Tag: Bono

U2, Creativity, & Christmas

Posted on December 23, 2009

It might come as a surprise that Rolling Stone has named No Line on the Horizon as Best Album of the Year, with Moment of Surrender as Best Song (which is a pretty amazing song: read about its development here). This album certainly marks a new expression of creativity for U2, and they still don’t think they have made their best album yet (good news for Joshua Tree lovers?) In a recent interview, the Edge was asked about the band’s belief that their best music as still to come. His response lends wisdom for creativity:

We all genuinely believe it. It’s not arrogance. It’s because we are still hungry. There’s no reason why we can’t do this. You think about other art forms and artists – filmmakers, painters, sculptors. It doesn’t follow that your best work is done in your late twenties, early thirties, and then it’s downhill. Unfortunately, that’s the way rock & roll has panned out. But we don’t buy that. Our only limitation is our ability to apply ourselves, to be hard-minded on our work. We push and push until we get to those special pieces of music, those lyrics. And it doesn’t arrive on call. You can’t turn it on. It needs time spent and time spent in the right frame of mind.

While I’m on the topic of U2, you might consider this powerful quote as a means of grace to stir your Christmas affections. Don’t just read it; meditate on it. Merry Christmas!

The idea that God, if there is a force of Logic and Love in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw…a child… I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry … Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and it’s not that it hadn’t struck me before, but tears came streaming down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this

And here’s a bonus, the new song “Winter” off the Brothers soundtrack. Moving.

Brian Eno: Moment of Surrender

Posted on December 8, 2009

U2 producer Brian Eno is interviewed about the making of “The Moment of Surrender”, which also happens to be one of my favorites from the album. Interestingly, the song was only played once, in the studio, where it came together and stuck!

Eno’s description of the song creation is insightful, not just for U2 fans, but also for anyone concerned with creativity. The creative process was transcendent and collaborative, as Bono put it: “Instead of going into the studio to find the music, the music found us.” Eno described this experience like “channeling the song”, which brought to mind Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk on the necessity of artist’s finding a muse.

U2 Concerts Make You Wanna…

Posted on October 26, 2009

On the heels of attending the 360 Degree Tour and watching the global webcast of the Rose Bowl concert last night, I’ve been thinking…

There’s something about a U2 concert that makes you want to create. The sheer creativity of a U2 concert is staggering. The past 5 or 6 tours, save the stripped down Elevation tour, have been jam-packed with an awe-inspiring fusion of art and technology. From massive German cars on stilts to larger than life lemons, to a 360 degree screen that expands to triple its size, U2 continues to push the boundaries of technology for the sake of art. The magnitude of these spectaculars border on the absurd, until you realize that each prop, each piece is weighted in symbolism. The POP tour, for instance boasted shopping carts, a massive lemon and olive, and a few other props as if to say: “Look around you. You’ve bought into a life of meaningless, larger than life, pop life.” To quote Bono, ”

You know you’re chewing bubble gum, you know what it is but you still want some. You know you’re chewing bubble gum. You just can’t get enough of that lovey-dovey stuff.”

There’s something about a U2 concert that makes you want to give. For all the pomp and circumstance, millions spent on entertainment, and theatrics, U2 continues to use their success to put other causes first. For years they have advocated for the poor, the oppressed, and the helpless. They call us to create, to enjoy great music, but they don’t stop there. They call us through those experiences to engage the global poor and helpless. To join the ONE campaign, to Free Burma, to work with Amnesty International, to live for others not merely for ourselves. To fight for the miracle drug:

“In science and in medicine, I was a stranger You took me in, I’ve had enough of romantic love I’d give it up, yeah, I’d give it up For a miracle, a miracle drug”

There’s something about a U2 concert that makes you want to worship. The raw emotive power alone moves you to sing, to rejoice, to feel for something bigger. Every concert has that song, that moment when the entire crowd is caught up into a moment of ecstasy, of worship. There’s probably a hundred gods at that moment, gods of creativity, success, emotion, power, personality, charisma, talent. But if you listen closely, there’s an unmistakable refrain in Bono’s lyrics, a refrain of worship that points to God, even to Christ. During the 360 Degree Tour, just before he sang ‘Where the Streets Have No Name,” Bono sang “Amazing Grace,” a grace that saves “wretches like me.” Apparently Bono isn’t going PC on that lyric. Now, this grace could be attributed to a lot of things, but Bono sticks with the author of Grace—Jesus. After Amazing Grace, he introduced Where the Streets Have No Name,” with this statement:

“This one’s for you Jesus, glory to the one who died and rose from the grave.”

Whether we agree or not, like it or not, the worship emanating from Bono’s vocal chords, from his soul, is praise to his Magnificent Creator and Redeemer. To Jesus.

U2 Conference

Posted on August 27, 2009

Achtung Baby! A conference on all things U2 is being held in Durham, NC on Oct 2-4 to explore the philosophy, theology, art, and history of U2. From the website:

We’re bringing together scholars, teachers, students, journalists, clergy, musicians and intellectually curious U2 fans for a rich program of exploring this truly one-of-a-kind band for a truly one-of-a-kind conference, and we hope you’ll be in the room.

More HERE.