You can find U2′s video tribute on Metallica.com, but since that video isn’t embeddable, we’ll grab the one that U2News converted to YouTube (via Scatter O’Light on Twitter).

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

VIDEO: U2′s Tribute to Metallica’s 30th Anniversary

Last Sunday, thanks to social networking (tweet, tweet!) and a good friend, I found out tickets were going on sale that very day for a conversation with Bono and the Edge at the 92nd Street Y. The event would take place on the eve of the opening of Spider-Man on Broadway. I immediately got tickets and thank goodness I did. It sold out shortly after as the venue is a small but beautiful one at the Y called the Kaufmann Concert Hall. It was part of a Broadway series that would be moderated by Jujamcyn Theater President, Jordan Roth. I knew this discussion would be primarily about Spider-Man due to the timing and the nature of the series. This was something that interested me as I have been a supporter of this project from the beginning. Unlike many of my fellow U2 fans, I don’t feel upset in the least that this project has gotten in the way of releasing a new album. I think outside projects that collaborate with others challenge an artist and only makes them better when they return to their own work. The fact that Bono and Edge were actually taking on doing the music for a Broadway show was even better as I am a big fan of Broadway. Perhaps that is because I grew up seeing these productions. I truly know how talented these performers are. Bono acknowledged that last night at the Y. The amount of shows U2 has done in 3 years , these performers do in a summer.

It was nice to hear what they had to say about Spider-Man in their own words and to be asked questions by someone who works on Broadway. The first question asked was why do this at all ? Bono said he and Edge always like to take on something they know nothing about. They wanted the challenge. He did go on to say the real reason that made them say yes was a result of something Broadway legend Andrew Lloyd Weber once said at an awards ceremony that honored his work. Andrew thanked the rock people for leaving him alone! That sparked Bono to take on this challenge of the rock stars invading Broadway so to speak. Andrew is actually going to be a guest of Bono and Edge at this evening’s opening performance.

Mr. Roth also made mention of a metaphor Bono used about their journey – a spaceship. He said he and Edge picked the planet they wanted to travel to (this musical). Julie Taymor was the astronaut that took them there. Tony Adams ( who started this project with them) was the NASA control center. When Tony suffered a stroke and passed away, it was as if NASA went up in flames. In sticking with this metaphor, they needed to rebuild NASA. There is no doubt in my mind that Bono and Edge adore Julie Taymor and miss her. In fact, they said they owed it to her to make this succeed. She would always be a big part of this show, but as we have already heard, just “got too close and couldn’t see the changes that were needed.” Bono stressed that along with all the flying and action, in the end you have to feel for the characters in your heart. With two villains (Green Goblin and Julie’s Arachne from Greek mythology) , that was not happening. They now believe you do feel for the main characters of Peter/Spider-Man and his love Mary Jane. Edge made a point of saying how difficult it was to change the show and some of the music. It is certainly not as easy as changing a song in their set list on the 360 Tour!

A very touching moment for me was when Jordan asked Bono if he related to Peter Parker with the loss of his mother at a young age. This was about the same age Peter loses his uncle. Peter is also an orphan. Bono acknowledged that the abandonment issue was a common bond with him and the character. He made note that in hip hop it is the absence of the father that is dealt with often but in rock and roll it is the absence of the mother. Bono made us laugh at times, but I know this question touched him deeply as it did me. He went off the Spider-Man topic for a bit here when he told us that the only time his mother ever saw him perform was in his school production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. He told us she was amused but didn’t think he should really pursue singing! This was a very lovely moment in the conversation.

Audience members got questions in as well. When asked what song they wished they had written, Bono immediately answered “Amazing Grace” and “Help Me Make It Through The Night” by Kris Kristofferson. When Bono was asked what part of the world the next Ghandi would come from, he answered Africa and praised Desmond Tutu.

Edge called himself the side man to Bono’s front man. He feels his job in U2 is to inspire Bono. He also cautions his friend to stick to his art and not get overly wrapped up in the politics of things. That is where he feels Bono can make the biggest difference in this world.

They spoke a bit about their families. Edge explained how difficult it is to be the wife of a rock star. Bono talked about reliving his childhood through each of his children, especially his boys. It was quite nice to hear Bono and the Edge speak about other things in their life beside their music with U2.

Bono gave a shout out to Salman Rushdie who was in the audience.

So as I write this it is just a few hours from the official opening night of Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark. I saw a preview in January and enjoyed it very much. I am looking forward to seeing the new version again soon. I think Bono and Edge wrote a wonderful score. They should be very proud of their accomplishment as writing for the Broadway stage is no easy feat. I wish each and everyone associated with this production much success. I happen to be in your corner rooting for you as many in the Broadway community are according to Bono. The only thing I won’t say is….break a leg!

I’d like to give my shout out to the 92nd Street Y who always has wonderful events like this one. Jordan Roth did a first rate job with this discussion. He is doing so much innovative work on Broadway. Bono made sure to acknowledge that with an applause.

The conversation with Bono and the Edge was interesting, intelligent, very funny, and most of all from the heart. To see them and hear them in their own words in such a small setting was a treat for this U2 fan!

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

A Conversation with Bono and The Edge on 92nd Street

###

Noted Author and Musician – and U2 Confidante – Neil McCormick to Appear at Lincoln Park

Author of “Killing Bono” will be keynote presenter at this year’s LAVA Festival on May 27

The Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center is pleased to announce that internationally-known author and musician Neil McCormick will deliver the keynote presentation at this year’s Literary and Visual Arts (LAVA) Festival on Thursday, May 27, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for McCormick’s presentation are $5.00 and are available through the Lincoln Park box office, (724) 643-9004.

Neil McCormick is one of the UK’s best known music critics. His weekly column in London’s Daily Telegraph is syndicated around the world and he is a regular guest on BBC Television and radio. He is a prolific blogger (via www.neilmccormick.co.uk) and tweeter (@neil_mccormick). Neil started working for Hot Press music magazine in Dublin as a 17-year-old punk rock art school dropout in 1978. He was a schoolfriend and confidante of U2, and misspent most of his youth as singer in a succession of obscure bands, including Frankie Corpse and the Undertakers, The Modulators, Yeah!Yeah! and Shook Up!

McCormick’s musical misadventures are laid out in painful detail in the acclaimed 2003 memoir Killing Bono (published in the UK as I Was Bono’s Doppelganger) which Bono described as “Very funny, very moving.’ Indeed, Bono was so impressed with Neil’s autobiography, he asked him to collaborate on U2’s. Neil is the author of U2 By U2, the best selling music book in the world in 2006. He is currently working on his first novel. Killing Bono is in the process of being filmed in Ireland, with Ben Barnes (The Picture Of Dorian Gray and Prince Caspian in the Narnia film series) starring as Neil and Martin McCann as Bono, directed by Nick Hamm (The Hole, Godsend). It will be released late 2010. Despite the discouragement of some of his fellow critics, Neil continues to make music on the sidelines under the alias The Ghost Who Walks.

“I was Neil McCormick’s fan at school,” says Bono. “He was much cooler than me, a much better writer and I thought he’d make a much better rock star. I was wrong on one count.”

At his Lincoln Park appearance, McCormick will be taking a novel approach to reading from his work, discussing how his life and art intertwine, and performing some of his original songs.

Lincoln Park’s LAVA Festival (formerly “Synergy”) is a two-day celebration (May 26-27) of the literary and visual arts, featuring professional and student exhibitions and readings. Past keynote presenters have included New York Times #1 best-selling author Jeffrey Zaslow (The Last Lecture) and filmmaker Bill Hinzman, who appeared in and co-produced the original Night of the Living Dead. A complete schedule of this year’s events will be released soon. The student portion of the LAVA Festival is sponsored by the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, under the direction of media arts instructor Scott Andrew, and Dan LeRoy, director of the literary arts department.

The Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center is located 45 minutes northwest of Pittsburgh in Midland, Beaver County. The $30M facility opened in 2006 and is home to the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, a Pennsylvania public charter school providing a state-approved academic program along with professional training in music, theater, dance, creative writing, and media arts. The Center is also home to the Henry Mancini Arts Academy, and presents a variety of professional and student performances each year.

For more information contact Stephen Catanzarite, Managing Director, (724) 643-9004, ext. 1301.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Catch Neil McCormick Stateside This May

830 – live DJ set with visuals – DJ Siss
905 – Daniel Lanois, Trixie Whitley, Brian Blade, CT are Black Dub

http://www.ustream.tv/user/blackdub

Enjoy!

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Live Tomorrow Night: Daniel Lanois (via Ustream)

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Anthony DeCurtis Interview: U2 Academic Conference

Neil begins with a photo gallery of his life with Bono and U2. Some very funny stuff, especially all the photos where his face was cropped out before publication!

U2 is the greatest band of our time, the most ambitious in how they attempt to move their sound forward and how they use their music for the greater good.

The two questions I get asked the most: What is U2 really like?, and Have they changed? Well yes, we’ve all changed. Actually, there’s a third question – Can you give this to Bono? And I say yes, but there’s a lot of stuff sitting on my shelf, packages I’ve never opened.

Bono, in his private life, is really very humble. But as soon as he has a new idea, he thinks it’s already done.

Larry is an interesting character. Bono says Larry’s the brakes in U2, and it’s good to have brakes when the rocket is veering off course. Bono is out front charging ahead, but Larry is in the back holding things back.

Larry is a very complex character masquerading as a simple one.

Adam is the wild card in U2. He’s a social lubricant, very polite and easy to be around. He’s into conflict resolution, which is good when you’re in a band like U2. He’s “the most untrained musician in a band of untrained musicians.”

The biggest dangers in rock and roll are what it does for your ego, but if you’re a conduit for a greater force, you can say, “It’s God’s ego,” and that’s a healthy thing.

Ireland in the 70s – there was a kind of void in the country. In the UK, Ireland was looked down upon as the dumb ones. Our films were censored; they would cut out sex scenes and cut out characters that were gonna have sex scenes.

And then there were the Troubles, and how they impacted our lives in Dublin … and the answer is, not at all. U2 were criticized when they wrote “Sunday Bloody Sunday” with the idea of, What would you southerners know about it?

Mt. Temple was a progressive oasis in Dublin. The only non-denominational school in Dublin, so it was free of the influences of the churches. You can’t overstate the importance of that school in U2′s development.

Donald Moxham and Albert Bradshaw were very important teachers at Mt. Temple. Sophie Shirley, too. Jack Heaslip was another very important teacher in our school. He saw Bono through his mini-breakdown when his mother died. Jack was a big part of helping him through that.

Sophie Shirley was the school’s religious teacher, but she was not dogmatic. At Mt. Temple there was a born again movement. Outside of the school, this would’ve been frowned upon. It was very loose and more expressive version of faith that was possible to access at Mt. Temple. Bono and Edge joined that, and Larry for a time, too.

You can’t understate the importance of their faith: First, it bound them together. The triumvirate found something in common. The second thing is how steady it kept them when they went out in the world. Rock and roll is all about temptation. A lot of bands go out on their first tour and come back absolutely shattered.

Ivan’s diary entry for 9/25/76: Joined band. Watched some TV. Did my homework. [Ed. note: Ivan is Neil's brother, who was at the first band meeting in Larry's kitchen.]

U2′s first gig at Mt. Temple — “I know they must’ve been crap, but my memory is that it was as good as last night’s show (in Raleigh).”

I saw Dik Evans last night – the 5th member when the band was Feedback and The Hype. He was very arty, never fit in.

Larry and Bono – their friendship is the underlying engine of U2. I think it was the deaths of their mothers that brought them together.

“For a band that is fantastically rich and famous, they keep working insanely hard.”

They have an Irish character, but there’s a very British side – more reserved but very practical. Adam is the most Anglo of the lot.

In Dublin in the ’70s, it was all about the past. U2 reacted to this by wanting to be all about the future. Talking about Lypton Village and Bono’s friends: “Gavin Friday and Guggi were two of the scariest boys I ever met.”

Neil starts to show some early U2/Bono lyrics and analyze (and poke fun) at them. “Street Missions,” “The Fool,” “Concentration Cramp” and others. Also shows a couple very early U2 videos from Irish TV (available on YouTube). Much laughter from the crowd!

Paul McGuinness’ vision was to break U2 in America instead of England, because U2′s passion would work better in the USA.

U2 are the same “tight unit” today that they’ve been for 30 years together. That’s unheard of in life, much less rock and roll.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Neil McCormick: U2 Academic Conference

Before Agnes speaks, Bono introduces her via a pre-taped video. He says hello to the conference attendees and says that U2 is proud of the involvement of their audience in stuff going on outside of the music.

Bono – “The woman I’m about to introduce you to is a proper rock star in that she’s an actual heroic figure. She’s dangerous – the quietest storm that ever blew into town. She is one of the greatest campaigners in the history of this fight.”

Bono – “When I first met Agnes in 2002, I think there was only 50,000 people in Africa, on the entire continent, on anti-retroviral drugs. Now there’s 3 million, largely because of people like Agnes and those of you who got out and campaigned.”

Agnes comes on stage and gets a standing ovation from the whole audience. Begins to talk…

Agnes lost her husband to HIV/AIDS, lost her youngest son to HIV/AIDS, and another son ran away — Agnes hasn’t seen him since 1993. Agnes herself was also diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

She wanted to find a way to educate other parents about HIV/AIDS prevention. Joined TASO, The AIDS Support Organization.

In 2001, Agnes started getting sick. It continued into 2002. In May 2002, she and others from TASO first met with Bono and Paul O’Neill.

Bono: “Are you on life-prolonging treatment?” We said no, because we don’t have the money. Bono asked, “where do you get the courage to do all this?” We knew our time was coming (i.e., death), but we continued working. Bono said we were the real fighters. Bono provided funding so that the group could start treatment.

We started on treatments right after that. Within months, my health was back. But I was feeling guilty that we would live while others are dying.

In November 2002, Bono invited Agnes to educate Americans as part of the Heart of America Tour. “Bono talked about our suffering as if he was one of us, one of the African people. His passion has increased our motivation to do more.”

“My dream is to see Africa, and the whole world, free of AIDS.”

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Agnes Nyamayarwo: U2 Academic Conference

(Henke showed up at work in his WAR Tour t-shirt for these interviews. Too cool.)

Tells story about meeting U2 for the first time on tour in England – when they got bored, the band would start reading their Bibles.

After seeing them on the War tour, I was trying to get them on the cover. Jann Wenner had the final say, but he wasn’t convinced they would sell a lot of copies at that time.

Edge always had a distinct guitar sound, but by the time of The Unforgettable Fire, he had really developed as a player. The whole band developed dramatically over the early years.

Henke bought Bono a copy of an MLK book called “Let The Trumpet Sound.” Led Bono to write “Pride (In the Name of Love),” and Bono cited the connection in interviews and at shows, too. “Of all the things I’ve done in music, inspiring someone to write a song — that’s right up there.”

Finally got U2 on the RS cover with “Band of the 80s” headline in 1985.

On the Elevation tour, the band came to see a John Lennon exhibit at the rock hall. Bono said, “If you ever want to do an exhibit on us, we’d be interested.” Jim: “I was interested.” The exhibit happened in 2003.

“U2 has been very generous to the Hall of Fame.”

(Does a tour showing many of the U2 artifacts on display at the Rock Hall of Fame…)

Clive Davis of Arista — his secretary called and said, “Mr. Davis would like to know who signed that rejection letter” you have on display at the rock hall of fame.

U2 was like The Clash combined with Bob Dylan or the Beatles.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Jim Henke: U2 Academic Conference

Begins by talking about Bruce Springsteen’s induction speech when U2 entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the “leave it to the Irish guys to do the ad, but not take the money” part. He says U2 has a remarkable ability to walk up to the line of ethical compromise and dramatically fail to cross it.

Bono: “I want to come to America and give it what it wants and what it needs” – from first Rolling Stone profile in 1981. Anthony DeCurtis: “I think you have to be 19 to say something like that.”

As with people, you know you’re truly in love when an album’s flaws only make you love it more deeply. That’s how I feel about BOY.

U2 vs. REM: U2 issues WAR; REM issues MURMUR. U2 declares itself one of the great groups; REM does concerts in which the lighting design is such that you can’t even see the band. But also similarities: BOY and OCTOBER are as shrouded in shadows as anything REM has done.

Eno didn’t want to work U2, but like so many people, he walked into a room with Bono thinking one thing and left thinking the complete opposite.

In my view, Achtung Baby and Zoo TV represent the pinnacle of U2′s career. The Zoo TV tour is the only tour in my experience that got better as it got bigger.

They completely overshot the mark with POP. All of it would’ve been forgiven if the songs had been better.

Jimmy Iovine made the comparison to U2 about how rappers aren’t afraid to self-promote. Bono: “We do as much as we can.” Iovine: “Yeah, but I don’t have to tell them to do it.”

Some people advised U2 not to scroll the names of the 9/11 victims on the screen at their MSG concerts in 2001. “But it was the perfect gesture. It was exactly what the city needed.” (DeCurtis lives in NYC.)

For U2, there truly is no line on the horizon, no line between who we are and who we aspire to be.

Bono’s message to DeCurtis’ daughter scribbled on an edition of “Peter & The Wolf” — “Francesca, welcome to planet Earth. There’s so much for you to do.”

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Anthony DeCurtis: U2 Academic Conference

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Making the U2 Conference happen