U2 Mixing New Album In NYC

The Edge, Adam, Bono

U2 have finished recording their new album, the follow-up to 2009′s No Line On The Horizon, and are currently mixing in New York City with producer Danger Mouse, according to reports, after three members of the band were spotted in NYC, most notably Bono outside Electric Lady Studios.

U2 are saying that recording of the new album is done and dusted, with a playback happening last week. Tweets from Island Records head Chris Blackwell( posted earlier) seem to confirm this, with the honcho saying “Listened to some new music at Electric Lady Land studios earlier with U2 and Danger Mouse #betterthanever”. Blackwell has since deleted the tweet. ( Yea wonder why )

Globe journo Brad Wheeler added fuel to the fire, sharing quotes from former Daniel Lanois, who produced The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby amongst other U2 records. Lanois seems to have sat out of production duties this time around but has heard the new material, with Wheeler tweeting “Lanois tells me Bono dropped by his house in LA and that the new U2 album sounds ‘amazing’ and ‘big’, with some Achtung Baby adventurism”.

Sounds pretty promising, considering Bono confirmed that band were working on lucky album number 13 back in January, but the frontman also warned us not to hold our breath, stating that the band didn’t care if it took 10 years to get the album right.

Finally New U2 Music !

Reports out of  Dublin suggest that we could have some new U2 music very soon. We have already reported about the "Leaked U2 Jam Session (2010-2013)" which the video can be found on our facebook page ( U2TOURFANS). If you remember early this year Bono commented on a Dublin radio station (Sunshine 106.8FM) that they have been working on #13 and that a title was in the works. We have heard "10 Reasons to Exist" could be the title or at least right now its the working title.

Two other songs that are rumored to possibly be part of the new album are "Soon" and "Winter." "Winter" was featured in two movies, Brothers and Linear, while "Soon" was used as an intro to concerts in 2010.

"U2 is on the verge of irrelevancy," Bono told Fashion and Style magazine recently.  "We have to do something on this next album that is very, very special in order to have a reason to exist.”

“U2 has been beating the odds of being irrelevant for close to 20 years, since Rattle and Hum, and we had to find ways to keep ourselves fresh yet loyal to our fans which we love so much. We are still hungry and not ready to give up our spot as the biggest and best band in the world because we feel like we have much to offer...we are still as cool as we were in 2004 and even 1994."

Reports coming in from Dublin - Again this could all be rumors - Heck until the machine starts we really have to go with what we hear.  Bono ? Any comment

U2 and Willie Nelson Video Released

The group collaborated with the American country singer in 2003 to record 'Slow Dancing', which was written by Bono.

While a live version of the track, which featured on 'The Essential Willie Nelson' album, surfaced online, no official footage was previously available.

The five-minute video was posted on YouTube earlier this week, on U2's account as a tribute to Nelson on his 80th birthday, and it has already been viewed 10,000 times.

It is completely shot in black and white. The credit reads: "Happy birthday Willie! 80 and still a pilgrim. All the best from Bono, The Edge, Larry and Adam."

The band had previously collaborated fellow country legend Johnny Cash. U2 are currently working on their 13th studio album, provisionally entitled '10 Reasons to Exist'.

It has been reported that the band are hopeful of unveiling their latest offering to fans in September.

Irish Independent

Beat Depression By Stop Drinking

Adam Clayton

Adam has identified his drinking habit as the main cause of 'suicidal thoughts' which he battled during his early years with the band. Adam has pleaded directly with young people not to ignore depression, and to seek out help if they are feeling down. He has revealed that despite his comfortable upbringing and years of superstardom with U2, he was prone to suicidal thoughts and depression. "I am an ex-drinker and I am a very happy ex-drinker but before I got to that point I had been through the whole process of suicidal thoughts," Clayton confessed. Clayton made the comments as part of the National Walk in My Shoes day – a fundraising and awareness event for St Patrick's University Hospital, Dublin. The money raised will go towards providing mental health services to vulnerable young adults.

Text 'shoes' to 57802 to donate €2 or go to www.walkinmyshoes.ie to donate or seek help with depression.

Well the God I believe in isn’t short of’ cash, MISTER

Listening to some music a mix of U2 and well the 80’s and of course a mix in of current music. I began to think about how U2 has sifted through various images of religion, what does that mean to you and me? Our team posted the question this week. “U2 Music inspires you to do what?

Faithful U2 Fans

Give us some ideas. What does U2 music mean to you?” Inspired by U2 or is it inspired by Bono? At this point the lines are blurred, Bono is the ultimate front man, and yea we heard that Laim was voted the best front man in the latest issue of RS.

Maybe its religion that inspires you, maybe the thought that you are part of something greater and that you have someone watching out over you could that be inspiring?  It’s not any big secret. Bono, the Edge, and Larry Mullen Jr. had their own Bible study group in the pre-U2 days.

Their second album, October, is loaded with Christian images, and during its recording, critics hailed U2 as a Christian band, something that U2 has always denied. Bono got to hang out with Pope John Paul II before his passing in 2005. They’re just a rock & roll band, right?

Interesting if you label them a Christian rock band you have people from the right screaming how you can even think of them in such a fashion however a few churches are turning to U2. USA Today reports that the U2 Eucharist is a “traditional Episcopal liturgy” that refers to some of U2’s best-selling songs such as “Beautiful Day” and “Pride (In the Name of Love)” as hymns.

We shared stories about this concept before it involves combining U2 songs with related religious montages. Reverend Paige Blair, a parish priest in York Harbor, Maine, incorporated some of U2’s lyrics during a sermon in July 2005. Since then, she’s gone on to assist 150 churches with their own U2 Eucharists, and the idea are spreading like wildfire across 15 states and seven countries.

They’re not worshiping Bono, but choosing to use him and the band’s work as an example of spreading the word.

I thought about the question myself and as the editor of U2TOURFANS I wondered if I should share my personal thoughts. The team all agreed that I should at least share something with you the reader.

So here goes. “Well the God I believe in isn’t short of’ cash, MISTER!!” Think about that line for second, Churches all around the world ask you for a donation. Ask you to put faith in…. Fill in the blank.

Faith and Hope

I put my faith in God, Inspired ? Sure I am inspired daily by lots of images, music, and words. I can say that U2 has created a place for me to express and share my views with like minded people.

The bottom line; you don’t have to like my views, agree or believe however you should respect one another. It’s really that simple.

U2

U2’s music is a vessel to which we all could use to take a ride on. Bono has been blessed by the hand of God, he once said  “I just go where the life is, you know? Where I feel the Holy Spirit,” Bono told Christianity Today. “If it’s in the back of a Roman Catholic cathedral, in the quietness and the incense, which suggest the mystery of God, of God’s presence, or in the bright lights of the revival tent, I just go where I find life. I don’t see denomination. I generally think religion gets in the way of God.

“I am just trying to figure it out. Everybody wants to make an impact with their life, whether it’s small scale with friends or family—that’s really big, is the truth—or whether it’s on a grand scale, in changing their communities and beyond.

I just want to realize my potential.” He recalled one pastor’s recent advice: Stop asking God to bless what you’re doing. Find out what God’s doing. It’s already blessed. “That’s what I want,” Bono said. “I want to align my life with that.”

What do you want to align your life to?

NOLO Most Thoroughly Christian Project Yet

Bono

Looking back over a body of work a theologian from Alabama, has classified No Line On The Horizon "It's the most thorough Christian thing they've done yet"

"Like the last two albums, No Line is much more overt in its Christian rendering of the world, what with lyrics like ‘Justified until we die/You and I will magnify/Oh, the Magnificent’ from the album's second track,” commented Steven R. Harmon, an associate professor of divinity at Samford University's Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala.

Bono/ U2/ 360 Tour

“Yet what qualifies this album as thoroughly Christian is not so much its pervasive biblical/theological images as its overarching eschatological vision” As quoted in the Associated Baptist Press.  The themes have got U2 ranked #41 on CCM list of greatest Christen music albums. The Joshua Tree was also included.

We of course know that all U2 songs do not have a Christian view however its hard to avoid the fact that most of the songs have a theme that keeps coming back and frankly seems to keep fans engaged.  The question of what's next has most U2 fans asking for the band to return to their roots to draw on the past and recreate songs that give us back our youth.

Bono/ U2/ 360 Tour / Faith

The fact that if your truly a U2 fan you know that this is not possible. U2 has changed many times already. The evolved U2 has grown with us, moved us towards becoming adults with our own children and our own ideas of whats right for the world.

Yet the idea of looking back to those years drives us to scream RETURN to the past.  We all await this new project with some fear that the band may have created their last project and that we will all have to face the death of  U2. However if you look at U2 with the eyes of a Christian you know that you can't have life with out death. Faith may have more to play with our fear of loss than our fear of change.

U2, Faith, Love and 2013

“The Lord is in the House tonight” Going to Church that’s what going to a U2 concert felt like for a few of the fans this past tour. Faith, Love and Hope rising beyond the 50 thousand screaming fans; all in one single space in hopes to see something magical beyond the walls that held them inside.

U2 Fans

U2 is a band on a mission, and a strong sense of integrity and purpose is the foundation for their music, lyrics, and relationships. They’ve sold somewhere between 100 million and 150 million records (CD’s) winning 17 Grammy Awards and of course inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. U2 survival in a industry where longevity is measured in months, the band has stuck together and racked up years’ worth of smash hits and signature songs.

So where do the boys from Ireland go now? The most successful tour ever and yet the album was considered to be lacking, rushed and not filling for some hard core U2 fans.  U2 has always been able to reinvent their music to fit the times.  Its not often you can follow a band thru your life and still believe in the music. U2 has grown up with their audience and it is very possible their new music will continue to have us follow. “Don’t forget about us,” Bono said during the 360 tours after many shows.

The sense is that the band has seen their better days and that in order for the band to continue forward they must reach into the pop audience and pull them thru to hear the new U2. What does the new U2 sound like? Heck if anyone knows. One thing is for sure they will come back 2013 with a “new” sound that will create some new fans and as always loss some fans.

True U2 fans know and expect change. Change brings growth and growth brings opportunity.

Healthly Bono Ready for Next Challenge

BONO has thanked his family for putting up with him on his sickbed by taking them on a pilgrimage of the world’s holiest regions.

After spending nearly two years recovering from emergency back surgery in 2010 the U2 frontman celebrated by whisking his wife and nippers off on holiday.

He said: “I’ve possibly had the best year personally because I’ve spent most of it with my family. “Having been away on tour for so long, then taking so long to recover from my back injury, it was time for a trip. “I decided to take the family on tour as a little thank you to the kids for being so patient with me. “Because I wasn’t busy with the band we kind of went wandering. Once-in-a-lifetime sort of stuff, places like Africa and Central America. “We also went to Jordan and Palestine, Israel and Peru. “It was really great to have time off.”

I believe in God Do you U2

The minute you throw U2 into a conversation that includes faith and God folks come up with all types of reasons to either agree or hate the idea.  This holiday season we have a series that surely create conversation. Sarah Hinlicky wrote an article sometime ago “I believe in God Do you U2” The article will be the back drop for the series and we will share some excerpts from that article.   

So, what does make Christian music? Does it have to be written specifically for church, for liturgical or devotional purposes, to fall into that category? Should it refer to Scripture, quoting directly or alluding by imagery? Should it explicit purpose be to evangelized? Where do you think U2 should fits into all of this ? This series will give you some insights to a different view. Your comments and views are welcome within this page or on our facebook site. Of course you can always jump on our forum page.

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