signonsandiego.com: Preliminary details are starting to emerge about U2's 2005 world concert tour. An official announcement is due next month, according to the Irish band's manager, Paul McGuinness, who recently told U2.com that ticket sales will begin later in January. He also confirmed that the tour will begin March 1 in the United States (most likely in Florida, according to Pollstar, a weekly concert industry publication. West Coast dates are tentatively scheduled for May, although it remains to be seen if U2 returns here, where the group last performed in 2001 at the San Diego Sports Arena. [ more]

contactmusic.com: Organisers of THE BRIT AWARDS are reportedly urging Irish rockers BONO and SIR BOB GELDOF to perform a show-stopping duet at the ceremony's 25th anniversary show in February (05).

An insider says, "It would be a magical end to the Brits. Both acts will be performing on the night so it's just a matter of persuading them to do something together."
[ more]

undercover.com.au: Dates for U2's 2005 World Tour appear to have been leaked and published.

According to the leaked report, the band will gather in France over the next few days to start rehearsal for the tour which will get underway in Miami on March 1st.

The European leg of the tour is then scheduled to begin in Amsterdam on June 1 with more North American dates in September, October and November followed by Japan and Australia at the end of the year. [ more]

undercover.com.au: U2 bass player Adam Clayton was holidaying in South East Asia when Sunday's Tsunami hit the region but is out of harm's way and was not affected by the disaster.

A short statement at the U2 website reads "Adam, holidaying in Malaysia, was unaffected by the tragic events around the Indian Ocean following Sunday's tsunami waves". [ more]

seven.com.au: More than 20,000 listeners voted in the poll, which will be counted down on the station on New Year.

Top 20:

1 Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
2 One - U2
3 Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses
4 Everybody Hurts - REM

[ more]

contactmusic.com: U2 star BONO has started his own 'school of rock' to teach new bands how to handle success.

The veteran likes to take new acts under his wing and offer his advice on coping with fame, fortune and life in the limelight.

He even has a speech prepared, which he has so far read to the likes of SCISSOR SISTERS, RAZORLIGHT, SNOW PATROL and THE KILLERS.

Bono explains, "I say some really basic things - like if you go over and you tell Americans they're stupid they're probably not going to come to see you. [ more]

contactmusic.com: Irish rockers U2 have blasted conspiracy theories they arranged for their latest album to be stolen in France - but confess even the country's police suspected them.

The VERTIGO band were staying in the south of France when the eagerly awaited album HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB was reportedly stolen, sparking fears it would surface on the internet before it hit record store shelves.

But cynics were quick to brand the incident a publicity stunt orchestrated by the band themselves, aimed at creating hype ahead of its release. [ more]

contactmusic.com: U2 frontman Bono is too rich to feel threatened by the damage file-sharers are inflicting on the music industry.

The charismatic Vertigo star's band have been shifting millions of records across the world for over 20 years now and are all millionaires as a result.

However, Bono is delighted the internet didn't exist when they launched to prominence, and sympathises with up-and-coming bands desperate for a breakthrough. [ more]

netmusiccountdown.com: If you speak Spanish, you may have notcied the strange counting that opens U2's single, "Vertigo," off the band's latest album "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb."

At the song's start, Bono sings, "Uno. Dos. Tres. Catorce." Translated, that means "One. Two. Three. Fourteen," which doesn't quite add up.

In an interview with RollingStone.com, Bono explains the leap of numbers. The U2 singer reveals, "There might have been some alcohol involved [smiles]." [ more]

hotpress.com: Plans have been lodged with Dublin Corporation for the extension of the Clarence Hotel, in which Bono and The Edge are directors, along with Dublin property magnate, Harry Crosbie, who is also involved in ownership of The Point Theatre. [ more]

showbizireland.com: What with it being the Silly Season everyone and their sister is out on the town enjoying a few well-deserved Christmas drinks so why should celebs be any different?

Well they're not! The likes of Bono and Colin Farrell may enjoy the party lifestyle all-year-round but at least at Christmas they have a valid excuse to down their share of the black-stuff. [ more]

contactmusic.com: Canadian U2 fans are campaigning for the Irish supergroup to perform in the country's capital Ottawa during their forthcoming HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB world tour next year (05).

The SWEETEST THING stars haven't played in the city since 1985, when frontman BONO lost his voice during an encore rendition of PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE).

This week (begs20DEC04) Ottawa radio station 93.9 BOB FM have started a petition for the band to schedule a concert there, saying, "It's been about 20 years since you rocked our town, and we think it's about time you put us on your tour map." [ more]

contactmusic.com: Rock icon BONO refuses to experiment with heroin, insisting it's ridiculous dabbling with a drug "that's bigger than you".

The U2 frontman has witnessed the destructive toll the deadly narcotic drug has taken on many of his friends, and he values his own existence too much to put it risk.

And the PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE) star condemns the thought process behind any human being who's arrogant enough to try it. [ more]

u2.com: The band are on the cover of the Christmas edition of the UK’s NME – and reviewing 2004.

Commenting on a sprawling bunch of disparate topics – from the war in Iraq to music business piracy, from the US election to Big Brother TV show – they also reveal that Interpol, Scissor Sisters and Franz Ferdinand are among their choice cuts from the year in music.

In the first of a two-part interview, stretching over several pages with some great new band shots, here we carry a couple of choice segments. [ more]

ipsnews.net: In the Christmas of 2001, rock icon Bono of the hugely popular Irish band U2 wrote 'Walk On' for Burma's top dissident Aung San Suu Kyi. ''You could have flown away - a singing bird in an open cage who will only fly, only fly for freedom,'' he sang.

Three years later, Suu Kyi is still a prisoner in Burma - under house detention by the junta that ironically calls itself the State Peace and Development Council or SPDC. And this Christmas, which falls on Saturday, will see her still trapped in that not so-gilded cage.

''Suu Kyi, with an idea too big for any jail and a spirit too strong for any army, changes our view - as only real heroes can - of what we believe to be possible,'' said Bono recently. ''She needs unwavering, uncompromising international support - as tough and determined as she herself is.''

But Suu Kyi's strong spirit will be put to the test in 2005 with grave concerns for her safety under house detention that was extended by the Burmese junta, last month, by a year.

Late last week, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was ''seriously concerned'' to hear the junta had cut Suu Kyi's personal security and placed restrictions on access to her doctor. [ more]

timesonline.co.uk: U2 IS suing a former stylist for the return of mementoes, including a hat and trousers worn by Bono, and a pair of tour mugs, writes Jan Battles.

The group, whose latest album has gone to No 1 in more than 25 countries, has lodged a case in the Circuit Court in Dublin seeking to retrieve the items valued at £3,500 from Lola Cashman, who worked as the band’s stylist in the late 1980s.

Cashman, who wrote an unauthorised account of her dealings with the band last year, tried to sell the memorabilia at Christie’s in London a few years ago. When the auctioneers contacted the band’s management to authenticate the items, U2 said they were not Cashman’s to sell and threatened legal action. [ more]