U2

U2 is an Irish rock band featuring Bono (Paul David Hewson) on vocals, guitar and harmonica, The Edge (David Howell Evans) on guitar, keyboards and vocals, Adam Clayton on bass, and Larry Mullen, Jr. on drums and vocals.

U2 have been one of the most popular rock/vocal bands in the world since the 1980s. According to the RIAA, they have sold approximately 50.5 million albums in the U.S., had six #1 albums in the U.S. and are widely considered as one of the most successful groups of all time. The band is also very politically active in human rights causes, such as the Make Poverty History campaign as well as the campaign spearheaded by Bono, DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa).

History

Formation and breakthrough (1976 – 1980)

The band was formed in Dublin on Saturday, September 25, 1976. Fourteen-year-old Larry Mullen, Jr. posted a notice on his secondary school bulletin board (Mount Temple Comprehensive School) seeking musicians for a new band. The response that followed that note resulted in seven boys attending the initial practice in Larry's kitchen. Known for about a day as "The Larry Mullen Band," Larry's group featured Mullen on drums, Adam Clayton on bass guitar, Paul Hewson (Bono) on vocals, Dave Evans (The Edge) on guitar, his brother Dik Evans on guitar, and Mullen's friends Ivan McCormick and Peter Martin on guitar. Soon after, the group settled on the name Feedback. Although known as an Irish band, two members —The Edge and Adam Clayton— are actually British by birth. Both Martin and McCormick were out of the core group within a few weeks, with McCormick dismissed by Adam Clayton with the excuse that he was too young to play at the bars in which U2 would be booked.

Hewson was nicknamed Bono Vox (allegedly meaning 'good voice' in Latin, though a more accurate translation would in fact be vox bona), after a hearing aid company's advertising sign on the corner of Dame Street and South Great Georges Street in Dublin's city centre (a different theory says he was nicknamed after a hearing aid shop by his friend Gavin Friday because he sang so loudly he seemed to be singing for the deaf). The sign has since been changed to read "Bonavox." The Edge got his name from Bono, who thought he was always on the edge of things, assessing what was going on. Bono also thought that it was an accurate description of his head, as it had a straight edge. There are also other theories on the origins of The Edge's nickname:

1. He is named after a hardware shop in Fairview, Dublin, outside of which he used to catch the bus home.
2. The name is due to the crispness of his playing, the "edges" it has.
3. Bono once claimed on Irish radio that the name was derived from the shape Edge made when playing guitar.
4. He lived on the 'edge' of their imaginary world called 'Lypton Village'.

After 18 months of rehearsals, Feedback changed their name to The Hype. The band performed with their new name at a talent show in Limerick, Ireland on 17 March 1978. One of the judges for the show happened to be CBS Records' Jackie Hayden; they won the contest, earning a £500 prize. Hayden was impressed enough with the band that he gave them studio time to record their first demo. The Dublin punk rock guru Steve Averill (better known as Steve Rapid of the The Radiators From Space) suggested that "The Hype stinks, at least as a name." Someone offered "What about U2? It's the name of a spyplane and a submarine, and it's got an endearing inclusivity about it." [1]

Some suggest the meaning of the name "U2" is based on their philosophy. They believe that the audience is part of their music and the concert and that "you too" (U2) are participating in the music. However, in an interview with Larry King, Bono is quoted as saying "I don't actually like the name U2," and "I honestly never thought of it as 'you too'." Others feel that U2 derived its name from the Irish Unemployment form.

Dik Evans announced his departure in March 1978. The Hype performed a farewell show for Dik at the Community Centre in Howth. Dik walked offstage halfway through the set and later joined the Virgin Prunes, a fellow Dublin band. In May, Paul McGuinness became U2's manager.

Now a four-piece with a local fan base in place, U2 released their first single in September of 1979, U2-3. It topped the Irish charts. In December of that year, U2 travelled to London for its first shows outside of Ireland, but failed to get much attention from foreign audiences and critics. U2 made their first appearance on US television on The Tomorrow Show hosted by Tom Snyder. It aired on June 4, 1981. They performed "I Will Follow" and "Twilight" and engaged in an interview.

Boy and October (1980 – 1981)

Island Records signed the band in March of 1980. U2 released Boy the following October. It was met with critical praise and is considered one of the better debuts in rock history. Despite Bono’s unfocused, improvised lyrics, Boy has a definite theme – a vulnerable, painfully honest examination of adolescence touching on fear over sex, identity confusion, death and uncontrollable mood swings. One song, “Shadows and Tall Trees,” gives a nod to William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, which was an inspiration for the album. Lord of the Flies also inspired the famous album art which featured photographs of a disheveled boy, naked from the waist up, sometimes wearing war paint or an army helmet. (The same boy, three years older, would be employed for artwork on U2's War album. He can also be seen as a would-be band member in the Alan Parker feature "The Committments"). Boy's release was followed by U2's first tour beyond Ireland and the United Kingdom. These live shows helped establish U2 as one of the most exciting live bands in the UK, as critics noted that Bono was a very "charismatic" and "passionate" showman.

The band's second album, October, was released in 1981. Fans and music critics quickly made note of the band's spiritual lyrics. Bono, the Edge and Larry were committed Christians and made little effort to hide that fact. The three band members joined a religious group in Dublin called "Shalom", which led all three to question the relationship between the Christian faith and the rock and roll lifestyle. After nearly throwing in the towel on U2, they decided it was possible to reconcile the two by continuing to make music without compromising their personal beliefs. While the Bible has remained a major source of inspiration for Bono’s lyric writing, October is U2’s only overt Christian rock album… and is generally held to be among their least successful work. (In recent years a book of sermons based on U2 songs has been published: "Get Up Off Your Knees" ed. Whiteley & Maynard, ISBN 1561012238)

War (1983)

In 1983, U2 returned with apparently a newfound sense of direction and the release of their third album, War. The album included the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" , which dealt with the troubles in Northern Ireland. The song starts off by expressing the anger felt in Ireland over Bloody Sunday incident of 1972, but in successive stanzas moves through different imagery that disown that anger and place the song in a religious context, using imagery from Matthew 10:35 ("mother's children; brothers, sisters torn apart"), and a twist on 1 Corinthians 15:32 ("we eat and drink while tomorrow they die") before finishing off with a call for Christians to stop fighting each other and "claim the victory Jesus won, on a Sunday bloody Sunday". The ability to use such a range of images, taking a song initially about sectarian anger, and turn it into a call for Christians to unite and claim the victory over death and evil that Christ achieved in the resurrection, showed the depth of the band's songwriting ability. When some Irish-Americans tried to misrepresent the song as a rallying call for the Provisional IRA Bono responded with what became one of his most recognizable phrases in concerts, notably the performance on the live EP Under a Blood Red Sky - "this song is not a rebel song. This song is Sunday Bloody Sunday." Furthermore, as captured in the concert film U2: Rattle and Hum, during the performance of the song on November 9, 1987, the day after the IRA bombing in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, in which 11 people were killed during a Remembrance Day service, Bono bluntly denounced the violence in Ireland and the Irish expatriates who supported it. His anger and passion were palpable as he shouted: "Fuck the 'revolution'!"

The album's first single, "New Year's Day", was U2's first international hit single, reaching the #10 position on the U.K. charts and nearly cracking the Top 50 on the U.S. charts. MTV put the "New Year's Day" video into heavy rotation, which helped introduce U2 to the American audience. For the first time, the band began performing to sold-out concerts in mainland Europe and the U.S. on their subsequent War Tour. The band recorded the Under a Blood Red Sky EP on this tour and a live video was also released, both of which received radio and MTV play and helped expand the band's audience.

The Unforgettable Fire and Live Aid (1984 – 1986)

The band began their fourth studio album with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois producing. The experimental The Unforgettable Fire (named after a series of paintings made by survivors of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki) followed in 1984. The album featured the tribute to civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., "Pride (In the Name of Love)". "Pride" became the first single from the album, cracking the U.K. Top 5 and the US Top 50.

The album represented a turning point in the band's career, as Bono's lyrics became more complex, subtle and experimental, the Edge's guitar explored new sonic landscapes, and the rhythm section got looser and funkier. However, the material, although less overtly so, remained political. Songs include "Indian Summer Sky", a social commentary on the prison-like atmosphere of city living in a world of natural forces, and "MLK", a second song honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. The album's release coincided with a photo exhibit at the Chicago Peace Museum featuring images of the aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings; Bono would later contribute a poem entitled "Dreams in Box" to the museum's archives.

The centrepiece of the album is "Bad", a long, experimental song which, while never released as a single, provided the album's defining moment: a cathartic exploration on the theme of heroin dependency - a problem particularly prevalent in the Dublin of the mid-1980s. During the Unforgettable Fire Tour to support the new album, Bono took to wrapping his microphone cable around his arm in imitation of a junkie looking for a vein. The tour itself became the first time U2 extensively played in indoor arenas.

Miles Davis is reputed to have asked the album to be played while on his deathbed.

The Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium for Ethiopian famine relief in July 1985 was seen by more than a billion people worldwide. U2 were not expected to be one of the main draws for the event, but the band provided the show with one of its most memorable moments, a relentless 13-minute version of "Bad" in which Bono leapt off the stage to dance with a fan. The other band members were upset with Bono for spending the time they had planned for playing "Pride (In the Name of Love)", and Bono was convinced he had squandered a chance for promoting the band to a greater audience. Larry Mullen Jr. admitted that the rest of the band had considered leaving the stage as he was performing. After the concert, the other band members demanded he leave U2, Bono instead took a few weeks off to think about his role in the band, and was welcomed back with open arms. Somewhat ironically, the Live Aid version of "Bad" has become something of a legend in rock circles, and was an indication of the personal connection that Bono could make with audiences.

In 1985 Rolling Stone magazine called U2 the "Band of the 80s", saying that "for a growing number of rock-and-roll fans, U2 has become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters."

U2 went on to a headlining spot on 1986's A Conspiracy of Hope Tour for Amnesty International. This 6-show tour across the U.S. performed to sold-out arenas and stadiums, and helped Amnesty International triple its membership in the process.

The Joshua Tree & Rattle and Hum (1987 – 1989)

In 1987, U2 released The Joshua Tree. The album debuted at #1 in the U.K., quickly reached #1 in the U.S., and would go on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The singles "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" also quickly went to #1 in the U.S., with "Where the Streets Have No Name" being another heavily played track. U2 was the fourth rock band to be featured on the cover of Time magazine (following The Beatles, The Band, and The Who), who declared that U2 was "Rock's Hottest Ticket". The Joshua Tree Tour sold out stadiums around the world, the first time the band had consistently played venues of that size .

Bono and U2 were still able to seize the moment. At Wembley Stadium in London, in 1987, U2 sang a haunting version of The Beatles' "Help!" - dedicating it to those in the audience who were dreading another five years of the recently re-elected Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. The band also covered The Beatles' "Helter Skelter", declaring "This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles; we're stealin' it back."

The band began to film and record various shows from the tour for the documentary and double album Rattle and Hum in 1988 and released on video in 1989. That album became a tribute to American music, which the band recorded part of at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis (along with The Point Depot, Dublin, Ireland), performed with Bob Dylan and B.B. King, and sang about blues great Billie Holiday. Amongst the songs performed live that made it to the album were Helter Skelter (see above), a cover version of Bob Dylan's famous song All Along The Watchtower.

Despite a positive reception from fans, Rattle and Hum received mixed-to-negative reviews from both film and music critics. U2 went on the Lovetown Tour (with special guest B.B. King), which visited Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, but avoided the US and most of Europe. Perhaps feeling that U2 was somewhat stagnating, Bono announced during a December 30, 1989 concert in Dublin that it was time "to go away and dream it all up again."

Achtung Baby, Zoo TV and Zooropa (1991 – 1994)

After taking some time off, the band met in East Berlin in autumn of 1990 to begin work on their next studio album, again with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois producing. The original sessions did not go well, but following the inspirational completion of the hit song 'One,' the band eventually emerged from the studio with renewed energy and a new album under its belt. In November of 1991, U2 released the heavily experimental and distorted Achtung Baby. The album was enthusiastically received by fans and critics alike, with Rolling Stone magazine declaring that U2 had "proven that the same penchant for epic musical and verbal gestures that leads many artists to self-parody can, in more inspired hands, fuel the unforgettable fire that defines great rock & roll." What was often said at the time was that Achtung Baby introduced a legion of new U2 fans, people who had heard the group for many years but never really liked them or bought their records before. The group's fanbase was therefore expanded significantly by this release. New fans were perhaps most drawn in by the song "Mysterious Ways".

In early 1992, U2 began its first American tour in more than four years. The multimedia event known as the Zoo TV Tour masterfully confused audiences with hundreds of video screens, upside-down flying Trabant cars, mock transmission towers, satellite TV links, subliminal text messages, and over-the-top stage characters such as "The Fly", "Mirror-ball Man" and "Mister MacPhisto". The tour was, among other things, U2's attempt at mocking the excesses of rock and roll by appearing to embrace greed and decadence - at times, even away from the stage. Some missed the point of the tour and thought that U2 had "lost it," and that Bono had become an egomaniac. European leg link-ups to war-torn Sarajevo caused further controversy. Following the same theme, U2 went back into the studio to record their next release during a break in the Zoo TV Tour. The album was intended as an additional EP to Achtung Baby, but soon Zooropa expanded into a full-fledged LP and was released in July of 1993. Zooropa was an even greater departure from the style of their earlier recordings, incorporating techno style and other electronic effects. The Zooropa album was, like Achtung Baby before it, popular among people who had never been fans of U2 before, further expanding the fanbase and hugely increasing the band's ability to remain popular into the 1990s and beyond. In particular, the tracks Zooropa, Stay (Faraway, So Close!) and, maybe most of all, The Wanderer, a duet with Johnny Cash, proved influential in winning the admiration of new fans.

After some time off - and a few side projects (the Batman Forever and Mission: Impossible soundtracks) - the band returned under the radar in 1995 with Brian Eno under the moniker "Passengers", and released an experimental album called Original Soundtracks No. 1. The album, including a collaboration with Luciano Pavarotti, "Miss Sarajevo", was not largely noticed in the industry, and received little attention from the critics and public alike.

Pop and Popmart (1996 – 1998)

In early 1996, U2 began work on their next record. The recording of this album was fraught with difficulty. U2 were once again attempting to change their musical direction, this time the band were experimenting with heavy post production of their music, utilizing tape loops, programming and sampling. This gave the album a techno/disco feel. Pop was released in March of 1997. The album debuted at #1 in 28 countries, and earned U2 mainly positive reviews. Rolling Stone even went so far as claiming U2 had "defied the odds and made some of the greatest music of their lives." However, audiences and fans felt that the music industry had exceeded the limits of tolerance in promoting Pop, and the album was seen as something of a disappointment by many.

One of the main problems the band had when the recording the album was the time constraint placed upon them by their impending tour. The band has admitted they were hurried into completing the album and say that a number of tracks on the album were not finished as well they would have liked. It is not surprising that the tracks from Pop picked for U2's second greatest hits album – "Gone", "Discothèque", and "Staring at the Sun" – were all remixed for inclusion on that album.

With the Popmart Tour, U2, once again continued the Zoo TV theme of decadence. The show hit the road in April, 1997; the set included a 100-foot tall golden yellow arch, a large 150 foot long video screen, and a 35 foot tall mirrorball lemon. It was to be U2's most colorful show to date. One of the stops was in Sarajevo, where they were the first major group to perform after the war there. The Popmart Tour was the second-highest grossing tour of 1997 (behind the Rolling Stones' Bridges to Babylon Tour) with revenues of just under $80 million, but it cost more than $100 million to produce.

The Popmart Tour and Zoo TV Tour was intended to send a sarcastic message to all those accusing U2 of commercialism. The shows were also intended to be shining a mirror back onto the world, taking all the subtle advertising and messages we are exposed to every day and blowing them up so they were visible to the world, best shown in the famous picture of Bono (dressed as The Fly) with the message "WATCH MORE TV" written next to it.

The band played a brief concert in Belfast in May of 1998, three days before the public voted in favour of the Northern Ireland Peace Accord. Also that year, U2 performed on an Irish TV fundraiser for victims of the Omagh, Northern Ireland bombing which killed 28 and injured hundreds earlier in the year. In late 1998, U2 released its first greatest hits compilation, The Best of 1980-1990.

All That You Can't Leave Behind and Elevation (2000 – 2001)

U2 went back into the studio in early 1999, yet again with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois producing. After the overwhelming extravagance of the Popmart Tour, critics and music industry insiders felt that U2 was trying to return to the days of The Joshua Tree in order to keep its audience of loyal fans. During these sessions, the band collaborated with author Salman Rushdie, who wrote the lyrics to a song called "The Ground Beneath Her Feet", taken from his book of the same name. The song eventually appeared on the soundtrack to The Million Dollar Hotel, a movie based on a story written by Bono.

All That You Can't Leave Behind, released in late October of 2000, was received widely as U2's return to grace, and was considered by many to be U2's "third masterpiece", following The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. It debuted at No. 1 in 22 countries and spawned a world-wide hit single, "Beautiful Day", which also earned three Grammy Awards. U2 followed that release with a major tour in the spring of 2001, the Elevation Tour.

The Elevation Tour saw the band performing in a scaled-down setting, returning to arenas after nearly a decade of stadium productions, with a heart-shaped stage and ramp permitting greater proximity to the audience. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 nearly led U2 to cancel the last third of the tour but they decided to continue nonetheless; the new album's "Walk On" gained added resonance. The tour ended up as the top concert draw in North America in 2001. Following such an accomplished album, and a hugely successful tour, many fans felt that U2 had been successful in "re-applying for the job of the biggest band in the world," an application Bono had made a year earlier.

After the Elevation Tour ended in late 2001, the culmination of U2's critical resurrection came when the band performed a well-received three-song set in New Orleans, Louisiana during halftime of Super Bowl XXXVI. The highlight was an emotional performance of "Where the Streets Have No Name" in which the names of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks were projected onto a pair of backdrops, scrolling up towards the sky; at the end of the song the backdrops were released, descending to the ground in a gentle revisiting of the Twin Towers' fall. Bono then opened his jacket, which he had worn throughout the Elevation Tour, to reveal the American flag printed as the lining, an image that was widely reproduced in the media. All That You Can't Leave Behind went on to receive four more Grammy Awards.

Bono continued his campaigns for debt and HIV/AIDS relief throughout the summer of 2002. In late 2002, U2 released part two of its greatest hits collection, The Best of 1990-2000. Dance artists LMC sampled "With or Without You" for their track "Take Me To The Clouds Above" which also features lyrics from "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston. All four members of U2 had to clear the track, which was released under the title of LMC vs. U2. Adam Clayton said of the track: "It's a good beat and you can dance to it. I especially like the bassline." The track went to the top of the UK singles charts in February 2004 and also went top 5 in Ireland and top ten in Australia.

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and "Vertigo" (2004 – )

A rough-cut of the band's follow-up album was stolen in Nice, France, in July 2004 [2]. Shortly thereafter, Bono stated that, should the album appear on P2P networks, it would be released immediately via iTunes and be in stores within a month. No such pre-release of the album occurred, however, and the first single from the album, titled "Vertigo", was released for airplay on September 24, 2004. The song received extensive airplay in the first week after its release and became an international hit. The album, titled How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, was released on November 22 in much of the world and November 23 in the United States. The album debuted at #1 in 32 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the band's native Ireland. It sold 840,000 units in the United States in its first week. This was a record for the band, nearly doubling the first-week sales of All That You Can't Leave Behind in the US.

U2 promoted How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb heavily. They made appearances on TV shows like CD:UK and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in Britain and Saturday Night Live in America. The band also made a video for the second North American single, "All Because Of You", while riding on a flatbed truck through the streets of Manhattan on November 22. They then played a free concert at a park beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, attracting over 30,000 fans who had learned of the show on various U2 fan websites.

In another first, the band entered an extensive cross-promotion campaign with Apple Computer: the band allowed the single "Vertigo" to be used in a widely aired television commercial for the iPod music player -- though the band did not receive any royalties for the use of the song, due to the commercial the song was well known even before the release of the album. This move shocked some fans who remember U2's previous staunch refusal to get involved in any product promotion. The band also licensed a special version of the iPod with a U2 design (black faceplate with red click wheel, echoing the color scheme for the new album) and facsimiles of the bandmembers' signatures etched on the back plate. The partnership also led Apple's iTunes Music Store to feature a collection known as The Complete U2. The digital box set features each U2 album in its entirety, as well as every single and B-side ever released, rare live sets, and previously unreleased songs from recording sessions of All That You Can't Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Owners of the U2 Edition iPod were able to purchase this collection at a discount.

In Europe, the next single released from the album - "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" - once again featured a Bono/Pavarotti performance on the B-side. The performance is a Jacknife Lee remix of "Ave Maria" sung by Bono with Luciano Pavarotti.The B-Side of the single also includes a remix of the hit "Vertigo" and a Jacknife Lee remix of "Fast Cars." Fast Cars is an album track available only on the UK and Japan versions and American deluxe editions of Atomic Bomb. The single will be available on two CD formats and a DVD single. The DVD carries a video of an exclusive live performance of "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" from the band's Dublin studio, and a Trent Reznor remix of "Vertigo."

In April 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed U2 in its 50 "greatest rock & roll artists of all time". On March 14, 2005, U2 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. They were inducted by their good friend Bruce Springsteen.

In late 2004, "Mercy", an unreleased track taken from the 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb' sessions, surfaced on the internet thanks to a fan who had been given a copy of the album containing the extra track. Though it is still unknown where this copy of the album (which at the time of writing is still the only declared CD [let alone copy of 'How To...'] in the public domain to have the track) came from, the track caused mass hysteria throughout the U2 fan community! Numerous websites hosted the track, touting it as a yet unreleased B-side after Bono told the same fan who received the 'Special copy' weeks after meeting the singer to "Watch out for Mercy" as it was one of his favourite songs from the sessions and is the "Best B-side ever recorded." *not verbatim.

The track, in its current form floating around on the internet, is of less than standard audio quality but has still got the ball rolling on many a debate. Some say it should have been included on 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb' [it was left off, along with 'Fast Cars', which surfaced as a bonus track in some countries, to prevent the album from running too long over an hour] whereas others feel the track should be kept for U2's next album. The song appears to be so popular, many fans are citing it as one of their top 10 all-time favourite U2 tracks, saying it's U2's best songwriting in years, harking back to the days of sonic experimentation witnessed in 1991's "Achtung Baby"

The first leg of the Vertigo Tour began in the United States, with the band performing 26 sold-out shows. The first leg started off in March in San Diego, California and finished in May in Boston, Massachusetts. The band performed well-known hits, songs from the current album, and early rarities. The second leg was a European stadium tour, which started on June 10 in Brussels and finished on August 14 in Lisbon. They played in a number of venues including Paris, Amsterdam, London, Dublin, Rome and Oslo. The band then returned to the United States and finished up on December 19 in Portland, Oregon. Their featured stop in Chicago, Illinois was filmed over two nights in May, 2005 for the live DVD U2 - Vertigo 2005 // Live From Chicago. The DVD marks their third live film since their 2001 Elevation Tour.

U2 have smashed Irish box office records with ticket sales for their 2005 Croke Park, Dublin concerts, after more than 240,000 tickets were sold in record time. In Belgium, France and Austria the tickets were sold within 60 minutes.

The third single from the album, "City of Blinding Lights", entered the UK singles chart at #2 on June 12. They performed alongside Coldplay, Paul McCartney, and Pink Floyd, among others, in the Live 8 concert in London on July 2nd, 2005.

The Vertigo Tour European leg climaxed at the Estádio José Alvalade XXI in Lisbon on August 15 after the band received the country's most prestigious honour, the Order of Liberty from Portugal's President Jorge Sampaio regarding the band's hugely influential work for action in Africa and across the world concerning extreme poverty. Commenting on the award, which had never previously been awarded to a foreign music group, Bono said, "It is of course for the four of us a great, great honour... ... if we really believed that an African life was equal to a European life we would not stand by with watering cans while an entire continent was bursting into flames."

Before presenting the award, the President said: "Over the last 25 years you have shown that it is possible to combine the pleasure of artistic creation with civic and humanitarian intervention to help build a better world."

Action against poverty has been a major feature point of the Vertigo 05 shows, as Bono has used the song "One" as an opportunity to plead with fans in attendance to join the ONE Campaign in the fight against poverty.

On November 9, U2 announced that the Vertigo tour will continue into 2006, and the band will appear in Mexico, South America, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. The leg will finish in Hawaii on April 8. Shows in Sydney, Australia at the Telstra Stadium sold out in just an hour and over the course of that day, the Melbourne and New Zealand shows also sold out.

On December 8, U2 was awarded with 5 Grammy nominations, including 'Album of the Year', and 'Song of the Year' for "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own." On December 20, Mary J. Blige released her ninth studio album "The Breakthrough". U2 was featured on the album as part of Blige's remake of U2's "One".

On December 18, 2005, Time magazine awarded its prestigious "Person of the Year" honor to Bono as well as philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates [3].

Next album recordings (2006 – 2007)

In mid-2005, a source (Anti-Music) reported that U2 have plans for a new album and are keen to record more. According to Bono there are 24 songs that came out of sessions, of which the band took 11 for their subsequent record. The Vertigo tour kicked off in San Diego on 28 March and is expected to go well into 2006, so there aren't current plans to go into the studio to record. Most likely a new record will surface in 2007, but 2006 cannot be ruled out entirely. In the January 2006 edition of Q magazine, Bono said that the band were working on a new album for 2006. In 1993, during a break in the massive Zoo TV Tour, U2 recorded what was to be Zooropa. The album was released only a year and half after their groundbreaking album Achtung Baby. There have also been talks of U2 re-recording their 1997 album, Pop for a tenth anniversary. Considering recent comments from the members of the band, this now seems more likely than them rushing to get the remains of the How to Dismantle... sessions finished. Bono has said that the biggest mistake the band has ever made was letting their manager book the PopMart tour, as it meant they had to rush to finish the Pop album. Thus, they consider Pop at least a partial artistic failure, despite over 7 million in sales.

Since this article has been written, U2 has extended the Vertigo tour to take up a great deal of 2006. The Edge has also admitted that he writes songs after every show, but only 1 in 10 of these songs on the road will go anywhere, and has expressed longing to get back into a recording studio.

Other projects

U2 has worked with other collaborators; the individual members have also worked in smaller groups together and with outsiders. Bono recorded the song "In a Lifetime" with the Irish band Clannad. Together with The Edge, Bono wrote the song "GoldenEye" for the James Bond movie of the same name, which was performed by Tina Turner. The pair also wrote the song "She's A Mystery To Me" for Roy Orbison, which was released on his album Mystery Girl, while Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. did a rework of the title track of the movie Mission: Impossible in 1996.

While working under the pseudonym "Passengers," U2 gave producer Brian Eno creative control and cranked out the album Original Soundtracks No. 1. The work is a compilation of film music for nonexistent movies, and a bit of a step back from the usual style of the band, thus the pseudonym "Passengers". Two of the tracks, "Miss Sarajevo" (which got world airplay after its live duet between Bono and Pavarotti was included in the album Pavarotti And Friends) and "Your Blue Room" (a fan favorite, including a vocal track by the band's bassist, Adam Clayton), even made it to their best-of album for 1990-2000.

U2 also worked together with other artists, including the U.S. author William S. Burroughs, who had a guest appearance in their video of "Last Night on Earth" shortly before he died. His poem "A Thanksgiving Prayer" was used as video footage during the band's Zoo TV Tour.

Many musicians have been influenced by the work of U2. There are several cover versions of U2 songs by Pet Shop Boys, Pearl Jam, Aslan, and The Chimes and musicians such as Cassandra Wilson, Mica Paris and Johnny Cash. U2 has enjoyed reciprocal influential relationships with artists including REM and Anton Corbijn, as well as exerting influences on others, including the Austrian painter Kave Atefie who dedicated two successful art series ("Like a promise in the year of election" and "Outside it's America") to the work of the Irish band.

Since 1982, Anton Corbijn has been photographing U2. He "invented" U2’s public image and is still shaping it. Since their first encounter in February 1982 in New Orleans to their April 2004 Lisbon shooting for "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb", their longstanding friendship, mutual inspiration, and shared experience of rock history is part of the history of photography.

Discography

For a complete discography, see U2 discography.

Studio albums

1. 1980 - Boy (total sales 5M)
2. 1981 - October (5M)
3. 1983 - War (10M)
4. 1984 - The Unforgettable Fire (10M)
5. 1987 - The Joshua Tree (18M)
6. 1991 - Achtung Baby (14M)
7. 1993 - Zooropa (8M)
8. 1997 - Pop (8M)
9. 2000 - All That You Can't Leave Behind (13M)
10. 2004 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (12M)

Live albums

1. 1983 - Under a Blood Red Sky(8M)
2. 1988 - Rattle and Hum (half-live/half-studio album) (13M)
3. 2000 - Hasta La Vista Baby! (Recorded live during the Popmart Tour at Foro Sol Autodromo, Mexico City, December 3rd 1997. Available only to members of Propaganda Fan Club)
4. 2005 - U2.Communication (Live album of 8 songs from the current Vertigo Tour, 5 of which are from the 'Live in Chicago' DVD, the other 3 recorded in Milan/July 2005. This album was only available to U2.com subscribers)

Other projects

1. 1979 - U2-Three (EP)
2. 1985 - Wide Awake in America (EP)
3. 1995 - Original Soundtracks No. 1 (with Brian Eno, band went under the name The Passengers).
4. 2000 - Million Dollar Hotel Soundtrack
5. 2004 - The Complete U2 (available for download from the iTunes Music Store) which includes all studio albums, singles and officially released live tracks, as well as some previously unreleased content.

Campaigning

U2 is almost as well known for its humanitarian nature as it is for its music. Bono is perhaps the best-known advocate for finding a cure for AIDS and helping the impoverished in Africa. Some charity organisations supported by U2 include:

• Amnesty International
• Greenpeace
• African Well Fund
• Support for Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi
• DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa)
• Chernobyl Children's Project
• Jubilee Debt Campaign
• The ONE Campaign
• Live 8
• Make Poverty History

Sound samples

• Download sample of a live performance of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song"
• Download sample of "Pride (In the Name of Love)" from the album, The Unforgettable Fire.