Far Out Magazine : The U2 song The Edge said couldn’t get any better

U2 might have the reputation of putting too much religious iconography beside many of their hits, but it makes complete sense why Bono refers to many of their songs as such when listening to a track like this. Nothing about it is meant to be religious in any way, but in terms of human connection and how we all relate to each other in this thing called life, this is practically a hymn for anyone wanting to see the world turn into a better place.

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American Songwriter : The Album That Turned Bono and U2 Into “The Political Band”

U2 has always had something to say and has also always acted upon their wishes and desires for the world. It is no hidden secret that Bono and the rest of the band are deeply involved in philanthropic humanitarian efforts. Though before they became political, primarily through their actions, they did it mainly with their words.

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El País : Bono narrates his life (and his traumas) in a monologue. It’s all intense, just like him

In the documentary ‘Bono: Stories of Surrender,’ the U2 frontman talks about his late mother and the distant relationship with his father as well as his experience of stardom and activism. Bono insists that U2 never had a leader, that the four of them were equal, but the truth is he was perceived as the leader, not only because he is the frontman, but because of his involvement in multiple humanitarian causes, from hunger to AIDS to the war in Bosnia and the debt of the Global South. He was seen meeting with George W. Bush and Tony Blair, giving speeches at the Davos Forum, in the U.S. Congress and in the European People’s Party. For many, his do-gooder activism became burdensome, too intense. It seemed he always had a sermon to deliver, but he has something to say about that.

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The Irish Times : Cannes Film Festival : Bono, Paul Mescal and Element Pictures to fly flag for Ireland this year

There will again be significant domestic interest at the upcoming Cannes film festival. Bono is expected to be in the city for the premiere of Bono: Stories of Surrender, a documentary for Apple TV+, based on the singer’s memoir, from Australian director Andrew Dominik. Paul Mescal, whose Aftersun, for which he received his first Oscar nomination, premiered here in 2022, will be walking the red carpet for Oliver Hermanus’s period drama The History of Sound.

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Cult Following : U2 – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb Review (by Ewan Gleadow)

Long-suffering U2 fans may be waiting for another album as interesting or relevant to the times as How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. You can wait a little longer. How to Reassemble an Atomic Bomb, the so-called shadow album to the studio release from twenty years ago is on the horizon. With the context of those additional songs, it feels almost necessary to head back into How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, to reflect on the rock makings and staggering cultural message it had at a time of wavering peace in places we expected calm from. But no, the world has always been a warzone and the rise of tech to showcase this for us has been a miserable experience – not least because it continues but also due to how frequently we see it. This was not the point U2 made with How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb but it has morphed into something new, something pertinent once again.

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The Guardian : Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? reissued as all-star mashup – including three generations of Bono

For 40 years, Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? has been praised by some as a triumph of charitable fundraising and festive songwriting – and condemned by others as the most high-profile example of white saviourhood in pop. Now, to mark its latest anniversary, the song is coming back around for a fourth time, in the form of an all-star splicing of the three previous official versions. Announcing the new version, Bob Geldof, who masterminded the 1984 original, says Do They Know It’s Christmas? “tells the story not just of unbelievably great generational British talent, but still stands as a rebuke to that period in which it was first heard. The 80s proclaimed that ‘greed is good’. This song says it isn’t. It says it’s stupid.” Proceeds will benefit the Band Aid Charitable Trust, which supports health and anti-poverty initiatives across Africa.

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The American Songwriter : The Story Behind the Lengthy Evolution of “Vertigo” by U2 (by Al Melchior)

Some bands may be comfortable with putting out music that is less than perfect, but those bands aren’t U2. The Irish superstars have built a reputation for second-guessing their own work and spending months—or even years—tweaking their compositions. Perfectionism hasn’t always translated into perfect songs, but in the case of their 2004 hit “Vertigo,” it resulted in one of their biggest chart successes. One could plausibly argue that “Vertigo” was U2’s last truly big hit.

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Rolling Stone : Hear U2 Get (Kinda) Funky on Long-Lost Song ‘Happiness’ (by Brian Hiatt)

It has somehow been 20 years since U2 released How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb— the one with “Vertigo” — and the band is rolling out a “shadow album” of ten outtakes from it, dubbed How to Reassemble an Atomic Bomb, on Nov. 22. The band already dropped one of the songs, the chiming mid-tempo anthem “Country Mile” and now they’ve released a second track, “Happiness,” which is a bigger sonic surprise. In the wake of mixed reactions to their underrated 1997 album Pop, which incorporated some electronic dance beats into their sound, U2 shied away from their funkier instincts for a while. But “For this anniversary edition I went into my personal archive to see if there were any unreleased gems and I hit the jackpot,” the Edge recently wrote. “We chose ten that really spoke to us."

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Clutch Points : Bono pays homage to late Kris Kristofferson with A cappella cover (by Andrew Korpan)

The music world, including U2's Bono, was shaken when Kris Kristofferson died on September 28, 2024. Many have paid tribute to the late singer. Bono took to U2's Instagram to post an A cappella cover of his song “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”

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ScreenRant : U2’s Bono And The Edge Talk Art Against Oppression In Kiss The Future Documentary Clip (by Owen Danoff)

Kiss the Future is a new documentary about an underground artist community during the 1990s siege of Sarajevo that inspired a U2 concert, and Screen Rant has a clip featuring the hit band themselves. Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was a major locale in the Bosnian War and was ultimately besieged for a whopping four years—from April 1992 to February 1996. During that time, a vibrant community of artists utilized art and music to affect change, which inspired a U.S. aid worker to propose that U2 help raise awareness of the conflict.

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Se7en : ‘Sarajevo Concert Documentary ‘Kiss the Future’ by U2, Executive Produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Set to Land on Paramount+’

"Kiss the Future", the docudrama regarding U2’s spots 1997 show in Sarajevo. The movie, created by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for Artists Equity and Sarah Anthony and guided by Nenad Cicin-Sain, is based upon author Bill S. Carter’s narrative Fools Rush In, which catches the imaginative defiance bordering the 1990s siege of Sarajevo throughout theBosnian War [...] U2 lead guitar player The Edge included: “Kiss the Future documents how through superhuman acts of courage and creativity, the people of Sarajevo kept going while their city was under siege during the bloody Balkan civil war of the early 1990s. Their story of defiance and resistance against extreme nationalism couldn’t be more relevant to today. To have been even a small part of this amazing story is a huge privilege.”

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Forbes : U2 Announces A Series Of New Music Releases (by Hugh McIntyre)

U2 is fresh off their first Las Vegas residency and ready to head into their next chapter. But while the world waits for completely brand new music from the Irish rockers, they have announced a year-long series of musical re-releases, ones which will surely be of interest to their most die-hard followers. On Friday (April 5), U2 dropped a new collection of remixes and alternate editions of their single “Discothèque.” [...] The new album runs an hour and 12 minutes long, with plenty of renditions of “Discothèque” for fans who can’t get enough of the tune. The tracklist includes the original radio edit, as well as remixes that come with names like the DM Deep Club Mix, Howie B, Hairy B Mix, and the Hexidecimal Mix, among others.

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Variety : Bono Leads U2’s Audience in Chanting Alexei Navalny’s Name During Impassioned Anti-Putin, Pro-Ukraine Speech (by Chris Willman)

U2 has been performing Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” in concert at the band’s Sphere residency recently, and before Saturday night’s show, the introduction to that song extended far longer than usual, as Bono paid tribute to the dream of Alexei Navalny, the Russian dissident who died in prison days earlier. The singer spoke up for the freedom of the Ukrainian people and against Russian leader Vladimir Putin — who many believe is directly responsible for the political prisoner’s still-unexplained death — before leading the crowd in a chant of Navalny’s name.

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American Songwriter : The Meaning Behind “I Will Follow” by U2

Long before their Las Vegas residency at Sphere, before all of their many reinventions, before The Joshua Tree made them international superstars, U2 released Boy. As far as debut albums go, U2’s 1980 release did fairly well, reaching No. 63 on the Billboard 200 and getting into the Top 20 on Canada’s and New Zealand’s album charts. It also spawned U2’s first hit single, “I Will Follow.”

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American Songwriter : U2 Lighting Up Las Vegas’ Sphere Red Today in Honor of World AIDS Day and Bono’s (RED) Initiative

U2 returns to Sphere in Las Vegas tonight, December 1, to launch a new series of dates as part of the band’s ongoing residency at the state-of-the-art venue. Since December 1 also is World AIDS Day, Sphere will be lit up red in honor of the (RED) initiative and The ONE Campaign, which were co-founded by Bono to fight HIV/AIDS and poverty across the globe.

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The Guardian : U2 change lyrics to Pride to honour ‘beautiful kids’ killed at Israeli music festival (by Janine Israel)

U2 have paid tribute to the hundreds of “beautiful kids” killed at the Supernova music festival in Israel by altering the lyrics to one of their biggest hits at a concert in Las Vegas on Sunday. During their performance at Sphere, where the Irish rock band are in the midst of a 25-show residency, frontman Bono reworded the lyrics to U2’s 1984 breakthrough song Pride (In the Name of Love), referring to those killed by Hamas fighters as “stars of David”. Before launching into Pride (In the Name of Love), Bono said: “In the light of what’s happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence."

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Deadline : Sarajevo Opening Night: Bono Makes Surprise Appearance As U2 Doc ‘Kiss The Future’ Opens Fest (by Zac Ntim)

Bono made a surprise appearance at the Sarajevo Film Festival this evening, where he accompanied the crew behind the U2-inspired Bosnian war documentary Kiss The Future, which opened the festival. Bono was joined by his U2 band member The Edge on the red carpet at Bosnia’s National Theatre alongside CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, who also features in the doc, during which she recounts her time as a young reporter covering the Bosnian conflict.

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Far Out Magazine : Bono to raise funds for Ukraine with limited-edition merch (by Joe Taysom)

U2 frontman Bono has created a range of limited-edition merchandise to raise money for Ukraine following the Russian invasion. Earlier this year, the singer created an illustration of President Zelenskyy which he painted on a backdrop of yellow and blue, celebrating Ukraine’s flag. It also features the following quote from Zelenskyy: “The choice is between freedom and fear.” The image and quote are now available to purchase across a set of five items with funds going to UNITED24, who will use the money to buy ambulances.

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Irish Examiner : TV review: Bono & the Edge get to Dublin's heart with Dave Letterman (by Pat Fitzpatrick)

I was coming around to Bono after reading his recent autobiography, but this show makes it clear why people outside of Ireland are inclined to listen to him. He’s an optimist. While the rest of us were wallowing in cynicism and chunky jumpers in the 1980s, he put on a cowboy hat and pissed off to America. The pinnacle of this, as he explained to Letterman in a well-appointed mahogany Georgian library in Dublin, was the U2 song, 'Where The Streets Have No Name'.

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NME : U2’s The Edge on Bono’s political “superpower” (by Anagricel Duran)

"If you judge activism based on results, rather than it being some kind of attempted virtue signalling, then Bono was absolutely right". U2 guitarist The Edge has discussed frontman and fellow bandmate Bono‘s political “superpower” – and how he was right in becoming a high-profile political activist.

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