Reno ([email protected])
Sun, 20 Sep 1998 12:48:54 +0200 (CEST)
Let's see.. I arrived on Friday the 11th.. Did the U2-rounds on the weekend.
Went out to see U2-related venues, shops, walls, studios, luncheonettes,
hotels, clubs, pubs and the like. If ye have enough money to spend on U2
items, you wanna go to Rhythm Records, near O'Connel bridge. It carried
around 20 official U2 items I'd never seen nor heard of before (mostly
vinyls). It's pricy, but hey, I'm sure you're gonna like it, because you're
gonna pay for it.
There's another fine record shop on Wicklow Street.. in a basement
somewhere. It's called Record Collector if I'm right. What else, uhm.. STS
Studios on Cecilia Street don't exist no more. It was located above the
present music store. Project Arts Centre is under construction. Nini's nice
for a hot piece Belgium cake with creamy chocolate milk (lunch room owned by
Bono's brother Norman, for those who don't have a clue). The Windmill Lane
walls are ever changing.. saw some familair names of some of you there.
McGuiness was working at Principle Management, but since it was Saturday, he
was the only one present.
Sunday morning was spend in Killeney. After a firm walk up the hill, we
first passed Bono's gate.. how could we possibly miss it, I still don't
know. Be sure to take a good look at it, as it has many interesting things
engraved on it. Pieces of poetry, wisdom, cartoons and so on. My attention
was captivated by the most left plate. A great personal gesture. Went on to
Edge's house a bit further up the road to Dalkey. Walking by their houses
made me feel like an over-fanatic, and since that thought made me feel
uncomfortable, we went the beach instead (the wheather was beautifull.. so
un-Irish, hence we took the best of it :) I got sunburned in Dublin for
Pete's sake :) and I fully understand now why the rich'n'famous wanna live
in Killeney! The view over the beach and sea is quite breathtaking.
When we passed Bono's gate again, there's a man coming out of it. Aparently
some Italian fans wanted to ring the bell and see what happened. A security
guard came out to see who rang. I don't know what moved these people to ring
in the first place.. I mean, you're trying to enter a man's private life.. a
man with a family who least want to be bothered on Sundays, or at any day
for that matter. I decided not to get angry over it, but firmly urged those
fans to show a little more respect next time. The gate's obviously made to
be seen, true, but there's borders allright.
The exposing pictures which have recently been published and discussed here,
apparently made the local tabloids. A maid at the hotel told The Star's been
printing them, titled "Rattle and Bum".
That was all the U2 siteseeing we did, so we'd focus on other things a bit
more Went to Galway, which I highly recommend.. great town. The countryside
is so beautifull! We stayed there for a few days. However, we were advised
that if we wanted to meet the band, we should go to their studios at 2
o'clock and we'd have a fair chance to meet them. U2 do expect people to
hang around there, so they'll be willing to chat, sign things and so on. You
don't want to bother them around other situations than working situations.
If U2 gather, they do so on 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Go there.. be nice
and calm.. and most importantly, do not force yourself up in any way.
They'll come to you if they want to. If you want to take pictures.. ask them
if it's okay. They don't like to be snapped without their knowledge. If
you're in a group of fans, stand in line or something similar: if ye can
avoid.. don't go stand or walk behind their backs.. gets them nervous. They
don't have security guards with them when they're out while not touring.
Gawd.. I'm bad in writing reviews.. ain't I. So far the lecturing.
On to brigther things.. uhm.. first I met Sam O'Sullivan (drum technie) at a
local Texaco gas station, of all places. Don't ask what and why, allright :)
Dublin, fate and me seem to form an interesting three-unity I won't bore you
with, but I tend to bump into people unexpectedly all the time. Like I also
walked into an Irish movie player, Sean Something, who plays in Sheridan's
The Field for instance. Forgot his last name. Also I'm positive I saw a guy
in Galway who I saw in Dublin a few days earlier! it's scary I tell ya!
At this stage, U2 gather at Hanover Studios, right next to the Grand Canal.
It's located amidst the docks, quite near to the Factory and the new
Windmill Lane / Studio Two Recording Studios on Ringsend Road. They are not
recording the new album yet! I'll come back to this later on.
There's a few fans already waiting when we arrived there.. some Polish,
Aussies and Germans also. First, Adam arrived.. right on time. He did the
signing and chatting. When he saw me empty handed, he asked if I hadn't
anything to sign. "Eh, no.. what do I need an autograph for". I personally
feel asking for autographs would degrade and make an object of the person in
question. Not my way of dealing with them. I tried to cut into the topic of
the new works and projects, but he didn't have a chance to answer properly
as he was kind of overwhelmed by sign-requests. It was nice to see Adam do
the fan-round anyway as he normally tends to walk by indifferently.
Next up was Bono, and boy, he was quite the man. Parked his old Mercedes
250.. grinned at us still seated.. playing tricks with the automatic
windows. He swung open the door and kind of rolled out of his car which
makes me suspect he 'worked late' the night before <g> From all bandmembers,
Bono was dressed most vividly... imagine him with his Cuba hat, blue tinted
glasses, unshaved, leather jacker.. and to top that, jaguar skin like boots.
very cool indeed. A few pictures were taken, so I might upload one or two soon.
He sat down on the hood of a car and talked to us for about ten minutes. All
kinds of small talk, but also about the Greatest Hits album. I personally
had/have my doubts about this album, so decided to play devil's lawyer and
gave him a hard time. If *I* have my doubts, I'm sure parts of the media
will have also. I think he wasn't prepared for the wall of critics and he
couldn't give a clear answer to why they're releasing three Greatest Hits
albums. Later on, Edge would give a satisfying answer (at least, to me). The
50 Million Dollar deal is not true, according to Bono. I told him that
number was mentioned in a press release.. "well, wasn't ours!" he exclaimed
restlessly. I think Polygram hasn't confirmed this also yet, have they..
doesn't matter much anyway: even 1 million dollars is beyond my comprehension.
He said that this was the right time to do it.. if they'd delay the release,
it would be too late to call it a best-of-the-80s. It's an oppertunity to
newer fans to get in touch with the older material.
A person on another list recently elaborated on her thoughts (which were
very well underbuild and argumented) that releasing the 3 GH albums might
save Island Records from going under. It will surely boost their business.
But I won't go into that thread here now.
I asked what they were doing now.. heard the songs were already written.
Well, based on what Bono said, I think you can throw away all rumours about
the new album! Songs are not written. They're just starting with it..
gathering ideas on where to go. There might be left overs from other
sessions, but in no way anything can be said of those ending up on a
possible future album. There's not even a working title. Drive? never heard
of such thing. U2 seem to be in a very early stage of an album, unknowlingly
which direction to go. A Polish fan who'd been hanging around a lot said she
only once heard some drums and bass sounds coming from the studio.
He said he really liked the Warsaw concerts and went into details on it.
What else... uhm, a german fan mentioned a certain over advertised
fanmagazine and it seemingly questionable business.. (you know which one I
mean) after Bono was updated, he said he couldn't understand how people
could feel comfortable making a living out of selling items using their
name. That's as far as I'll comment on this issue here, or anywhere else.
Edge was next.. came walking to us. He seemed in a bad mood, sighed
"allright, let's do it" when the first booklet to be signed was put under
his nose. I introduced myself and he was obviously wondering where he'd seen
me before.. "have we met before?" he asked - "Well, we had eye contact in
Vancouver, but that's about it" :)
I asked a few things about his work for Russel Mills, which he nicely
answered while signing autographs. He said he hadn't heard the final product
on Russel's album which is surprising. He did his thing, and got inside.
After a bit of a wait, Larry arrived.. did his signing and some pictures
were taken. Didn't really talk as he was given no chance. He cheerfully took
the gratitudes that were given to them and got inside.
One of the bandmembers looked like he aged 10 years since PopMart.. he got
me worried a bit. Maybe the tour decompression is/was hard on him. I don't
know, but I've seen him in better condition, let's put it that way.
A few days later I returned, and the atmosphere was totally different. They
finally seemed to have their butts into gear. They were all dressed in a
proper decent way now, fit into clothes in which they can present
themselves. Adam had dyed his hair blond again. There were no fans this
time, only the two of us.
Bono arrived.. we small talked about his car and in what a bad state it was.
"It's not, I tell ye!" Eventhough he said he was in a hurry, he was
obviously amused and joked around. Again he goofed with the remote car
control "look, I push this button and the car beeps.. ain't that just.. look
<BEEP>" Anywayz.. you should have been there.
"Seeya, Rehno!" right ;)
Adam said he was in a hurry also.. got inside. Edge.. even more seemingly in
a hurry, but he chatted a few minutes. We talked a bit on the Greatest Hits
album, and he was obviously in a much better mood than a few days ago. He
said the B-sides album was gonna be a "free gift". I don't know if it's free
as in 'costing none' though. We expressed our concern and doubts about the
effect releasing a Greatest Hits will have. He acknowleged our concern and
then said something that stuck with me "We wouldn't release it if we didn't
think it was okay". I don't know.. they way he said it was very convincing.
U2 obviously chewed on the idea for a while and think it is a good thing.
Edge said it, I believe him, and that settles that.
There's obviously business going on. A lot of suit-and-ties entered the
studio. Cars of people from Principle Management came and went, dropping off
papers and so on. We reckoned U2 are dealing with contracts right now. It
was surely interesting to see the change in atmosphere from just-gathering
and hang out to a working atmosphere. The ball's rolling again, folks.
I do regret not having the chance raising the subject of Sweetest Thing, and
apart from this, there's numerous personal matters I would have liked going
into a bit more. But hey, I'm not complaining. I think I wrapped up the bits
and pieces that stuck to memory and are of interest to you. If I remember
more on specific matters, I'll let ye know along the way.
Yours,
Reno (reply to [email protected] please)
"it's who you know that gets you through
the gates of that playboy mansion"
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Sun Sep 20 1998 - 03:51:16 PDT