so the big group met at the Renaissance Hotel at Hollywood & Highland, and at 445 we were shuttled over to capitol records on two big charter buses. we waited outside the capitol records building for almost an hour, and they finally let us into the building. it was some sort of side door, and a short walk down a small hall into one of the recording studios, sound booths and panels and all. there was a small platform with 4 stools in the middle, and another one off to the side. i got a seat near the front, but there were no chairs in the front section so we were all sitting on the floor. at about 550 Shirley Manson came out, talked about how nervous she was and that Larry is feeling a little under the weather, so he might not come until later. Paul McGuiness was there, Jimmy Iovine, and a few other well-known faces.
at 6, after the intro on the radio, the guys came out. it was incredible. the interview was pretty straightforward, Shirley asked a few questions, the band gave a few answers, and they'd play a song off the album. All 4 guys were hilarious. While the songs were playing the studio was off the air, so the guys would be talking to each other, or to the crowd, or fielding questions. the commercial breaks were pretty quiet in the studio, so people started asking questions directly to the band, which was very exciting. there was a man sitting a few people down from me with a heavy Irish accent, Bono noticed it and they had a pretty lengthy and humorous discussion about a few shows back on the October tour in Ireland. The interview was a pretty standard one, as you can probably hear on the radio broadcast, but the commercial breaks were fantastic. i actually got to ask the band a question! amazing. someone asked Edge about It Might Get Loud, and after Edge talked about it for a while, Larry talked about his own documentary coming soon, called "It Might Get Louder." pretty great stuff. Bono talked about The Killers for a while, and how he admired their belief that they could 'take on the world.' it's unbelievable how likable, personable, and just down-to-earth those 4 guys are: they seemed like 4 regular, average men, yet i was completely blown away.
after the interview was over, the staff was trying to tell people to leave, but nobody did. Larry left, probably still hungover (haha), but Edge, Bono, and Adam stayed and did signatures. i got a few autographs. the guys were just standing around, signing autographs, shaking hands, and just hanging out. it was surreal. an incredible setting and an incredible experience.
also: during a commercial break, someone asked Bono about the next album. Bono then talked about how some albums come in pairs, like they had done with Achtung Baby. He also mentioned that they had been 'strictly forbidden' to say that the same thing is going to happen with NLOTH. he then pointed out Paul McGuiness and said that they had just made his day by telling all of us this news. pretty exciting stuff!