Who the F is U2 ?

Some snotty nose kid from St Louis just screamed out “Who the F is U2” because on they are over packed can not handle another download, iPhone they just auto downloaded the complete album.

The boys from Dublin released their album to Apple and they pushed it right out the door to over 500 million iTunes customers free of charge.

Apple fans that had carefully curated their music collections were confused and dismayed when U2 appeared, in poltergeist-like fashion, in their libraries.

The Guardian released this little gem for those that could care less about U2

  1. Make it the basis of an ice bucket-style charity challenge, in which you film yourself having the songs unceremoniously dumped into your ears, to raise awareness of whatever Bono is bleating about at the moment.
  2. Section off a room in your house and pipe the album into it, which you can probably do nowadays via Wi-Fi or something, on a continuous 24-hour-a-day loop. You can then use this as a sort of “sonic naughty step” for your children.
  3. When you are feeling low or uninspired, simply take a moment to look at the Songs of Innocence icon and its play count of zero, and remind yourself that things could always be worse.
  4.  Use it as a legal justification to mercilessly troll Bono across all major social media platforms. He may not want to receive your annoying, offensive material, but, hey, he started it.
  5. Use one of the standout songs, assuming there is one, as a custom ringtone for incoming calls from anyone you don’t like.
  6. Use it as a conversation starter with other iPhone 6 owners in social situations. If you have both heard it, you should be able to get a good half an hour to an hour about how ghastly it is and how it actually sounds nothing at all like Kraftwerk.
  7. Suggest to Apple that if it can do this with a U2 album, then it should be able to provide exclusive access to things we actually need, such as Candy Crush Saga ripoffs and promotional codes for Millie’s Cookies.
  8. See if you can, via a Twitter campaign, persuade one of the other mobile phone giants to attempt a similar endeavour with someone actually half-decent.
  9. Have the compositional notes to all the songs printed on rice paper, and then track down Apple CEO Tim Cook so you can literally forcefeed Songs of Innocence back to him.
  10. Listen to it all the way through, several times, before forming a ... Ha ha ha! Only kidding!

Meantime hard core fans are screaming when is the tour going to start ? Ah can't please everyone.

Songs Of Innocence (Behind the Scenes)

In the two minute clip, Bono opens up with some rather prophetic statements about the band’s new work. “These songs were always destined,” he’s heard to remark as they tune up instruments.

“But rather than it being paint by number where it’s very disciplined and prescribed.

I always think of the zen artists – they spend all their time mixing the ink.

And it’s those last few minutes where those gestures are recorded. That’s the way all our albums go.”

The video depicts the band’s tight space, playing with hard guitar lines, different vocal styles and discussing how imagination and art work together.

And even though the studio looks like a rather poorly lit place, rest-assured Bono doesn’t lose his sunglasses.

U2 Blasted ! Summer 2015 !

Now that we have had a few days to dig into the album and take a listen it seems that some fans have found their way to the the top of the food chain to blast the boys on a free album release on Apple. Calling them "Sell outs" Rich old dudes" and "Lame"  Change is not always good for everyone. Some view change as a departure from what is safe and secure throwing anger towards it makes them feel better. We guess. 

Fan pages have been popping up all over the place offering suggestions of when the next tour might happen.  Its really comes down to availability of locations around the word and routing the band in the right direction to make the most money possible on the road. This will take time.  We heard that we should not expect anything sooner than 2015 and it will run always out into 2016.

We u2 fans really did not know how close to over this really was. Yes over, finished, done and final. Not talking about the music; talking about the band. Sources ( hate when we say this, however we have been asked to not say who) close to the band say that this has been a challenging time for them. This album has had a lot of start and stops and a lot of redirection, to the point that it pulled the boys apart for a bit. Now truth be told that any labor of love will cause some drama and the suggestion that the boys may end this ride seem as possible as humm what ?  Marriages are challenging and the boys have been marriages along time; let them have their private fights and lets just enjoy the music. 

We at U2TOURFANS have a lot in store for you. We are going to gear up a massive U2 touring team that will provide the best coverage of the band, videos, and concert news possible. Watch for over the next few weeks our brand new community center.

Cheers

 

U2 Songs of Innocence and Experience

U2 released their 13th studio album yesterday (gosh we had hoped for the title Lucky 13) “Songs of Innocence” considered a surprise release and a super surprise “free” download. 

The marketing machines have really gone back and pulled out some old tricks for this one. However, that is not of interest to most U2 fans.

What really matters is the music! Yea I could use the terms “gestation” “delay” “lack of focus” however who really gives a crap about that when the music has arrived to us via iTunes just waiting for us to download.

Gene Simmons said Rock is dead, well U2 most not have gotten the funeral notice; this album is brilliant, fluid, bold and most of all fresh with tip of the hat to the past. Lets call this a reconnection to their past and to future audiences.

U2SOI copy.jpg

Bono and Edge created visions of a punk rock era and provided some balance for those that have yet to embrace the concept of punk rock.

Keeping it simple as to grab the attention of the youth today and U2’s attempt to remain relevant may cause some U2; fans to think that void commercialism and stay true to their roots. 

U2 is not a band that stands on past performances and while no tour dates announced surely we will see the boys across the world in 2015. 

Time will tell if Bono has met his goal to stay relevant and if fans embrace “Songs of Innocence”. I at first glance believe that we got our chance to see lighting in a bottle again. I am sure to have more to say about this over the next few weeks.  Bono did drop us a note updating on the next album to be released called " Songs of Experience"

We’re collaborating with Apple on some cool stuff over the next couple of years, innovations that will transform the way music is listened to and viewed. We’ll keep you posted. If you like Songs of Innocence,  stay with us for Songs of Experience. It should be ready soon enough… although I know I’ve said that before…

 

Letter from Bono

A letter from Bono, on the arrival 'of our new baby' - Songs of Innocence.

'Hello, bonjour, ciao, hola, hallo, zdravo, dobar dan, Dia duit, hæ, hej,hei, cześć, olá, ćao, namaste, sawatdee, jambo, pozdravi, Γεια σου, привіт, שלום, مرحبا, こんにちは, , سلام, 你好, Привет….

Remember us? Pleased to announce myself, Edge, Adam and Larry have finally given birth to our new baby… Songs of Innocence. It’s been a while. We wanted to get it right for you/us. We just finished it last week and thanks to Apple and iTunes it’s with you today. That’s already amazing to me as it normally takes a few months to turn this stuff around.

Part of the DNA of this band has always been the desire to get our music to as many people as possible. In the next 24 hours, over a half a billion people are going to have Songs of Innocence… should they choose to check it out. That is so exciting. People who haven’t heard our music, or weren’t remotely interested, might play us for the first time because we’re in their library. Country fans, hip hop afficionados from east LA, electro poppers from Seoul, Bhangra fans from New Delhi, Highlifers in Accra… might JUST be tempted to check us out, even for a moment.

What a mind blowing, head scratching, 21st century situation. Over 500 million people… that’s a billion ears. And for the people out there who have no interest in checking us out, look at it this way… the blood, sweat and tears of some Irish guys are in your junk mail.

You’ll have noticed the album is free to U2.com’ers from the band. It’s also free to everyone on iTunes thanks to Apple. To celebrate the ten year anniversary of our iPod commercial, they bought it as a gift to give to all their music customers.

Free, but paid for. Because if no-one's paying anything for it, we’re not sure “free” music is really that free. It usually comes at a cost to the art form and the artist… which has big implications, not for us in U2, but for future musicians and their music... all the songs that have yet to be written by the talents of the future… who need to make a living to write them.

We’re collaborating with Apple on some cool stuff over the next couple of years, innovations that will transform the way music is listened to and viewed. We’ll keep you posted. If you like Songs of Innocence,  stay with us for Songs of Experience. It should be ready soon enough… although I know I’ve said that before…

I hope after listening to our new long player a few times, you’ll understand why it took so long. We really went there… it’s a very, very personal album. Apologies if that gets excruciating… actually, I take that back. No apologies if it gets excruciating. What’s the point in being in U2 if you can’t go there?
There is no end to LOVE.'
BONO

Source: http://www.u2.com/news/title/remember-us

No Billboard or No Grammy nod for U2

The world was surprised today by the release of U2’s  “Songs of Innocence” as a free download on for iTunes account holders and streamed on Beats Music you will not see the album make the Billboard top 200. 

Yup since the album really does not go on sale until October 14th pretty much knocks it out of Billboard and also knocked them out of Grammy consideration.  Rules for Grammy consideration are very clear.


 "The album must be commercially available in order for it to be eligible, and the official release date determines its eligibility in a particular awards year," a Grammys rep told Billboard. "In this case, the album is commercially available on Oct. 14, 2014, so it will be eligible for consideration for the 58th Grammy Awards."


Apple has a spend of in excess of $100 Million on an ad campaign supporting the release of the new devices which includes the single "The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone."  No word on how much Apple paid U2 for the single or the early release of the album however you can be sure that Bono and the boys did not let it go out the door cheap.


Now U2 and management will have a chance to talk to the Academy to get some understanding on the rules however for now is a celebration for U2 fans and for the band to finally release some new music.

 

U2 Tracks "Songs of Innocence"

U2 released their first new album in five years today “Songs of Innocence” Apple and U2 worked to bring the album to the world for free immediately to any one with an ITunes account. U2 can befit with over a half a billion users and the opportunity to share their music with the world. Bono said in his only exclusive interview with Rolling Stone's Gus Wenner the day before the press conference in an exclusive interview.

"Let's try to figure out why we wanted to be in a band, the relationships around the band, our friendships, our lovers, our family.

The whole album is first journeys — first journeys geographically, spiritually, sexually. In addition, that is hard. But we went there."  We will be reviewing the album and will share our thoughts shortly.

1.    The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
2.    Every Breaking Wave
3.    California (There is no End of Love)
4.    Iris (Hold Me Close)
5.    Volcano
6.     Raised By Wolves
7.    Cedarwood Road
8.    Sleep Like a Baby Tonight
9.    This is Where You Can Reach Me Now
10.    The Troubles