U2's North American Promotional Tour Kicks Off

The boys will he heading to New York for a full week of performances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Starting November 17th. Jimmy and U2 have worked together before in fact Jimmy asked the boys to come back around and stay a bit longer.  

Fallon’s announced the U2 week during his monologue and we can expect to hear more about this in the coming week.  U2's last performance was on the Top of The Rock and had "The Roots" join in on their new release of "Ordinary Love" 

You can expect an amazing week of U2 performances and a possible North American tour announcement. Follow U2 on U2TOURFANS for more news and information about the upcoming tour dates.

U2 Tour News 2015

Plans are shaping up for a massive U2 tour season in 2015/2016. We might expect at least two different shows in some of the major markets around the world. U2 has suggested in the current RS that the band could perform two different shows within the same city. Allowing for a large production and a smaller acoustic set which if you have already purchased the new album you will find a collection of acoustic versions of a couple of the tunes. The release of the next two albums could have an impact as to when the boys hit the road. The music is "in the can" ready however release dates are still fluid as the boys continue to find new ways to introduce their music to a younger mobile audience.  Clearly U2 wants to reach a younger audience and not leave out their very supportive older and growing older audience. Now this has been a battle that most bands have failed at. However we are talking about U2. Failure is not a word used often when referring to U2.  

U2 Croke Park Next Summer

We have heard some noise around the possibility of Croke Park next summer. The promoters will be announcing the upcoming shows for 2015 within the venue. U2 has always been one act to pull in large numbers.  However, the question has come up would fans prefer a smaller venue this time around. 82,000 fans stand ready to purchase tickets in either case.  We will keep our ear to the ground and check in with our sources within the next day or so. One thing is for sure U2 will be on tour next year.

Next U2 Album in 18 Months

U2 plan to release a new album in just 18 months. Titled 'Songs of Experience', lined up for next release.

Bassist Adam Clayton told the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine: ''We're hoping 'Songs of Experience' will be less about intimacy and more about a celebration of sorts.''

Clayton's band mate Bono has also revealed an album called 'Songs of Ascent' - a record he previously claimed would be the follow-up to 2009's 'No Line on the Horizon' - could still be released as part of a trilogy of themed LPs.

The singer said: '''Songs of Ascent' will come. And there are some beautiful songs.''

The band also revealed they scrapped a completed version of 'Songs of Innocence' entirely produced by Danger Mouse because it didn't sound how a U2 record should sound, and instead changed some tracks with Ryan Tedder, Paul Epworth, Declan Gaffney and Flood.

Psst U2 North America Dates

The boys should be out on tour next May or early June 2015 right after the Hockey plays offs and NBA should be all wrapped up by that time.  Starting dates are still fluid as the our friends in Live Nation Global touring work the routing of the band out we can expect to see some announcement and possible ticket sales around 11/22/14 with pre-sale starting  sooner. Now of course this could all fall apart without warning. Its fluid we said so expect change

Why U2 Matters, Part II

To the brood: My apologies for the delay in submitting the second part of this four-part series. I had initially intended to publish these entries on a weekly basis, but alas proverbial roadblocks associated with my day job as a journalist have proven significant.

Consider that arguing U2’s relevance in a largely irrelevant music industry, where cookie-cutter hits continue their two-decade assault on mainstream pop, requires more than a quick offering halfheartedly written because high school football and public corruption (I cover the South Texas area…enough said) were still on the mind.

This is an important time in the band’s history. It’s U2 against the world…of idiots. And the vocal majority is as loud as its ever been. As addressed in my initial piece, Bono, The Edge, Larry and Adam have been subjected to ridicule and criticism for what could arguably be chalked up to the price of innovation. Love it or hate it, releasing an album – the instant-classic Songs of Innocence – that automatically downloads into 500 million iTunes users’ iCloud accounts was a trailblazing move.

What the haters can never understand is that U2’s propensity to take risks, which nobody else in the same position would dare take, is also what happens to make the band great. This is an alien concept to the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and the Black Keys, who rarely venture beyond their musical comfort zones. Though attributed to many people, I believe it was Elbert Hubbard who was credited with saying, “To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.”

Diehard fans understand that this is the essence of U2’s tendency to throw caution to the wind all in the name of transcending genres and modern technology. This is the band that debuted a tour boasting the largest television screen ever built when just several years earlier they strutted on stage with little more than their gear and the house lights. The end result was always the same though: pure awesomeness. This is also the band that embraced punk and new wave in the earlier incarnation of the group before maturing into a proper rock outfit, and also before exploring American rhythm and blues; alternative; EDM; techno; soul; etc. But hey…the end result was always the same: pure awesomeness.

And this brings me to what not only makes Songs of Innocence a fantastic entry in the band’s legendary catalog, but why U2 still matters.

I was a teenager in the mid 1990s when I first decided to listen to U2. Not unlike the 2000 film “Almost Famous,” in which a pre-adolescent boy finds his sister’s record collection upon her moving away from home, I had also inherited my brother’s collection of vinyl records and audio cassette tapes in much the same way. Though treasures such as Led Zeppelin’s III and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band were all at my beckoning, it was The Joshua Tree that called out to me.

I previously hadn’t heard much of U2, except for the time when my brother and I watched Zoo TV: Live from Sydney on pay-per-view. With memories of “Pride” still fresh in my mind, coupled with the minimalist album artwork featuring a black and white snapshot of the four bandmates casually standing around in a desert, I gave The Joshua Tree a whirl.

As an opening track, “Where the Streets Have No Name” sounded odd for a young man who grew up on a heavy dose of hair metal and grunge. Accustomed to singers’ exaggerated screams and howls, guitarists’ obligatory solos and the forgettable contributions of muted rhythm sections, I was shocked upon my first true exposure to U2.

A church organ crescendo, time signature changes and melodic guitar riffs that sounded more like the chiming of bells than rip-roaring shreds…wait, what is this? The bass and percussion work resembled a speeding locomotive more than an actual beat and the vocals pleaded instead of shrilled. Then there were the lyrics…oh the lyrics.

After hearing the gospel songs that followed and the preachy message in 10 of its 11 tunes, I came to the conclusion that I hated it.

Still, this was my brother’s music, and I held his taste in the highest regard. So, confused but positive that I was missing something, I played it again and again until I couldn’t stop playing it (ala Mr. Holland’s Opus).

C’mon, trainspotters…you know what I’m talking about…John Coltrane anybody?

Well, I digress.

What I discovered was that it was necessary to mature as a listener before I could ever be moved by U2’s music, and by extension…U2’s spirit. Because that’s what the band represents – an entity from which faith is necessary to believe in something; and it also happens to be why a growingly-secular world can no longer understand or support four men that openly worship and praise God.

Remember this, friends, before pitying Bono for humbling himself to some ingrate: U2’s meant to incur the wrath of a world that hates.

Recently, readers have been gracious enough to compliment my writing style. After blushing disagreeably, I remind them that my goal is to be as eclectic a storyteller as U2 are as musicians.

I want to be a writer whose body of work also inspires people. This is why I do what I do, and I’ve since won first and second place awards in news writing in the Texas Press Association Better Newspaper Contest. My work with the San Benito News, which is based in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, has been followed by the likes of The Huffington Post and caught the eye of gubernatorial candidates as well as state and federal elected officials.

I’m not saying that I necessarily owe my career to U2, especially since I put my faith and family above all, but it is simply an example of why the band still matters in this writer’s heart.

Note: Michael Rodriguez is a journalist who hails from a border community in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, where he serves as the managing editor of the semi-weekly newspaper, the San Benito News. Part 3 of his series, “Why U2 Matters,” will include his review of the vinyl and deluxe editions of Songs of Innocence.

U2 Tours the World 2015

U2 has been working very close guarded on an up coming tour to begin in 2015 Sources close to the band have suggested that the boys will head out and do a full world tour with stops in some countries that they missed the last time around. Such as Peru, Chile and Argentin. Bono visited Peru about a year or so ago and informed the fans that he loved the country and is looking forward to coming back. Now a posting from UM (South America) suggested that South America is big on the tour list.  Now no details have been confirmed and the boys are out marketing their new release so we do not expect to hear much about the tour for at least a few weeks. What we do know is that this is a much different tour and that we can expect some cities to have two or three night dates. Expect MSG to be at least 3 nights. More to follow as we dig into the details. 

U2 Turns to Facebook

U2 continuing on their marketing and promotion of their new album will turn to social media on Tuesday October 14, 2014 which kicks off the worldwide release of Songs Of Innocence on CD & Vinyl. U2 fans have been asked to post  questions posted on the official U2 Facebook page. 

The band has always looked for new ways to connect to their audience so the idea of using Facebook as their platform for direct interactive communication should come as no surprise.

Fans will be allowed to post any question they choose to ask however that does not mean they will answer all of them. Prince has done the same thing a couple of weeks ago and ended the session with only one question answered. We kind of thing U2 will stick around and answer a few more because of their close relationship with their fans.

Post by U2.