Yet another sign of Bono’s global influence: A leading presedential contender is now borrowing one of his catch phrases.

U2 fans who saw John Edwards appear The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last week heard a familiar refrain when Edwards promoted his Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. At the end of the interview (at 7:28 to be exact), he explains, “This is not about charity, it’s about justice.”

Over the past several months, especially at Live 8, Bono has been quoted with this exact same phrase.

The interview is now online.

Keep an eye out for Hillary Rodham Clinton telling us all to dream out loud. And if John McCain starts talking about watering cans, watch out…

Thanks to U2Rob for getting one of the best photos yet of the “space-aged technology” that is currently found on the right arm of Larry Mullen. As Matt pointed out in this week’s OTR column, it has been quite noticeable that Larry’s taking one for the team and playing through whatever pain he’s in so that the show can go on. It’s not like this is anything new for Larry, though. He has been suffering from tendonitis since the early 80s, seeing the same specialist that Max Weinberg has seen. Larry uses ergonomic drumsticks, which is partially why it’s rare when he gives those out to members of the audience because they’re specially designed for him.

As the tour has progressed, the setlist’s transformation has made me stop and think - has the encore change to more acoustic, less drum-heavy songs been to help alleviate the amount of drumming Larry needs to do? The “softer-side” of the set has changed the mood completely of the show, and fans are debating if it’s a good change or not. Regardless of what the fans might think, the health of Larry takes priority and for that, the band needs to do whatever they can.

It was quite a surprise during the 10/4 Boston show when the band was getting ready for Original of the Species when Larry broke into 40 - a song not on the setlist, not on Bono’s monitor, and a song that the techs were not prepared for…let alone Bono, Edge and Adam. After the other three band members saw Larry’s signal from behind the drumkit, they all took their usual stage places for 40. Needless to say, there was some scurrying around the soundboard and lighting desk with that change too.

For more of U2Rob’s photos: http://flickr.com/photos/thephillyfly/51120203/in/set-1112067/

I recorded Conan Friday night on the off-chance that there’d be a U2 mention, and whoa nellie, THERE TOTALLY WAS! One of Late Night’s funniest ongoing features is called “Secrets,” where, to quote Conan, “We manage to get celebrities to sit down and share some of their innermost secrets with us.”

Edge, Larry, and Bono were taped separately in a small, interrogation-style room with a table, a bottle of Jack Daniels, and an ash tray.

Edge: “We’re not really Irish. Honestly, we’re not. We’re from Duluth. But one day we saw this Irish Spring commercial and went, [shrugs] That’s it! We’ll be Irish!”

Larry: “Everything I know about drumming I learned from watchin’ Max Weinberg. I’m sorry, did I say drumming? [slight sneer] I meant shoplifting.”

Bono: “I’ll be honest with you, nobody promotes peace as well as I do. If I don’t win that Nobel Peace Prize, I’m gonna grab a big-ass crow bar and I’m gonna whoop me some Norwegian skull.”

[Ladies and gentlemen, this, THIS is the band I fell in love with. --KE]

Fellow fans,

The unthinkable happened.

A large number of us ’standby’ ticketholders (after being briefed on what we’d encounter at security, being told what we could and could not bring into the studio and generally led to believe we’d get in) were cut and therefore will not be attending the taping of Late Night With Conan O’Brien.

It was all very matter-of-fact. We arrived earlier than the time specified and lined up with the same folks we had stood with this morning during the “On the Street” segment. The NBC staff warmly welcomed us as everyone told their favorite U2 stories. The energy was high; the crowd friendly.

When the announcements were made (they cut us in groups, starting with the folks who had the largest numbers) faces fell, tears were shed and folks quietly dropped out of line to head for the exits. It was very sad because we all knew it meant more to us than some of the ‘confirmed’ ticketholders who just happened to get their tickets for this evening months ago, not knowing who Conan’s guests would be.

To try to see the bright side to all of this, I’ve decided I was meant to get some sleep before tomorrow’s MSG GA line-up, and being at the taping would definitely have deprived me of that.

I also went outside the venue to see if the band had arrived yet (they of course had) and noticed a woman in her eighties clutching a Sharpie and large photos of Bono. She was waiting patiently for an autograph of her rock-and-roll hero.

If she can be a trouper, I can be a trouper. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Conan Chats with U2 Fans
Originally uploaded by anonymoust.

Greetings from New York…

This was the scene this morning on 49th Street as Conan himself joined the line to chat with U2 fans awaiting standby tickets for tonight’s show.

The energy was great; the host was hilarious. He taped trivia and music segments for tonight’s show with many fans (I’m the one who correctly identified the lyrics to “Like a Song” if you’re curious).

I’ll be back with you later this evening with a live report following the taping.

Stay tuned…

Last night’s Inaugural Daniel Patrick Moynihan Lecture by Bono and Harvard Professor Jeffrey Sachs at the Skirball Center on the campus of New York University challenged every mind in the sold-out theater. It’ll be a few more days until I pull together the story for @U2, but I wanted to share with you the photos from the event. The set can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atu2com/sets/1084409/ .