now all we can hope for is that U2 keeps far away from American Idol - Sorry Ido

Hello Salt Lake City ! We have arrived

Tonight the second or third show kicks off at Rice-Eccles Stadium at last check over 200 fans have slept in the GA line and the line continues to grow. Memphis Mullen has arrived late last night and we expect to see her out shortly. Be sure to catch her and grab some swag from her.

Craig Evans in the press walk thru again states “It’s the largest touring production even to be taken around the world.”  The steel rides on 48 semi-trucks and leapfrogs between shows. (3 stages are out on this tour )  

U2 in the numbers: 16 miles of production cable; a video screen that has 500,000 pixels and weighs 54 tons; about 130 touring crew members and 35 members of management; in addition to 1,500 roadies hired in each city for jobs such as stage hands and concessions.

Fans here have been waiting an extra year due to Bono’s surgery and everyone is ready for an amazing show. Salt Lake City was to the launch of the North American tour. Now the band is on the final leg of its North American tour having played 50 shows.

Tonight, the U2 360 World Tour that was postponed a year ago due to emergency back surgery for Bono will finally make its appearance in Salt Lake City..

Setting up the stage for the 360 tour is like setting up a small city. The stage — nicknamed “The Claw” because of its four large posts that support the structure — takes about four days to build.

A full day is needed to lay down the specialized flooring used to hold the stage and prevent the football field at Rice-Eccles from being torn up or crushed. It normally takes four days to build the steel prongs of the stage, but crews in Salt Lake were able to do it in 3½ even with the rain. It takes an additional day to set up the lights, sound and video.

Follow tonight’s show via twitter and or facebook. We suggest that you follow #U2360SLC – We are working very closely to able to provide a couple of surprises.