Summer is upon us and, unusually, the weather in Dublin has been fantastic. This is a welcome development as the annual Dublin pilgrimage of U2 fans has begun. Year after year they descend upon Dublin in their droves all with one question “Where’s Bono House?” In previous years I was only vaguely aware of this […]
Read MoreU2 Elevation Tacoma 4.12.01
The U2 show in Tacoma on April 12, 2001 marked a lot of firsts for me. It was my first time visiting Seattle, my first real GA experience and my first time seeing P.J. Harvey open (I would see her 13 more times). I had a friend in Seattle, so I flew out Easter weekend […]
Read MoreCovering U2 – The Early Birds
Today I wanted to discuss a couple of U2 covers where the other artist actually got to the song before U2 did. Roy Orbison’s “She’s a Mystery to Me”, written by Bono and Edge, produced by Bono, and even featuring some simple guitar from our favorite front-man, is a perfect example. The song was originally […]
Read MoreU2101 – Vertigo
I’ve written a lot in the past about some of U2’s more obscure gems, deep album tracks like “Running to Stand Still” or “Electric Co.”, but today I want to celebrate one of U2’s best-known songs, “Vertigo”, from 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (HTDAAB) album. “Vertigo” is, in my experience, one of those […]
Read MoreWhy U2 – Reason #18
U2 are frequently referred to as “The Biggest Band in the World”, and I suppose that the meaning of that phrase is open to interpretation, but at the end of the day, I’m not sure how true it is. “Best Band in the World”, sure. All day, every day, but “biggest”? I think that it […]
Read MoreBono Meets 2 Bishops, a Queen & King!
Checkmated! For decades, U2 has been playing chess, while most of the music world has been playing checkers. Bono’s love for the game of chess is well documented. Knowing Bono’s love for the abstract, loving chess should be no surprise to anyone. Although I know how to play chess, I’m not very good at it […]
Read MoreBono accepts the inaugural Cannes LionHeart award
Today Bono accepted the inaugural Cannes LionHeart award at the 61st Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for his work co-founding the AIDS organisation (Red). In the final session of the day, Bono spoke with Apple design chief, Jonathan Ive and Vice’s Shane Smith about the (RED) initiative to eradicate AIDS throughout the world and […]
Read MoreU2 Elevation Charlotte 3.29.01 – my 1st GA show
A few days after the opening shows in Florida, I flew to Charlotte on March 29, 2001 for the third show on U2’s Elevation Tour. It was on my way home to Baltimore. This show was my first U2 GA (General Admission) show. It was assigned seats for the previous two tours, ZooTv and Popmart. […]
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Covering U2 – Luka Bloom and Dream Theater
Most U2 fans are at least familiar with who Christy Moore is, due to the handful of collaborations between him and the band (The Ballad of Ronnie Drew, North and South of the River, etc) but I suspect that fewer of us are as familiar with Christy’s younger brother Luka Bloom. Luka recorded a cover […]
Read MoreKnow Your Bonoisms, Part 2: U2 Codas
The next installment in my 12-part series on Bonoisms (at this point, I’m determined to stretch it that far) will focus on Bono’s use of codas. According to an online source I didn’t get the name of (thanks, unnamed source!), a coda is a concluding passage of a song that forms an addition to the […]
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