U2 Landmarks in Dublin

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Source: Jaunted.com

In the Name of Love: Three Must-See U2 Landmarks in Dublin

Where: Dublin, Ireland

August 4, 2009 at 11:28 AM | by cmb

All this week, Jaunted contributor CMB will be giving us notes on her Dublin Field Trip. Any questions or suggestions? Let us know.

We mentioned last week that we had caught U2 at Croke Park in Dublin. Dublin is a mecca for U2 fans for obvious reasons---it is where the band formed, got their start and where most of the band's members still call home. Thus, the city is full of U2 landmarks. Here are our suggestions for the ones you can't miss.

Where to Stay:
The Clarence Hotel, 6-8 Wellington Quay, is the place to stay for U2 fans because it is owned by Bono and The Edge. The hotel is nice and the bar is popular, even with locals, but the stand out feature of The Clarence is the possibility of running into celebrities. When the band is in town they frequent the hotel for meetings and parties. It is also the place to stay for American celebrities in town doing press or filming. The hotel's prices are affordable too as standard rooms start around €179.

Where to Eat:
Nude, located at 21 Suffolk St in Temple Bar, is a must for U2 fans because it is owned by Bono’s brother, Norman Hewson. The restaurant specializes in wraps and salads made with organic ingredients. They also feature a variety of homemade soups like Thai Chicken and Mediterranean Tomatoes to warm you up on a damp Dublin day. Their prices are reasonable with a bowl of soup costing €4.75 and wraps at €4.50.

What to Do:
No U2 tour of Dublin is complete without signing the U2 Graffiti Wall at the band's studio on Hanover Quay. Fans from around the world visit the wall everyday leaving well wishes (and marriage proposals) to the guys in sharpie, paint and chalk.

The gate at Bono's house has also become a favorite tagging spot for U2 fans. Bono lives between the towns of Killiney and Dawkey, about 10 Miles from Dublin. If you are in Dalkey, follow the road down to the beach and you can't miss his house, its the one with "Bono, I Love You" scribbled all over the wooden gate.

U2 Gives Dublin 70 Million Dollars

Tweet From Irish Central:

U2 shows pump $70m into Ireland's economy

Hotels, bars restaurants report bumper earnings as fans flock to capital

By

KELLY FINCHAM

,

IrishCentral.Com Editor

Published Monday, July 27, 2009, 8:51 AM

Updated Monday, July 27, 2009, 10:07 AM

U2 have boosted the Irish economy by a whopping $70m with their three shows in Dublin this weekend.

Experts say the band's three sell-out shows at Croke Park pumped $70m into Ireland's faltering economy.

Restuarants, bars and hotels reported bumper earningas as fans flocked to the Irish capital to see the boys from Northside.

The concerts have electrified Ireland, so much so that Dublin Criminal Court was forced to cancel jury deliberations for the weekend because too many jurors had tickets.

The shows were also a critical success with rave reviews in Ireland.

Irish Times critic Tony Clayton-Lea said the band was simply unbeatable while Barry Egan from the Sunday Independent said only a begrudger would fault their performance.

They play the last of their triumphant three gigs in Ireland tonight before moving on to Gothenburg in Sweden.

The band will play their first American gig at a sold-out Soldier's Field in Chicago on September 11

The U.S. leg of the massive tour will see them perform in Chicago, Boston, NEw York, Houston, Washington, Charlottesville, Raleigh, Atlanta, Tampa, Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

The band, which will wrap up the tour in Vancouver, Canada, on October 28, will have played an astonishing 44 shows since kicking off the 360 Tour in Barcelona on June 30.

U2 Refuses to Stagnate

Tweet Taken from The Irish Times online...here, and pasted below:

Adam Clayton and Edge managing to keep it fresh at Croke Park on Saturday night. Photograph: Arthur Carron/Collins

TONY CLAYTON-LEA

IT’S LIKE this: every four years, U2 return home from their travels, set up their inordinately large and mostly innovative tent, and sing for their supper. No more and no less, they are entertainers, a rock band of a certain mature age that have been schlepping around the globe for over 30 years.

You would think by this stage that we (by this, I mean the band’s die-hard fans, cynics, casual followers, staunchest critics, wry observers) would be weary of Adam Clayton’s studied stoicism, Edge’s adamant refusal to remove his skull cap, Larry’s cavalier, muscular way with a white T-shirt, Bono’s sincere humanistic nature. You would think that we would be tired of hearing, yet again, With or Without You, Where the Streets Have No Name, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Desire, Elevation and all the rest.

And you know what? Such is the nature of familiarity, we probably are fed up with U2. Yet still they continue to surprise and extend themselves. Cynics and arch critics of the band may start to yawn or laugh by this point ­ yes, we’re giving you permission – but there remains at the core of U2 an obvious if not obsessive necessity to weave change in and out of the fabric of their music and performance. Whether you’re a fan or not, after 30 years on the go this type of resistance to stagnate is beyond admirable.

Once you get over the impressive presence of the veined ‘Claw’ (which, due to the spatial dynamics of Croke Park, is more 270- than 360-degree), what you’re left with is just four blokes, an excellent sound system, some very large hi-tech screens, subtle and effective visuals and rock music that ranges from heritage to extraordinary.

The band bookend Friday night’s set with two of the best tracks from their, comparatively speaking, underperforming latest album, No Line On The Horizon: Breathe and Moment of Surrender . The title track, Get On Your Boots (the weakest single U2 has released to date) and Magnificent (aptly titled) follow, the latter picking up slack before belting into a triple whammy of Beautiful Day, Elevation and Desire. They follow this with a stripped down version of Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of , wherein Edge strums acoustic guitar and Bono sings as if there’s 80 in the room, not 80,000. And then Bono and the crowd launch into a rugged rendition of The Auld Triangle , which is dedicated to Ronnie Drew. People, there was not a dry eye in the house.

These songs and more (including One , The End of the World, The Unforgettable Fire, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Walk On, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Where the Streets have No Name , and Bad ) constitute a series of moments that result in a pin-sharp point of fact: there is no other rock band in the world capable of maintaining such a steady level of quality at such a high level of performance.

The downside to this is that we shall probably never again see U2 in venues small enough to see the whites of their eyes, a stance that seriously undermines their battle-cry ethos of ‘He Who Dares Wins’. On this particular grand, wham-bam-thank-you-maam scale, however – where four ordinary blokes perform in front of almost a quarter of a million people over three nights, where the music often matches the ambition, they are simply unbeatable.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

U2: Dublin III

Tweet Welcome to the Dublin III post. As The Claw is taken apart, here is a quick recap with pics and vids, of an incredible night in Dublin.


U2 rehearsed I Will Follow, New Year's Day, Drowning Man and Electrical Storm today. New Year's Day made the list after Beautiful Day, and Bad was a nice addition after One to lead into the encore.

Follow me on twitter here,

SETLIST:

Breathe
No Line On The Horizon
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
New Year's Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stay
Unknown Caller
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In The Name of Love)
MLK
Walk On
Where The Streets Have No Name
One
Bad
--------
Ultraviolet
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender


Great Bono pics here. From ShadesofBonoblog.com.


VIDEOS:

Intro/Breathe:


Magnificent:


Beautiful day:


New Year's Day:



I Still Haven't Found...


Stay:


Vertigo:


I'll Go Crazy (Remix)


Sunday Bloody Sunday:



Pride:



Streets:


Walk On:


Bad:



Ultraviolet:


With Or Without You:


Moment of Surrender: