By asking What time is it in the world? , U2 are encouraging you to occupy other perspectives, to or

The Saints Are Coming, 2005, though not a U2 song, the video features mock news broadcasts of the US military being diverted from Iraq to deliver aid and relief to the refugees of New Orleans. As the video concludes, patrolling troops vanish from the streets and the camera alamo car rental new york zooms in on a sign reading: Not As Seen On TV .
Cedars of Lebanon, depicts a war correspondent living in Beirut during the 2006 Israeli invasion struggling as he spent the night trying to make a deadline/squeezing complicated lives into a simple headline.
U2 have historically used their live performances as a means for highlighting issues. At Live Aid London in 1985, U2 gave a standout performance still considered to be the highlight of the groundbreaking alamo car rental new york concert; In 1986, after being approached by Jack Healey, Amnesty International s then US Executive Director, U2 interrupted the recording of their Joshua Tree album to headline Amnesty s Conspiracy of Hope tour to promote human rights.
For most of the current tour during Walk On , the outer ring of the band s 360 set would see Amnesty volunteers circle the stage and stand, hauntingly, facing alamo car rental new york out into the audience with face masks of Auug San Suu Kyi.
It is difficult to be a fan of U2 and not have some social and political alamo car rental new york awareness: it lies at the heart of the band s philosophy. Rather than adhere to some dogmatic message, U2 espouse political consciousness itself as an ideology: at least just be aware of issues; be interested in the world.
By asking What time is it in the world? , U2 are encouraging you to occupy alamo car rental new york other perspectives, to orientate yourself in a different alamo car rental new york political and social time-zone, to question your socio-economic fortune.
During the bridge alamo car rental new york of In a Little While , a pre-recorded video U2 complied in association with NASA*, sees an astronaut living on a space station reflecting on the beauty alamo car rental new york of earth from afar, and how small but radiant it is amongst alamo car rental new york the wider galaxy.
To have this relativity simple yet touching notion alamo car rental new york confront you during a display of rock grandeur can disorientate you if only for a second, but a second s reflection is all that U2 are looking to achieve.
U2 are in the entertainment industry. Not the diplomatic industry. The reason I no longer listen to U2 is the same reason I haven t listened to Midnight Oil for many years. People go to their concerts to hear music not the gospal according to Paul Bono Hewson or Peter Garret! As Brian Johnson from ACDC said once in an interview. I support and believe in many charities ...I just don t shove the fact down peoples throats!
U2 have every right to do whatever they want during their concerts and you have every right not to attend. But to say people go to their concerts just to hear their music projects your thinking on to a large proportion of their fans that would completely disagree with you. Many fans go because it is more than just the music.
If Bono recorded a track on how not to pay your taxes, the album would be a number one hit on the American, British and Australian charts. alamo car rental new york On the other hand, the elite in these countries know perfectly well how to avoid paying taxes .
I am reminded of the day each year when a certain fast food outlet gives $1 for each burger sold to the Childrens alamo car rental new york Hospitals allowing people to feel good about paying money to a multi-billion dollar corporation for junk food.
Social Consciousness ,hahahahahaha, here we have a bloke that says save the planet and then proceeds to hold concerts that use the power of a small city to stage, take 55 semi;s to move whilst on the ground and 5 747 s in the air. The blokes an overpaid mediocre singer who uses other people misfortunes to feather his own nest whilst singlehandedly destroying more or the ozone layer in a concert than the average person would do in 2 lifetimes. Just shows the mentality of the politicians who hang on his every word doesnt it, clowns.
For anybody who thinks that U2 are just getting on the social consciousness bandwagon as a marketing ploy - you re mad. They purchase carbon-neutral tours (most street buskers can t even claim that) and that s one of the reasons why they lose $ on every tour they ve done for years now. They get crap every time they mention poverty or Aung Sun Suu Kyi - even from people in the crowd who ve paid $150 to see them.
If they were really frauds they wouldn t be wasting money telling concert-goers in Stockholm to end poverty while being heckled between songs, alamo car rental new york they d be sitting at home doing nothing, getting rich off Joshua Tree sales and not getting crap from anybody. alamo car rental new york The conspiracy theory that it s all for show just doesn t hold up to scrutiny. You don t have to like their music, you don t have to like Bono s poor-man s-Jagger strutting, you don t even have to approve of their political stances - but you have to admit their hearts are clearly in the right place.
I don t mind this. I read the news and donate to charity, so when I go and see Metallica for example, I m not up there thinking I wonder what Hetfield thinks about women s rights in Africa? If they ve written a song about it and it s got a thrashing beat, awesome. I just want them to sing. They can take my money and donate to a charity if they like. But I m not paying for a political consciousness lesson that involves them chattering away in between songs.
I m going to see U2 on Monday. They do great work, and good on them for adopting a cause. I hear they ve toned down the political rhetoric in between songs for this show. All I can say is, thank goodness for that.
I get really tired of the U2 bashing to be honest. It s boring. The instance you mention U2 people start going on and on about how much they hate Bono and what a douche he is. Bono does not equal U2, there are 3 other members of the band.
Well catalogued, Matthew. Unsurprisingly, a second s reflection is too much to ask of those consumed by self interest and envy. I m sure U2 would be happy to compare their record of advocacy for political awareness with the sanctimonious alamo car rental new york hypocrites whose bad conscience attempts to use them as an excuse for their own apathy and negligence.
What is disgusting is enriching yourself alamo car rental new york with riches beyond the imagination of most human beings by leeching off the suffering and sorrow of others around the world. Bob Geldoff pioneered it and U2 jumped on the bandwagon.
So dam true Keith Richards @9am. Cyncism helps absolutely no one, especially those in need. If your conscience bothers you then political activism in music obviously bothers you. Wouldn t it be great if more people were congratulating them (all four) for cashing in their band s reputation in the name of great causes?
I caught the concert in Brisbane last night and did not find the political messages overly annoying. What was annoying, however, alamo car rental new york was the sound, which was crap. Couldn t even hear the poem by the NASA astronaut you mention. Overall, alamo car rental new york too many special effects and not enough soul. The best bits were when they went back to their old stuff. Definitely got the impression that their past their prime.
Bono = hypocrite. Lecturing us on the environment whilst he flies around the world carting 6 jumbos worth of stuff with them, most of which is just there to divert your attanrtion from the fact that U2 are a crap band. Lecturing us on AIDS whilst malaria kills more people in a day then AIDS kills in a month
U2 is one of the only bands that has been able to genuinely move me. Two or three songs on each album (except perhaps Pop) have done it. I buy every one and have seen them every time they have been here since 1984. That s what it s about folks, what the music does for you, its peronal. And could those who confuse carbon emissions with the ozone layer please stop preaching to me and take thier little cause du jour somewhere else where people are interested in your version of the truth.
Disagreeing/disliking is fine, but its worth pointing out that there is one key difference between Bono and your average alamo car rental new york 'celebrity campaigner', and this is that he fronts an organisation he founded, runs, and is very much involved in on a day to day, hands on basis (and with only 6-8 'donors' financing it – its not a charity, does not ask for 'your' money – it's probably a good bet he's dropped a lot of his own coin into it as well.) Not just a loud mouth living large, parachuted in for the odd photo shoot in some desperate Third World locale, good work done for another year. And that organisation is very real, very effective, and very well respected. Ask anyone you know who works for a major NGO what they think of his/this organisations scope and achievements. There is of course often disagreement about ideas and methods when it comes to development etc, but I bet they'll universally defend him as legitimate and the effectiveness of his/their work as being quite significant.
alamo car rental new york And I would also add that, as the article points out, U2 have been a politically charged band since Day 1. So I'd say he's in a lose/lose position. If he weren't doing this, I'd bet the same people would be complaining along the lines of "Why not, rather than just singing about it, you actually go and do something pro-active about it." Well…
The same people who whinge about U2 and suggest that their political stance is hyprocritical and inneffective are the same people who shit on John Lennon for starting an advertising campaign for peace . If a band can captivate 7 million people on a world tour, why not use that position to heighten their awareness of the thousand of social injustices that are purputrated daily around the world. If 1 person walks out of a gig inspired to make a difference, that s a result. BTW - U2 never preach to save the planet alamo car rental new york .
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