Blog: Scatter O' Light

Mysterious Ways. Vienna. August 30, 2010. The first 20-30 seconds are interesting, even by Bono's very interesting standards... They also tried this one again: Every Breaking Wave. Vienna, August 30, 2010. "We're going to try a song that we haven't written yet." Previously: Every Breaking Wave in Helsinki, August 21, 2010. Different ending. I look forward to [...]

Cookies? Cigarettes? Sunglasses? Hair care products? A baby Hewson? Some hot air? A guitar? Oh wait, new German Bono, maybe it's power bars, running shoes and spandex. Article: Bono and Ali Appear in Louis Vuitton ad via / via / via

Photos of soaking wet U2 playing in the Moscow rain on August 25 by Konstantin Moshkov via k-moshkov.com [+ click here for many more] . Pretty pictures, but definitely a health hazard. In more ways than one. I will hope for sunshine this week.

That's a lot of bottles. via

Lead singer Bono of Irish rock band U2 performs under heavy rain during their 360 Degree Tour at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, August 25, 2010. (photo credit) Amnesty Says Activists Detained at Moscow U2 Concert Rights group Amnesty said five of its activists were detained while distributing flyers at a U2 concert in Moscow on Wednesday, which ended with a celebrated Kremlin critic joining the Irish rock stars on stage. Police detained the five volunteers who were [...]

When asked about U2's constant campaigning on various issues and the public's sometimes limited appetite for the group's causes, Bono said, "I understand the people who respond with, 'Shut up.'" "I'm really good at rescuing cats from trees," bassist Adam Clayton noted at the time. The group is set to discuss their anti-poverty campaign Red with the president, although frontman Bono joked about canceling the meeting after hearing that Medvedev was a Deep Purple fan. "What kind of music does he like? They say he is a Beatle-maniac … Is [...]

Alright, seriously, tell me there isn't something a little creepy about the way that kangaroo is looking at the Bono? Koala bear seems cool, but damn, kangaroo, what the fuck. ... that's from the U2.com video announcing the Australia/New Zealand tour for November and December [video and tour dates are on u2.com] . Not related: If you haven't yet, I recommend listening to Bono's interview with Ryan Tubridy of 2fm, Irish radio [mp3 can be found here] . Noting earthshattering, just Bono being Bono, pretty sleepily. - [...]

New U2 song played in Helsinki, August 21 - Every Breaking Wave: AWESOME> some of the guitar parts are little cousins to Heartland in my head. And love the tone of the vocals (darkish). And the harmonies in the last third. Obviously a work in progress, but this is really blowing my mind to hear them play new stuff like this. Also, acoustic No Line On The Horizon?! I Will Follow!! [...]

U2 - North Star - live in Helsinki, August 20 (song starts 7:10 in, after I Still Haven't Found ... ends) This song's getting better already. And it feels like it has a lot more places it could go. So now is the throwdown: "Oh, really? Let's see you play some new songs. How about three?" Sure, people can say, ""Oh, I didn't think that was any good." But if I was a U2 fan, that's [...]

Below is a snippet and quote from Bono in the new Naked Vampires 'R' Us issue of Rolling Stone . For scans of the entire U2 article, click here [atu2 forum] . ... a whole new show with new songs for us in North America next summer. That would be so nice. Imagine if the conversation in the article actually threw that back at Bono and asked, "what do you mean by that? Like, actually more than two different songs than you are playing now, or [...]

Well, that didn't take long. We were just wondering what happened to Ultra Violet and why . I mean, we love that song. And U2 starts the 3rd leg of their tour and they go 4 whole concerts without playing it? What the hell? Don't they know we ARE FOLLOWING THIS SHIT ON TWITTER?! Humanigenarians, my ass. Ha... but, here it is, Ultra Violet returns to the set, right after Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me in the encore in Horsens, Denmark on Monday (but not before U2 dropped some other stuff out of [...]

The show from last year developed into something so rock solid that it's hard to break it apart and fit new ideas in, but having captured that show on the Rosebowl DVD, it was clear that we have to refresh the show to some degree. We need a new opening certainly, then maybe three or four new songs to keep it interesting for us as much as everyone else. I've been keen to put in Mercy, for the novelty value of playing something unreleased, and then there's Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World which will be a winner [...]

Bono. You can't shut him up, you can only hope to contain him. Thanks to Matt at U2Gigs.com for that video from Thursday's show in Hannover. More videos are here . The setlist from that Hannover show is here . xo

No text

via / via / via -xo-

And he's doing the dancing . And playing new U2 songs on opening night of the tour's third leg... New U2 Song: North Star New U2 Song: Glastonbury AND: U2 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me - from Turin [...]

Here we go. I guess (based on the above video) that I was way off about the end being nigh for Bono's steering wheel microphone! I can't *wait* until the night he decides to test his re-engineered back out by swinging on it Bonomonkey style. You know he will, people. AND: There's some probable setlist spoileration [here] for tomorrow's opening night of U2 360 Tour Leg 3.

Bono working the crowd outside the stadium this week. photo via La Stampa [click here for more] A different set of photos, with Bono in his car meeting with fans can be found on the la Repubblica Torino site [here] . There have been some more new sounds coming out of the stadium during rehearsals over the past few days, but at this point I'm going to wait until we hear some recordings of the first show to pay any more attention to that. Also, [...]

So, Leg 3 of U2 360 kicks off Friday. Warning: Below contains spoilers. Yes. But you all are more spoiled than me, anyway, I am sure... Some random links of U2-ness from Turin rehearsals: [photo] Adam wearing orange pants at rehearsal. (Most important news ever, obviously.) [video] Adam meeting fans. [video] Edge and Bono meeting fans - wait for second half of video for close-ups. At 5:53 someone yells, "Bono, cheese! Bono, cheese!" And you need to hear what Bono says [...]

I'm pondering a few things as we head towards U2 kicking off leg 3 of the U2 360 Tour in Turin, Italy on August 6. 1. Have we seen the last of the steering wheel microphone? (Swinging on this or even being tempted to do so doesn't seem safe for B-Diddy in the aftermath of his back injury. Does it?) 2. If that is gone, or even if it is not, one could assume the band might change up the encore a bit anyway. How different will the whole vibe of the concert's ending be? 3. [...]