Home Tags Posts tagged with "u2"
u2
Bono says he fears that he may never play guitar again following a bike accident in November 2014.
The U2 frontman made the comment in his A to Z of 2014, published on the band’s website.
Bono broke his arm in six places and fractured his eye socket, hand and shoulder blade in what he called a “freak accident” in New York.
In the letter to his fans, Bono said he was unable to move around physically and would have to “concentrate hard” to be fit for U2’s next tour.
At the time, the hospital where Bono was being treated said he had been involved in “a high-energy bicycle accident when he attempted to avoid another rider”.
The 54-year-old rocker spoke this week about being on painkillers for weeks and said he had a “massive injury, I can’t blame on anyone but myself”.
Bono also revealed he now had a titanium elbow.
The wide-ranging, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, A-Z letter covers topics ranging from the iTunes release of the Songs of Innocence album, to an update on his family.
Bono talked about learning from his mistakes adding “the first of which is the discovery that I am not an armored vehicle”.
He says the letter will be his only communication for the first part of this year.
“The consequences of this freak accident are significant enough that I will have to concentrate hard to be ready for the U2 tour in fitness terms,” he said.
Bono added: “As a result I have cancelled every public appearance and decided this missive is all the communication I can manage for the first half of 2015, beyond muttering and singing to myself of course.”
[youtube 45t78_-ujGs 650]
Bono got an arm injury after falling off a bike in Central Park, New York.
U2 revealed on its website that Bono will require surgery on his arm.
The band was due to start a week-long residency on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which they have postponed.
“We’re sure he’ll make a full recovery soon, so we’ll be back!” said the statement from Edge, Adam and Larry.
“Much thanks to Jimmy Fallon and everyone at the show for their understanding.”
The U2 frontman flew back to the US after taking part in the Band Aid 30 charity single recording in London on November 15.
The recording, which comes 30 years after the original, is raising money for the fight against Ebola.
The week-long residency on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon is part of the band’s promotional tour for their album Songs of Innocence.
U2 came in for criticism after the album was automatically added to the libraries of all iTunes users around the world.
Bono has said sorry after U2’s latest album Songs of Innocence was automatically added to the libraries of all iTunes users around the world.
Speaking in a session on Facebook, Bono said the move was a “drop of megalomania, [a] touch of generosity”.
In response to a questioner who told him it was “rude” to impose their music upon everyone, Bono said: “Oops, I’m sorry about that.”
Apple later released a one-click tool enabling iTunes customers to remove it.
Some users complained that the 11-track Songs of Innocence had been added to their music library without permission and that it was not clear how to delete it.
The questioner on the Facebook session said: “Can you please never release an album on iTunes that automatically downloads to peoples playlists ever again? It’s really rude.”
U2’s latest album Songs of Innocence was automatically added to the libraries of all iTunes users around the world
Bono replied: “I had this beautiful idea and we got carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing.
“Drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, dash of self-promotion, and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn’t be heard.
“There’s a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it,” he said.
The music was made available for free to more than 500 million iTunes customers in 119 countries last month. It has been reported that around 5% of those have downloaded U2’s latest opus.
At the time, Bono acknowledged that not everyone would appreciate the move.
“For the people out there who have no interest in checking us out, look at it this way… the blood, sweat and tears of some Irish guys are in your junk mail,” he wrote on the band’s website.
Bono’s apology comes after rock legend Iggy Pop criticized U2 for “giving away music before it can flop, in an effort to stay huge”.
The physical version of Songs of Innocence, including a six-track acoustic session, went on sale on October 13.
[youtube 01ZN3xEq7aQ 650]
U2’s first album in five years has been offered for free to the 500 million users of Apple’s iTunes service.
The surprise announcement was made at a California event where Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the firm’s latest iPhone and new smartwatch Apple Watch.
U2 also performed live at the event.
The band’s lead singer Bono described the release of the 11-track album, Songs of Innocence, as “kind of mindblowing”.
“The most personal album we’ve written could be shared with half a billion people – by hitting send,” Bono said.
“If only songwriting was that easy.”
U2 performed live at Apple event in California
U2’s last album, No Line on the Horizon, hit the top spot in the UK charts in 2009 and eventually surpassed the five-million-sales mark worldwide.
The Irish band is famed for producing some of the landmark albums of the 1980s and early 1990s, including The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.
There had been some speculation this year that U2 was planning a new album. However, the free release at the Apple event had not been anticipated.
Several prominent artists – including Beyonce – have released surprise albums recently, although the practice remains a novelty.
Free album releases by major artists are a rarity.
Radiohead initially released In Rainbows in 2007 as a pay-what-you-want download.
The same year, Prince’s album Planet Earth was given away free to readers of the Mail on Sunday in the UK.
U2 have collaborated with Apple in the past. The terms of the deal for the iTunes release are not known.
[youtube EzYl0jhODjY 650]
U2’s The Joshua Tree is among 25 new additions to the US Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.
U2’s 1987 album spawned such hits as With or Without You and Where the Streets Have No Name.
The original cast recording of Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 musical Sweeney Todd and Isaac Hayes’ Theme from Shaft have also been added to the archive.
U2’s The Joshua Tree is among 25 new additions to the US Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry
Established in 2000, the US Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry contains recordings deemed important enough to be preserved for posterity.
Each year, 25 recordings that are at least 10 years old are added to the registry, which now includes 400 deemed to be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.
The oldest of this year’s additions is The Laughing Song, a track by George Washington Johnson – the first African-American to make commercial records – that dates from around 1896.
The most recent, Jeff Buckley’s version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, was recorded in 1994.
Other familiar tracks to join the registry include the Everly Brothers’ 1960 single Cathy’s Clown, the 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival track Fortunate Son and Linda Ronstadt’s 1974 album Heart Like a Wheel.
[youtube 2P__5sA2oJE 650]
U2 are reportedly delaying the release of their next album until 2015 just weeks after frontman Bono told USA Today he and his bandmates were hoping to release new material this summer.
U2 are reportedly delaying the release of their next album until 2015
New reports suggest U2 has also axed a planned tour that was to begin in September.
The dates are now expected to begin next summer. Last month, drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. blamed the group’s work on Oscar nominated song Ordinary Love for the album delay.
[youtube sNOmzAQziiY 650]
