AussieU2fanman
Refugee
umm do I detect a more pissed-off Larry than usual? He seems to detest Bono even more now, possibly moving beyond a joke....... 
HTDAAB - as described by the band!!! (Q magazine)
- Thread starter philod
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
philod
The Fly
In addition to public meetings with Bush and Tony Blair, Bono has successfully courted arch Republican Jesse Helms (the 82-year old former US senator who described homosexuals as "weak, morally sick wretches") for donations to his Aids drive. DATA itself is funded by billionaires such as Bill Gates and George Soros. The latter bankrolls their Washington office.
"Bono is very good at figuring out what he wants and how to get it," says Adam Clayton. "He has absolute dedication to achieving his goals. There are certain things you think it might be prudent for him not to do, but he's a grown-up. He knows his business."
There have been rumours of frustrations within the U2 camp at the amount of time Bono has spent campaigning. Not so, says The Edge. He insists Bono's absences allowed him time to work on the new record alone and it's all the better for that. He did beg Bono not to meet with President Bush, but believes the end justified the means.
Bono himself says he'd have lunch with the Devil to secure a donation.
"Some people I've met have made me sick to the stomach," he says. "I can't tell you their names because I still have to work with them. But I've also got to like a lot of very conservative people. I find their up-frontness can be more refreshing than my liberal friends, who tell me everything's possible but sometimes don't want to follow through."
It would be easy to view these as the acts of a vainglorious rock star...
"Yes it would. And you wouldn't be wrong. There is something very uncomfortable about a rich rock star being photographed with poor, starving kids. In that sense I wish it wasn't me. I don't blame people for being cynical.
"I'm sure it's not all altruistic. There must be some sort of ego involved. There's a sense of duty too. And I have the sort of personality where I believe I can always find a solution."
"Bono is very good at figuring out what he wants and how to get it," says Adam Clayton. "He has absolute dedication to achieving his goals. There are certain things you think it might be prudent for him not to do, but he's a grown-up. He knows his business."
There have been rumours of frustrations within the U2 camp at the amount of time Bono has spent campaigning. Not so, says The Edge. He insists Bono's absences allowed him time to work on the new record alone and it's all the better for that. He did beg Bono not to meet with President Bush, but believes the end justified the means.
Bono himself says he'd have lunch with the Devil to secure a donation.
"Some people I've met have made me sick to the stomach," he says. "I can't tell you their names because I still have to work with them. But I've also got to like a lot of very conservative people. I find their up-frontness can be more refreshing than my liberal friends, who tell me everything's possible but sometimes don't want to follow through."
It would be easy to view these as the acts of a vainglorious rock star...
"Yes it would. And you wouldn't be wrong. There is something very uncomfortable about a rich rock star being photographed with poor, starving kids. In that sense I wish it wasn't me. I don't blame people for being cynical.
"I'm sure it's not all altruistic. There must be some sort of ego involved. There's a sense of duty too. And I have the sort of personality where I believe I can always find a solution."
AussieU2fanman said:umm do I detect a more pissed-off Larry than usual? He seems to detest Bono even more now, possibly moving beyond a joke.......
Hmm, maybe he never got over Bono throwing a microphone at him during one ZooTV show.
Next thing we hear ... "After repeated fights on stage, U2 have decided to become a professional wrestling act."
Murray said:
No, they each ramble about their own thing. That's what makes them - well.....them.
I love this article.
As usual I have to wait probably a month before I catch it at the record or bookstore, but in the mean time we can thank Philod for giving us this extensive preview of the article.
AussieU2fanman
Refugee
Axver said:
What?! What happened exactly? Why did Bono do that???? Tell me everything!
Man, they seem to be para-phrasing Larry to sound like a miserable bastard that doesn't really like Bono that much! we all know their sense of humour, but the average Joe could interpetate it as Larry not liking Bono. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I hate when writers do that.
Last edited:
AussieU2fanman said:
Well, I may have this totally wrong because I've only read about it once and that was months ago, but at one of the first leg ZooTV shows, I think in Vancouver, Larry stuffed up the intro to Pride a couple of times. Bono got angry, threw his microphone at Larry, and that was that.
philod
The Fly
Bono says he is the atomic bomb referred to in the album's title. On 21 August 2001, he was at his father Bob Hewson's bedside when he died. It's a subject he mines for two of the record's best tracks - Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own and One Step Closer. On the former he sings, "It's you when I look in the mirror/It's you when I pick up the phone." When Bono speaks about his father he does so haltingly. It is the only time he breaks eye contact.
"A bomb went off when my old man died and I had no idea how to deal with it," he says. "If I'm honest, I've been running away from it for the past two years.
"I've always enjoyed drinking and going out, but I found I was drinking far more. I went to Bali for a drink. Got on a plane, went for two days, came back."
Why Bali?
"I don't know. Because I could. I was sitting in a beach bar when I got there thinking, What am I doing here? I took on more and more projects. But eventually you have to face yourself. That's come to an end now with finishing this work. Literally in the last week I've felt a sense of putting things to rest."
Three days ago, Bono went to a small church near his French home and lit a candle for his father. Bob Hewson was, by all accounts, a bluff man not given to sharing his feelings. Bono says the two fought throughout his father's life. He had flown home after each show on the band's last UK tour to be with him.
"I think we did make peace towards the end," he says. "But in a really Irish way. We were like two men sitting in a pub and not talking to each other. He loved Shakespeare so I read some to him. I drew him in his sleep. There was a greater understanding."
What was the last thing you said to him?
"I can't remember. I can remember the last thing he said to me. I wsa sitting at the the side of his bed and he woke with a start. I asked him if he was OK and his mouth started moving. By then all he could do was whisper. I had to put my ear to his mouth. And he said, Fuck off! Then he said, This place is a prison. Take me home."
What do you miss most about him?
"Sometimes I forget he's not there. I want to call him. There's a whole raft of questions I wanted to ask him and never did."
"A bomb went off when my old man died and I had no idea how to deal with it," he says. "If I'm honest, I've been running away from it for the past two years.
"I've always enjoyed drinking and going out, but I found I was drinking far more. I went to Bali for a drink. Got on a plane, went for two days, came back."
Why Bali?
"I don't know. Because I could. I was sitting in a beach bar when I got there thinking, What am I doing here? I took on more and more projects. But eventually you have to face yourself. That's come to an end now with finishing this work. Literally in the last week I've felt a sense of putting things to rest."
Three days ago, Bono went to a small church near his French home and lit a candle for his father. Bob Hewson was, by all accounts, a bluff man not given to sharing his feelings. Bono says the two fought throughout his father's life. He had flown home after each show on the band's last UK tour to be with him.
"I think we did make peace towards the end," he says. "But in a really Irish way. We were like two men sitting in a pub and not talking to each other. He loved Shakespeare so I read some to him. I drew him in his sleep. There was a greater understanding."
What was the last thing you said to him?
"I can't remember. I can remember the last thing he said to me. I wsa sitting at the the side of his bed and he woke with a start. I asked him if he was OK and his mouth started moving. By then all he could do was whisper. I had to put my ear to his mouth. And he said, Fuck off! Then he said, This place is a prison. Take me home."
What do you miss most about him?
"Sometimes I forget he's not there. I want to call him. There's a whole raft of questions I wanted to ask him and never did."
brownda7
War Child
Your hands must be sore!
U2dork
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Man, they sure do know how to make people feel every possible range of emotion in an interview that might take 15 minutes to read...
philod
The Fly
A thread running through the record is Bono musing on the nature of marriage. The protagonist in A Man and A Woman, for example, ponders, "forever, faith, sex and fear, and the things that keep us here", before concluding that he could "never take a chance on losing love to find romance". Is referring to himself here?
"It is personal, yes" says Bono, "but I couldn't specifically tell you what that song's about. There's a desparate character in there though. I shake when I sing it. It obviously touches a nerve."
Bono and his wife Ali were classmates at school and have four children, aged between three and 15. Bono describes his wife as confident, relaxed and smart. She is, he says, very much like The Edge in that respect.
"Because Ali and I have know each other since we were kids, we're like mates," he says. "People have tried to figure out our marriage for years. It's simple. Relationships need management and she's a very good manager.
"There's still a lot I don't know about her. She's a mystery to me. Sometimes I feel I'm not good enough for her...I love her," he says, finishing his drink.
Bono admits he has become an embarrassing dad to his elder children, particularly for 13-year old daughter Eve, a hip-hop fan. He relates how Jay-Z and Beyoncé Knowles came to stay with him in Ireland earlier this year. While hip-hop's foremost power-couple were there, Bono overheard his daughter telling friends her father had probably been "booring the arses" off his guests, talking about Africa.
"And I think I may have been," he says, laughing.
That evening Bono holds court at a small beachside bar down the road from his house. Larry Mullen is here. Adam Clayton - whom the no-nonsense Mullen refers to as a "recovering alcoholic" - prefers not to be dragged along to bars or clubs. The Edge has gone to pick his family up from the airport.
We sit on a wooden veranda overlooking the moonlit Mediterranean, listening to Bono tell stories about Bob Geldof and Bob Dylan. He is indeed a terrible name-dropper. Does he ever grow tired of being Bono?
"Listen," he says, "I am Bono and I'm sick of him. I really am. But there are a lot of Bonos. Some annoy me more than others. Like Van Morrison said, I'll be great when I'm finished."
The last we see of him, Bono is walking unsteadily down the pebbled beach and into the night. He takes off his Stetson, waves it the once and is gone.
"It is personal, yes" says Bono, "but I couldn't specifically tell you what that song's about. There's a desparate character in there though. I shake when I sing it. It obviously touches a nerve."
Bono and his wife Ali were classmates at school and have four children, aged between three and 15. Bono describes his wife as confident, relaxed and smart. She is, he says, very much like The Edge in that respect.
"Because Ali and I have know each other since we were kids, we're like mates," he says. "People have tried to figure out our marriage for years. It's simple. Relationships need management and she's a very good manager.
"There's still a lot I don't know about her. She's a mystery to me. Sometimes I feel I'm not good enough for her...I love her," he says, finishing his drink.
Bono admits he has become an embarrassing dad to his elder children, particularly for 13-year old daughter Eve, a hip-hop fan. He relates how Jay-Z and Beyoncé Knowles came to stay with him in Ireland earlier this year. While hip-hop's foremost power-couple were there, Bono overheard his daughter telling friends her father had probably been "booring the arses" off his guests, talking about Africa.
"And I think I may have been," he says, laughing.
That evening Bono holds court at a small beachside bar down the road from his house. Larry Mullen is here. Adam Clayton - whom the no-nonsense Mullen refers to as a "recovering alcoholic" - prefers not to be dragged along to bars or clubs. The Edge has gone to pick his family up from the airport.
We sit on a wooden veranda overlooking the moonlit Mediterranean, listening to Bono tell stories about Bob Geldof and Bob Dylan. He is indeed a terrible name-dropper. Does he ever grow tired of being Bono?
"Listen," he says, "I am Bono and I'm sick of him. I really am. But there are a lot of Bonos. Some annoy me more than others. Like Van Morrison said, I'll be great when I'm finished."
The last we see of him, Bono is walking unsteadily down the pebbled beach and into the night. He takes off his Stetson, waves it the once and is gone.
U2dork said:
Wow, you're not kidding, in the time it's taken me to read all this I've smiled......laughed out loud........... felt sad and even cried, and worst yet, I've cried both tears of sadness and tears of joy.
Shit, I'm sick.
philod
The Fly
At the end of August Bono calls me at home. He is, he says, enjoying being on holiday, watching the kids run around. Dr Dre is coming next week for a social visit. Bono wants to know if he might have embarrassed anyone the last time we spoke. "I have a dreadful habit of dropping people in it," he says.
Since our last meeting he has flown to Omaha to sing All I Want Is You at the funeral of Susan Buffett, wife of billionaire investor Warren Buffett and a DATA board member. And the U2 album has been stolen. Or at least The Edge's copy of it has - he had left it in his bag while the band were doing a photoshoot.
"I was so happy it was him," says Bono. "It's the sort of thing I would do. Everything turned a little Pink Panther down here for a while. There were gendarmes falling out of the sky. But it looks to have turned out OK - it hasn't popped up anywhere yet."
Bono has sent copies of the album to Rick Rubin, Michael Stipe and Interscope Records co-chairman Jimmy Iovine. The consensus, he says, is that U2 have made their best record.
"I played it yesterday for the first time in a while and I was blown away," he says. "It's such a personal record. You know, it may just be our best. I won't know until there's a little more distance. But right now it feels like the one we've waited 25 years to make."
You said last time that there were many Bonos. Which did I meet?
"I'd say you met several," he says. "Did I really say that?" he finally asks. "People who speak about themselves in the third person are to be avoided at all times. That I'm doing so is a real worry."
Anything else to declare?
"Guilty of all that I'm charged with," he concludes. "And a whole lot more that I haven't told you about."
Rock and roll. That's all folks......
Since our last meeting he has flown to Omaha to sing All I Want Is You at the funeral of Susan Buffett, wife of billionaire investor Warren Buffett and a DATA board member. And the U2 album has been stolen. Or at least The Edge's copy of it has - he had left it in his bag while the band were doing a photoshoot.
"I was so happy it was him," says Bono. "It's the sort of thing I would do. Everything turned a little Pink Panther down here for a while. There were gendarmes falling out of the sky. But it looks to have turned out OK - it hasn't popped up anywhere yet."
Bono has sent copies of the album to Rick Rubin, Michael Stipe and Interscope Records co-chairman Jimmy Iovine. The consensus, he says, is that U2 have made their best record.
"I played it yesterday for the first time in a while and I was blown away," he says. "It's such a personal record. You know, it may just be our best. I won't know until there's a little more distance. But right now it feels like the one we've waited 25 years to make."
You said last time that there were many Bonos. Which did I meet?
"I'd say you met several," he says. "Did I really say that?" he finally asks. "People who speak about themselves in the third person are to be avoided at all times. That I'm doing so is a real worry."
Anything else to declare?
"Guilty of all that I'm charged with," he concludes. "And a whole lot more that I haven't told you about."
Rock and roll. That's all folks......
philod
The Fly
If anybody wants to host this, I have it as a text file......think I will take a rest now
follower
Refugee
philod said:Sorry it's so brief on other titbits, but I could spend all day typing if I didn't try and keep it short.
Now there's an idea..........
Many, many thanks. Truly appreciate that. I´m already working on a transcript into portuguese for fans from this side of the world to feel as excited as me.
MT
EPandAmerica
New Yorker
philod
Phalanx
War Child
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2004
- Messages
- 654
Wow....great, great work! Thanks!
brownda7
War Child
LEGEND
WE ARE NOT WORTHY
WE ARE NOT WORTHY
Bravo Philod!
I agree with Lo-Fi it is odd that a music mag devotes 5 pages to the U2 album without stating any opinion at all of their own on the music. They just quote the band. Maybe they are just building up to their own review next month.
All band members seem true to form! I like the bit about them buying old boats and mooring them outside the studios to keep snoopers away.
I agree with Lo-Fi it is odd that a music mag devotes 5 pages to the U2 album without stating any opinion at all of their own on the music. They just quote the band. Maybe they are just building up to their own review next month.
All band members seem true to form! I like the bit about them buying old boats and mooring them outside the studios to keep snoopers away.
Evalicious
Refugee
Im insatiable....I would like to read more
But thanks philod, you rock!
But thanks philod, you rock!
Sleep Over Jack
Refugee
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
- Messages
- 2,089
Well thats 2 postive articles in recent days...both give the impression the new album is made up of individually strong tracks
EvolutionMonkey
Acrobat
YOU RULE Philod !!! Go rest your fingers, give them a bubble bath or something.
Similar threads
- Sticky
