North Carolina Central University is planning a full academic conference on the subject of U2.
It will host a conference called “U2: The Hype and The Feedback” on October 2nd through 4th.
Topics that will be covered include “Bono Versus Nick Cave on Jesus,” “U2: Identities Covered and Revealed,” and “The Evolving Live Concert Performances of `Bullet the Blue Sky’.”
Speakers include Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone magazine and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Curator Jim Henke. The conference just happens to be taking place just as U2’s tour stops in nearby Raleigh.
We have posted a link to the conference on our links page.
It’s been several weeks since RIM announced they were sponsoring the U2 360 tour, more importantly their first mobile album. We got word that this is scheduled to be released on the the opening night of their North American tour , which is this coming Saturday, September 12th in Chicago.
In the teaser video it looked like they will also be including some sort of App that will work with the GPS in your Berry to locate the band, your friends and anyone else that has a Berry. Also you’ll be able to share watch videos share images, get news and updates.
Imagine if this mobile album works. I’m sure there is actually a bigger game going on here. Who better to test out a “mobile album” with no other than the biggest band in the world? If it’s successful, could this be the solution for online piracy?
We have been working back stage on a totally new site. The totally new site has some great features that we believe they will enhance your fan experience. Most of the site has been operational under beta for a couple of weeks. Your the FAN, we designed the whole site around your experience and we will grow the site with your support.
Fan Feedback: We have setup a direct email box for you the FAN to comment about anything you would like. Have a story idea ? Know a friend of a friend who has access ? Thinking of an idea? Share it with us. We are growing, streamlining our videos, photos and stories.
Tour Drop Box: You have just attended a show and have some videos and/or photos that you would like to share. Send them to us. You get the credit, we handle the posting and everything else. Consider it to be your drop box.
Sound Off: Community Based area designed to create conversation about everything and anything you like. We ask that you keep it clean, on topic, and most of all respectful of everyone.
U2 Gift Shop: Yes, we have opened a gift shop, currently we are adding items to it. So we do have some stuff, suggestions welcome of course. This is how we earn a living, feed the kids, wash the car,support our causes “ONE”. So visit often.
Ad Supported: Yes we are an ad supported site, however that does not mean we post every single ad, nor do we support every single cause. We carefully choose our ads to match our fans. Remember you support us and we support you.
Band Members:We have bio’s on the boys, photos and a did you know item for each.
Photo Collection:Supported by our inhouse “shooter” and our fan base. Remember the simple rule. If you did not take the photo don’t send it to us.
Lyrics: This is an on going location. We will be building out this section
Video: We will have a compete listing of our videos, and a direct link to our channel as well as new search and view it tool.
Twitter: If you have been following us on twitter great news. Once we update a story you will know all about it.
Polls: We have a poll section. We want to hear from you.
Comment/Share: At the end of each story, we have provided a link for you to comment and a link for you to share your story. Feel free to do both.
Reference: A brand new credit where credit is due link. If we have gathered our story from another U2 FAN site or any other source. We will reference it, provide you a link and give credit where credit is due. We follow the creative commons copy right rule, however some times we gather our news from other sources that do have copyrights. We respect them and reference them.
Over the next couple of weeks we will be adding new features and expanding our staff.
To celebrate Oprah’s 24th Season, the Queen of Media is closing down Chicago’s Magnificent Mile of September 8th and throwing herself a Kick Off Party
The event is open to the public on a first come, first serve basis and will take place outside near the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Ohio Street. Doors open at noon, filming begins at 5:00 pm.
Black Eyed Peas and Jennifer Hudson are slated to be on hand to help Oprah celebrate the new season of her show.
Oprah.com also promises some surprises by teasing, “You never know who will show up…”
Is it possible Bono could also be on hand to wish Lady O well? The two have worked together before and the legendary rocker will be in Chi-town this week as U2 kicks off the American leg of their 360 Tour.
Who hasn’t wanted to be a rock star, join a band or play electric guitar? Music resonates, moves and inspires us. Strummed through the fingers of The Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White, somehow it does more. Such is the premise of It Might Get Loud, a new documentary conceived by producer Thomas Tull. It Might Get Loud isn’t like any other rock’n roll documentary.
Filmed through the eyes of three virtuosos from three different generations, audiences get up close and personal, discovering how a furniture upholsterer from Detroit, a studio musician and painter from London and a seventeen-year-old Dublin schoolboy, each used the electric guitar to develop their unique sound and rise to the pantheon of superstar.
Rare discussions are provoked as we travel with Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White to influential locations of their pasts. Born from the experience is intimate access to the creative genesis of each legend, such as Link Wray’s “Rumble’s” searing impression upon Jimmy Page, who surprises audiences with an impromptu air guitar performance. But that’s only the beginning.
While each guitarist describes his own musical rebellion, a rock’n roll summit is being arranged. Set on an empty soundstage, the musicians come together, crank up the amps and play. They also share their influences, swap stories, and teach each other songs.
During the summit Page’s double-neck guitar, The Edge’s array of effects pedals and White’s new mic, custom built into his guitar, go live. The musical journey is joined by visual grandeur too. We see the stone halls of Headley Grange where “Stairway to Heaven” was composed, visit a haunting Tennessee farmhouse where Jack White writes a song on-camera, and eavesdrop inside the dimly lit Dublin studio where The Edge lays down initial guitar tracks for U2’s forthcoming single. The images, like the stories, will linger in the mind long after the reverb fades.
It Might Get Loud might not affect how you play guitar, but it will change how you listen. The film is directed and produced by An Inconvenient Truth’s Davis Guggenheim, and produced by Thomas Tull, Lesley Chilcott and Peter Afterman.
Inteview with Producer Thomas Tull:
How is this film different from other music documentaries?
TH: While there have been a lot of performance documentaries, this one is really about the relationship between these three men and their instruments. We tried to show what drives the artists, what got them passionate as players, what made them pick up the guitar in the first place.
Where did you come up with this concept?
TH: The guitar is something I am ardent about. I was thinking how, on a global level, the personification of contemporary music IS the guitar: from video games to debates over Top 10 guitarists lists, from rock to jazz to blues, this instrument captures everyone’s imagination. It was a subject I hadn’t really seen explored on film, from that perspective.
What was instrumental in you picking Davis Guggenheim to direct?
TH: I’ve known Davis as a friend for a number of years. He is one of the best documentarians there is (as shown in “An Inconvenient Truth”), and he’s passionate about music too. He was the only person I thought of for this film.
Why did you want to make this film?
TH: As a fan I wanted to see a movie that captured the essence of why people are so fanatic about the guitar. I wanted to tell that story through these three, particular artists.
How did you choose Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White? What was it like working with them?
TH: It was almost like casting a movie. We wanted to show a wide range of styles and eras by focusing on three of the best players in the world, from three generations…and they said yes! Like many kids, I had a poster of Jimmy Page on my wall—he is a living legend. U2 is one of the greatest bands ever, and The Edge is a brilliant and distinctive player. Jack White is the new generation—cutting his own path but also keeping the guitar, and great guitar traditions, alive.
TH: What do you hope audiences will experience while watching the film?
Honestly, I made this film for people like me, people who love music and the experience of a live show. When you love a band or a musician you want to know how and why they do what they do—what makes them tick. Davis was able to show this, to get inside these guys’ worlds and inside their heads in a way I don’t think any other music documentary has. I hope fans are as excited and fulfilled by seeing and hearing what he uncovered as I am.
TH: What was your initial reaction when Thomas Tull first approached you about IMGL?
Thomas asked me to come to his office in Burbank - I had no idea why. I get there and he launches into this passionate pitch about the electric guitar and how no film has ever captured what it is that makes the instrument so great. He described the huge influence the electric guitar has had on him and our entire society. Soon, without ever realizing it, I was hooked: totally into this idea of looking at the subject matter in a different way. The history of the instrument has already been thoroughly explored. Most Rock and Roll documentaries focus on car wrecks and overdoses; or they pontificate with sweeping generalities about how this guy was “God” and how “music was changed forever”… Thomas and I didn’t want any of that. We wanted to focus on story-telling and the path of the artist, we wanted to push deeper beneath the surface.
Are there particular moments from the film that are your favorites?
TH: There are so many. We were filming in Jimmy Page’s home outside of London - which he has never allowed before – and he starts pulling out his favorite albums and playing them for us. These are the records that he listened to and learned from as a young musician. Just watching him listen to the records was incredible - and then he started playing air guitar! We were filming Jack in Austin, Texas, and he’s playing this out-of-control guitar solo. Through the lens, I start realizing that he’s so focused and playing so aggressively that his hand is bleeding without him even knowing it. Or Edge taking us to the classroom where he and U2 first met and rehearsed when they were 16 and 17 years old. This was just a regular high school classroom – they would meet for practice and spend the first ten minutes clearing all the desks to the sides before they could actually play. In Tennessee, I asked Jack to write an original song on camera – and he did it – right in front of us… I don’t think I have ever seen that before. Another time, Jimmy played us previews of two new tracks he was writing – both of which actually ended up in the movie.
What was the most challenging part of shooting this film?
TH: The most challenging part of the project was weaving these three stories together. Each guitarist comes from a different generation, has different roots, different theories - sometimes in direct conflict of one another. I had a hunch that inter-cutting their stories would be really interesting, but was panicked at times - worried that it would never work.
How long did the shoot take?
TH: Lesley Chilcott and I spent the better part of a year flying between London, Nashville and Dublin, following these guys. Sometimes it would be a very small crew, very intimate and sparse. And then we had a huge shoot on one of the largest Hollywood soundstages. There were seven cameras, the three rock stars, all their guitars and crew — it was like a three ring circus. I’ll never forget the look on the crews’ faces (and even those of us in the business who are so jaded) when Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White, turned on their amps and started playing together. What I love about this movie, and what makes it so unique, is how the scale will change from Edge alone in his studio late night - to the three of them jamming on a Led Zeppelin track together with the volume full blast and the cameras capturing every angle.
What do you hope audiences will experience while watching the film?
TH: I hope the audience will fall in love with these guys as much as I did. Not just as rock stars - that part is easy - but at individuals and artists who turned their individual life experiences into music: beautiful, raw, in-your-face, visceral, and transcendent. And I hope that audiences feel a touch of that child-like excitement that Thomas sparked in me, that first day we sat down.
Now the trailer: Enjoy and watch for the movie to come to a city near you soon.
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It all started in September back in 79. The debut EP was titled "Three" Since then like many bands Bono and the boys have matured, for the better or worse.
As we look back some may say that U2's creative peak has been proven to be far behind them:
Remember Joshua Tree (87) or Achtung Baby(91) those are the albums that have stood the test of time, ground breaking, hall of fame type work.
93 proved to be a testing year for the true fans. Zooropa considered by most as a misunderstood, misguided selection of songs. Later proving to be the final bowing achievement, some will argue that Pop(97) was a misfire.
U2 may seem to be poised to spend the last decade seemingly content to coast on their past triumphs. Generations of younger fans still flock to "Joshua" and "Achtung" in hordes and buy lots of concert tickets, while new offerings such as 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind" and 2004's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" offered hits, albeit all too close to the sonic DNA strand of past ones.
2009 along comes "No Line on the Horizon," U2 set out to leave behind "Leave" and "Dismantle" bring back Eno who is known for some great production work and Lanois as well as a dozen collaborators. Masterfull Will I am as a co-producer for the single "I'11 Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" now known as the Blackberry song.
The result was a more fulfilling set, however could it be more then "Joshua," "Achtung" or even "Zooropa" time will tell. The tour kicks off in America next week. Giving spark to lack luster CD sales, and whole new set of fans that just may think this last one was the "One" for them.
Before we get all teary eyed lets think about this could it be possible for another "Joshua" or "Achtung" could it be possible ? Remember lots of bands have gone back to their roots. Its the true creative process that brings out the best and worst in music, sometimes you have to take the good with the bad, its like a well defined marriage that celebrates 30 years.
Happy Anniversary Boys, Thanks for a great 30 years and to the next 30
The Dalton Brothers were a short-lived fictional, spoof country band, created and performed by U2, as their own opening act, on three dates (November 1, 1987 - Indianapolis, November 18, 1987 - Los Angeles and December 12, 1987 - Hampton) of their Joshua Tree tour"fictional" only in that they did not exist separately from U2.
On those occasions, the band members appeared on stage wearing wigs, cowboy hats and country-style boots, introducing themselves with "Dalton" pseudonyms, much in the style of the Lucky Luke Daltons: Alton Dalton (Bono), Luke Dalton (The Edge), Betty Dalton (Adam Clayton) and Duke Dalton (Larry Mullen, Jr.). In Los Angeles, Bono introduced the band by stating: "We play two kinds of music: country and western", after which they performed two songs: U2's own composition "Lucille" and a rendition of Leon Payne's/Hank Williams' "Lost Highway". Both songs were performed in an exaggeratedly dragged-out country and western style, and with heavy Western-American accents from Bono and The Edge, singing lead and background vocals, respectively. At their appearance in Hampton, they only performed "Lucille".
A video of the whole Los Angeles performance is featured as an Easter egg on the bonus DVD included in the Joshua Tree 20th Anniversary box set. To access the video, viewers have to enter a password by highlighting and selecting boxes with letters and numbers, the correct sequence being "Betty Dalton" - Adam Clayton's pseudonym
As a band, the Dalton Brothers simply disappeared after the three performances on the Joshua Tree tour. However, San Francisco's U2 tribute band Zoo Station dressed up as the Dalton Brothers for a one-night-only performance at Slim's in late 2007, including a country/rock rendition of Johnny Cash's hit Ring of Fire
