dsmith2904
ONE love, blood, life
Edge Is Giving Back
U2's in town and doing whatever it can to help those in need
By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun
U2 guitarist The Edge says the band's last-minute involvement in two Hurricane Katrina TV fundraisers over the weekend was a no-brainer.
The Irish rockers, who arrived in Toronto early Friday to begin rehearsals at the Air Canada Centre leading up to tomorrow's launch of the second leg of their North American tour, taped two performances at the venue later that day for Friday's multi-channel Shelter From The Storm broadcast and last night's MTV ReactNow special.
"America's, most of the time, giving in some shape or form, this was an opportunity to show that that could be reversed," said the 44-year-old guitar player in a Canadian exclusive with the Sun last night while seated in the stands at the ACC. "This was an opportunity to just stand up and be counted and say this is a need that should be met at this moment in time in whatever way it can be. We were very happy to just weigh in there."
FLEW IN FROM L.A.
The Edge, who flew in from L.A. while his three bandmates -- singer Bono, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. arrived from Europe -- said he, like so many others, had been glued to the TV set.
"The story's just seemed to have gotten worse and worse and worse," he said. "For the first few days I couldn't but watch it. Obviously, the most strange, surreal aspect, is that you're watching something unfolding on a scale that you would normally associate with somewhere in Africa or India or Bangladesh or whatever.
"But to know that it's mainland U.S.A. is jaw-dropping and bewildering because you couldn't ever have imagined that a natural disaster could have presented so many problems for such a powerful country. I think that's the thing that's hit everybody."
U2's show tomorrow night at the ACC is the first of four sold-out dates at the venue -- the last one is Saturday -- and rumours have been flying that the band might do something else in support of Hurricane Katrina victims.
"We're currently not planning to," said The Edge, wearing his trademark black skull cap, a black leather jacket, jeans and black Converse sneakers. "But all of these events happened so quickly and so last-minute that we're kind of making it up as we go along really, to be honest."
LAST-MINUTE REHEARSAL
Yesterday, the band was rehearsing in a small room behind their enormous Vertigo stage that had been taken apart -- after being partially assembled for the TV tapings -- and was lying in various pieces on the ACC floor while crew members worked away.
U2 launched their latest tour on March 28 in San Diego and have performed 60 shows so far, wrapping up the European leg on Aug. 14. But The Edge said they feel like they're starting over after a month break and have no choice but to incorporate recent events into this latest leg.
"We're working on some new arrangements for songs, trying out a few things, so we have (Sunday) and the day after too to work with the stage," he said. "But obviously too, it's a different world right now, post this Gulf Coast disaster, we've got a few new things to consider and it would be wrong not to in someway reference it in the show. We haven't figured out quite how, what would be appropriate, but it's the thing that's on everybody's mind."
Much has been made of the fact that U2 arrived just as the Toronto International Film Festival got under way. But The Edge wasn't certain that they would be able to make it out to any festival screenings or parties.
There was talk yesterday of them trying to attend tonight's screening of the Lian Lunson's documentary Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man, in which they perform Tower Of Song with the Montreal singer-songwriter-poet in a New York bar.
--Jam!
U2's in town and doing whatever it can to help those in need
By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun
U2 guitarist The Edge says the band's last-minute involvement in two Hurricane Katrina TV fundraisers over the weekend was a no-brainer.
The Irish rockers, who arrived in Toronto early Friday to begin rehearsals at the Air Canada Centre leading up to tomorrow's launch of the second leg of their North American tour, taped two performances at the venue later that day for Friday's multi-channel Shelter From The Storm broadcast and last night's MTV ReactNow special.
"America's, most of the time, giving in some shape or form, this was an opportunity to show that that could be reversed," said the 44-year-old guitar player in a Canadian exclusive with the Sun last night while seated in the stands at the ACC. "This was an opportunity to just stand up and be counted and say this is a need that should be met at this moment in time in whatever way it can be. We were very happy to just weigh in there."
FLEW IN FROM L.A.
The Edge, who flew in from L.A. while his three bandmates -- singer Bono, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. arrived from Europe -- said he, like so many others, had been glued to the TV set.
"The story's just seemed to have gotten worse and worse and worse," he said. "For the first few days I couldn't but watch it. Obviously, the most strange, surreal aspect, is that you're watching something unfolding on a scale that you would normally associate with somewhere in Africa or India or Bangladesh or whatever.
"But to know that it's mainland U.S.A. is jaw-dropping and bewildering because you couldn't ever have imagined that a natural disaster could have presented so many problems for such a powerful country. I think that's the thing that's hit everybody."
U2's show tomorrow night at the ACC is the first of four sold-out dates at the venue -- the last one is Saturday -- and rumours have been flying that the band might do something else in support of Hurricane Katrina victims.
"We're currently not planning to," said The Edge, wearing his trademark black skull cap, a black leather jacket, jeans and black Converse sneakers. "But all of these events happened so quickly and so last-minute that we're kind of making it up as we go along really, to be honest."
LAST-MINUTE REHEARSAL
Yesterday, the band was rehearsing in a small room behind their enormous Vertigo stage that had been taken apart -- after being partially assembled for the TV tapings -- and was lying in various pieces on the ACC floor while crew members worked away.
U2 launched their latest tour on March 28 in San Diego and have performed 60 shows so far, wrapping up the European leg on Aug. 14. But The Edge said they feel like they're starting over after a month break and have no choice but to incorporate recent events into this latest leg.
"We're working on some new arrangements for songs, trying out a few things, so we have (Sunday) and the day after too to work with the stage," he said. "But obviously too, it's a different world right now, post this Gulf Coast disaster, we've got a few new things to consider and it would be wrong not to in someway reference it in the show. We haven't figured out quite how, what would be appropriate, but it's the thing that's on everybody's mind."
Much has been made of the fact that U2 arrived just as the Toronto International Film Festival got under way. But The Edge wasn't certain that they would be able to make it out to any festival screenings or parties.
There was talk yesterday of them trying to attend tonight's screening of the Lian Lunson's documentary Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man, in which they perform Tower Of Song with the Montreal singer-songwriter-poet in a New York bar.
--Jam!
I think his sentiments match most people's right now.
