In his new memoirs…
September 02, 2010 by Jason Gregory | Photo by WENN.com

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has said U2 singer Bono has the right credentials to become a President or Prime Minister.

Blair praises the Irish star and activist in his much-anticipated new book, A Journey, which was released this week.

He writes that Bono “could have been a president or prime minister standing on his head”.

In the exert, serialised by the Independent, Blair adds: “He had an absolutely natural gift for politicking, was great with people, very smart and an inspirational speaker… motivated by an abundant desire to keep on improving, never really content or relaxed.

“I knew he would work with George [W Bush] well, and with none of the prissy disdain of most of his ilk”.

A Journey recalls Blair’s time as British prime minister. In the book he also questions his predecessor Gordon Brown’s credentials.

U2 are currently on the latest European leg of their 360 Degree world tour.

http://www.gigwise.com

By Denis Dyomkin

SOCHI | Tue Aug 24, 2010 1:02pm EDT

SOCHI Russia (Reuters Life!) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed U2 frontman Bono to tea on Tuesday ahead of the group’s first ever Russian concert, and the Irish musician asked for Russia’s help in fighting AIDS.

“Taking care of people is not just what politicians do,” self-proclaimed rock music lover Medvedev told Bono, adding that U2’s music has united generations of people.

Their meeting on the sun-drenched veranda of Medvedev’s summer residence on the Black Sea comes a day before U2 take to the Moscow stage for their first ever performance in Russia.

Earlier this month in Italy, U2 resumed their 360 Degree Tour following a two-month absence while Bono recovered from a back injury.

Bono, sporting his trademark sunglasses and single earring, asked Medvedev to find a Russian firm to team up for his “Red” campaign, which raises money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Brands Nike, Microsoft, Apple and Starbucks have sold red products and donated part of the proceeds to the charity.

“Maybe you can find a Russian company, a Red Russian company, it’s your color,” Bono told Medvedev, an apparent reference to the red flags and stars used by the Soviet Union.

Medvedev said he would think how Russia, which experts say has at least one million people infected with HIV, could contribute to the Red brand.

The two men also shared jokes about their tastes in music, with Bono declaring: “I come here to cross the great divide between me, a Led Zeppelin fan, and you, the Deep Purple fan.”

Medvedev, who has made much fuss of his devotion to the veteran British hard rock group, chuckled but replied in English that he also counted Led Zeppelin amongst his favorites.

Bono later said in a statement that he and the Kremlin chief had also discussed corruption as a means to ending poverty.

Since coming to office two years ago, Medvedev has vowed repeatedly to tackle Russia’s endemic corruption, though analysts say they have seen very little change so far.

(Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman)

http://www.reuters.com

Getty Images ANNIVERSARY: Andrea and Brett are off to Russia

Thursday August 19 2010

SINGER Andrea Corr looks set to mark her first wedding anniversary to well-to-do hubby Brett Desmond in style after the pair were invited to the Russian leg of U2’s 360 tour in Moscow, as VIP guests of Bono.

The loved-up newlyweds are on holiday abroad and will mark the milestone on Saturday, but are then hoping to jet to the Russian capital in time for a belated celebration at the gig next week.

Brett and Andrea are firm friends of the U2 frontman and are said to have offered him great support during his recent health scare, which saw him take a two-month break from the limelight after he was forced to undergo emergency surgery for a back injury. The Vertigo singer and wife Ali Hewson were among those at Brett and Andrea’s wedding at Doonbeg Golf Resort in Co Clare last summer.

The two couples share the same anniversary — and Bono and Ali will celebrate their 28th year together at U2’s concert in Helsinki, Finland, on Saturday.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the singer, who last weekend showed Sean Penn a night to remember as the Oscar-winning actor celebrated his 50th birthday in Dublin.

Penn is in Ireland filming new movie This Must Be The Place alongside Bono’s daughter Eve Hewson.
http://www.herald.ie

Due to the scheduled general strike in Spain, on September 29th, U2 promoters have today announced that the date for the U2 concert in Seville, currently set for that same day will be postponed to September 30th.

Although the specifics of the strike have not been announced, in the past the strike has affected security services, public transportation, cleaning as well as medical and hospital services which are all integral to the running of the concert. As a result, the promoters cannot guarantee U2 fans will have the best possible experience at the Seville concert. Therefore the Seville show scheduled for September 29 will now take place on THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th.

All tickets purchased for the September 29th performance will be honoured at the September 30th show. Fans wishing to purchase tickets for the new show may do so at Ticketmaster network.

The U2 360° Tour will arrive in Spain on September 26th at the Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastian and September 30th in Seville’s Olympic Stadium – with special guest Interpol in both cities.

There’s still time to get tickets through the usual outlets of Ticketmaster network, on 902 15 00 25 and online at www.ticketmaster.es. Fans unable to attend the rescheduled performance must return their tickets to point of purchase before the 10th September.

http://www.u2.com

In New York today, lead producer Michael Cohl announced that ‘SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark‘ will begin preview performances on Broadway on Sunday November 14th, with Opening Night set for Tuesday December 21st.

Directed by Julie Taymor and featuring a book by Julie Taymor and Glen Berger, and new music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, the show will open at Broadway’s Foxwoods Theatre (213 West 42nd Street).

Mr Cohl also revealed that joining the previously announced Reeve Carney as ‘Peter Parker/Spider-Man’ are Jennifer Damiano as ‘Mary Jane Watson’ and Patrick Page as ‘Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin.’

‘Drawing on more than 40 years of Marvel comic books for inspiration, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark, spins a new take on the mythic tale of Peter Parker, a teenager whose unremarkable life in Queens is turned upside-down – literally – when he’s bitten by a genetically-altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to the ceiling.

Bullied by his classmates and tortured by an unrelenting crush on next-door-neighbour Mary Jane Watson, this science geek discovers he has suddenly been endowed with astonishing powers. He soon learns however that ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’ Maligned by the media, buffeted by financial woes and stretched thin by the expectations of the world-at-large, Peter must struggle to navigate the perilous and peculiar demands of being a web-slinging superhero.

With the characters in SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark ranging from old familiar favourites to supervillains never-before imagined, Spider-Man’s battles will hurtle the audience through a story both recognizable and unexpected, culminating in an eye-popping, ultimate test for this iconic figure.’

We’ll be bringing you more on the show in the coming days. Meantime ticket sales are about to open.

American Express Cardmembers will be able to purchase tickets during an exclusive pre-sale offer beginning August 14th, via Ticketmaster.com (800) 745-3000.

Any ticket buyers who previously purchased tickets to SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark and were fully refunded will be contacted by Ticketmaster and given priority access to purchase again.

Tickets will be available to the general public in September, also via Ticketmaster.com (800) 745-3000.

Latest information here.

http://www.u2.com

Amnesty International Italy volunteers get ready for action © Amnesty International

By Lucy Macnamara, Demand Dignity Campaign Co-ordinator at Amnesty International

Uno, dos, tres, catorce! Welcome to U2 world! Last night Amnesty was present as the European leg of the amazing U2 360 tour kicked off in Turin, Italy. In fact, rather amazingly, we’re here for the whole leg of the tour. Because for the first time ever, Amnesty will have a tour ‘embed’ travelling with the production crew.

I’m Lucy Macnamara and I’m travelling for the first three weeks of the tour from Turin to Moscow, where my colleague Danielle Solick will pick up and travel through to Rome.

U2 have supported Amnesty for over 27 years and their passion and commitment to human rights have inspired thousands of people to engage with Amnesty’s work. I’m just one of them. As a huge U2 fan, at the tender age of 13 it was listening to ‘Mothers of the Disappeared’ on The Joshua Tree (followed by my first ever gig at Wembley Stadium, with Mum and sisters in tow!) that moved me to join Amnesty, igniting a passion for justice that has never dimmed.

Neither has my appreciation for U2. I love their music and I’ve seen them play live in Dublin, Las Vegas, New York, London… you name it. ‘U2 mini breaks’ – even better than the real thing, my friends and I highly recommend them. So can you imagine the phone call where I was offered the opportunity to go on tour for Amnesty? The world’s largest and most respected human rights organisation and the best band on the planet? Let’s just say I started with a rather undignified squawking noise (I didn’t even know I could squawk) and ended with ‘I love you, Bill!’ (just to re-assure you, professing undying love for my new boss isn’t my normal ‘modus operandi’).

But enough about me. From Amnesty’s perspective, this is a unique opportunity to promote our work to a massive number of people. As a worldwide membership organisation with 2.8 million members around the world, we’ve got an Amnesty presence in every country that the tour is visiting. We’re focusing on the ‘Demand Dignity’ campaign, which calls for people to ‘Use their Rights to Fight Poverty’, and aims to mobilise people all over the world to demand that governments, big corporations and others with power listen to the voices of those living in poverty and recognise and protect their rights.

Poverty and human rights violations are so interlinked that while this may seem a new direction for Amnesty, it’s absolutely crucial that we broaden our campaigning on this in order to have meaningful impact and positive change in improving all human rights, universally.

Right now, it’s Saturday morning and I’m writing this on a U2 tour bus travelling from Turin on our way to Frankfurt, feeling like I’m in a dream and reflecting on last night’s show.

Our team of 25 Italian Amnesty volunteers (ably led by Laura, Patrizia and Samanta) looked stylish and graceful in their ‘IO PRETENDO DIGNITA’ (‘Demand Dignity’) T-shirts. And what a professional team they were – within seconds the Amnesty tent was up and clipboards were at the ready (they surely would have won if it was a game show). There was a warm response from the crowd as Amnesty volunteers asked them to take part in a photo action and petition to stop violence against women in Nairobi’s slums. Thousands of women live in informal settlements and slums in Nairobi and every day they are at the risk of violence at the hands of gangs, family members, employers and government security personnel. Violence is widespread and goes largely unpunished because of ineffective policing – particularly the absence of police in the slums and many obstacles that women face in access to justice. If you were there and took part – thank you. If you’d like to take action, we’ll be posting a link shortly.

As for the show? Wow. Bono may have just turned 50, but my oh my, those boys can rock. I’m not sure I should have been singing and dancing like a wild thing in the VIP area – I got a couple of surprised looks from the lovely lads in Kasabian, and a security guy asked me what I was doing. ‘Dancing! Yay!’ I replied. He was unimpressed. I really must remember to be more cool. Really.

But the best part? There was a very, very special Amnesty moment. But I’ve got to save something to tell you about for next time, right? So for now, the luckiest girl in the world is signing off.

Till then…

http://livewire.amnesty.org

Musician and studio mastermind speaks out after accident

* July 28, 2010

Pic: PA Photos

The Quebec-born musician and producer broke six bones, cracked his pelvis and suffered internal bleeding in his right lung following the crash in Los Angeles.

“I was on my bike with a friend of mine on the back and a guy coming the other way decided to turn in front of me into a variety store,” he told Rolling Stone.

“I veered to miss him, but I hit an industrial box on the sidewalk going 35 miles per hour. I blacked out and when I came to I was laying on my back in the parking lot and people were telling me, ‘Don’t move.’ Then they hauled me away to a hospital and I had to lay there like a vegetable for three weeks.”

The producer has been in a wheelchair ever since he was involved in the crash at the beginning of June.

The accident also forced the postponement of a series of tour dates with his new group Black Dub, who were due to play the Jazz Café in London yesterday (July 27).

Fans climb out of the crush at the festival after the tragedy. Photo: AFP

At least 17 techno music fans have been crushed to death and 80 injured when mass panic triggered a stampede at the Love Parade festival in the German city of Duisburg, officials say.

The tragedy happened as crowds massed near a tunnel leading towards the open air festival, where organisers said 1.4 million people had turned out for what was meant to be a joyous celebration of dance culture.

Most revellers remained unaware of the incident and continued dancing and listening to music long afterwards as authorities kept a lid on the news in a bid to prevent a further outbreak of chaos.

A television image of festival goers escaping the crush.

“According to our current information, 17 people have died and around 80 people have been injured at the entrance to the festival grounds,” said the city’s major Adolf Sauerland in a statement.

Police initially said the crush was in the tunnel itself, but Duisburg official Wolfgang Rabe said it happened on steps leading up to it, where “people died after climbing over the barriers and falling.”

He said authorities decided not to order an immediate stop to the festival for fear of prompting further panic and chaos at the event, held on a disused railway freight yard in Duisburg, a city of 500,000 just north of Duesseldorf.

Among the dead were nine women and six men, while at least 15 of the injured were seriously hurt, authorities said.

One witness told the NTV rolling news channel that several people had fallen to the ground and had been trampled underfoot.

“Some people were on the ground while others were climbing up the walls,” said the witness, Udo Sandhoefer.

Policeman and security officials tried to get into the tunnel “but it was already too full,” he added.

“People kept trying to get into the tunnel for about 10 minutes, then realised what had happened and turned around,” he said.

Another 18-year-old witness named Marius told the Bild daily: “There was no way of escaping. There was a wall of people in front of me. I was scared I was going to die.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was “aghast” at the stampede.

“In these difficult hours, my thoughts are with the relatives of the victims. They have my sympathy and my condolences.”

“Young people came to party. Instead, there was death and injury. I am aghast and saddened by the sorrow and the pain,” she said in a statement.

German President Christian Wulff said: “Such a catastrophe that has caused death, sorrow and pain during a peaceful festival involving young people from many countries, is dreadful.”

Television footage showed emergency personnel working frantically at the tunnel while a line of revellers filed away slowly from the scene.

Dozens of ambulances and emergency vehicles were parked nearby, while medical tents had been set up. Several helicopters had landed on an elevated motorway bridge near the festival site.

First held in Berlin in 1989, the Love Parade is one of the biggest techno festivals in Europe, featuring world-renowned DJs spinning their turntables onstage while large floats move through the crowd.

It moved from Berlin from 2007 onwards after disagreements with the city authorities over logistics and security and has been held in several other German cities in recent years.

It finally found its home in the Ruhr region, Germany’s industrial heartland. It was held in Essen in 2007 and Dortmund in 2008. The 2009 parade, due to be held in Bochum, was cancelled due to construction work in the town.

Deadly stampedes of this kind are rare in Europe.

In July 2000 eight people suffocated in a crush at the Roskilde music festival in Denmark, while five people died at a Latino music concert in Brest in northwestern France in February 2002.

AFP

http://www.smh.com.au

by Amy Andrews

CONTROVERSIAL Irish singer Sinead O’Connor has married Irish Australian musician Steve Cooney, a member of her band. The happy couple are pictured above after their wedding ceremony.

The announcement was on the singer’s website. It is her third marriage

“We who run this site are very happy to announce the marriage of Steve Cooney and Sinéad O’Connor has taken place this morning,” reads the official statement.

“Thanks be to the Great Lord Jah. Rastafarai.

Dread I. Conquering Lion I. One love” the statement said on website www.sineadoconnor.com which also showed a picture of the happy couple kissing.

A close friend told the Irish Independent that “Sinead has had a long friendship with Steve which has now blossomed into a relationship. She now believes this is the perfect basis for a marriage and a more settled stage in her life.”

The marriage took place in in Europe as she plays in Lucerne, Switzerland on Saturday night as part of an acoustic tour.

The band is herself, new husband Cooney and fellow musician Kieran Kiely.

Australian-born Steve Cooney has been a member of Sinead O’Connor’s band for the last four years as guitar player.

Before joining Sinead’s band he was a key member of Stockton’s Wing, for whom he played bass, and was also a member of duo ‘Cooney & Begley’ with musician Seamus Begley which played many venues in the Kerry Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) areas.

O’Connor has been wed twice before. Her first marriage was to writer John Reynolds,

They have a son Jake (23) together. She then had daughter Roisin in the 1996 with journalist John Waters.

In 2001 she married journalist Nick Sommerland but they split less than two years later. She had a son Shane with folk musician Donal Lunny in 2004.

She was seeing Mary Coughlan’s ex husband, American Frank Bonadio, but they split earlier this year.

http://www.irishcentral.com

Two-time winner of the World Snooker Championship dies at home after long battle with throat cancer

Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 24 July 2010 20.24 BST

Alex Higgins Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins, who died today, aged 61. Photograph: Adrian Murrell/Getty Images

Snooker’s original “People’s Champion”, Alex “Hurricane” Higgins, has been found dead at his Belfast home.

The ace of the green baize finally succumbed to the throat cancer that he had been battling for several years. With his open-necked shirt, long hair, cigarette in one hand and a strong drink in the other, Higgins overturned snooker’s public image as a game played by old men in dickie bows.

It is understood that he may been dead for several days before locals found his body by breaking into his flat after he failed to answer his mobile phone.

Six-time champion Steve Davis described his former rival as one of the few geniuses around the table. “To people in the game he was a constant source of argument, he was a rebel,” Davis said. “But to the wider public he was a breath of fresh air that drew them into the game. He was an inspiration to my generation.”

As to his own encounters with Higgins across the table, Davis said: “It was a love-hate relationship with Alex Higgins. The thrill of playing him was fantastic, but the crowd that came along were not your usual crowd. They were much more noisy and you had to play the crowd as well.”

Former snooker champion and commentator Dennis Taylor told the BBC: “I don’t think you’ll ever, ever see another player in the game of snooker like the great Alex Higgins.” He had enjoyed some “terrific battles” against the Ulsterman, he said, adding: “He was a very, very exciting player to watch. He just was totally unique.”

Higgins claimed the world champion’s crown at his first attempt, aged 22, and took it back again 10 years later from Ray Reardon at the Crucible in Sheffield. He will be best remembered for winning his second world championship in 1982 when, in tears, he invited his wife Lynn and baby daughter Lauren to join him by the baize with the trophy.

A long battle with alcohol followed but despite his numerous fights and rows with referees over the years, he continued to play the game regularly and appeared at the Irish Professional Championship in 2005 and 2006.

A heavy smoker, Higgins sucked his way through as many as 80 Marlboros a day until attempting to quit in 1996. He had cancerous growths removed from his mouth in 1994 and 1996 and was told in 1998 that he had throat cancer.

He also struggled with drug addictions, and recently admitted that he had considered suicide. In his last interview, Higgins confessed that he had wanted to take his own life. “But I just haven’t got the courage to kill myself. I read the Bible my mother gave me when I was 15 and told myself: ‘You can fight.’ I have been a fighter all my life. That’s what stopped me going through with it.”

In recent months Higgins’s health had been deteriorating sharply, and because he had no teeth left, he had been forced to eat baby food to stay alive. The 61-year-old former champion was living in poverty and his only income came from accepting paid challenges from amateur players in the pubs and clubs of Belfast.

Higgins was divorced by two wives, Cara and Lynn, and was stopped from seeing his two children, Lauren and Jordan. The squalid end to his life contrasted with the heady days of the 1970s and 1980s. At the height of his fame, Higgins had a £4m fortune which he frittered away on drink, cocaine and gambling. Recently, he had tried to raise £20,000 for teeth implants.

One of Higgins’s last public appearances was in May at an event in Manchester. Onlookers were shocked at the sight of the Hurricane now reduced to a gaunt, six-stone shrunken figure who could only speak in whispers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk

U2 gig forces shift of Hoops-Juventus tie
today at 9:49 am

A U2 concert in Turin has necessitated a shift of the Europa League clash between Juventus and Shamrock Rovers to the city of Modena in two weeks’ time.

The League of Ireland side booked a date with one of the top clubs in Europe with a shock 1-0 victory over Bnei Yehuda in Tel Aviv on Thursday night.

The first leg will take place at the Tallaght Stadium in Dublin on Thursday next (29 July) with the return back in Italy seven days later.

But Rovers’ hopes of a big night in the Stadio Olimpico have been dashed by the fact that the stadium has been booked up by fellow Dubliners Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton for MORE THAN TWO WEEKS in order to perfect the famous Claw stage which has wowed fans throughout the band’s worldwide 360° Tour.

U2, who were recently forced to cancel the North American leg of the tour due to Bono’s back injury, will play the first concert since their return to Europe at the Turin stadium on Friday, 6 August, but the biggest band in the world have commandeered the entire venue from last Wednesday (21 July) in order to perfect the Claw stage and carry out rehearsals.

Meanwhile, Juventus have already booked the Stadio Alberto Braglia, the home venue of Modena approximately 200 miles south-east of Turin, for their Europa League clash with Rovers on Thursday, 5 August.

http://www.joe.ie

Published Friday, July 23, 2010

The Script's guitarist Mark Sheehan

As the Script prepare to launch their new album “Science and Faith” in September it seems that the predictions of Bono and Paul McCartney might very well be true. They are set to conquer the world.

The Dublin band’s guitarist Mark Sheehan recently spoke to Gibson Guitar about their success so far and his own style of guitar playing. When asked if U2’s lead guitarist, the Edge had influenced his playing he said “Edge is ingrained into every Irish guitar player, whether they want to admit it or not. He has stuck to his guns and found his thing.”
However the young guitarist was careful to mention that he didn’t based his style of playing on the Edge’s unique sound. “While I find him amazing, no, I never directly rip him off, so to speak,” said Sheehan.

“It’s just growing up with his music makes its way into you. While he is a sweet man that clearly lets his anger and rage out in his riffs, I am an angry man that plays smooth textures. It’s probably the calm in the center of the storm.”

The Script have spent the last two years touring the world and their most recent single “Breakeven” has sold more than a million copies in the United State and got to number 12 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Now back in Dublin working on their second record Sheehan talk about the musical influence that the band grew up with in Dublin which helped in bringing them to this point. He said that although bands like Thin Lizzy and U2 were major influences he always felt it was important that he find his own sound.

“I have always wanted to find my thing within music so, while I appreciate guitar shredders and lead liners, I find myself personally about texture and feel, interesting rhythms that are simply complicated. So I was always learning that stuff, but applying it to R&B or hip-hop, et cetera – loads of fun,” said Sheehan.

Sheehan and the band knew that they had made it to the big time when they opened for U2 in their home town of Dublin playing in the massive sports arena, Croke Park. “It was unreal for us. Being recognized by a giant such as U2 – and in our home stadium, too – was just out there. They know the power of that [kind of exposure] for a new band and decided to treat us. I’ll never forget it.”

As is the support of U2 behind them wasn’t enough they also played support Paul McCartney at New York’s Citi Field in 2009. Sheehan said “It was another milestone in our career. Meeting the man himself was even better.

Such a normal, nice human being. He was also so interested in how we felt, going from playing small clubs and pubs to that!

Their upcoming album “Science & Faith” will be released in the United States in October.

http://www.irishcentral.com