U2TOURFANS

Jerry MeleDecember 1997 gig in Mexico City. The melee exposed the disgusting sense of impunity running rampant among Mexico’s privileged elite—even during a period of immense social and political change—and the enormous influence of U2, which shamed the country’s top figure through its firm, but dignified response.

As the Mexican magazine La Revista tells the story, the Zedillo boys attended the 1997 concert—part of the PopMart tour  as VIPs, entering with complimentary tickets. Afterwards, they attempted to leave through a restricted area full of expensive equipment. Camera crews confronted the entourage, leading to a dustup. U2 security director Jerry Mele, a Vietnam veteran who was considered one of the best in the business and gained his reputation by maintaining order at death-metal concerts, was then run down by a vehicle carrying the Zedillo crew as they left the Foro Sol. Mele nearly died of his injuries.

The band immediately demanded an apology, threatening to expose the president’s children’s egregious impunity. Zedillo refused. At a concert the following evening, U2 front man Bono told the sellout crowd: “We nearly lost a brother last night.”

Embarrassed publicly and perhaps fearing a public-relations disaster, Zedillo relented, inviting U2 for a meeting at Los Pinos (the president’s residence) the following day.

During the tense affair, Zedillo reportedly told Bono: “(U2 security) put my sons’ lives in danger.” Earlier, the chief of presidential security refused to divulge the names of the officers involved in the scuffle to U2. The president, defending his guards, blamed the promoter.

Bono reportedly pointed out how President Bill Clinton’s daughter attended U2 shows without incident and that the Secret Service knew how to behave itself when accompanying her. He also repeated his demand for an apology in front of the entire country. The meeting ended without satisfaction for U2. President Zedillo would learn shortly thereafter that his boys had lied.

Jerry Mele and Bono Jerry Mele never worked again. He won a lawsuit against the show’s promoter and the Mexican government two years later.

Ernesto Zedillo Jr., long the object of U2 fans’ scorn, angrily rejected culpability. The young man, described by La Revista as “a businessman” and “jet-set figure” (read: a playboy living large with his father’s money), told Milenio, a Mexico City newspaper, that if U2 didn’t come to Mexico, it wasn’t his fault.

Perhaps not entirely. During the U2 hiatus, Kristy MacColl, a British singer, who previously performed a duet with Bono, died after being struck by a powerboat while diving near Cozumel. The boat owner has never faced justice. Bono dedicated a song to his late friend during one of last week’s concerts - and also made a call for action. The following day, the president’s office promised to reopen MacColl’s case. Fans suspected MacColl’s death had further soured U2 on performing in Mexico.

U2 has been back to Mexico, Jerry remains retired and has written a book. Life moves on.

U2TOURFANS Looking for Followers !

U2TOURFANS As we get ready to launch our tour season we back here in our cold offices have been thinking about contests that we can hold for our followers, we would never dare call you fans, unless it was in reference to the band of course. Thinking about concests we have come up with a couple of ideas. Of course there not fully baked nor would the boss let us throw them out to you like this, however we can say its going to be tied to Facebook, Youtube and Twitter and our iPhone Application. Refer your friends to sign up to any or all of the three media choices and you could be a winner of a super cool item(s).

U2 weekly wrap up starts now this has been an interesting week. Take a look at the stories you followed. We have our guest writter program kicking off again, as well as a feature writer, if you would like to be a guest writer let us know. Oh before we forget. Remember we asked for your best U2TOURFANS photo. Its not too late to get in on this. Send it to us via Facebook.

U2’s Bono makes diva demands

U2’s BonoDiva alert: U2 front man Bono dined with bandmate Edge at Butter on Tuesday night, and another person dining there says he had more than a few demands.

“He wanted Perrier, which they didn’t have, so a waiter actually ran across the street to a store and bought him a bottle,” says a patron at the next table.

That wasn’t all. Bono needed his food prepared specially. “He demanded that his salad be chopped,” says the spy. “And he made sure it was when it arrived.”

U2 fans stayed out of the Fray

The FrayU2 fans just dodged a bullet. The Irish foursome’s gig at the new TCF Bank Stadium is still four months away — June 27 to be exact — but they’ve just announced the support band, and it’s New York neo-goths Interpol.

I liked Interpol better the first time around, when the band was called Joy Division, but still, it could have been much, much worse. How much worse? Well, Oakland, Seattle and Edmonton are getting, gulp, painfully boring soft-rockers the Fray. Retro-loving Lenny Kravitz is on the bill in several other cities, and he’s probably the most entertaining of all three opening acts.

If Interpol seems like an odd choice for U2, keep in mind that Bono and Co. were huge Joy Division fans from the start. They were reportedly watching in the studio when Joy Division recorded “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and hired that song’s producer to helm their next single, 1980’s “11 O’Clock Tick Tock.” And the U2 single that followed that, “A Day Without Me,” was a tribute to Joy Division leader Ian Curtis, who by that time had committed suicide. (For those keeping track, Interpol lead singer Paul Banks was 2 years old at the time.)

Speaking of TCF Bank Stadium, could we see a second concert there in 2010? Keep in mind this is speculation on my part, but Sir Paul McCartney has announced the first two dates of what his publicists are calling an “extensive”

U2 Guitarist’s Plans Don’t Find Green

U2’s The Edge

MALIBU, Calif. — The house that the U2 guitarist longs to build here would have a copper roof, fashioned to resemble fluttering leaves. Boulders that dot the property would be left in place and assigned charming names like Dinosaur Vertebrae and Cistern. The dirt dug up to build would be reused, when possible.

U2 Producer Steve Lillywhite

Steve LillywhiteWe’ve seen a few big names bandied about for the role of next Simon Cowell, including Tommy Mottola, Guy Oseary, Jimmy Iovine, and, most notably, Howard Stern. But seeing as American Idol appears no closer to actually naming a successor, a new contender has thrown his hat in the ring: Steve Lillywhite, the 55-year-old British producer most closely associated with U2, released a YouTube video last week stating his case, and has followed it up today with an interview with Idol Tracker. For the record, Lillywhite — who has also produced the Pogues, She & Him, 30 Seconds to Mars, Guster, Jason Mraz, the one Chris Cornell solo album not everyone hated, most of the big Dave Matthews Band albums plus one that was never released, and a Rolling Stones album from 1986 — is dead serious.

OneRepublic to open for U2 in Munich

OneRepublicThe Universal Music Group newsletter featured OneRepublic outlining the tour schedule for the group and what did we find deep within that newsletter ? Yes, OneRepublic will be the support act opening for U2 on September 15, 2010 in Munich. The details not fully outlined within the newsletter, stand by as we collect more info. Its seems that the boys plan to mix up the tour just a bit with couple of different supporting acts. For those of you keeping track at home here is what we have for opening acts so far.

The 21st annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards honored its own Wednesday night at the Nokia Theatre at LA Live in Los Angeles. The awards are held annually and honors the promoters, artist managers, booking agents and technical companies.
The winners are chosen by the people that make the concert scene happen. The show honored music artists and companies that helped the concert business in the 2009 year. It’s an insider’s look at which bands mattered in 2009.

Comedian Katleen Madigan hosted the show. A few of the celebrity presenters included Jay Osmond, Lamont Dozier, Don Felder, Al Jarreau, Alan Parsons, Rob Halford of Judas Priest and actor John O’Hurley.

Final date for “360” North American leg

If you live in Salt Lake City and missed out on seeing U2’s “360” tour last year, now is your chance!

U2 will play at the Rice Eccles Stadium on June 3rd. Tickets go on sale Monday, but presale access for U2.com subscribers begins tomorrow.

This will be the final date announcement for the North American leg of the tour, but it will be the day that U2 actually starts “360” up again this summer!

There was also some whispers that U2 would be playing another show in Dublin this summer at the O2, but those proved to be just whispers.

Vatican’s rock top-10: Beatles, U2, Pink Floyd

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican newspaper has come up with a “semi-serious” list of 10 essential rock and pop albums, including works by the Beatles, U2, Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd.

The list was offered in a tongue-in-cheek article Feb. 14 as an alternative to the music of Italy’s biggest pop music festival, which was to begin two days later. The “10 albums worth taking to a desert island” were listed in the chronological order of their release:

• “Revolver” by the Beatles, described as more innovative than any of their successive albums.
• “If I Could Only Remember My Name” by David Crosby. Its songs used experimental musical forms to express an “existential fragility,” the article said.
• “The Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd, which the newspaper called an “amazing” and eminently enjoyable milestone in the history of rock music.
• “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac, which the article said mixed the sounds of blues, pop and country.
• “The Nightfly” by Donald Fagen of Steely Dan. A niche album, but “brilliant and ironical,” according to the Vatican newspaper.
• “Thriller” by Michael Jackson. The article described this album as “the masterpiece of the king of pop” and said its original approach went against the stereotypes of black music.
• “Graceland” by Paul Simon, who used South African music with his own to create a multiethnic album that marked the birth of “world music,” the newspaper said.
• “Achtung Baby” by U2, a disk that stands out for its music and lyrics, and remains a symbol of the ’90s, it said.
• “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” by Oasis. The group picks up the great tradition of the Beatles, but with a harder edge of punk and rock, it said.
• “Supernatural” by Carlos Santana, seen as an avant-garde mix of blues, soul, salsa and rock.

The article ended by explaining why it left Bob Dylan off its list. While acknowledging his “great poetic vein,” it said Dylan’s greatest fault was to have inspired a generation of amateur singer-songwriters who have “severely tested the ears and patience of listeners, thinking that someone might be interested in their tortured meanderings.”

Google Drills into Geothermal; Bono and U2, too

The United States — especially California — gets a substantial amount of non-hydro renewable energy from geothermal.  We’ve reported on new geothermal technologies in this EPRI article and recently summarized last year’s geothermal action. 

In fact, while solar and wind get all the headlines, geothermal quietly produced 4.5 percent of California’s total system power in 2007, with more than 40 operating geothermal plants in the state. Most U.S. geothermal installed capacity remains concentrated in California; in 2005, California’s geothermal power capacity was more than that of every country in the world, according to the GEA.

Charles Baron, Google’s geothermal program lead, spoke in San Francisco at this week’s GeoPower Americas 2010 gathering.  Baron is a geothermal enthusiast, as is Google.

As testament to its earnestness about geothermal, Google has invested in geothermal start-ups Altarock Energy and Potter Drilling.  Google has also invested in a number of other renewable energy firms, including solar firms BrightSource Energy and eSolar and high-altitude wind innovator Makani Power. 

Google has issued geothermal grants, as well.

Google issued a grant to Southern Methodist University’s geothermal lab for geothermal resource mapping, in what seems an obvious synergy with Google Earth.  Much of today’s geothermal data mapping is based on data collected in the 1970s.  Since then, millions of geothermal data points have been collected from oil, gas and geothermal exploration but have not been aggregated and analyzed.  The grant supports SMU in aggregating data for the most under-sampled regions of the U.S. and in developing new methodologies for estimating geothermal resources, according to Google’s Baron. 

Stanford University also received a geothermal-focused grant from Google to investigate single-well systems. 

On the global side, the technical community faces a formidable challenge when it comes to developing ways “to speak apples to apples about geothermal” measurements across different regions.  It will be important to come up with a common language to communicate about global geothermal resources, according to Baron.

Baron also posed the question, is geothermal interesting to VCs?

The answer is somewhat nuanced.  If geothermal is going to be a good fit for the venture capital asset class, investments will have to be in technology that is, “extremely disruptive,” requiring significant “technology whitespace.”

U2, Lady Gaga and Westlife tipped for Meteor success

Irish rockers U2, ‘Poker Face’ star Lady Gaga and chart-toppers Westlife are being hotly tipped to clean up at this year’s Meteor Music Awards.

Voting lines have now closed and Paddy Power are now finished betting on the event but the closing odds suggest the three acts will walk away with major gongs on the night.

U2 finished up 1/4 favourites with Paddy Power to win Best Irish Live Performance, while Lady Gaga, who cleaned up at the Brits, finished at closing odds of 1/2 to win Best International Female.

As for Westlife, the lads are heading for their tenth consecutive Meteor Award for Best Irish Pop Act at odds of 1/10!

In other categories, Today FM’s Ray Foley has been backed off the boards to win Best National DJ at 1/6 while Florence & The Machine could pip Lady Gaga to the post in the Best International Album category following a late gamble at odds of 9/4.

In the Best Irish Male category Paddy Power prematurely suspended betting after seeing one-way traffic for folk legend Christy Moore at 8/13.

Sharon McHugh, spokesperson for Paddy Power said: “Most of the money has been for U2, Lady Gaga and Westlife but the Meteors have thrown up a few surprises over the years so as the saying goes it’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings!”

U2TOURFANS adds more features to iPhone/iTouch Application

A departure from the norm, thats what the Chief Editor called this new release. The idea that fans are only american or only from the UK seems a bit out of touch. This lastest release blends the best of the fan based U2 sites from around the world. Starting with South America, If you believe your site should be considered drop us an email.  Check them all out via our application.

U2 frontman, Bono, was in New York for Fashion Week this week and much to the delight of skinny models, rich fashion designers and snobby celebs, the Irish rock star crashed a well known fashion party on Tuesday night.

Bono, who brought some friends, kindly dropped in to meet and greet the designers of Rodarte to tell them how wonderful he thinks their clothes are. Wonder does he even wear their clothes or was he just looking to party with skinny models? Ummm!

Rodarte is a brand of clothing and accessories founded by Kate and Laura Mulleavy.

Bono stayed for a long while chatting to everyone and anyone including British actress and model, Karen Elson.

The party, which was held at the Black Market in the East Village, erupted when they saw the famous rockstar come through the doors.

Also at the party was Natalie Portman, Kirsten Dunst, Spike Jonze and Jason Schwartzman.

Rodarte designer and co-founder Kate Mulleavy said “Of course I’m delighted he came, I’m a huge fan.”

Caitlin McCormack, who works in Frames Bar, looks at the poster for Killing Bono If you dander past Little Donegall Street in Belfast over the next few days and wonder if you have stepped back in time, don’t fret, it’s not the 1980s — despite the obvious reference.

Yesterday passers-by were intrigued by the appearance of a massive poster advertising the release of arguably U2’s greatest album, The Joshua Tree.

The iconic image of a very young, sombre-looking group of lads from Dublin has been mounted across the front of the Frames complex, with two side banners heralding the release of the band’s fifth studio album.

Of course, The Joshua Tree was released in 1987. So why the advertisement? Well, the poster (and Little Donegall Street) is part of a scene from music comedy Killing Bono, being filmed in Belfast.

The movie, which stars Ben Barnes from Chronicles Of Narnia fame and Channel 4 ‘Misfit’ Robert Sheehan, is based on a book written by Neil McCormick, who went to school with U2 frontman Bono.

I Was Bono’s Doppelganger tells the story of McCormick and his brother Ivan’s attempt to forge a career in the music industry during the 1970s. But the pair fail to find success, while Bono and Co went on to achieve superstar status.

The last day of filming is tomorrow. There will be a night shoot from 8pm - 5am outside Frames on Library Street. and if you want to be part of it as an extra just go along in 80’s fashion. Text 07792490926 with your full name to confirm you’re going. Remember its outside so wear sensible clothing.