U2 start work on new album

U2 have revealed that they have begun work on a new album.

The follow-up to 2009’s ‘No Line On The Horizon’, the as-yet-untitled album is set to be “really special”.

“We are working on a lot of new songs,” The Edge told EW.com. “Some of them are really, really happy. We’re convinced that we have something really special.”

Outrage over wall blocking free U2 Berlin concert

AP – US-singer Shawn Corey Carter, known by his stage name Jay-Z, right, and Irish singer Bono, left, perform …

BERLIN – Irish rockers U2 returned to Berlin for a free mini-concert Thursday in front of the Brandenburg Gate, playing its classic singles and a duet with Jay-Z even as the show was obscured from public view by a nearly 6-1/2-foot (two-meter) high metal barrier.

Bono greeted the crowd with the German words “Berlin, Du bist wunderbar!” (Berlin, you are wonderful!) and the band played a 30-minute, six-song set that featured “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” “One” and “Beautiful Day.”

Rapper Jay-Z appeared as a surprise guest and performed Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” with Bono.

The show, which was free to 10,000 ticket holders who snapped up the tickets online last week in just three hours, drew some controversy because of the barrier surrounding the gig.

Both Berliners and tourists alike saw the irony in building a wall around a concert dedicated to the wall that already has come down.

“It’s completely ridiculous that they are blocking the view,” said Louis-Pierre Boily, 23, who came to Berlin even though he failed to get U2 tickets. “I thought it’s a free show, but MTV probably wants people to watch it on TV to get their ratings up.”

Boily, from Quebec City, was among several hundred people who gathered earlier in the day against the new fence, which was draped with a white tarp that blocked the view of the stage from the street. Some fans already were trying to tear down the tarp before the concert.

The music network MTV, which organized the concert, said it worked with the local promoter, the city and Berlin police to install a temporary fence “around the site to ensure the safety and security of the attendees at the event as well as residents and businesses in the area.”

U2’s publicist RMP refused comment about the barrier.

Parts of U2’s performance were later televised as part of MTV’s European Music Awards. The band also picked up the show’s award for best live act.

The Berlin Wall fell on Nov. 9, 1989, ending almost 30 years of Cold War division between the communist East and the democratic West. Throughout those decades, the Brandenburg Gate stood just inside East Berlin.

In 1988, musicians such as Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson performed in a three-day “Berlin Rock Marathon” on the western side of the concrete barrier, with the landmark as a backdrop.

Concertgoers in the West hurled bottles and firebombs at the wall, while some 2,000 youths gathered on the eastern side to listen, many shouting “The wall must go!”

U2 Announce 2010 Tours

U2 360° is coming back to North America in 2010, the band said on their website Sunday. Here is the rest of the announcement:

U2 360°

The tour will touch down next summer in Anaheim; Denver; Oakland; Seattle; Edmonton; East Lansing; Miami; Philadelphia and Montreal. U2 360° will also return for one night only in Toronto and Chicago before finishing the North American leg in New York at the New Meadowlands Stadium. On U2 360° the band currently play 22 live tracks, the first time fans have heard tracks from No Line On the Horizon, one of the best selling albums globally this year..

Tickets for the performances in Oakland, Edmonton, and Toronto will go on sale Monday November 2 with additional North American on sales taking place over the following few weeks in November. (Tickets are also about to go on sale for 2010 European dates in Athens, Greece and Istanbul, Turkey.

dates detalis

Madonna, U2, AC/DC Lead Billboard Touring Awards Finalists

Madonna, U2 and AC/DC are among the finalists for the 2009 Billboard Touring Awards, which will be handed out at a special reception in New York on Nov. 5. The awards are based on global box office numbers reported to Billboard Boxscore from Oct. 1, 2008, through Sept. 30, 2009.

Madonna Rock !!!

The finalists for the Top Tour and Top Draw awards, which acknowledge the top grossing and ticket selling tours, respectively, are the same three global treks: U2’s 360 tour, Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet tour, and AC/DC’s Black Ice tour.

The Top Package award goes to the top-grossing tour with three or more artists on the bill. Finalists include five-time winner Kenny Chesney for his Sun City Carnival tour with Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum, Sugarland and Montgomery Gentry on the bill; the Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009 with Jordin Sparks, Honor Society and Wonder Girls; and Nickelback for their Dark Horse tour, with Hinder, Papa Roach, and Saving Abel on board.

The Breakthrough Award goes to the top-grossing artist in their first decade as a national headlining act. Four artists enjoyed remarkable touring breakthroughs this year: Lil Wayne, Taylor Swift, Kings Of Leon, and Il Divo. Dane Cook, Robin Williams, and French & Saunders are finalists for the Top Comedy Tour.

Finalists for the Top Boxscore award, which goes to the top-grossing single engagement for the time period, are U2 at Croke Park in Dublin, U2 at Stade de France in Paris, and the Oxegen fest at Punchestown Racecourse, Naas, Ireland.

Global concert mega-promoters Live Nation and AEG Live are joined by Sao Paulo promoter Time 4 Fun (T4F) as finalists for the Top Promoter award. T4F is also a finalist, with MCD and Australian promoter Michael Coppel Presents, in the international independent promoter division.

Four-time winner Jam Productions in Chicago, 2007 winner C3 Presents in Austin, and Madison, Wis.-based Frank Productions are the finalists for Top Independent Promoter, U.S.

Other than the Boxscore-related awards, the Billboard Touring Awards also includes the Concert Marketing & Promotion Award and the Eventful Fans’ Choice Award, both of which are determined by online voting. Additionally, Ozzy Osbourne will be named 2009 Legend Of Live, and Warped founder Kevin Lyman will receive the Humanitarian Award.

U2 already planning next album

While U2 are in the midst of their massive 360 Tour that will take them around around the globe well into 2010, they’re already planning their next album, Songs Of Ascent, and according to The Edge, it’ll come “sooner rather than later.”

Speaking to Rolling Stone, the U2 guitarist said, “There’s a bunch of amazing pieces that we didn’t finish from the work we did in Fez [for No Line On The Horizon], and there’s the songs

According to U2, they're going to stay in your faces

we started with Rick Rubin, some of which are amazing songs that I’d love to get back to at some point.

“The one thing is we’d love to follow this album up sooner rather than later,” Edge added. “I don’t think we’ll have over three years or whatever it was between the last two records.”

Drummer Larry Mullen Jr agreed, saying, “I definitely think we should do something good as soon as we possibly can, as opposed to quickly. I’m feeling that it’s the unfinished songs from this record that we should be concentrating on. I think there’s a part two of this record. I would like to think that we would have a song that would end up on the radio.”

As for Bono, he said that Songs Of Ascent is “a very clear idea.” However, the singer was quick to stress that “if we’re going to do another rock record, I want to do Spider-Man [the Broadway musical for which he and The Edge have written music]. I just haven’t talked Adam and Larry into that.”

MusicRadar recently spent time with The Edge’s guitar tech, Dallas Schoo. Be on the lookout for an interview and a full breakdown of the gear and guitars Edge uses on tour.

U2 Announce 2010 Tours

U2 360° is coming back to North America in 2010, the band said on their website Sunday. Here is the rest of the announcement:

U2 360°

The tour will touch down next summer in Anaheim; Denver; Oakland; Seattle; Edmonton; East Lansing; Miami; Philadelphia and Montreal. U2 360° will also return for one night only in Toronto and Chicago before finishing the North American leg in New York at the New Meadowlands Stadium. On U2 360° the band currently play 22 live tracks, the first time fans have heard tracks from No Line On the Horizon, one of the best selling albums globally this year..

Tickets for the performances in Oakland, Edmonton, and Toronto will go on sale Monday November 2 with additional North American on sales taking place over the following few weeks in November. (Tickets are also about to go on sale for 2010 European dates in Athens, Greece and Istanbul, Turkey.

6 June, 2010 Anaheim CA US Angel Stadium
12 June, 2010 Denver CO US Invesco Field
16 June, 2010 Oakland CA US Oakland Coliseum
20 June, 2010 Seattle WA US Qwest Field
23 June, 2010 Edmonton CA Commonwealth Stadium
30 June, 2010 East Lansing MI US Spartan Stadium
3 July, 2010 Toronto ON CA Rogers Centre
6 July, 2010 Chicago IL US Soldier Field
9 July, 2010 Miami FL US Land Shark Stadium
12 July, 2010 Philadelphia PA US Lincoln Financial Field
16 July, 2010 Montreal QC CA Venue TBA
19 July, 2010 New York NY US New Meadowlands Stadium
10 August, 2010 Frankfurt DE Commerzbank Arena
12 August, 2010 Hannover DE AWD Stadium
15 August, 2010 Horsens DK Casa Arena
16 August, 2010 Horsens DK Casa Arena
20 August, 2010 Helsinki FI Olympic Stadium
21 August, 2010 Helsinki FI Olympia Stadium
25 August, 2010 Moscow RU Luzhniki
30 August, 2010 Vienna AT Ernst Happel Stadium
3 September, 2010 Athens GR Olympic Stadium
6 September, 2010 Istanbul TR Ataturk Olympic Stadium
15 September, 2010 Munich DE Olympic Stadium
18 September, 2010 Paris FR Stade De France
22 September, 2010 Brussels BE Stade Roi Boudoin
23 September, 2010 Brussels BE Stade Roi Boudoin
29 September, 2010 Seville ES Olympic Stadium
2 October, 2010 Coimbra PT Estadio Cidade Coimbra
3 October, 2010 Coimbra PT Estadio Cidade Coimbra