U2: HAVE THEY FOUND WHAT THEY WERE LOOKING FOR?

U2

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin formed in 1976. The group consists of Bono, lead vocals and guitar, the Edge, guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals, Adam Clayton, bass guitar, and Larry Mullen Jr., drums and percussion. Initially rooted in post-punk, U2's sound grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music, yet has maintained an anthemic sound. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal themes and sociopolitical concerns. Popular for their live performances, the group has staged several ambitious and elaborate tours over their career.

The band formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency. Within four years, they signed with Island Records and released their debut album Boy (1980). Subsequent work such as their first UK number-one album War (1983), and the singles Sunday Bloody Sunday and Pride (In the Name of Love) helped establish U2's reputation as a politically and socially conscious group. 

More information: U2

By the mid-1980s, they had become renowned globally for their live act, highlighted by their performance at Live Aid in 1985. The group's fifth album, The Joshua Tree (1987), made them international superstars and was their greatest critical and commercial success. Topping music charts around the world, it produced their only number-one singles in the US, With or Without You and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. 

Facing a backlash and creative stagnation, U2 reinvented themselves in the 1990s through a new musical direction and public image. Beginning with their acclaimed seventh album, Achtung Baby (1991), and the multimedia intensive Zoo TV Tour, the band integrated influences from alternative rock, electronic dance music, and industrial music into their sound, and embraced a more ironic, flippant image. This experimentation continued through their ninth album, Pop (1997), and the PopMart Tour, which were mixed successes. 

U2 regained critical and commercial favour with the records All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000) and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), which established a more conventional, mainstream sound for the group. Their U2 360° Tour of 2009–2011 is the highest-attended and highest-grossing concert tour in history.

More information: U2 - A rock crusade

 I believe when the Kingdom comes

then all the colors will bleed into one,
bleed into one

but yes I'm still running.

You broke the bonds,

you loosened the chains

you carried the cross

of my shame.

U2

MARIONA & THE BONDS SESSIONS: CELEBRATING LIFE

Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band

Today is Mariona Bond's birthday and The Bonds are ready to celebrate it. The family is spending some days in Ireland with Corto Maltese. The Grandma, who is recovering from some injuries caused by fire, and Bruce Springsteen are arriving for joining to the family who has prepared a great Irish party to its beloved member. 

Folk music is one of the most beautiful elements of the Irish folk. Irish people are proud of their roots and culture and they demonstrate they're Irish wherever they are. Ireland is the craddle of incredible singers and composers like Van Morrison, Enya, Damian Rice, Sinead O'Connor and groups like Clannad, The Corrs, The Cranberries and U2. 

In 2006, Bruce Springsteen created a big band folk music to tribute Pete Seeger, one of the best American folk singers and composers. American folk music has its roots mainly in  Irish and African cultures. Meanwhile Country Music has its origins in Ireland and was expanded by the American Irish communities; Gospel and Blues appeared in the US thanks to the Afroamerican people.

More information: Bruce Springsteen 

The Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour, afterward sometimes referred to simply as the Sessions Band Tour, was a 2006 concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and The Sessions Band playing what was billed as An all-new evening of gospel, folk, and blues, otherwise seen as a form of big band folk music. The tour was an outgrowth of the approach taken on Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions album, which featured folk music songs written or made popular by activist folk musician Pete Seeger, but taken to an even greater extent. 

Bruce Springsteen & Pete Seeger

The tour began on April 20, 2006, with the first of four rehearsal shows at Asbury Park Convention Hall as well as a promotional appearance there on ABC's Good Morning America. Then came a successful performance before a non-Springsteen crowd at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 30, in a city still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina; Springsteen voiced discontent over government handling of the aftermath of Katrina, much to the satisfaction of the handkerchief-waving audience. 

The tour's first proper leg then began in May with 10 regular concerts and one special television concert in Western Europe; the first was at The Point Depot in Dublin on May 5. On May 14, the tour arrived to Badalona in Barcelona. The Grandma remembers that concert with great emotion. It was an incredible folk music party. A return to the United States for the second leg saw 18 concerts from late May to late June, ending at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey on June 25. 

Springsteen said in various languages during the latter stages of the European leg of the tour, See you in the fall! Accordingly, the tour's third leg consisted of 27 shows in Europe again, during October and November. This leg was sometimes dubbed The American Land Tour 2006, after a new Springsteen song that was being played as well as the We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions – American Land Edition reissue of the album. It began on October 1 at the PalaMalaguti in Bologna, Italy, and concluded on November 21, 2006 at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. No further American shows took place.

More information: Lyrics Training

 I don't believe the world will survive with the rich 

getting richer and the poor getting poorer. 

Pete Seeger