Achtung Baby is the seventh studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 19 November 1991 on Island Records.
After criticism of their 1988 release Rattle and Hum, U2 shifted direction to incorporate alternative rock, industrial, and electronic dance music influences into their sound. U2 began recording Achtung Baby in Berlin’s Hansa Studios in October 1990. The sessions were fraught with conflict, as the band argued over their musical direction and the quality of their material. After weeks of tension and slow progress, the group made a breakthrough with the improvised writing of the song “One”.
The Zoo TV Tour were central to the group’s 1990s reinvention. The Zoo TV stage featured dozens of large video screens that showed visual effects, video clips from pop culture, and flashing text phrases. Live satellite link-ups, channel surfing, prank calls, and video confessionals were incorporated into the shows. Bono portrayed several characters he conceived, including “The Fly”, “Mirror Ball Man”, and “MacPhisto”.
Achtung Baby is one of U2’s most successful records. It spawned five hit singles, including “One”, “Mysterious Ways”, and “The Fly”. The album has sold 18 million copies worldwide and won a Grammy Award in 1993 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Not to be out done by Pearl jam’s documentry PJ20. U2 have their own doco “From the Sky Down” about production of their 1991 album Achtung Baby. The film documents the difficult recording period, the band members’ relationships, and the record’s legacy. Archival footage and stills from the recording sessions appear in the film, along with unreleased scenes from the group’s 1988 motion picture Rattle and Hum.
What do you think is it still as good as it was 20 years ago, or has it past its used by date?
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The 0800 Jukebox crew.
www.0800jukebox.co.nz
It’s the turn of musical album covers to get a Lego make-over!
![Classic Albums Realised [badly] in LEGO (The Joshua Tree - U2): Indiana Jones and the Joshua Tree?](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3262/2678607376_3470798e0a.jpg)
You can submit you own creations here or check out some of the others below.
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The 0800 Jukebox crew.
www.0800jukebox.co.nz
Two of music’s biggest acts paid tribute to the Pike River miners at a sold out Mt Smart Stadium on Thursday night.
There was little doubt that a band with the social conscience of U2 would acknowledge the tragedy, even during the entertainment behemoth that is their 360 tour.
“People have ways of dealing with grief, in Ireland we sing,” said charismatic front man Bono before an emotional version of Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.
They followed that with local favourite One Tree Hill as the names of the 29 dead scrolled down the massive screen at Mt Smart Stadium on Thursday night.
Earlier, hiphop mogul Jay Z dedicated Forever Young to the miners as he said “they will always be in our hearts and they will always be forever young”.
Those were two moving moments in an otherwise upbeat night as U2 returned to New Zealand after an absence of exactly four years.
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| TRIBUTE: U2 honoured the Pike River miners during the song One Tree Hill. |
In a show of more than 20 songs there was a run through their catalogue of hits including Beautiful Day, Elevation, Vertigo, Sunday Bloody Sunday, One and With or Without You.
They were interspersed with new songs like Magnificent and Get On Your Boots off their uneven 2009 album No Line on the Horizon.
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The 0800 Jukebox crew.
www.0800jukebox.co.nz
Three hours in Auckland was enough time for Ricky Malcolm and Cameron Betts to win 99 U2 concert tickets and meet American hip-hop star Jay-Z.
“We were standing there and Jay-Z walked past, so we said `hey bro’ and he said `hey guys’,” Ricky said.
Yesterday morning the New Plymouth pair were greeted at Auckland airport by the Cambell Live crew, who filmed them being taken to Mt Smart Stadium to see the concert set-up and their reaction to winning the national competition.
“We were sitting there waiting for the other two finalists to arrive and they said we better announce the winner and it was us,” Ricky said.
“Our faces just lit up and we were screaming.”
And after the prize of 99 tickets was handed out the boys got a surprise win of 10 inner circle tickets, which allow them to get even closer to the stage – and possibly another close encounter with their new mate Jay-Z, who will open for U2’s concerts tomorrow and Friday.
Ricky and Cameron were part of a five-strong New Plymouth group who recreated the U2 video Elevation for the Cambell Live contest and plan to divvy up the tickets among themselves.
But they also want to give away 10 double passes.
If you want to win one of the double passes you need to be one of the first 10 people, dressed as Bono, to meet the group on Puke Ariki Landing in New Plymouth at 5.30pm today.
The group encouraged people of all ages to dress up and race down to the landing, but warned you must be decked out in the lead singer’s rock costume.
“We want them really dressed up.
“They have to show us they are a hard core fan,” Cameron said.
more info at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=176705495676061&num_event_invites=0
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The 0800 Jukebox crew.
www.0800jukebox.co.nz
Irish rock heavyweights U2 have announced they will play a second show at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium.
Tickets for the November 26 show at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium will go on sale at 9am on September 9. The November 25 show sold out in minutes when tickets went on sale last Friday.
“We’re delighted with the reaction of our New Zealand and Australian fans and that we are able to add further dates,” U2 manager Paul McGuinness said.
Rapper Jay-Z will open for the band at each show.
http://0800jukebox.blogspot.com/2010/08/u2-360-to-hit-new-zealand-in-november.html
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The 0800 Jukebox crew.
The Irish band yesterday confirmed they will perform at Mt Smart Stadium in November followed by four concerts in Australia.
Hip hop star Jay Z is to join U2 for the band’s tour of Australia and New Zealand later this year.
Jay Z last played in Australia in 2006 and has never played in New Zealand.
New Zealand event spokeswoman Bridget de Laundry says about 54 percent of tickets are priced under $100, starting at $39.90.
The low prices are due to the specially built 50m-high stage with a rotating bridges and giant video system.
“The extra capacity U2 360 gives us means that there are a large number, several thousand in fact, of low priced tickets at every show,” says U2 tour producer/promoter Arthur Fogel, CEO of Live Nation Global Touring.
Organisers are expecting the more than 50,000 tickets to sell out quickly, and a second concert has not been ruled out.
“A second show is not confirmed. There are only three stages in use on the Australasian tour and they leapfrog from city to city, it takes eight days to build them and three-four to remove them, either side of the performance days,” says de Launay.
Tickets go on sale Friday, September 3 but U2.com subscribers will be able to buy tickets about five days ahead of the public.
U2 360 has already played to over 4 million people and is set to smash all previous records and become the highest-attended concert tour of all time.
Bringing the U2 360 production to New Zealand is no small feat. Six 747 freighters are required to fly the production to New Zealand.
The stage weighs 590 tonnes with all of the production gear hanging from it, and covers 6000 square meters.
‘The Claw’ itself stands 30.53m high, and with the pylon its 51.8m. That means it’s higher than most stadium roofs. Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium roof will have to be “cracked” and stay open to allow the pylon to be installed.
Until next time keep rockin’
The 0800 Jukebox crew.
Footage of U2 rehearsing a new song has surface online and you can watch it by scrolling down.
The short film was captured by fans who are camped out near the gates of the Stadio Olimpico di Torino in Italy.
The group are rehearsing at the venue head of their gig on Friday (August 6), their first since Bono underwent back surgery, which forced them to cancel a number of US shows and their headline slot at Glastonbury.
As U2Tours.com reports, Bono and co have also been heard rehearsing a number of songs including ‘Get On Your Boots’, ‘Magnificent’ and ‘Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me’, the band’s 1995 single from the Batman Forever soundtrack
Until next time keep rockin’
The 0800 Jukebox crew.
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