U2-A Diary

I was over in Seattle all of last week and didn’t get any work done on the book. Answer Guy is now here visiting at Casa McGee, but he called it a night early and I’ve been writing like a maniac.

Somehow I got stuck tonight on early December, 2002 — the Heart of America Tour that Bono did with DATA, and with the likes of Ashley Judd, Chris Tucker, and many others. When I began, there were two entries for that in the book — the day it started and the day it ended. Now, thanks to all kinds of research and a lot of article reading, I have full and complete entries for every day from November 30 (when Bono arrived in Nebraska) to November 9 (when he left for the Gangs of New York film premiere in NYC). At one point, I even busted out our Travel Atlas so I could figure out the exact order of all the stops they made at local diners, truck stops, high schools, etc. I’m more familiar with Iowa geography than ever!

All told, I went from two brief entries to almost four full pages of material. Sweet! I’m just waiting for some clarification on the last day or two from a friend who lives in Nashville, and I’ll be all done with the Heart of America Tour.

It’s been a great night of writing, and Answer Guy is sleeping like a baby in the other room.

Oh! Does anyone have any photos from the Heart of America Tour? If so, please contact me…..

This Vanity Fair article by Lisa Robinson says that poet Allen Ginsberg was in attendance when U2 announced the PopMart Tour at the K-Mart in New York City.

Why have I never heard that before? He died about two months later, as I understand.

Any chance someone can confirm that?

I like when little things come together perfectly. Here’s an example of what just happened, and how it helped fill a small hole in the book:

1.) I’m reading this article to get some background about U2′s deal with ESPN for those World Cup soccer/football commercials last year. The article mentions that Bono and Paul McGuinness were looking at the scripts for those commercials while U2 flew from Los Angeles to Monterrey earlier in 2006 during the Vertigo Tour.

Ding! That deserves a mention. Not hugely important, but it should be in the book. It adds a little more detail to the process and development of U2′s relationship with ESPN.

But where to find out the day of that flight?

2) Where else, but Willie Williams’ tour diaries on U2.com. After poking around a bit, it becomes obvious that the band flew to Monterrey on February 10, 2006.

So, we have a new diary entry for the book, which looks like this:

February 10, 2006

Though much of the crew is already in Mexico, U2 flies from Los Angeles to Monterrey today. During the flight, the band reviews the scripts for a series of World Cup commercials ESPN wants to air later this year. The scripts call for each band member to provide voice-overs for a set of five commercials.

As I said, sometimes it’s the little victories…..

You probably know about the “naked interview” that all four band members did with Irish DJ Dave Fanning in 1987. Then in 1992 there was another interview — just Bono this time — in which Bono reportedly stripped naked during the interview. This supposedly happened at Nikitas Restaurant in London during the 3rd week of March, 1992.

U2Faqs.com has a description of the event, complete with newspaper article references and confirmation from a U2 publicist.

In its March 27, 1992, issue, Newsday says this happened “earlier this week.”

How is that possible? U2 was on tour in the U.S. that week:

March 20: New York
March 21: Albany
March 23: Montreal
March 24: Toronto
March 26: Cleveland

Anyone have better information about the date of this nekkid interview?

We all know that U2 spent about a week in the Hershey, PA, area doing rehearsals for the Zoo TV Outside Broadcast Tour in August, 1992. That much is common knowledge.

But up until last night, for that 7-day period, U2 Diary only had two entries: One for August 1st, the day the band arrived; and one for August 7th, the day of the rehearsal gig.

Then a U2 fan named Stacey S. emailed me a bunch of scans from the local newspaper’s coverage all week long of U2′s time in the area. How did that help? Here’s a list of what I learned:

• U2 rehearsed every night except their first night, which I would’ve guessed, but it’s great to have confirmation.
• They stayed at the Hilton hotel in Harrisburg, PA.
• They stopped to chat and sign autographs with fans every day outside the hotel.
• About 200 fans per night hung out near the stadium to listen to rehearsals.
• Local police received about 200 calls during the week from people complaining about the loud noise, and one guy even filed a complaint against Hershey Entertainment (owners of the stadium).
• During a break in rehearsals one night, Bono and Adam did an interview with the local newspaper.
• The rehearsal was announced and tickets went on sale the same day that week.

There are some good photos in the newspaper scans, so I’ll be in contact with the paper to see about getting permission to use 1-2 of those in the book.

Beyond all of this, there are also some stories in BP Fallon’s U2 Faraway So Close book, so what used to be two basic entries for that week is now a much more detailed and comprehensive look at what happened while U2 was rehearsing in Hershey, PA.

Thank you, Stacey!

If you think you might have scans or clippings of other unknown appearances and such, please contact me with details. Thanks, folks.