U2-A Diary

I’m barely an hour into the discography-type research to make sure I have all the releases in the book, all the release dates correct, and so forth … and now this:

Aaron, whom I trust implicitly, says October was released on October 20, 1981.

U2.com says it was released in September, 1981 (see red text at top), then says “summer of 1981″ further down the page.

In my manuscript, I have October being released on October 12, 1981 — but I have no notes about where that date came from.

Sigh.

Have I mentioned how frustrating this research can be sometimes?

Update!

I figured out why I have October 12 in the manuscript already. Have a look at this scan from the clippings book U2 did covering 1979-1983:

Whew! Nice save….

Whew! After what seems like forever, I’m finally done putting all of the concert dates into the book. What a colossal project that was….

Next up: adding/confirming all the various dates of releases of albums, singles, and so forth. Another mammoth project, I’m assuming.

182,000+ words in the manuscript at the moment, in case you’re keeping track. :)

Anyone up for a sample diary entry from the book?

I thought I’d post the diary entry for July 13, 1985 — U2 at Live Aid. This is one of the longer diary entries, I think. (The album entries are all pretty long, too.)

In addition to the text I’m writing, I hope to have a lot of “sidebars” in the book — these are typically going to be where pertinent quotes from the band or others involved will be used to explain and expand on what I’ve written. For the purpose of this blog post you’re reading, I’m going to put that text in blockquotes so it’s separated from my text.

So, here we go … hope you likey. :)

———-

July 13
- Wembley Stadium, London. Live Aid: London and Philadelphia. Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof organizes the concert to raise money for famine victims in Ethiopia. U2 are set to play at Wembley Stadium in London, about halfway through the day’s lineup. Tickets are sold for £25, but £20 of that is advertised as a donation to the Live Aid charity. Touts outside the stadium are getting as much as £80 for a ticket. Official souvenir stands offer Band Aid videos, Live Aid posters, programs, and shirts – all of which include the line, “This Saves Lives.”

At about 5:20 p.m. London time, Jack Nicholson stands on stage at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia and introduces U2 at Wembley Stadium. The crowd roars and what seem like dozens of U2 flags are waving in the air. The band’s planned set is “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” “Bad” and “Pride (In The Name Of Love),” but U2 only manage to play the first two in their allotted 20 minutes.

“Bad” lasts an astonishing 14 minutes. During the song, Bono breaks one of Geldof’s rules — don’t leave the stage — when he climbs down to ground level to dance with a girl in front of the crowd. It’s one of the most memorable moments of the entire two-continent event, but it leaves the rest of U2 angry with Bono; they never had a chance to play “Pride,” the hit single that many of the billions watching on TV might know.

[SIDEBAR]

Bono: “Larry told me he was going to stop playing”

“I was trying to find an image that would be remembered for the day. I was not happy with just playing our songs and getting out of there. I wanted to find that moment. Of course, afterwards, I got a terrible time from the band. I was almost fired. Because I had climbed on roofs, I had left stages before, I had climbed on PA stacks, I had jumped into the crowds, I had physical confrontations in crowds, but this was the worst one for them, to leave them for what felt like hours, apparently. Larry told me he was going to stop playing. This was a big show for our band, there were a billion people watching, and we didn’t do our big song. Everyone was very annoyed with me, I mean, very annoyed.”

Bono is so depressed that he reportedly thinks about leaving U2. He decides to take some personal time to sort through his feelings and emotions. He escapes to the Irish country, to a small town where Ali has family. There, Bono meets a sculptor who is working on a statue called The Leap, inspired by Bono’s dance with the young girl at Live Aid. Bono rethinks the idea that he had made a mistake.

An estimated 1.5 billion TV viewers around the globe see U2′s performance. Many journalists pick U2 and Queen as the top performances of the day. The band’s album sales rise worldwide after Live Aid, and U2 later wins Rolling Stone magazine’s Readers’ Poll award for Best Performance at Live Aid.

At the request of the UK press, the band issues the following statement about their participation at Live Aid: “U2 are involved in Live Aid because it’s more than money, it’s music…but it is also a demonstration to the politicians and the policy-makers that men, women and children will not walk by other men, women and children as they lie, bellies swollen, starving to death for the sake of a cup of grain and water. For the price of Star Wars, the MX missile offensive-defense budgets, the desert of Africa could be turned into fertile lands. The technology is with us. The technocrats are not. Are we part of a civilization that protects itself by investing in life…or investing in death?” Hoping for something more quotable, many in the media ignore the band’s statement.

(end)

Thanks for all the great questions and comments on that last post a few days ago. Let me try to answer these as best I can. And if anyone has additional questions, feel free to use the comments on this post.

Raul asked: “Do you already have the cover done? How is it going to be? A photo of the band? A Bono photo? No photo?”

The cover is out of my hands. Omnibus (the publisher) has an art department, a photo editor, etc., and coming up with the cover is their job, not mine. I have a specific photo in mind that I’d love to see as the cover image, and I’m going to suggest it at the appropriate time. But the photographer may not want to license it, or may want too much money, etc. Photos, layout, the cover — all the stuff related to the “look” will be dealt with after I turn in the manuscript (which is due January 2nd).

OptimaX asked:

“1. What is the size of the book going to be? I travel a lot and i think i like to have it with me so i can read it in public transport.
2. Will there be a hardback and/or paperback version?
3. As time will continue after the book is ready, is there some sort of clever way to ‘update’ the book with new additions? Or aren’t you planning on contineuing the diary after the book!”

1. I believe the plan is to have the book be about the same size as U2 LIVE, although that may change.
2. I believe there will only be a paperback.
3. I am planning to keep tracking U2′s activities day-to-day. Omnibus will be the ones who decide if the book will be updated. It’s written in the contract that I get first dibbs if they decide to do an update. Considering they’ve done two updates of U2 LIVE, my guess is they’ll want to update U2 DIARY, also — assuming A) I do a good job, and B) the book sells well.

blueshades asked: “Will you be mentioning the founding of @U2?”

Heheheheee. Well, at this moment, the founding of @U2 is not included in the manuscript. I’m flattered you think it should be there, and I gave it some thought since it’s the oldest running fan site around, but I couldn’t justify it. I do include the “U2 Fan Celebration” that we co-hosted with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, because we had the official connection and appearance by Steve Averill and Shaughn McGrath from Four5One. So, @U2 will be mentioned at that point.

Coca asked: “there will be a pre-sale or something like? and. If I buy the book, will you be able to sign it?”

I have no idea how the sales part works. :-) My guess is that Omnibus will announce a release date and the book will appear sometime around then. I’m sure you’ll be able to pre-order it on Amazon or your favorite bookstore site. Publishing seems a bit flaky to me, at least that’s my impression from reporting on all the U2 books that have come out in recent years. They announce a date, and then you never know if the book will show up before or after that date.

I remember when the latest U2 LIVE update came out, I was able to buy a copy in my local store before Caroline received her copy from Omnibus. Crazy!

And if you buy the book, I will scratch my head wondering why anyone would want my signature, but since you’ve been a help here on the blog, Coca, I’ll do it for you. :)

Bjorn asked: “if there would be an audible version of the book, whom would you want to have it read by?”

Ha! What a fun question! Okay … do you know the actor Dennis Haysbert? He’s on a show called The Unit here in the U.S., and he’s also the spokesman for Allstate — he’s the guy in their TV commercials. I love his voice, so he’d be the choice.

Grantham said: “I think you are doing a hell of a job….I look forward to the book. You’ll have to toss a Santa Hat reference in somewhere.”

Thanks, old friend. I don’t know if the Santa Hat episode will make the cut. I’m leaving the really detailed concert stories to U2 LIVE, but we’ll see. What a great night that was…..

Thanks again for all the great questions, everyone! Please post any more in the comments below.

Blogging has been a bit quiet the past week or so, for one simple reason: I’m doing monotonous work on the book right now that doesn’t lend itself to many discussions or calls for help.

What am I doing, you ask? Adding every tour date U2 has played into the manuscript. It’s terribly boring work, although I must admit it’s neat to see the text “filling out” so nicely with all the extra dates included.

So, since I’m not in blogging mode, how about I open the floor and invite you to ask any question you want about the book. Just ask your question in the comments to this post, and I’ll either answer with my own comment, or maybe I’ll do a new post with the answers (if there are a lot).

And if no one has any questions, that’s okay, too. :) But if you do, leave a comment!