Song of the Week: New York

New York is the 10th track on U2's 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind (ATYCLB). It was never released as a single, and was only played 120 times on the Elevation Tour. It was last played in Miami, Florida's concert on December 12, 2001 (also happens to be the LAST concert of the Elevation tour). This concert was also the very last concert for U2 to perform Please and In God's Country, although many fans would love a debut on their current 360 tour I'm sure.

New York is an interesting song I think, because I think it's the only song on ATYCLB that sounds like it could have been on U2's previous album, Pop. The drumming, bass and subtle guitar and vocals give it a very relaxed sound that many Pop songs gave me.

New York was Bono's tribute to Frank Sinatra and Lou Reed, and Bono stated that the song had more lyrics that mentioned Frank and Lou, but decided not to add them. Upon the release of U2's latest album, No Line on the Horizon, U2 and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg added a new street sign addition to the city; 'U2 Way,' which is on the SW corner of 53rd and Broadway. For a pretty low-key song, sure has makes a lot of headlines and news!

-A. Kennedy



New York Wiki
CNN Article on U2 Way
New York Stats

U2 Concert in Moscow

I didn't know this but U2 performed their first concert in Russia ever today. The setlist was somewhat normal; they only played one new song which was the 'Stingray' opener. Pride and Ultraviolet made their comeback, so I'm sure the Russians were happy about that. To many fans' disappointment unrelated to U2, it apparently rained very hard during U2's performance :[

While things were good on the inside, petitioners and activists for groups such as Greenpeace, One Campaign and others were bullied by police and were shut down. Apparently their approach was illegal; whether this is true or not remains unknown. Bono was noted to be 'perplexed' by the situation and I'm sure validated why U2 has not been there before. Police and security forces in and around the area were observed to be very heavy and intense, as seen above in U2.com's photo. It's kind of surprising why U2 didn't do at least two Russian concerts, but perhaps this explains why...

-A. Kennedy




@U2 Moscow Article

DUALS, Austrailia, Jay-Z and Every Breaking Wave.

Just as rumored, U2 have confirmed dates to bring the U2 360 Tour down under in Australia at the end of this year. The dates are as followed:










November 25 - Auckland, NZ at Mt. Smart Stadium
December 01 - Melbourne, AU at Etihad Stadium
December 08 - Brisbane, AU at Suncorp Stadium
December 13 - Sydney, AU at ANZ Stadium
December 18 - Perth, AU at Subiaco Oval

It is very likely that these will be final dates of U2's 2010 U2360 Tour, and will resume in 2011 in the States :] which I personally am looking forward to (can anyone say SEATTLE?). In a video announcement on U2.com, The band confirm they will be going down under, and Bono personally promises more set list shake ups. This may include more new songs, such as one that just debuted in Helsinki: Every Breaking Wave. It is a great song which sounds like a mesh of Bad, Stay and Heartland (all favorites). My personal favorite over North Star and Glastonbury. This may be just one more hint that a new album is well on its way, but maybe not by this year. U2 also announced that Jay-Z will be a special guest on tour in Austrailia, and Bono was quoted that he had some "interesting ideas to do something special with Jay-Z." So who knows what that could mean.

While not as good as a full studio album, U2.com announced today another U2.com Subscriber special release called U2: Duals. This is going to be a compilation of U2 collaborations with other artists. While no track list was announced, you can probably expect to see songs like The Saints are Coming and maybe even The Wanderer--even though it was already released to the public.

-A. Kennedy



U2.com Announcement for Duals
@U2 Down Under Article
@U2 Jay-Z Article

Song of the Week: A Day Without Me

The featured 'Song of the Week' portion of this blog inevitably turned into 'Every Other Song of the Week,' but I'll keep the title for purposes of simplicity. This week's song is from U2's first studio album Boy, and it is called A Day Without Me. It was released as the second single in 1980, and only featured Things to Make and Do as an additional track. The song has only been played 145 times in U2's career, spanning from the Boy tour to the Unforgettable Fire Tour, and was last played on April 18, 1985 in Worcester, Massachusetts (lucky). This is my personal favorite song from the Boy album, and the vibe it gives off is not only timeless, but I think ahead of the time in which it was released in. Hopeful fans like me are praying for its return, as it's lyrics have been used as a snippet into songs on their current 360 tour twice...

The song I've heard, was written after the suicide of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, and Bono apparently was a fan at the time. This song almost is wearing a masquerade in the sense that it is very up-beat and poppy, yet the lyrics undertone thoughts of suicide. Great song.

-A. Kennedy





Wiki Article
Setlist Stats

World Tour & Four Projects at Once: Ambiguous?

So Bono has confirmed, whether it was intentional or not, that U2 is working on four separate projects outside their 360 tour. According to Bono, U2 are working on a "rock album, a club-sounding album, Songs of Ascent, and the Spider-Man Musical."

To me that sounds a little ambiguous, and a little daunting. Although one must consider the fact that U2 after all is a band, the biggest band there is to be specific. It is their job, after all to write such music. Where fans become worried is if they are side tracked from their tour will they perform equally as well? Will the material lose quality because effort and work is divided into 5 parts? You tell me.

That seems to be the news lately for the band, and not much has changed so far in Europe's setlists for the Summer tour. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me has been used in place of Ultraviolet for all but one concert--the last played concert which was the second concert in Denmark (Horsens), in which BOTH songs were played HOWEVER: Only at the expense of dropping Until the End of the World AND The Unforgettable Fire--fan favorites...

Personally, I would have dropped in a Little While and Stuck in a Moment. THAT would have been a setlist! Oh well, a fan can dream.

-A. Kennedy



BTW - Bono looks very.. Fly-ish in this video. Id like to know what his new glasses look like up close.

@U2 Link

My Own Back Injury

Chasing after dreams of a business degree and working can be a major barrier to this blog! Haha more is to come! Promise.

-A. Kennedy

News New News!

Wow! So much has happened in the U2 community over the past week or so. For one, U2 hit the road once more in Europe and started off in the Italian city of Turin, or Torino. The setlist for the most part had only minor tweaks, to some fan's disappointment. Regardless it is a great setlist! Changes in Turin's 10/6 concert included the replacement of Ultraviolet with Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, which was only played during the Pop Mart tour, and was last played in South Africa in 1998. Also added were Miss Sarajevo and two new songs called North Star and Glastonbury. Most notably, the concert opening went from Breathe to Beautiful Day, a non-album opener is something that U2 has never really done consistently.

As far as the other setlist changes, U2 has done something that has many fans talking and debating. They dropped three headlining songs from their latest album, No Line on the Horizon. The songs that missed Torino's concert were: Breathe, No Line on the Horizon and Unknown Caller. As far as why they did this, I am not sure and I'm not about to take a guess--at least in this post.

The night before the show, U2 rehearsed the normal stuff but also they thew in Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World. Who knows if that will make its debut this tour?

Until the next show in Frankfurt tomorrow...

-A. Kennedy