Into The Heart of U2 Podcast

In our final episode (at least until a new U2 record surfaces), we cover everything from the beginning of the lockdown to the present: Bono's voiceover in the Sing 2 movie; U2's underwhelming single "Your Song Saved My Life"; Bono & Edge’s surprise appearance in a Ukraine subway station turned bomb shelter; Bono's book and book tour. Songs of Surrender; the Disney+ documentary: A Sort of Homecoming with David Letterman; U2 changing managers. The Sphere residency, the latest on Larry's illness, all the U2 projects in the pipeline; all the up to the minute news about the new album and tour & the just released 20th Anniversary "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" Deluxe Edition including the Shadow Album "How to Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb."

In our Part 2 on U2's 14th studio album, "Songs of Experience," we discuss the second half of the record which contains some of the band's finest and most unheralded songs of the latter part of their career; we go over the differences in the Innocence Tour and the Experience Tour; the band's resumption of the Joshua Tree Anniversary Tour which took them to the end of the decade; and speculate on what would have happened had Covid not hit.

After the backlash to the controversial release of Songs of Innocence and its bevy of producers, U2 refocuses for its 14th studio album, Songs of Experience, with a Fall 2016 release date. At least that was the plan. In our part 1, we dive into the making of the record, the delays caused by Bono's brush with mortality and the seismic shift in global politics which convinced U2 to change the lyrics to better reflect the nexus of the times. We also cover the band's decision to do the Joshua Tree Anniversary Tour further delaying the release the record.

In our Pt 2 on U2's 13th album, Songs of Innocence, we discuss the more compelling 2nd half of the record; Bono's bike accident; the lasting impact of “Apple-Gate” on U2’s legacy & the innovative Barricage, the centerpiece of the i + e tour.

U2's 13th studio album, "Songs of Innocence," is an album released a full 5 1/2 years after the commercial and critical disappointment of "No Line on the Horizon" with a list of producers as long as a Beyonce album. To that long gestation period Bono said, "Rumor has it we haven't made a U2 album in the last five years. We have. We've made several. We just didn't release them because we were waiting for something that would be as good as the best we've ever done." But, once the album was released, it wasn't the music that everyone was talking about, but rather how it was released. Which is a shame because, while it may not be the experimental classic of Achtung Baby, it is wildly underrated containing some of the most personal songs of U2's career. The question is, will its virtues ever overshadow the controversy known as Apple-Gate.

In our Part 2 on No Line on the Horizon, we pick things up with the three more pop oriented songs the band wrote after leaving Fez, Morocco. Did the band panic and go chasing a hit? If so, they chose a very unrepresentative first single in Get On Your Boots. Things get a lot more interesting on the final third of the record with some truly fresh material that probably should have been the centerpiece of the record. We also go through the marketing and promotion campaign that saw the band exerting its considerable muscle. Then we cover and uncover all the stories behind the 360 Tour.

After two consecutive conventional and commercially successful records in "All That You Can't Leave Behind" and "How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb," the time was right to explore something different and go someplace else to do it. So, U2 heads off to Fez, Morocco with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, not just as producers but as songwriting partners. The sessions in Fez result in the kind of experimental material they'd hoped for, but when the band returns home, distractions and second guessing start to alter the original vision for the record.

In this second part of our look at U2's 11th studio album, How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, we go through the second half of the record, get into the marketing partnership with Apple, the ticket fiasco for the Vertigo Tour and the tour itself. We'll also discuss some band business, which has caused the haters to gnash their teeth for the better part of the last two decades, and take a look at where the band was moving forward.

U2 had finished up the wildly successful Elevation Tour with their iconic performance at the Super Bowl and had resoundingly risen to Bono's throw down issued on the eve of the release of All That You Can't Leave Behind; they really had reclaimed the title of biggest band in the world. Bono said, "Wow, if we could bottle this, what mad elixir would it be?" So, the band decamps in a basement in Monte Carlo to start work on a pure rock and roll album. But it doesn't quite go as planned as they end up finishing an entire album with Sex Pistols & Roxy Music producer Chris Thomas that Adam and Larry veto. They then turn to Steve Lillywhite and come away with How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Tune in for our Part 1 on the backstory, making of and discussion of the first half of this front loaded record.

In Part 2 of our look at the All That You Can't Leave Behind period, we discuss the second half of this front loaded record, and the Elevation Tour where U2 dispenses with all the artifices, arches and lemons, and go back to arenas. And front and center is Bono...THAT Bono with his heart back on his sleeve. After an already heavily emotional first two legs of the tour, 9/11 happens, and while most other bands cancel their tours, U2 rises to the occasion as the band for big moments. The words on ATYCLB prove prescient and provide comfort and a pathway forward. The success of the record and the wildly successful tour places U2 back on top of the world culminating in their iconic performance at the Super Bowl.