Adam says Good By to "MUM"

U2 star Adam Clayton was “lucky to be able to spend the last week by his mother’s side”, according to close friends.

The bassist came home a week before Jo Clayton’s death to be with her at the family home near Ballina, Co Mayo.

The rock star’s mother — who passed away last Thursday following a long battle with cancer — was fondly remembered as a woman who took a great interest in her son’s career from the early days.

As a friend explained: “Adam’s mum used to drive him and the lads to the gigs in a Mercedes station wagon way back in the Seventies before anyone gave them a second look.

“She always believed in his talent and helped in any way she could. The two were very close.”

The heartbroken star was supported by friends and family who turned out for the service at Glasnevin Cemetery where the 74-year-old was cremated yesterday afternoon.

A close friend of the band, Gavin Friday, spoke before the service to say: “Adam flew home to be with his mum and he was very grateful to be able to spend a week with her before she died.”

It is believed that Adam’s French girlfriend and their baby son — who was born early last year — attended a private service in Foxford, Co Mayo. Also there was Adam’s father Brian and younger brother Sebastian and his sister Sara Jane.

Bono and The Edge along with members of the U2 entourage flew in for the private service last Friday and Mrs Clayton’s body was then brought to Dublin yesterday for a service at the crematorium in Glasnevin, Dublin.

The U2 star’s father Brian was a pilot and the family settled in Malahide, Co Dublin. Their home in Bofeenaun, Co Mayo, was the family’s holiday home until recent times when retired Brian and Jo moved there permanently.

Bono, Christ and Culture

Bono / Dave Long / U2TOURFANS Bono, is an example of an individual striving to live between Christ and culture.  As a world-renowned rock-icon, the lead singer of U2, Bono has earned a myriad of labels. 

Among them are: singer, songwriter, opportunist, Christian, humanitarian activist, egoist, political advocate, rock-star, father and husband. 

Bono’s multifaceted life makes it difficult to understand exactly what it is that defines his success. 

Arguably the most celebrated secular rock star of the modern era, intriguingly, Bono openly professes faith in Jesus Christ. 

Despite his testimony, many Christians refuse to recognize this secular icon as a genuine follower of God.  In regards to his lifestyle and lyrics, many consider his faith nebulous and even questionable. 

His humanitarian pursuits – devoid of fellowship with the Church – are sometimes heralded as activism for its own sake.  As an artist, Bono typically refuses to overtly espouse familiar Christian lyrical content expressing themes of peace, joy, praise, and love.  It is often only when one delves deep into his art, that Bono’s beliefs become evident.   The following paper will examine the way Bono lives between Christ and culture.

We Get to Carry Each Other: The Gospel according to U2 (Gospel According to) Garrett, an English professor at Baylor University, plumbs the U2 catalogue to reveal the group’s theological worldview. This is not a far stretch—three of the four band members were involved with a charismatic Christian community in Ireland as the group was starting out.

U2 is not the only rock band to address spiritual themes in its music, but as the author adeptly illustrates, it has certainly been one of the most consistent and outspoken. Garrett rightly posits in a chapter about social justice that U2’s message encourages listeners to put their faith into action for the sake of the poor and marginalized.

The author is clearly a music fan, and his excitement about U2 is contagious. Rock music fans who have ever wondered if their faith and musical taste could ever be paired will be intrigued by U2’s story and Garrett’s theological analysis of the band’s music.

Over the next few days we will take a closer look at how U2 and Bono weave Christian values into the songs that have been moving to those that seek a different path.

God is in the House

Where the Streets Have No Name.Beautiful Day.I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.Yahweh. For fans of the Irish band U2, these are familiar rock songs. But to a growing number of Christians, they’re becoming tunes for worship, and for the Eucharist.

Services using U2’s music, commonly called U2charist, were begun by Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation. The services combine the music of the rock band with traditional communion. They focus on a message of global reconciliation, justice, and care for neighbors as advocated by Bono, the lead singer of U2. Bono, a dedicated Christian, is also a global ambassador for Millennium Development Goals, a movement by the United Nations to eradicate poverty and disease by the year 2015.

U2charist first took hold in the U.S. at St. George’s Episcopal Church in York Harbor, Maine, drawing 130 people. Many of those in attendance were in a younger demographic and did not usually attend the church. Since then, dozens of the services have been held worldwide in churches of many denominations.

In a U2charist service, the liturgy remains the same, although the music is markedly different. U2 songs are repurposed as the opening hymn, song of praise, sermon response, and offertory. Most of the songs are seen as metaphors, with lyrics that are layered with meaning.

“In church, you hear [the music] in a different way. It’s like new,” said Natalie Williams, a 17-year-old who attended a U2charist at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Briarcliff Manor, New York.

Eric Johnson, who attended the service at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Lakeland, Florida, had no doubt about the effectiveness of the music.

“The crowd, the enthusiasm, the energy—I felt like the Holy Spirit was in the room. The message was getting through, and we were worshiping together,” he said.

The offerings that are collected at U2charists go to charities fighting extreme poverty and AIDS, as worked out in an agreement with the band’s publishing company. Paige Blair, rector of St. George’s, estimates that more than $36,000 has been raised from the U2charist services for the cause.

“People are learning there is something they can do to change the world,” she said. “And they leave feeling that they really can.”

At St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Encinitas, California, the U2charist service was well-received by young and old alike. Teens connected to the “hip factor,” while adults found deeper meaning in the music.

At St. Andrew’s, the service drew a crowd that compares to normal Christmas or Easter attendance. St. George’s is beginning a U2charist team to help others implement the service. And this year, a U2charist service will be broadcast in Great Britain on Easter Sunday.

“It spread like wildfire,” Blair said. “We’re giving people a way to engage their faith in a meaningful way.”

And letting them rock out at the same time.

This week we will start a three part or four part series on U2, God and Faith.

"You Can Blame Droughts On God, But Famines Are Man-Made’

In an interview Wednesday on CNN’s AC 360, U2 frontman and activist Bono dismissed any suggestion that the famine threatening the lives of up to 600,000 African children was the result of an act of God. “You can blame droughts on God, but famines are man-made,” the singer told Anderson Cooper, who was in Mogadishu, and has been reporting from the region all week. “This shouldn’t be happening,” Bono, who is co-founder of the ONE campaign, said, noting that other countries in the region have been hit by the same drought, but effective use of agricultural programs have helped avoid famine.

The situation in Somalia has been staggering–and led Cooper to argue the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids should be getting more of the world’s attention.

U2 join aid effort for African children

U2 are among more than 150 musicians who have joined the “I`m gonna be your friend” social media campaign, backing a fundraising effort to help people affected by the drought in northeast Africa.

Universal Music Group, Facebook, Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, YouTube, Twitter and celebrities including Lady Gaga, U2, Eminem, Muhammad Ali, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John, Britney Spears, Madonna, Justin Bieber, Sting, and Rihanna are backing the campaign, via their huge networks of friends and fans on Facebook and Twitter.

The celebrities are asking people to pay to download a single by Bob Marley & The Wailers for $1.29, the campaign official site imgonnabeyourfriend.org said.

Visitors to the site are also encouraged to donate money and share information about the campaign in social networks and blogs.

Bob Marley & The Wailers’ 1973 song High Tide or Low Tide has been donated by the reggae star’s family, and appears on the site with footage of malnourished children.

“Bob’s music has always conveyed a message of hope, unity and love. And this is a message needed now more than ever,” campaign organizers said on the website.

The campaign hopes to increase the number of participants to a billion people.

About 3.6 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia and 12 million people across the Horn of Africa, the United Nations says. Thousands of families, including around 70,000 children, have been forced to flee their drought-stricken homes, with many now in overcrowded refugee camps.

My U2 360 Experience

Mark Peterson 2011 / U2 360 Tour Chicago Eric Shivvers: Four songs into U2’s Chicago set list last month, I had to leave the pit area. The heat and the closeness of bodies were a little too much for me. I decided to gravitate towards the back of the stage, taking in the show on the huge monitor floating above the stage. Without seeing the actual band members, the energy coming across the “Big TV” was infectious. U2 was filling the arena with exactly what they had promised – 360 degrees of fun.

In order to offset the heat, I drank $30 worth of bottled water. I knew I would have to take a natural break and so I did. I slowly made my way to the concourse and onto the bathroom. Normally, I would never do this because I would be so into the show that missing an Edge lick or a Bono rant would not be missed but this night, the hot weather was playing a crucial role. 

When I exited the bathroom, I was able to walk the venue and take the show in via my 360 experience. I ambled through the crowd of the young, the old and the staggering. Along the way, I witnessed The band singing their classic  I Still haven’t Found What I’m Looking For from all aspects of the venue. What made my excursion interesting is that I never saw the band. The glow from the lights of the stage reflected off the arena walls silhouetted the crowd flanking my left as I walked ht concourse. Even at the far reaches of the arena, Bono had them in his hand, taking them on a journey as they sung in unison with him. 

One would say this was a waste of time and not a way to experience a U2 show, but I disagree. After seeing them from the pit twice on this tour in 2009, I had reason to take my own journey through the crowd. I wanted to feel the passion from the furthest reaches because that is where I started my U2 live experience, fives rows from the back of the arena at Carver-Hawkeye arena in 1987. On this night, I needed to get back to my roots as I wandered through the sweating flesh. It was something I needed to do.

Upon my return to the rail at the back of the stage area, I looked up as Gabby Gifford’s husband was introducing Beautiful Day. My Bedouin lifestyle within the arena for those fifteen odd minutes told me that no matter where you sat, no matter what your favorite album was or song you wanted to hear, we were at church with four Irishmen in the pulpit spilling out their heartfelt emotions for us no matter the weather.

Salomé Bootlegs Before Achtung Baby

 Salomé is the name of the most famous U2 bootleg, a 3-CD set of U2’s early studio sessions for the Achtung Baby album.

In the winter of 1990, U2 were hard at work in Hansa Ton recording studios in Berlin, Germany. The ultimate result of this effort would be the November 1991 release of their next album, Achtung Baby. However, in December 1990 that album was a great ways off, because U2 (unlike most other bands) entered the studio with very few lyric or song ideas. Instead, U2 came into the studio to create as well as record. Here they sought inspirations for songs from playing together. They would etch out ideas while improvising around some basic idea, or riff. Since all this jamming was taking place in a recording studio, even the simplest of ideas was captured on tape. The highlights of these tapes were then edited down and compiled into “working tapes” recorded onto DAT (Digital Audio Tape) cassettes. Tapes of this nature were used to hold possible song ideas, as well as a means for Brian Eno (and others) to hear the band’s progress and make suggestions about the music.

Happy Birthday The Edge

The Edge / NIck Walker 2011 David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), more widely known by his stage name The Edge (or just Edge), is a musician best known as the guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record. As a guitarist, The Edge has crafted a minimalistic and textural style of playing. His use of a rhythmic delay effect yields a distinctive ambient, chiming sound that has become a signature of U2’s music.

The Edge was born in England to a Welsh family, but was raised in Ireland after moving there as an infant. In 1976, at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, he formed U2 with his fellow students and his older brother Dik. Inspired by the ethos of punk rock and its basic arrangements, the group began to write its own material. They eventually became one of the most popular acts in popular music, with successful albums such as 1987’s The Joshua Tree and 1991’s Achtung Baby.

Over the years, The Edge has experimented with various guitar effects and introduced influences from several genres of music into his own style, including American roots music, industrial music, and alternative rock. With U2, The Edge has also played keyboards, co-produced their 1993 record Zooropa, and occasionally contributed lyrics. The Edge met his second and current wife, Morleigh Steinberg, through her collaborations with the band.

As a member of U2 and as an individual, The Edge has campaigned for human rights and philanthropic causes. He co-founded Music Rising, a charity to support musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina. He has collaborated with U2 bandmate Bono on several projects, including songs for Roy Orbison and Tina Turner, and the soundtracks to the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and the Royal Shakespeare Company London’s stage adaptation of A Clockwork Orange. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine placed him at number 24 on its list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”.