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Posts Tagged ‘U2’

Sometimes you read something on the internet and even though it’s posted on several “reputable” sites, by several different writers, you still don’t believe it’s true.

A month ago I experienced this phenomenon when I read that Sean Penn was cast in the new Three Stooges movie. I experienced it again in regards to the new Spider-man musical that’s heading to Broadway.

Surprisingly, I completely believe Spider-man would provide fodder for the musical stage. Like Hollywood, Broadway’s profit margins are so thin they can’t take many chances on new material. They have to use well-known source material in order to secure the financial backing necessary to produce a Broadway show.

Of course, I might have chosen a Disney movie or gone the route of a cheesy jukebox musical instead of having everyone’s favorite web slinger croon and prance around on stage.

Spider-man is probably the most sarcastic superhero around and musical theater is the one medium that eschews sarcasm. After all, it’s hard to be acerbic when you’re expressing your feelings in song.

What shocked me about “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark,” a musical directed by Julie Taymor, is the show’s composer. It’s none other than Messrs. Bono and Edge.

Taymor and Bono worked together on her Beatles musical, “Across the Universe.” For the project Bono covered two Beatles’ classics, “I Am the Walrus” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

Still, Taymor must have some incriminating pictures of the U2 duo, or maybe she’s has pull with the Malibu city council and can help the Edge build those houses. Either way, this project seems an odd undertaking for the coolest-half of the coolest rock band in the world.

Nationwide casting calls are currently underway although rumors had Rachel Evan Wood slated to play Mary Jane. However, Taymor dismissed the speculation stating she wants to go with unknown actors.

The casting process began April 9th in Orlando and ends May 27th in Austin, Texas. When it’s all said and done, casting directors will have visited six U.S. cities.

What are they looking for besides someone that tingles their Spidey senses? Well they’re looking for “performers with dynamic rock/pop voices including those with experience in bands and as solo performers.” Fortunately, that leaves out Tobey Maguire.

The musical, which begins previews in 2010 (but of course Spiderman tickets go on sale this June), caused a bit of stir on the internet over the announcement that it included a “lead female villain.”

It makes sense, Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, Venom, Carnage, Electro, the Sandman, the Vulture, the Hobgoblin and Sam Raimi would be too hard to recreate for the stage.

The casting call described the show’s villain as “Sinead O’Connor with a Middle Eastern/Bulgarian/Greek twist.” You have to love the way entertainment types mix and match characteristics; I have no idea what they are talking about.

Some speculated that the unnamed villainess is Dr. Victoria Von Doom while others claimed it’s Black Cat. Another thinks it’s Hillary Clinton. According to several sources the new bad girl, created specifically for the show, is Swiss Miss (the name doesn’t fit the description though).

The nerds at Aint It Cool News had an interesting post claiming the villainess is a new character called Arachne. She’s your typical time traveling beauty that turned herself into a “spider for her hubris.”

Who knows, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet.

Author Bio: Ryan Hogan writes for ClickitTicket.com, a website that sells affordable Broadway tickets to shows like Spider-Man the Musical.

Don’t you just love that movie ‘High Fidelity’ where the hero is constantly making lists of his top 5 all time favorite records, girl friends, meals and whatever. I save all the concert tickets from the concerts that I have been to and I can’t help but make up my top five classic concerts and wish I had the concert tickets to go with the memories.

Classic concert ticket number 5: U2 plays on an L.A. liquor store rooftop, March 27, 1987. They were atop a liquor store rooftop, Los Angeles. It may not have had The Beatles’ originality, but Bono and the guys surely enjoyed their 20 minutes on top of the LA world nevertheless. The Irish super group was about four songs into the gig on an L.A. liquor store rooftop when the city police decided to end their impromptu performance and spoil the fun for the fans that had gathered below. Strictly speaking this wasn’t a concert with proper concert tickets but I love the video “Where The Streets Have No Name”, which was the point of the whole exercise.

Classic concert ticket number 4: George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh, August 1, 1971 at Madison Square Garden, New York City. What had initially been conceived as a small political fundraiser aimed at bringing humanitarian relief to the refugees in breakaway Bangladesh quickly turned into one of the biggest rock fundraisers of the 1970s. Although Lennon and McCartney never ended up signing on to Ravi Shankar’s cause, many other stars did, including George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Billy Preston, and Eric Clapton, who actually collapsed onstage as a result of his protracted bout of heroin addiction but still managed to proceed with the concert. The 40,000 or so fans who crowded New York’s Madison Square Garden witnessed some rare performances, including a 25-minute Indian recital by Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” and Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy.”

Classic concert ticket number 3: Pink Floyd break visual barriers with The Wall shows between February 1980 and June 1981. It was a World tour. Pink Floyd’s visual theatrics took a turn for the legendary with their infamous The Wall concerts, which were the last shows Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Dave Gilmour, and Nick Mason performed together before the Live 8 show in July 2005. Each show required timed performances and unprecedented cooperation between the musicians, concert crew, lighting engineers, and computer programmers. In fact, extended instrumentals and Roger Waters’ impromptu introductions often served to cover up stage fires and other technical difficulties, which seemed inevitable when putting together a show that included a 30-foot-high teacher puppet, a scorpion wife and other such animated characters.

Classic concert ticket number 2: Jimi Hendrix wows Woodstock, August 18, 1969 at Woodstock, New York. After plowing through three days worth of rain, mud, minbending drugs, and music, the 30,000 or so diehard fans who chose to brave one more night for Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock closer were not disappointed. In fact, those who stuck around to witness Hendrix’s mind-blowing rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” cannot deny its importance on the festival’s soundtrack; it became the eternal anthem of a generation of civil rights crusaders, anti-war protestors and music lovers everywhere. Now I know this was a ‘free’ concert but it didn’t start out that way and there were actual concert tickets issued for Woddstock.

Classic concert ticket number 1: The Beatles sell out Shea Stadium August 15, 1965 in New York City. After a thundering welcome at JFK airport, the American release of Help! And an electrifying appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles’ success at Shea Stadium, the first-ever stadium concert of its kind, was all but guaranteed. In fact, the sell-out crowd of 55,600 was so deafening that the The ‘Fab Four’ could barely hear themselves play throughout their 30-minute set. Instead, The Beatles’ grand armored van entrance, John Lennon’s ‘Jerry Lee Lewis’ onstage freak-out and the event’s record-setting gross revenues stole the show.

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U2 is one of the most renowned, successful and loved bands to come out of the UK, and particularly to come out of Ireland, ever. Their music has wowed crowds since they first started out in Dublin, Ireland in 1976. The group has since then gone on to become one of the best-known bands of the century, solidifying their place as rock legends with a sound that no one, so far, has succeeded in emulating because of its powerful and unique qualities. The commanding voice of Bono, the incredible guitar of the Edge, the excellent bass of Adam Clayton and the awesome drums of Larry Mullen, Jr. have been wowing fans for more than three decades. The fact that U2 has been able to stay together for all three decades is an incredible testimony to their cohesion and commitment to their art.

Fans of U2 have recently been experiencing feelings of intrigue and for some a little bit of disappointment, as the long anticipated follow-up to How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, originally slated to be released before Christmas, will not be arriving till 2009. Those fans who have stayed with the band longer, however, have enough faith in their abilities to meet the news with anticipation rather than dejection. Band leader Bono has stated that the reason for the band’s delay in releasing the album is that they have hit on a vein of inspiration that they have not fully tapped out. This essential piece of information has provoked a response of expectancy, as loyalty to the group is often born out of a respect for their music. Fans that are willing to wait are certain to be rewarded for their patience as this is a band that has proven themselves repeatedly in their artistic endeavors.

The group has been characterized by the excellence of their music, their faith in God, and their ability to make a name for themselves as a contemporary and relevant rock band. Even though they have often been categorized as an ’80s band, the group seems to be much more than that. Over the decades that they have been together many other groups have emulated or attempted to emulate the group’s sound over the years. Proving that U2 was not only well ahead of their time, but also that they had produced a kind of sound that is indeed deserving of international acclaim.

Though the individual members of the group are Christians, they have successfully removed themselves from the often cliched and somewhat overly sappy sentimentality that has characterized Christian music. Instead, producing music that is not only excellent but also relevant to today, instead of being bogged down by attempting to create overtly Christian music, they have created music that is a true and integral expression of life. They successfully moved out of the evangelical music trap, which tends to claim Christians artists as its own and then succumb them to stagnant stereotyped sound and given themselves room to express themselves creatively in the way that they feel they have been made to. Their latest album is greatly anticipated, as their uniquely inspired music is something that few bands can produce on the level that U2 has made their own. Be sure to catch the band live in concert as you eagerly await their next album, look out for tickets to see one of the most popular bands of both centuries.

This article is sponsored by http://www.Stubhub.com and was written by Phoebe Bradley. http://StubHub.com is a leader in the business of selling http://www.stubhub.com/u2-tickets/ sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.