U2 celebrated a rousing send-off from the U.K. when they played the last date of the tour at the Hammersmith Palais on 29th March. The set ran Gloria, I Threw A Brick, A Day Without Me, Seconds, Surrender, New Year's Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Electric Co, I Fall Down, October, Tomorrow, Two Hearts Beat As One, Twilight, Out Of Control, Trash Trampoline and the Party Girl, 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, I Will Follow, Knocking on Heaven's Door (with guests Mick Peters (The Alarm) and Stuart Adamson (Big Country), and finally '40'.

At the moment the band are still in the States, on what is without doubt their most successful visit yet - 'War' is currently No.9 or No.12 depending which chart you choose. After getting home, U2 will be doing a number of European summer festivals, most of which are still being set up at the time of writing, but two Belgian dates are confirmed so far: Torhout on 2nd July and Werchter 3rd July. It also looks likely that U2 will be playing the Rockpalast Festival in Germany on 20th August. This is usually shown on TV throughout Europe - but sometimes the BBC take it, and sometimes they don't. If you wish to encourage them, you could write asking them to show it: Michael Appleton, BBC Television, Television Centre, Wood Lane, London W.12.

Later in the year the band would like to go to Japan and Australia but it's too early for definite dates yet.

An interesting soundtrack, for the film 'They Call That An Accident' on Island ISTA 2, features two alternative versions of the track 'October' from U2. The first is simply the instrumental start, the second is a collaboration with Wally Badarou which features an additional instrumental.

U2 Info was able to offer a limited number of complimentary tickets to members for the filming of The Tube. This was, unfortunately, restricted to people in the North-east only due to the very limited space in the studio, but I'm sure there'll be lots of other opportunities in the future. Here are some comments from those able to go...

As soon as we walked in we saw the U2 set and made a bee-line for the balcony above, which was an excellent view. We waited patiently for U2 to appear, but saw Big Country first and The Undertones, which I must say were really good - better than I expected.

Then at approx. 6.35 Jools and Paula Yates finally introduced U2. Cheers came from all directions. On walked Bono, at this moment the atmosphere suddenly turned into something different - a great feeling. Only one thing we noticed was Bono didn't look too happy when he walked on - I realise you can't be all smiles every minute of the day, but my heart went out to him at that moment. Pushing this aside they did a great and superb set. They first sang 'Gloria' with such energy, then 'Sunday Bloody Sunday', then came 'New Year's Day', then a superb 'I Will Follow'. They came off the air and sang for us 'Like A Song'. That was it, over as quick as that, then I really did feel sad. We left the studio feeling pleased with ourselves that we travelled to Newcastle to see them, it was well worth it.

I was one of the lucky ones who, thanks to you, was able to catch U2 on The Tube. The first group to come on were Big Country who sang two excellent songs with some brilliant guitar playing from Stuart Adamson. This got the audience nicely warmed up and ready for the next group, the very entertaining Undertones who treated us for half an hour before going on the air by telling jokes and playing some old favourites like 'Get Over You'.

By the end of their set, everyone was eagerly anticipating the arrival of U2 who surpassed every expectation I had of them. They began with 'Gloria' and the reaction was amazing. Bono's voice was superb, reaching right to the heart, giving you no choice but to listen and enjoy.

By 'New Year's Day' everyone had fallen under Bono's spell singing along as though their lives depended on it. Next came the incredible 'Sunday Bloody Sunday', "It's just a song!' cried Bono but we knew better. An invisible cloud of emotion generated by the band enveloped the captivated audience and when Bono sang, "Tonight, we can be as one", we knew what he meant.

After '40' comes the classic, 'I Will Follow'. The atmosphere was electric, you could almost see the sparks flying as people reached out to touch Bono. His extrovert personality draws you to him like a magnet and you can't help but love him. Finally, as we all knew it had to, the end came and we were left numb, trying to understand what had just happened to us. U2 - that's what.'

U2 on The Tube - well they could have let them play a lot more. Three songs wasn't enough, an insult to such a band as U2. Also, the sound mixing on the programme didn't seem to be all that good, and quite a lot of people had the same views as me. Maybe The Tube needs new sound mixers or technicians, or maybe that was as good as it could be for the programme.

I had quite a good position - just below Edge, with a good view across the stage. U2 did five songs in all, the last one being 'I Will Follow'. At the start of this song one boy climbed on stage and started to jump and dance beside Bono. I too struggled up on stage to join them. Bono put his arm around me as he sang and danced. Soon others managed to pull themselves on stage and we all danced about the stage laughing and singing.

At one point Bono told us, "Sit down, make yourselves at home". We did, but were soon up again as the chorus raced out. The excitement and happiness made a great atmosphere and everyone enjoyed themselves.

As the song finished and Adam put his bass down I patted him m the back, he turned to give me a smile then we gave each other a big hug. As Bono was going I held his arm and he said, "Thank you. thanks for being here." I can honestly say I had a great time and that U2 were really generous for letting so many of us on stage to dance and be with them. It was a night to remember.

The crowd surged towards the stage where U2 were going to perform. After waiting eagerly for about 25 minutes the band took the stage and from the opening chords of 'Gloria' it was sheer bliss. 'New Year's Day' was next and about half way through the song Bono bent down and kissed Jane's hand (my girlfriend). Bono then said, "This song's not a rebel song. it's just a song called 'Sunday Bloody Sunday" and the crowd loved it.

But after the programme went off air U2 carried on with '40' and the classic 'I Will Follow', In which about 25 fans climbed on stage and danced with each other. It was magic.

by Fred Schruers

Bono is driving along Dublin Bay, and describing U2's most perilous day onstage, playing at Dublin's Inner City Festival. "This was in the open air at a place called Sheriff Street, where they don't let the police come round - the kids are on the roofs of these high-rise projects with crossbows. Our tour manager had told us, "I'm advising you not to play; I'm advising the crew not to go." They were dismantling our equipment truck before we stopped it."

U2 and their crew voted, keeping in mind Bono's admonition that cancelling, with the crowd already gathered, could mean a hellish riot. They decided to go on, even after an inebriated local woman walked off a rooftop and was carted away. They set to playing, winning hearts and minds by degrees as the locals clambered on and around the stage. Finally, "This guy who looked six feet wide, a docker, just walked onstage and stood in front of me. 'Let's twist again like we did last summer', he said. 'Play it'.

"The whole crowd quieted - this was the confrontation: were we chicken or not? I must admit, I was chicken. I just stopped the show and started to sing, no accompaniment, 'Let's twist again, like we did last summer...' And I looked at the crowd, and all the kids, the mothers, fathers, the wine and whiskey bottles in their hands, started singing and dancing. And the guy smiled."

This is Bono's favourite kind of tale. He likes the smaller victories. The time the band wasn't bottled off the stage in Arizona, despite the promoter's warning that the kids there didn't like opening acts. The 1976 showcase gig at the Hope & Anchor pub in London where The Edge went offstage to fix a broken string and the rest of the band, fed up with the record-biz crowd, followed him off and sat down. The overzealous moment in Birmingham when Bono, The Edge, and Adam simultaneously jumped into the crowd, guitar cords popping out of the amps...

Their preferred turf, in Dublin, is the dockside poets' walk known as Lazy Acre. For their 'Gloria' video, the band set up on a barge moored in the middle of a dogleg inlet called The Grand Canal, safely across from a cheering crowd of kids and only a stone's throw from home base, Windmill Lane Studios. There, inside what looks like a drab stone warehouse, is a state-of-the-art audio/video facility. We rattle past the studio, past the Docker's pub where the band often huddles in the 'cozy' (refuge for drinking men's wives in unemancipated days) to pull on jars of creamy Guinness stout.

Winter days tend to be mild here, and even as chilling buffets of wind send the seagulls pinwheeling off course in their glidepaths along the River Liffey, the scattered palm trees rising out of the loamy grass along the roadway give Dublin's centre a slightly giddy, tropical air. A typical day here brings nothing more bloody than a rugby match. "No, there's no bombs going off here" says Bono, 'But there may be some getting made here..."

The conflict in Northern Ireland is part of what goaded Bono and his bandmates to call their new record War, but the concept is not entirely military: 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' is not so much about the sabbath-day bloodlettings of 1920 (in Dublin) and 1972 (in Londonderry) as it is about "the trench we build within our hearts"; 'New Year's Day' was inspired by Poland's beleagured Solidarity movement and the accompanying video uses stock footage of fighting on the Russian front in World War II, but the cut also evokes lover's separations; 'Surrender' deals with suicide in Manhattan. Bono wrote 'A Day Without Me' (on 'Boy') partly in reaction to the news that Joy Division's Ian Curtis had taken his own life.

Since then, a school chum of Bono's, having survived electro-convulsive therapy in a Dublin institution (Boy's 'The Electric Co') has "had a go at himself with an electric saw. He told me that there's only two ways out of the place - either over the wall or just cut his throat." Whilst visiting that friend during his recuperation. Bono was approached by a second acquaintance from his old school, who informed him the world was going to end on April Fool's Day 1983. "I'm going through the wilderness now," he said, "but I'm coming into my glory soon. I've picked a good day for the end of the world." Bono summons up the barest of grins. "You've got to laugh. But it's disturbing, and I feel like there's a high level of mental illness in this country. And I think there's a link between that and a kind of spiritual unrest."

The spiritual unrest is hardly alien to Bono himself. The Bono who wrote an entire album as an excursion 'into the heart of a child' bid goodbye to an emotionally troubled boyhood only to make 'October' by virtually speaking in tongues, raging for days on end into the microphone inside an isolation booth hastily erected of corrugated iron. "Having had my notebook stolen in Seattle a few weeks before, I had no lyrics written down. So I just tried to pull out of myself what was really going on in the songs. The things you are most deeply concerned about, lying there in your subconscious, may come out in tears, or temper, or an act of violence..."

Or, in Bono's case, in a couple of months of raking through his own heart and mind and spilling the results onto tape. Steve Lillywhite, the young producer who's worked on all three U2 albums, cleared a space for the singer; out of 24 available tracks, he left eight open for Bono's resinous wail to resound in. 'Gloria' was sung partly in a monotone derived from the recordings of Gregorian chants that Paul McCuinness had supplied; some lyrics poured out in Latin, and when Bono dashed out of the studio for a Latin dictionary in order to translate his own disgorings, he ran into a friend who'd studied Latin and hauled him back to translate. The English words are a supplicating howl describing the exact situation Bono found himself in: 'I try - to sing this song/I try to stand up/But I can't find my feet...'

"William Butler Yeats", says Bono, "said that once there was a period when he had nothing to say. Well, to say that is in itself a statement of truth about your situation, so say that. I had this feeling of everything waiting on me, and I was just naked, nothing to offer. So I went through this process of wrenching what was inside myself out of myself."

The song that now frightens him, Bono says, is 'Tomorrow'. He'd originally thought that the words, with their images of a black car waiting by the side the road and a dreaded knock m the door, had to do with the killings in Northern Ireland. A few months ago, he realised the song was about his mother's death, which came when Bono was about thirteen. "I realised that exactly what I was talking about was the morning of her funeral, not wanting to go out to that waiting black car and be a part of it. People sometimes say 'October' is a religious record, but I hate to be boxed in that way."

Bono has by now transported us to Malahide Village, a suburb just north of Dublin where The Edge lives with his family. Edge's real name is David Evans, and his father Garvin moved the family from Wales to Ireland because that was where his engineering business took him. As we pull up, Bono does a fond impression of Garvin singing 'If A Picture Paints A Thousand Words', at the wedding of drummer Larry Mullen's father. Garvin Evans answers the door. Why have ya still got your suit on, Mr Edge?" asks Bono, gesturing towards the night sky. Mr Edge, sharp-featured like his son, momentarily tries to look sterns "Somebody's got to earn the crust."

U2 has by now earned considerable crust, which they would split an even four ways if they didn't insist on pouring most of it back into their own recording (thereby retaining creative control) and touring. Their second American tour campaign supporting 'October' was long, hard and costly. But they were determined to find their U.S. audience, and it seemed radio was not ready to help. So they broke one of their rules and took second billing to the J. Geils Band (at Peter Wolf's personal request) for the resultant exposure.

Even though they have had virtually no time off from their 1979 signing until Bono's honeymoon last August, the band refuses to complain. They have a mission, and they are decidedly unified in their determination. "When people ask us what our influences are", says Bono, "we always say, 'Each other'".

My first look at U2 came in the fall of 1980, just after 'Boy's release. Island Records' publicist Neil Storey shanghaied me from the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport directly down to Southampton College, where we walked in on U2 a few minutes before a gig. All four band members were twenty-one or younger: Larry Mullen, who organised the band by posting a notice at Mt Temple Comprehensive School after being kicked out of the Artane Boys' (marching) Band for wearing long hair; Adam Clayton, who Bono says, "couldn't even dance" at the time he picked up the bass; The Edge, who had quickly gone from acoustic noodler to budding guitar hero through a seemingly innate gift; and Bono, born Paul Hewson, with the slapdash good looks and unselfconscious swagger to match his drive. "It had been a long time," recalls Dublin rock writer Bill Graham of an early U2 gig, "since I'd seen a singer who went for an audience that way, all the time watching their eyes."

Their stage show was much too large in scope for that low-ceilinged, underpopulated function room at Southampton College. The Edge's clarion calls on the treble strings, Larry's martial ferocity and Bono's upthrust arm showed an expansive, hot-blooded streak that had been developed naturally in what Bono called "a garage band", as they went from being utter novices to playing in open market squares to the soused and skeptical local teenagers, to the kind of reputation that enabled them - before they even had a contract - to fill Ireland's largest concert hall. They stood against the pretensions of the new wave's idealogues, against the ''gop'' on U.S. radio, against the elitism of fashion bands like Visage.

They went a long way on Bono's tirelessness,his fervour with a mike in his hand. "When you think, 'Oh, screw it, I'm not gonna climb this mountain, '" says Adam, "he's the type of person who'll hit you in the ass and get you going. It doesn't make you a lot of friends, but it's a great ability to have."

Bono gave The Edge his nickname, but he's a bit cryptic about why. When he's asked, he grasps Edge's long, chiseled jaw and turns it in profile: "The Edge." Then, after a pause. "Let's just say he's on the border between something and nothing."

At one point during the endless rounds of touring, Bono thought he had sussed The Edge's guitar style, and attempted to demonstrate as much at a sound check: "I'd been watching. I knew all the settings, knew his machines, the chord shapes, put my fingers where he puts his, had the volume he has it at, struck it the same way -and this blluuug came out of the speakers. The road crew just burst out laughing, and the guitar roadie came up and said, 'You know, I've been watching him for the past year and I've tried every day to make it sound like he does. I can't do it.'"

"Oh, gosh," says The Edge In his disarmingly angelic way when asked how he does it. "I tend to do something with the guitar sound, use certain effects to fatten it, rather than just use it clean - though on 'War', it's cleaner than the two previous albums. I use the echo in a very concise way - I try to use the repeats in time with the music. Most guitar players would use the full spectrum of the guitar to get across the power and dynamics, but by using the echo I can get away without using the bottom strings so much. I tend to use three-, maybe four-note chords rather than the full six and to use the top strings, the top end, which gives that distance between the bass and the guitar, and gives me a bit more freedom."

"We started out as non-musicians", Bono points out. "We learned to play after the group was formed. I mean, we started to write our own material became we couldn't play other peoples. Adam couldn't slap In time when he joined, Edge could play sort of bad acoustic. Larry had his military drumming, and I started singing 'cause I couldn't play guitar."

Adam concurs. "In the past, when we went in the studio, we simply didn't know our craft well enough. On 'War' you can hear more of the arrangements coming from a bass-and-drum thing; the rhythm section's standing up. That means Edge doesn't have to play as much. On the first two albums, knowingly or not, he was covering up for a rhythm section that wasn't quite mature. We're a much tougher band now." During a playback of 'War's 'Surrender', I catch Adam's eye after hearing a particularly canny bass run. He grins wickedly: "Little something I picked up from Tina Weymouth." Like his bandmates, Adam stoked his adolescent rock fantasies with the likes of Talking Heads, Patti Smith, and Television (The Edge clearly carries a few of Tom Verlaine's arrows In his quiver). But Adam's not unmindful of the Stoners "I was Just listening to Bill Wyman last week, and he is all over the place with his bass playing, but the one thing he never tampers with is where he doesn't play, and that, I think, is the key to the Stones' sort of sloppy but rhythmic feel."

(Contd next time)

The Unsinkable U2

by Carter Alan

Thursday February 11, 1982; U-2 opens its fourth U.S. Tour in style aboard the S.S. President a five decker riverboat straight from of the pages of Mark Twain. The huge paddlewheels have been removed to make way for more efficient propellers, but inside the old grandeur has largely preserved. 1,500 fans jam the boat, evidence that New Orleans does support some kind of new wave scene. Support from the radio is minimal (the closest any commercial station gets is Joan Jett) but one of the concert promoters tells me that Tulane University has a station that pumps out several hours of alternative rock and roll every week. He also adds that U-2 is a favorite and the station reaches the entire metro area.

RZA, a local outfit warms up the crowd before the President's scheduled cruise up the Mississippi. This quartet has a good handle on punk-music-past and newer directions such as ska and straight rock. The audience is loose and dancing as I make my way around the ship to find U-2's dressing room. Appropriately enough, they're in the Captain's cabin.

"This is the first time we ever played a venue and the venue left!" jokes band manager Paul McGuiness. McGuiness is very pleased about tonight, as if U-2's mere one month layoff from gigging deeply worried him. After some U.K. dates in December, the band was busy laying down tracks for a new single (which would appear imminently). Still, McGuiness is very aware that American radio is a tough nut to crack. If his band isn't being exposed on the airwaves, then they had better be out working on the road "You know, we almost had to forget this tour."

The blond fluffy-haired bassist Adam Clayton continues, "Yeah, we're nearly always close to break even on the road, but this time we were going to lose too much Then we found out that we were going to do a couple of weeks with the J. Geils Band in stadiums."

"We're playing Florida and the West Coast with them," adds Bono, the lead singer who's buried under another of his endless supply of hats.

It will be a tremendous asset for U-2 to play in the stadiums, not only for the number of people there, but for their relative youth. Although the group has crisscrossed America extensively, its influence is still limited to rock and roll bars. Boston is one of the few places where U-2's popularity allows them to sell out the Orpheum Theater with all ages in attendance.

With U-2's prowess in the instrumental field, Bono's growing talent as a frontman, and the band's exuberance onstage, there's little doubt that a stadium full of Geils lovers will react favorably. Certainly the headliners stand for the very same things.

With the lines cast off and the President moving out into the muddy waters, U-2 hits the stage, which has been set up amidships to allow a two story interior theater-like setup. The sonic wash of The Edge's guitar announces "Gloria" as people flock into the already crowded confines up front. "Another Time, Another Place" is next and that's when I decide to find another spot from which to watch. Slam dancers in Boston are one thing - never overtly violent - but this New 0rleans crowd certainly is. A wave of shouting, kicking, and clawing ensues as five people vie for the space I'm trying to exit from. A quick sidestep and I'm free as U-2 switches down into the slow pulse of "I Threw a Brick Through a Window." One surprise is "A Day Without Me," their second single which was dropped from the setlist after the first tour. Edge's guitar reaches for the sky and holds it while Bono matches the furious peaks with an unwavering voice and plenty of sweat.

Despite the obvious tone in the crowd, no violence is directed at the band except for a few fact ice cubes loosed in Bono's direction. (The singer promptly empties a beer on the front rows in retaliation.) Finishing up with the encore of "Fire," "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" and "The Ocean" as the riverboat ties up, U-2 leaves the stage as I head for a plate of red beans and rice (burp). Later, I'm psyched. but surprised that the band thought the show was mediocre. Still, I've got to hand it to them, the best musicians are never satisfied.

SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY

I can't believe the news today,
I can't close my eyes and makes it go away
How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long? Tonight we can be as one.
Broken bottles under children' s feet,
Bodies strewn across a dead end street,
But I won't heed the battle call,
It puts my bad up, puts my back up against the wall.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

And the battle's just begun,
There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
The trenches dug within our hearts
And mother's children, brothers sisters torn apart.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

How long, how long mug we sing this song?
How long? Tonight we can be as one.
Tonight tonight

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

Wipe the tears from your eyes,
Wipe your tears away,
Wipe your bloodshot eyes.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

And it's true we are immune,
When fact is fiction and TV is reality,
And today the rnillions cry,
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die.
The real battle just begun.
To claim the victory Jesus won,
On a Sunday, bloody Sunday,
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

NEW YEAR'S DAY

All is quiet on New Year's Day.
A world in white gets underway.
And I way to be with you,
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Years Day.
I will be with you again.
I will be with you again.

Under a blood red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white,
Arms entwined, the chosen few,
Newspapers say, it says it's true it's true.
And we can break through,
Though torn in two we can be one.
I will begin again, I will begin again.
Oh and maybe the time is right,
Oh maybe tonight.
I will be with you again.
I will be with you again.

And so we are told this is the golden age
And gold is the reason for the wars we wage,
Though I want to be with you,
To be with you night and day.
Nothing changes on New Year's Day.

SECONDS

It takes a second to say goodbye,
Say goodbye.
It takes a second to say goodbye,
Say goodbye, say bye bye where are are you going to now?

Fall, rise and ... Fall, rise and ...
Lightning flashes across the sky.
From east to west you do or die.
Like a thief in the night,
You see the world by candlelight.

Fall, rise and ... Fall, rise and . . .
In an apartment on Times Square,
You can assemble them anywhere
Held to ransom, hell to pay,
A revolution every day.
USSR., D.D.R., London, New York, Peking.
It's the puppets, it's the puppets who pull the strings.

Say goodbye, say goodbye,
Say goodbye, say, goodbye,
It takes a second to say goodbye,
Push the button and pull the plug, say goodbye.

Fall, rise and ... Fall, rise and ...
They're doing the atomic bomb,
Do they know where the dance comes from?
Yes they're doing the atomic bomb,
They want you to sing along
Say goodbye, say goodbye.

Excerpt from "Soldier Girls" courtesy of contemporary films

LIKE A SONG

Like a song I have to sing,
I sing it for you.
Like the words I have to bring,
I bring them to you.
And in leather lace or chains,
We stake our claim,
Revolution once again.
But I won't,
I won't wear it on my sleeve.
I can see through this expression
And you know I don't believe.
I'm too old to be told,
Exactly who are you?
Tonight, tomorrow's too late.

And we love to wear a badge, a uniform,
And we love to fly a flag.
But I won't let others live in hell,
As we divide against each other,
And we fight amongst ourselves.
Too set in our ways to try to rearrange,
Too right to be wrong, in this rebel song.
Let the bells ring out, is there nothing left?
Is honesty what you want?

A generation without name, ripped and torn
Nothing to lose, nothing to gain
Nothing at all.
And if you can't help yourself,
Well take a look around you,
When others need your time.
You say it's time to go it's your time.
Angry words won't stop the fight
Two wrongs won't make it right
A new heart is what I need,
Oh God, make it bleed,
Is there nothing left

SURRENDER

The city's alight
With lovers and lies
Bright blue
The city is brighter
Brighter than day tonight,
Surrender, Surrender
Surrender, Surrender

Sadie said she couldn't
Work out what it was all about.
And so she let go,
Now Sadie's on the street
And the people she meets you know
She tried to be a good
And a good wife.
Raise a good family,
Lead a good life.
It's not good enough
She got herself up on the 48th floor
Got to find out,
Find out What she's living for.
Surrender, Surrender.
Surrender, Surrender.

The city's a fire,
A passionate flame
That knows me by name.
The city's desire
To take me for more and more.
It's in the street getting under my feet
It's in the air it's everywhere I look for you,
It's in the things I do and say.
If I want to live, I've got to die to myself someday

Papa sing my sing my song.
Papa sing my sing my song.
Papa sing my sing my song.

DROWNING MAN

Take my hand
You know I'll be there,
If you can I'll cross
The sky for your love
For I have promised for
To be with you tonight
And for the time that will come.

Take my hand
You know I'll be there,
If you can I'll cross
The sky for your love
And I understand
These winds and tides,
This change of times
Won't drag you away.
Hold on, hold on tightly,
Hold on and don't let go
Of my love.

The storms will pass
It won't be long now.
The storms will pass
But my love lasts forever.

And take my hand.
You know I'll be there,
If you can I'll cross the sky
For your love.
Give you what I hold dear,
Hold on, hold on tightly.
Hold on, hold on tightly.
Rise up, rise up with wings
Like eagles you'll run, you'll run
You'll run and not grow weary.

Take my hand, take my hand.
Hold on, hold on tightly.
Hold on, hold on tightly.
This love lasts forever,
This love lasts forever,
Take my hand,
Take my hand.

To contact other friends and fans of U2, send in your name and address and we will include it here. You can also include U2 items that you're offering to swop if you wish, but please keep the listing fairly brief.

Teresa Davies, 35 Pine Grove, Hanger Hill, Weybridge, Surrey.
Paul Morley, 101 Aldreds Lane, Langley, Heanor, Derbyshire DE7 7HG.
David Wilson, 39 Rosecoole Park, Ballysillen Road, Belfast BT14 8JW, N. Ireland.
Miss Veronique Boukozba, 97 Blyd de ChampIgny, 94210 La Varenne, France.
Nicola Shaw, 51 Clerk Road Penicuick, Midlothian, Scotland.
Lynne Roberts, 4 Bryn Terrace, Gyffin, Conwy, Gwynedd, N. Wales.
Julia Goddard, 85 Park lane, Pontefract, West Yorks
Helen Wisbach, 13 Kirketone Gdns, High Heaton, Newcastle on Tyne NE7 7AN.
Ruth Dean, 2 St Lawrence Close, Abbots Langley, Watford, Herts, WD5 OAU.
Krzsiek Ambroziak, Skr Poczt. 241, 90-980 LODZ 7, POLAND.
Viki Kimber, 42 Shendale Drive, Rexdale. Toronto, Ontario 49W 2B5, Canada.
Joanna Ponomprew, 81-384 Gdynia, Ul. Wladystawa, IV 5011, Poland.
Marylouise English, 1414 N. Gardner Street, West Hollywood, CA 90046, USA.
Piotr Rzeezowski, Ul. Opawska 25/3, 47-400 Raciborz, Poland.
Christina Glass, 11 Lanadowne Gdns, Stakeford, Choppington, Northumberland NE62 5LF
John Rose, Appletree Cottage, 269 Sandbanks Rd, Lilliput Village, Poole, Dorset.
Danielle Quinlan, 4+ The Brow, Woodingdean, Brighton, East Sussex BN2 6LN.
Julie Davies, 26 Lytchett Drive, Broadatone, Dorset.

After successfully teaming up for some dates on the last tour, a lot of people have been asking for more details on THE ALARM and on BIG COUNTRY. Here are some contact addresses - be sure to include a stamped addressed envelope.

THE ALARM, c/o wanted Talent, 28 Alexander Street, London W.2.

BIG COUNTRY, c/o Jackie Whitburn, The Country Club, 123 Edgeware Road, London W2 2HX.

The Alarm are soon to join U2 in the USA for some of the American dates.

The Edge uses a Fender Stratocaster or a Gibson Explorer through a vintage Vox AC30 amp with a Memory Man echo "which is a real budget echo, but it works really well; it's functional and uncomplicated." He likes "very heavy" strings, ranging from .011 or .012 gauge up to .056. "My Explorer isn't one of the vintage '58's, it's more like a '76, but it's great in that it has a nice top end without that extra raunch and distortion that a lot of people like in a Les Paul; it's like a compromise between a Les Paul and a Strat." He admits to occasionally using a Les Paul in the studio, as well as an Epiphone steel guitar he picked up at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville. "It helps give an 'American' feel to 'Surrender', on the new album. The Vox amps are like the original Beatle amps, with the original box speakers - little 12-inchers with a very gutsy middle sound." The Edge is partial to Roland's Chorus 120 amps, because of their "tough, clean sound."

Adam favours a Fender Jazz bass played through Ampeg amps, while Bono opts for a Shure SH-57 mike for the vocal chores.

Larry's drum kit is a Yamaha Studio series with Zildjian cymbals. He notes, "For 'Like A Song" we wanted a pastoral, Celtic feel, so I got hold of a bass drum and some skins and used my hand instead of my foot."

I was rather fortunate in being able to see U2 live at both London gigs; both were absolutely brilliant, but undoubtedly Monday's gig at the Hammersmith Palais was the better of the two.

At 8pm Zerra One, the first support group, came on. Slightly better than the previous night, even though the singer was just so awful. At least he didn't swear at the audience this time. The Alarm followed shortly, and they were pretty good as a support band, getting the crowd moving. The lead singer dedicated a song (68 Guns) to Bono, Larry, Adam and the Edge - the best rock 'n roll band in the world. Too right. Afterwards, Bono joined The Alarm onstage for their version of 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door'. The Alarm then did an encore of their single 'Marching on', and left the excited crowd in eager anticipation for what was about to come.

U2 took to the stage to be greeted by cheers, applause, whistles, and screams of the delirious fans. Bono announced about making this as a night we wouldn't forget. They kicked off with 'Out Of Control' and worked their way through the set from there. Bono described 'An Cat Dubh' as something being beautiful yet dangerous at the same time. The saddest point in the show was when he read a letter about Duncan, who was dying and in a coma. He sang 'I Fall Down' for Duncan and it sounded genuine, he actually meant it.

Introducing 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday', Bono said that for a long time he had been frightened of writing a song about the place he lived, about Ireland and its problems. He stressed that this was not a rebel song, and to underline his point a white flag on either side of the stage blew in the breeze. After 'New Year's Day', U2 played a set of classic live stuff from both 'Boy' and 'October'. Towards the end, Bono admitted that he thought he was dying the night before, but tonight he felt like exploding. (I later learned that he had a viral infection but decided to continue with the London gigs.) And so it was, ending with 'I Will Follow' then they came back for encores and finished with the classic '11 O'Clock Tick Tock/The Ocean'. A Celebration!

If you have any questions about U2 we can answer them here. If you wish to write to the band personally we can pass them on, or write direct to SISTER SISTER, 39 Chestnut Grove, Kingswood. Clondalkin, Co. Dublin Eire.

Dear Geoff,
Please can you list U2's birthdays?
Debbie McCall, Swindon, Wilts

Dear Debbie,
The dates are: Bono 10th May, The Edge 8th August, Larry 31st October, and Adam 13th March.
Best wishes

Dear Geoff,
I wrote to Sister Sister and received a reply but it wasn't signed by The Edge who I'd written to. Do the band get to read the letters?
Paul Morley, Reanor. Derbyshire.

Dear Paul,
Yes, of course, but as U2 are one of the hardest working bands in the world - constantly on tour or in the studio - sometimes there isn't a chance to reply to each individually. They do their best!
Best wishes,

Compiled and edited by Geoff Parkyn. Published by U2 INFO SERVICE, P.O.Box 48, London N6 5RU, England. Please remember to include return postage for personal replies to any correspondence. Special thanks to Paul McGuinness, Neil and all at Island Records/Island Music. Cover photo by Ian Finlay. Photography by ANTON CORBIJN, Steve Rapport, Alison Turner. Many thanks to Bono, Larry, The Edge and Adam.

All the best