If you are excited about the upcoming U2 tour, then you are right in with me. The tickets have officially gone on sale and are selling very fast. People just love this band. Are you one of those who got tickets? Tell me your story, because it’s certainly to be a great time! Lots of people will be going to the shows, and you can probably meet people from all over the country, or the world, at these shows. All of them fans of the band. I would certainly enjoy seeing a concert, and it doesn’t matter where! I would go to Canada. I would go to Seattle and Portland. Bangor Maine. It doesn’t matter. Anyone have any extra tickets you wont use? Anyway, it’s going to be a fun year for U2 fans, both hard-core fans as well as more laid-back fans.

U2’s new album has a whole strategy behind it. This has nothing to do with the music, which is great. But U2 (read Bono) has a vision for the band. They want to become the biggest new band with the biggest album in the world. And right now, in a time of major transition for the music business, it is especially difficult to be relevent and to make a mark on the market. It’s just different now than it was when the band first started doing their work. With iPods and mp3s changing how we listen to music. We don’t listen to full sized albums anymore, but little pieces of them, whatever we happen to prefer. It’s really unfortunate for those who can’t shift their styles to fit the new system. But Bono is going to try, continuing to promote the new album in innovative ways. How fun to watch him go around that way.

U2’s The Edge is in a property dispute with his neighbors in Malibu. Apparently, he came to the neighbors when he first bought the property and gave them the impression that he was sensitive to their concerns about the environmental impact. But now his building plans have come out that he’s going to build 5 houses on his large estate and that’s where it’s going to be. But the neighbors know the area and know that over-building can increase the risks of wildfires and erosion and other kinds of water issues. Then again, it’s his property. Then again, their property could be in danger if his slides off the “edge” of the mountain.

The battle is on, and Kelly Clarkson is the one trying to knock our beloved band off the top of the charts. Already! You’d think she would have the decency to wait a few weeks to let us stay at the top of the Billboard charts for a little while longer. And Bono, et. al., have done so much to get the word out about No Line. They’ve really been working hard, from their evening on the Grammys, to the Letterman show and a couple of hardly-announced performances. Combined, Clarkson and U2 are trying to pull the world economy for music back from the breaking point. There are discussions about the digital age and who is losing money from youtube and other programs. This is a bigger topic than we can fully talk about here, though. But start buying those CDs to hold Clarkson down!

U2 and Bono are very busy these days. Not only did they do Letterman, but they have been performing all over the place for the last week or so. They even made a quick appearance in Chicago, though they weren’t actually playing music with instruments, just with a DJ mix board. As the time goes by, they are looking at the various different kinds of reviews they’ve received on No Line on the Horizon. A lot of people really like this band right now. But there are also some who dislike it a lot. The songs “don’t stick in your head” or “don’t measure up to their previous albums.” This is the normal kind of criticism that comes with any album, especially one that is so anticipated as this one was. But I liked it, and I’m pretty sure you did. That’s what matters.

U2 played a free concert this weekend at Fordham University in the Bronx. It was apparently a great concert, but mainly just for students and faculty at the University itself. The article in the NYTimes is about those who wanted to get in from the city itself, but weren’t connect to the university. Some of them were able to get in, but other ones weren’t able to do so. Staff seemed to be able to get in, which was nice. Lots of local people were kind of upset that they couldn’t go. After all, they might live right next door, but they weren’t allow to enter. Anyway, it’s just another indication of how excited people are about this upcoming tour!

U2 has been on the Letterman show all week, taking over temporarily for the normal house band. This is a good idea for them because it gives them the chance to really promote the new album. It’s quite a fun time to hear them play on network TV and it will send you down the way to the record store to buy their new CD. Don’t you want to buy the new CD? Come on! We have to keep them up on the charts as long as we can! Some people have said that it’s a bit too much U2 for us to have, but I don’t believe that for one minute! U2 are some of the most fun performers and they will be out on tour this year too. So why not get a little taste of them on Letterman? Are all these skeptics members of the regular band and are they really bitter that they’re off this week? It sure looks like it…

There is a report out there from Bono himself that the companion album to “No Line on the Horizon” is due out later this month. Not that it’s a bad thing, more amazing songs from the group will hurt no one. Bono is a little bit uncertain about how well they can keep up with the times, although with their new album, they seem to be really up on it. All the reviews seem positive. But the band is wasting no time, because they have already started recording these new tracks. Again, with them hoping to release by the end of this year, they are going to really have to work hard, but it seems like they can do it. We’re looking forward to it!