u2
Listen to Magic Pills’ Deep House Remix of U2’s “Ordinary Love”
Multi-instrumentalist and electronic producer Magic Pills has released a deep house spin on U2’s 2013 track, “Ordinary Love.” Almost 10 years have passed since the original’s release as part of the iconic soundtrack of Nelson Mandela’s biographical drama, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, so Magic Pills reimagined it with dance elements to honor the anniversary. He takes the rock song to new heights, replacing the original guitar melody with a more brisk, driving rhythm and funky riffs. The upbeat, deep house result reflects the song’s emotive message. “In the case of U2, it was very important to save the energy that Bono invested in lyrics, but at the same time I wanted to make it deeper,” Magic Pills said in a statement. “Listening to the chorus, where Bo...
Bono to Present Stories of Surrender on Fall Book Tour
Bono will be going on a different kind of tour this fall, when he presents Stories of Surrender in 14 cities in tandem with the Nov. 1 release of his memoir, SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story. “I miss being on stage and the closeness of U2’s audience,” the U2 frontman said. “In these shows I’ve got some stories to sing, and some songs to tell. Plus I want to have some fun presenting my ME-moir, SURRENDER, which is really more of a WE-moir if I think of all the people who helped me get from there to here.” Stories of Surrender begins Nov. 2 in Boston and wraps Nov. 28 in Madrid. Tickets go on sale Friday (Oct. 7) and come with a copy of Bono’s book, which is so named because each chapter is titled after a different U2 song. “When I started to write this book, I was hoping to draw in detail wha...
U2 Will Be First Group to Perform at Las Vegas’ MSG Sphere: Report
U2 will reportedly be the first group to perform at the MSG Sphere in Las Vegas. According to Billboard, Bono and company are planning a multi-show residency as part of the grand opening of the $1.8 billion venue next year. The high-tech arena is being built by Madison Square Garden Entertainment chairman James Dolan near the Venetian off the Las Vegas Strip, and as the name suggests, is shaped like a sphere. MSGE sources told Billboard that the MSG Sphere at The Venetian will be “the next generation of live entertainment, offering fans a multi-sensory experience of sound and light inside the largest spherical structure ever created. For concerts, the MSG Sphere at The Venetian can hold 20,000 standing spectators or 17,500 seated guests, with 23 VIP suites.” It will also include ...
Chris Blackwell: The Man, the Myths and the Legends
The Islander: My Life in Music and Beyond, the newly released Gallery Books memoir from pioneering music executive and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, would have been an amazing read even if it had stopped before Blackwell discovered a teenage Steve Winwood blowing minds in a London club in 1964, happened upon a struggling Jamaican musician named Bob Marley in the early 1970s or overcame initial doubts about the commercial potential of a nascent Irish rock group named U2 and signed it to a record contract. Indeed, Blackwell’s early years growing up between Jamaica and London feature one “I can’t believe this really happened” anecdote after another, from being punched by actor Errol Flynn in a jealous rage to befriending James Bond author Ian Fleming and being hired as a production ...
Report: U2’s Bono, Edge Writing Songs for Jim Sheridan Biopic
U2’s Bono and The Edge are in talks to compose original music for a biopic on the life of Irish director Jim Sheridan, according to a report in Variety. North Star will be produced by Timothy Scott Bogart, who just released the movie Spinning Gold about his late father, Casablanca Records impresario Neil Bogart. Best known for the films My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father, Sheridan will direct North Star, which focuses on his upbringing in the same conflict-riddled 1960s Ireland where Bono and The Edge were raised. Principal photography will begin there in early 2023, Variety said. North Star joins a host of other upcoming U2-related projects, including Bono’s memoir, Surrender, which will be published on Nov. 1, and a scripted series about the band’s origins from JJ Abrams and Netf...
Every U2 Album, Ranked
In some ways, U2 have had a fairytale existence unheard of in rock music. Paul “Bono” Hewson, David “The Edge” Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. began making music together, with two more friends, when they were 14 or 15. And that core quartet has remained together for over four decades, with no lineup changes, breakups or long hiatuses, steadily climbing to become one of the biggest bands ever. But it hasn’t always been easy: U2 have bitten off more than they could chew a couple times, losing fans and rebooting their sound and image to win them back. Across 14 U2 albums (and one full-band side project as Passengers), the Irish quartet has turned post-punk into arena rock, redefined commercial ambitions and political activism for a generation of bands, and created an utterly unique ...
Bono to Release His Memoir, Surrender, in November
U2 frontman Bono has announced a Nov. 1 release date for his memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, which is “the story of the remarkable life he’s lived, the challenges he’s faced and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him,” according to publisher Alfred A. Knopf. The book is so named because each chapter is titled after a different U2 song, and Bono has also created 40 original drawings for the project. In an audio excerpt posted today, Bono discusses how the music of The Ramones changed his life around the time he turned 18, just as he began thinking seriously about a career in the arts. “When I started to write this book, I was hoping to draw in detail what I’d previously only sketched in songs,” Bono said in a statement. “The people, places and possibilities in my l...
Bono and the Edge Play an Acoustic Set in a Kyiv Bomb Shelter
On Sunday, Bono and the Edge played a short set in a Kyiv bomb shelter that was once a subway station, showing support for Ukraine. In a tweet post from U2‘s official account, the duo said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited them to perform there. President @ZelenskyyUa invited us to perform in Kyiv as a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and so that’s what we’ve come to do. — Bono and The Edge #StandWithUkraine — U2 (@U2) May 8, 2022 In their short set, The Irish Times reports that the duo performed “With or Without You,” “Desire,” “Angel of Harlem,” “Vertigo” and a rendition of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me.” The U2 bandmates performed the cover with a Ukrainian soldier and changed the “me” in “Stand By Me” with “Ukraine.” Throughout the set, Bono and The Edge wer...
U2, Pixies, Foo Fighters and Taylor Swift Highlight Record Store Day 2022 Releases
Record Store Day has just released the list of exclusive pressings that will be available on April 23. In case supply chain issues get in the way of the planned date in April, a safety net’ date of June 18th was established as a backup. This year returns to the normal Record Store Day format since there will be a single date instead of the two “Drop” dates that took place in 2020 and 2021. Even with a single date, the list of exclusive releases is no less exciting. U2, Pixies, David Bowie Foo Fighters, Taylor Swift, David Bowie, St. Vincent, Prince, Stevie Nicks, and Lou Reed, among many more, will release limited edition vinyl. Taylor Swift, the Record Store Day 2022 global ambassador, will release a seven-inch pressing of her bonus track “the lakes” from 2020’s folklore. U2 will celebrat...
U2 Share ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ With New Lyrics on 50th Anniversary of the Massacre
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday massacre that inspired U2‘s hit, “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” and the band commemorated the date with an acoustic rendition of the song. The black and white clip features Bono and the Edge performing, and near the end footage from the horrible atrocity that took 14 lives flashes on the screen. In the last verse, Bono changes the lyrics, singing: “Here at the murder scene / The virus of fiction, reality TV/ Why so many mothers cry/ Religion is the enemy of the Holy Spirit guide/ And the battle just begun/ Where is the victory Jesus won?” On January 30, 1972, 13 civilians were shot and killed by members of the British Army’s Parachute Regiment at a march protesting internment without trial in the Northern Ireland town of Derry. A 14th victim l...
Bono Says He is Embarrassed by His Own Singing Voice and ‘Still’ Dislikes U2’s Band Name
Bono recently discussed his dislike of U2’s band name, including most of their discography and his own singing voice. In an appearance on the Hollywood Reporter‘s Awards Chatter podcast, Bono says he only learned how to sing “recently,” and admitted he turns off the radio when a U2 song comes on because he can’t listen to his own voice. “I’ve been in the car when one of our songs has come on the radio and I’ve been the color of, as we say in Dublin, scarlet,” Bono admitted. “I’m just so embarrassed.” He continued his self-criticism by saying he “still” doesn’t like U2’s name over 40 years later. “I really don’t. But I was late into some kind of dyslexia,” Bono said. “I didn’t realize that The Beatles was a bad pun either. In our head it was like the spy plane, U-boat, it was futu...
The 90 Greatest Albums of the ’90s
This article originally appeared in the September 1999 issue of SPIN. “You must be high.” We heard that a lot during the time we spent preparing this issue. Which is understandable. Pronouncing the 90 greatest albums of the ’90s is a somewhat presumptuous thing to do. When you’re measuring the music this decade is offering to history—the sounds we partied with, copulated to, fought about, and wept over—everyone has an opinion. That ours should be more valid than yours is debatable. But hey—it’s our magazine. What, then, you ask, constitutes “greatest”? Don’t even start. Suffice it to say that, after much heated discussion and countless veiled insults, it came down to the factors of both remarkable artistry and cultural shock value. Sometimes a record’s knock-you-off-your-Skechers impa...
