30th Anniversary of U2’s First Meeting

According to Neil McCormick’s book Killing Bono: I Was Bono’s Doppelganger (MTV, 2004; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com) today is the 30th anniversary of the first meeting of the guys that would eventually form the band U2. Paul Hewson (Bono), Dave Evans (The Edge), Adam Clayton, Ivan McCormick, Dick Evans all got together at the house of one Larry Mullen Jr.

During this first meeting they talked, played a couple covers, and decided to form a band called Feedback. Feedback later became The Hype, which later became U2.


Need ONE Shirt?

Bono is one of a number of celebrities who are getting behind a new “ONE” t-shirt. Proceeds from the sale of the shirts will benefit the battle against AIDS, extreme poverty, and bring fair trade to the country of Lesotho in Southern Africa (The shirts are made in Lesotho, one of the poorest developing countries in the world).

The EDUN designed shirts will be available at Nordstrom for $40 USD starting September 11th, 2006. For more information go to ONE.org.


U2 by U2

Since I am on this U2 kick, I figured I would highlight a forthcoming book release. It will be released on September 26, 2006.

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U2 and Neil McCormick, U2 by U2 (HarperEntertainment, 2006).

Pre-order from Amazon.ca | Amazon.com

Here is the product description from HarperEntertainment:

In 1975, four teenagers from Mount Temple School in Dublin gathered in a crowded kitchen to discuss forming a band. The drum kit just about fit into the room, the lead guitarist was playing a homemade guitar, the bassist could barely play at all and nobody wanted to sing. Over thirty years later, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr are still together, bound by intense loyalty, passionate idealism and a relentless belief in the power of rock and roll to change the world.

In a epic journey that has taken them from the clubs of Dublin to the stadiums of the world, U2 have sold over 130 million albums, been number one all over the world, revolutionized live performance, spearheaded political campaigns and made music that defines the age we live in.

From the anarchic days of their Seventies punk origins through their Eighties ascent to superstardom with the epic rock of ‘The Joshua Tree’, the dark post-modern ironies of ‘Achtung Baby’ in the Nineties and their 21st-Century resurgence as rock’s biggest and boldest band, this is a tale of faith, love, drama, family, birth, death, survival, conflict, crises, creativity . . . and a lot of laughter.

Told with wit, insight and astonishing candour by the band themselves and manager Paul McGuinness, with pictures from their own archives, ‘U2 by U2’ allows unprecedented access into the inner life of the greatest rock band of our times.

I don’t know about you, but I have pre-ordered my copy!