Latest U2 News & Information

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Initially expected this fall as a fourth-quarter blockbuster, U2’s next album has been pushed to early 2009 while the band continues to write and record material.

“I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there’s more priceless stuff to be found?,” frontman Bono writes on (http://www.u2.com).

Of late, the group has been recording in the south of France, having already logged time in Fez and Dublin with longtime collaborators Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite.

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U2 spoken out about how the writing and recording is going for what will be their 12th studio album - the follow-up to 2004’s ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’.

The band are currently working on their first record in over four years in southern France and say that fans should expect songs early 2009. They said that the new record will hark back to the sound of their massive-selling 1987 LP ‘The Joshua Tree’.

Frontman Bono said: “We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein. It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we’ve found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there’s more priceless stuff to be found?”

Speaking on U2.com, Bono added that the new record will be a return to the band’s more iconic albums.

“It’s a brand new chapter for us,” he said. “Everyone we’ve played the tracks to has said that musically it feels like another departure.”

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The Ambassador of Conscience Award will be presented to Peter Gabriel by The Edge (guitarist with U2).

Art for Amnesty today announced that Peter Gabriel is the recipient of the Amnesty International `Ambassador of Conscience Award’ 2008. The presentation to Peter Gabriel will take place during a ceremony at the Hard Rock Cafe in London, on September 10th, 2008.

Peter Gabriel is a long time campaigner for human rights around the world, having first worked with Amnesty during the Conspiracy of Hope Tour in 1986 and then on the ground breaking Human Rights Now! Tour in 1988. Gabriel went on to found Witness, a video community campaigning for Human Rights and more recently The Elders a private alliance of senior global figures to launch diplomatic assaults on the globe’s most intractable problems.

“Peter has been at the vanguard of the struggle for human rights and justice around the world for nearly a quarter of a century” said Bill Shipsey of Art for Amnesty, “all of his wonderful work, not just with Amnesty, could justify his selection as an ’Ambassador of Conscience”.

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To the continuing chagrin of the newspaper racket, the majority of people here and in the United States get most of their information from TV.

Television moulds their impressions and firms up their views on politics, politicians and any old issue you can name.Tonight at the Democratic National Convention (multiple channels, starting at 7 p.m.; Barack Obama’s speech at 10 p.m.),

Barack Obama sells himself to the vast U.S. audience that needs to know more about him. The polls are indicating there’s a hesitancy about supporting Obama. This is where he starts to close the sale, and he must do it emphatically.

Over the past few days, watching the TV coverage from Denver has been a fascinating experience, especially those long reports that attempt to answer the question, “Who is Barack Obama?”

Each piece includes much coverage of his campaign, and what has struck me is that there’s a distinctive soundtrack. It’s U2. Always U2.

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The rock band U2 has had a phenomenal run since it came together in 1976. It has won a remarkable 22 Grammy awards, more than any band in history. Critics rave over U2’s music and fans worldwide can’t seem to get enough of its songs and concert appearances. All the signs indicate that U2 is at the top of its game and will be going strong for the foreseeable future. Why has U2 been together for more than 30 years when most other bands eventually fall apart? Understanding why U2 has thrived for so long provides insight into the factors that make groups of all types and sizes thrive, including teams and organisations from committees to Fortune 500 companies.

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TORONTO - A new campaign to promote HIV testing is trying to reach young Canadians where they’re at - on the Internet and listening to tunes.

And it’s relying on the talents of rockers U2 and hip-hop sensation Mary J. Blige to get them to pay attention.One Life, an online initiative launched Monday at luvu2.ca, targets sexually active youth ages 18-30 and urges them to practise safe sex and get tested for HIV.

It aims to spread the word through an online video set to U2’s hit song One, recorded with Blige and made available by the artists at no charge.

The campaign is a collaboration of Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, which makes pharmaceuticals including drugs to treat HIV-AIDS, and Universal Music Canada.

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