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Having secured the all-important record deal, the rest of 1980 was spent touring extensively.
Despite this, the band also found time to record their first LP, Boy,
which received widespread critical acclaim on its release in October. A year later came
October a much more mellow and spiritual record that reflected the
Christian beliefs of Bono, Edge and Larry, and built on the success of 'Boy'.
U2 really hit the big time with the War LP, released in March 1983. Boosted by the success of the
'New Year's Day' single, the record entered the UK charts at Number 1, and established the band as a
mainstream act. Further tours followed through the US and Europe, where the songs for the mini Live
LP Under A Blood Red Sky were recorded. This record marked the end of an era, as it was
the last record before brian Eno and Daniel Lanois were engaged to work on
future LPs.
The next record to be released, The Unforgettable Fire, marked a
distinct change in direction towards a more complex style, moving away from the 'anthems' of
the War era. Despite a few teething problems incorporating the newer songs into the band's live set,
the material was well received on the subsequent European and US tours. The mini LP
Wide Awake in America was comprised of 2 new tracks and 2 live
recordings from the European tour. It was at this time, in April 1985, that 'Rolling Stone' magazine
dubbed U2 "The Band of The Eighties".
That summer U2 played in the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in London,
where they gave a memorable performance, as the song 'Bad' over-ran to about 12 minutes! Bono actually
considered leaving the band at that point, as he feared that his antics during that show (dancing with girls
from the audience while leaving the band to play on regardless) had ruined the
set for the rest of the band - Pride had to be dropped from the set due to lack of time. Only when a friend told him
that it was one of the high points of the day did he come round. The following year U2 played Self Aid,
a benefit for Ireland's unemployed, and joined the Conspiracy of Hope tour for Amnesty International.
The Joshua Tree, another Eno/Lanois collaboration which was released in March 1987. This
was to be their most successful record to date, becoming the fastest selling record ever in the UK on its
release, and reaching number one in 22 countries. The accompanying sell-out tour included over 100 shows,
and cemented their reputation as what what 'Time' magazine called "Rock's hottest ticket". During the tour,
director Phil Joanou was chosen to put together a film which would capture the live shows, and also depict
the band's perceptions of America. Filmed chiefly in Denver Colorado and Tempe Arizona, the resulting movie
Rattle and Hum and the LP of the same name were released in October 1988. Taken from this LP, the single
'Desire' gave U2 their first UK mumber one single. Other songs on the record, such as 'When Love Comes to Town'
featured blues legend BB King, and he joined U2 on the Love Town tour which concentrated on Australia, New
Zealand and Japan.
At the end of the 1980s, U2 played a series of 4 concerts at The Point Depot in Dublin, culminating with a
show on New Year's Eve which was broadcast throughout the world. Bono announced that night that it was "time
to go away and dream it all up again". This led some to believe that U2 were considering splitting up, but
those fears proved to be unfounded with the release of Achtung Baby in November 1991. A much more electronically
processed record than their earlier releases, it marked a new beginning in U2's career. The subsequent ZooTV tour
was a huge extravaganza which used giant video screens to create a stunning visual spectacle, and at the end of each
show of the tour Bono attempted to call VIPs such as Bill Clinton, Pavarotti, or Princess Diana.
Zoooropa which was released in July 1993. Less commercially successful than
previous releases, it was called U2's most experimental work to date. It was to be 4 years before their next LP was
released, although they continued working on various outside projects, such as the soundtrack for Batman Forever
which yielded the single 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. Larry and Adam worked on the 'Mission Impossible'
soundtrack, while Bono and Edge worked on 'Goldeneye'. U2 also donated songs to good causes such as the AIDS
fundraiser 'Red, Hot and Blue' and 'A Very Special Christmas'.
In March 1997 U2 released Pop which Edge described as being "about as far away from U2 as it
is possible to be". Yet another massive world tour followed, which utilised the world's largest video screen at 150 feet wide and 50 feet tall to show live pictures of the band performing, along with computer generated animation
sequences. Other props included a giant rotating lemon shaped mirrorball (from which the band would emerge for the
encores) and a huge olive on a 100 foot high cocktail stick. According to recent reports, this was to be the last
tour of such proportions that the band would undertake. Future shows are more likely to be 'back to basics' in terms
of the sets used etc.
A new LP entitled All That You Can't Leave Behind was released on the 30th October 2000 (31st
in the US). In a recent interview, manager Paul McGuinness stated that because of the high price of CDs in the UK and Ireland
and because U2's earliest fans came from those countries, there would be a bonus track (The Ground Beneath Her Feet) on the UK
release of the album. The new LP reached number one in the british album charts in its first week of release, but did not manage
this feat in the America, where sales were not quite what many had hoped.
In support of All That You Can't Leave Behind, the Elevation tour started in Florida on March 24th 2001 and covered North America, Europe and then
back to North America, where the shows seemed to take on a new meaning in the wake of September 11th. More dates were expected to be announced for
Europe, but this didn't happen. Sadly, Australasia and South America have so far missed out on the tour for economic reasons. The weakness of the
currencies in those regions means that a tour would not be financially viable. On 3rd Feb 2002 the band appeared at the halftime show of Superbowl
XXXVI where they performed Beautiful Day, MLK and Where the Streets Have No Name to the backdrop of a touching tribute to the victims of Sptember 11th.
A second Best Of CD is scheduled for release later this year and a new single entitled Electrical Storm is due out in October. A new studio album is also expected in the early
part of 2003.
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