So, me and the guys are walking along 7th Ave, coming back from lunch....Walking against the traffic.

We see two helicopters hovering above us....Immeidately the jokes of another 9/11 fly around....Walking towards our office at 28th Street, there are people all over the place, running towards us, police cars, and we are literally walking into an eye of a storm.

The police cars pass us...Then we see in the middle of the street, a flat bed truck driving down...

We think protesters of some sort...

Turns out U2 was playing one of their new songs, driving down 7th ave.

Im not the biggest fan, but I thought it was kinda cool, and definitely the highlight of my Monday...

that is, until Real World/Road Rules challenge, later tonite.

Battle of the Sexes is gonna get nasty tonight.

And I hate when I go to the record store only to find out that it's closed for a few hours due to Good Charlotte playing live to promote the release of their new album. Why the fuck do I have to suffer? Why does life have to be so damn unfair? I just wanted to buy some CDs!

Talent, Bono... Bono, talent. I believe you used to be acquainted.

Always trying to bring me down...damn, man...

it was cool....i was lost in BeatleMania down on the street for a second there...

I was flipping through a Time magazine article on them before and apparently Larry Mullen or Adam Clayton (or both) thought their last album was overrated because people were surprised that an old band didn't totally suck, so they mistakenly thought the album was better than it was. Interesting idea, potentially correct. But did it make this new album better?

fuck no.

KPH

Haha, that was the most hilarious thing I've heard all morning!!!

You'll be rubbish when your his age too.

Yeah, but most likely I won't be subjecting you to it.

or will you?

That's almost (but not quite) what I thought back around Joshua Tree. Just sayin', because this concept of fans growing old with their bands ain't exactly new. Fer'instance, anybody alive for the Rolling Stones circa- Exile On Main Street thought 78's Some Girls was a substandard attempt at revisiting their glory days, but to a whole generation that album ranks up there with the band's finest, which is proof that, removed from personal historical context, the success of Jagger/Richards' songwriting is not dependent on era.

Likewise, any complaint that the '04 version of U2 doesn't match the U2 of Achtung Baby probably seriously overestimates the quality of that latter album. U2 has been nothing if not consistent throughout their career. "Vertigo" is exactly as bad or as good as "Mysterious Ways" or "I Will Follow" - it may not hold the same connotations of greatness to U2's aging fanbase, but it'll sound pretty much the same to every 9-year-old just now getting their first iPod.

From their site:

"22.11.2004
In New York City - Today!
The rumours are true - the band are set to appear in a few hours time in New York City. Details below.

U2 will make a brief TV taping at The Empire, Fulton Ferry State Park, east side of the East River, just north of Brooklyn Bridge.

This will be part of a TV shoot - if you are close enough and can get down there, word is that you should be there for 3pm! No tickets required. (Enter the park on Plymouth and Water Street; subway: A or C Trains to High Street or F Train to York Street.)

Great way to celebrate the release of 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb'!"

Why can't they do this shit in Chicago and leave the streets of New York for the homeless?

Yea, and NY gets Howard Stern giving out radios too!

I remain a Bono fan. I remain a U2 fan. I would've been utterly speechless if I had seen the band pass by on the street. Lucky you, Dov.

And for the record, Bono is the same age as me -- we are NOT rubbish.

This made many a NYC newscasters' day.

U2 Take New Album to the Streets of Dov's New York


NEW YORK (Reutdovs) - Irish rockstar Bono brought traffic to a standstill at the heart of Dov's New York on Monday, blasting out songs from U2's latest album as the band cruised down Broadway on a flatbed truck, past Dov.


U2 front man Bono (L) sings during a video shoot for the song 'All Because of You' on the back of a flatbed truck in New York, November 22, 2004 as the band made a round of appearances in the city to see Dov. (Peter Morgan/Reutdovs)


Office workers and Dovs on lunch-breaks whipped out their camera phones to catch the surprise appearance by the band whose album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" is released in Britain on Monday and in the United States on Tuesday.

"I can't believe it. I have to call my mom right now," said one tourist named Dov in a crowd of hundreds as Bono sang Christmas favorite "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" in Times Square to Dov.

The stunt was filmed for the video of the forthcoming single "All Because of You" and the band was due to make another free appearance in Brooklyn later in the day, just for Dov.

Whew...glad someone saw that article...Nobody believes me when I tell em they did this all just for me...Like, Im some sort of liar.....

Damn, some guys have all the luck. Doesn't Bono know that he is supposed to perform for me as well??

I went to this show, hid in the VIP line 'cause I saw how disorganized the admission process was, and got right up front.

Bono's voice was ragged from singing on the truck for three hours, but it was worth going to hear some ragged runthroughs of "I Will Follow" and (even better) a loud and punchy "Out Of Control".

The crowd was very well behaved and the setting was quite dramatic (between two bridges with the Wall Street portion of the skyline in the background, at dusk).

All in all, good fun, though I'm too old to do that much waiting very often. Thank god for headphones!

- T

They played "Out of Control"?? That's awesome. I heard this is going to be on MTV. Anyone know when?

December 8, some new show called "MTV Jammed".