U2 came out this week and was talking about the music business. The question was about hypocrisy in the rock world, and Bono seems to agree that it does exist. Not only are many rock stars simply highly confident people who can say what they want, they are also performers who want to change the world. A lot of time, says Bono, the musicians will come out, tell the government what to do and then disappear. At least Bono is always on and is always ready to work hard at it. He gives speeches and gets a lot of people excited about his words. It is just the music and his impressive remarks. This makes politicians sit up and listen. He has changed many things about the world, so we congratulate him for that.

There have been protests in Dublin about the U2 Tour’s stop there. The people in the neighborhood of the stadium are unhappy because the city allowed more than 40 hours worth of work so that the workers could put up and take down the large stage set that the band uses. They have found a way to tick off a lot of people, and the tour got delayed because of the protest, which probably disturbed the people in that area. The special permit doesn’t, it turns out, fix all problems that the locals are going to have. However, the rest of the tour seems to be moving on relatively well at this point and we can expect to hear some fun on-the-road stories from them, especially with so many people needed to put up and take down the stage.

There are few different bands that have had the honor of working with U2. One of them is another Dublin-based band called The Script. Last year, they had to cancel a few shows, but at first their agent didn’t tell them why. The agent just said that they needed to cancel a few shows that the lead specifically wanted to hear. But then they found out that they had the chance to play with Paul McCartney and with U2, as the leadoff band. How exciting! And they got to meet them a few times and chat for a few minutes. It’s not the kind of chance that you want to miss as a band, so they jumped at it. So get ready to hear them performing before U2 a few shows in the States!

There is a review of U2’s concert in Berlin and it’s a rather frightening portrait in some ways. They spend a lot of time talking about the design of the stage and surprisingly little about the band and music itself. For one thing, this is because much of the music has been heard already. But also, part of the point is to make a really big show of having this kind of stage and this kind of motion onstage. The musicians have to maneuver around some bridges and climbing up and down on the stage. It also requires 120 trucks and a lot of workers to take down, transport, and rebuild the stage at any point in time. The stage is one of the most interesting things to hit the concert scene this year, and when they come to America, we hope that they will bring it with (keeping in mind the rule that you can only have two checked bags and a carry-on in order to get it here…).

Bono will be speaking at the Leadership Summit of the Willow Creek Association  on Aug 8-9 this summer. He will be talking most likely about NGOs and other such things. To speak at the summit as well are former Prime Minister Tony Blair, and David Gergen, as well as many others. These are some very impressive people that will be sharing the stage with our favorite musician. This means that there will be a lot of famous people in the audience too, so perhaps he will make a big difference yet again. It’s hard to imagine that he doesn’t have a lot of influence already, with a fan base of many millions of people in dozens of countries. But I’ll bet the politicians aren’t mostly listening to U2 on a regular basis. Make sure to watch it live, and check your local listings for the broadcast schedule.

The Black Eyed Peas will be the opening act for our favorite band for several shows this fall. It was announced this week that the band would be leading off for U2 in the autumn, and this is exciting for the members. They had watched U2 on TV and listened to their records when they were kids. Now they’re preparing to be on the same stage as them, this huge stage that they are taking all around their U2 360 Tour this year. It’s a great program and we’ll be enjoying everything that comes up. The Black Eyed Peas are a great fit for their tour and it will be a fun time to see which songs they decide to play during the show!

As we have been talking about, the U2 360 tour is in Europe and it is one of the shows that a lot of people are looking forward to seeing. It’s not hard to see why, either. The show is a lot of fun, with a huge stage and an impressive set. This makes the band seem even bigger than usual. No matter whether you’re a long-time U2 fan or just getting into it, you will be able to hear some great songs during this tour. In Milan, it happened to be Bono’s daughter’s birthday. The audience sang Happy Birthday and they had champagne. They also sang a couple of Michael Jackson songs in memory of him. These musicians have made one of the best shows this year, shifting songs to fit the audience well and make the show more fun. Just imagine what they will do once they get to the US!

In U2’s newest political action, we can see that they’re using their higher profile this year to pursue justice for some people. One person in particular is the jailed Burmese democratic activist and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. During their current tour, they are encouraging people to wear Aung San masks in solidarity with her. She has most recently come into the headlines when, just a couple weeks before she was to be released, an American tried to enter her compound and she’s being held responsible for it. She will, apparently, be held in house arrest for a long time into the future. In protest of this, U2 has the mask available on their website as well as in the program of their U2 360 tour, saying that you should wear this mask anywhere. At home, the office, the store, mass transit. Anywhere, in order to get it more visibility and to show support for the jailed leader.

While the group continues its world tour at the moment, U2 is considering releasing their album via Blackberry. It’s being described as the U2 mobile album, which is a great idea. How many people are going around with their Blackberrys at all times? They could listen to U2 at their leisure, on trains or while on the go. They can also play it for other people. But I’m having trouble telling what makes that different from using an IPod or some other kind of mobile music device. A mobile album doesn’t seem like a new idea, so maybe someone can set me straight on this?