LITTLE BOOK OF A BIG YEAR
Bono’s A to Z of 2014

1 Jan 2015535
1 January 2015

LITTLE BOOK OF A BIG YEAR: Bono's A to Z of 2014

It's January 1, 8pm. I nearly didn't press go on this, and I am clearly delirious in places. It's very personal, but I feel in a not corny way that U2 has a very intimate relationship with our audience… so I'm going for it.



This is too long.
You should not have time to read this.
If you do get to the end of it then you are probably on the same painkillers as me.
For the last few weeks I haven't been able to move around physically so I have more than made up for it by leaving my mind to wanderlust, untethered except electronically...
I have written words for new songs, but I have also had an opportunity to look back and review the year in a way I've never had time to do before... there have been more highs than lows, but perhaps the reason for this A TO Z endeavor is an attempt to learn from mistakes - the first of which is the discovery that I am not an armored vehicle. Edge says I look at my body as an inconvenience...The problem, as I see it, is that I think my head is harder than any other surface.

On the day of my 50th birthday I received an injury because I was over indulging in exercise boxing and cycling, which was itself an overcompensation for overindulging on alcohol coming up to the big birthday. I promised myself I would be more mindful of my limits, but just four years on, it happened again - a massive injury I can't blame on anyone but myself, mainly because I blanked out on impact and have no memory of how I ended up in New York Presbyterian with my humerus bone sticking through my leather jacket. Very punk rock as injuries go.

The consequences of this freak accident are significant enough that I will have to concentrate hard to be ready for the U2 tour in fitness terms… as a result I have cancelled every public appearance and decided this missive is all the communication I can manage for the first half of 2015, beyond muttering and singing to myself of course.

A IS FOR ALI

If her name were Zena I'd start the alphabet with her anyway; everything for me starts with her. Watching Ali this morning as she and a low bright winter sun clean our kitchen from the night before... I'm writing on a long table that was last night ringed by family and friends home for Christmas and New Year… the sea and sky were ink then with spots of little festive lights, infiltrating our winter evening. I didn't want the night to end, which has not always been the case for me during the last six weeks.

Ali's take is more deadpan, less obviously romantic. She says winter solstice is her favorite day because after that the nights are getting shorter like me... haha.

I'm hanging on to that thought as 2014 has had its fair share of inclement weather here in Hewsonland. Ali's father, Terry, had a series of heart attacks at the same time as I crashed my bike in Central Park. They don't compare but Ali has carried a lot of water for us two men. Terry is a giant who has inspired and challenged this jack for years.

Every single day since the invention of the internet, he has sent me scientific papers or pieces of scripture or dirty jokes ending with the admonishment THINK! Conjuring the famous photograph of Albert Einstein with his tongue sticking out.



B IS FOR BLOGOSPHERE

It's enough to put a fella off free speech... the problem about finding out what people think is...you find out what they think. Who are these people? Well if they put their real names to their invective then I guess they are people like me - people with the audacity to think they have a thought or a feeling that others should hear about… if they are hiding, I'm not interested.

If you're in an old pub here in Dublin, in fact most places, walk into the gents and further into the stalls; close the door and study the walls... nothing there... clean as a whistle. Where has all the graffiti gone? The bile and spleen, the grotesque drawing, the sexual meandering, the threats of violence to minorities? Where has it gone? It's on the blessed Internet. Scroll down... you know you're looking at your phone in the loo anyway.



B IS FOR BONO

Talking about yourself in the third person is a little weird... But Bono embraces it. Bono thinks solipsism for an artist is like an overactive thyroid for a comedian; it's hard to fix if it's paying your way...

B IS FOR BIRTHDAY

I share a birthday with my daughter Jordan....which means she has to share her birthday party with her father. This year I don't think she minded, it was a blast. When she was born she was only five pounds... the midwife said it would be comforting for her to sleep on my chest where she would hear my heartbeat like when she is breastfeeding with her mother. She is still there.

C IS FOR CLAYTON

Adam's bass playing on Songs of Innocence was as fresh and original as his work on our first album, BOY, which was genius as far as I'm concerned. Songs like The Troubles or Volcano, or This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now depend on Adam... to glue together elements that might otherwise fly off in different trajectories.

Adam is also the happiest he has ever been in his life since he married Mariana... she is so special and they share a passion for contemporary art that has them great friends as well as lovers. The only thing that bothers me about Adam Clayton is he seems to buy better gifts than I do. He bought Ali a snowflake pendant that she hardly ever takes off despite all my attempts to ply her with things that shine.

Truth is Ali is too modest and old-school frugal to wear anything showy. Yet another lesson there. (Note to self. Look up "frugal.")

C IS FOR CEDARWOOD ROAD



Just before Christmas all four of our kids called up to 10 Cedarwood Road to do a piss-take band photo as a present for me; the band released a song this year about that street, the one where I grew up with my best friends Guggi and Gavin on the north side of Dublin.

When the current owner photo bombed my kids by making funny faces at the window, they nearly jumped out of their south side skins. She had no idea that these kids had any connection with No. 10, but invited them into our old family house anyway. And my old bedroom. And into our old BATHROOM where their dad used to sneak back in to the house late at night through the little window. There are some truly spontaneous great spirits in the world and the Ryans living in that house are definitely among them.

D IS FOR DAVOS

I was one of the fat cats in the snow again this year. Ironically but quite brilliantly the 2014 World Economic Forum at Davos started with a message from Pope Francis. And when the Pope speaks to you at a ski resort you put down your gluhwein, Catholic or no. His message: "I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it".



Amen.

Capitalism is not immoral, but it is amoral. It gets its instructions from us. It's an indiscriminate engine, and our obligation is to see that it provides forward movement to everyone, not just to those whose hands are on the levers of the machine.

I went there because Davos gives me a front row view of the power elite at work which I've found, well, educational, in my work as an activist... to understand better these forces shaping the world of politics and economics. The world outside U2's air-conditioned life. I've never had a job - I worked part time in a petrol station, a warehouse, and I spent a summer selling cowboy boots ...so that makes me an expert in what? High heels ?!!

Artists chase the zeitgeist like dogs chase cars... often we don't really want to catch up to the speeding wheels, we just want to bark at them. I could spend my entire life in a bubble of songwriting, I'd love that, but I've realised that it's the artist in me that won't let me. I've to accept it's not just culture that informs the zeitgeist. I want to understand commerce, I want to understand politics. I want to understand the digital revolution as others before us grappled with the industrial revolution. And if I want to learn about something I have to do it, it doesn't work just to read about it. This didn't go well for me when I thought I could be a landscape painter... but "KEEP OUT – ELECTRICAL FENCE" my dyslexia reads as "Step Inside!! Free Drink!!"

E IS FOR EDUN



After ten years of hard work and now under the genius eye of designer Danielle Sherman, EDUN finally bloomed. This year Danielle was voted by Vogue one of the 8 designers to watch. One of her proudest accomplishments (and mine and Ali's) is that now 95 percent of this line is made in Africa, the continent that gave birth to us all.

EDUN supports 8,000 cotton farmers in Uganda. So I include a picture of a cotton field, which I think is one of the most beautiful sights in the world. Agriculture is sexy. Check out "Cocoa na Chocolate" with Africa's funkiest pop stars including His Royal Wonderfulness D'Banj.



Above all else E IS FOR EDGE

This year during the recording of SOI the band ended up sharing houses in London. I had the room under the Edge… this was a mistake. The dude doesn't sleep. When we record, he's often playing guitar right through the night. I offered him sleeping tablets. He said he'd rather the album be crack than valium.

Edge is not just one of my dearest friends, he, like the missus, remains a mystery to those who know him best.... a paradox… a true gentleman but with the rage of rock'n'roll under quite thick skin.... though he is U2's lightning conductor, he moves like a very calm breeze...you might not notice it but for the ripples in the sand, the subtleties in his playing, his songwriting hooks… some of them not obvious at first turn out to be eternal. He is the only one who doesn't know that he is the most influential guitar player in a quarter century.



Edge is very proud, as is the rest of the band, of our involvement in Music Generation...making sure in Ireland that any future Edges can get their hands on a guitar. By November, 19,000 kids had had access to instruments and lessons thanks to the brilliant Rosaleen Molloy who runs the scheme.

F IS FOR FANS



U2 is a band that started out as fans, and with this new album we wanted to remind ourselves and others that we hadn't forgotten that. We stepped out of the audience of The Clash and The Ramones... In earlier times we had fans sleeping on the floors of our hotel rooms. Later that got weird. But we've always understood who was paying our wages.

U2 were the first to use new technologies like a satellite stage and billboard sized videos, to make sure the seat at the back of the house was as good as the front. But now with paparazzi and cell phone cameras it's harder to hang out except when we're on tour. The sound of a U2 audience is like the roar of a rocket launch. This time we wont be in space…this rocket is bringing us back to earth.

F IS FOR FRIENDSHIP



Friendship like music is a sacrament to me. I can't remember who said it; it might even be Nietzsche, who said one other thing – and if I wore tattoos, I would ink this all across my right arm – that to do something really great, there requires "a long obedience in the same direction".

The other non-nihilistic thing he might have said is "friendship is higher than love". It's more consistent. There are fewer highs and lows. But great friendships especially childhood ones have a width and a breadth that some lovers just cannot attain. I like to think I have both with Ali, but my friends Reggie the Dog, who got me in to U2, Guggi and Gavin and Simon have pushed me to write better, think better, be better. That's what friendship does.

F IS FOR THE F-WORD

Let this be said. But not on live television.

I know this out of order, but there are some things you shouldn't get completely under control. Expletives, for example. Bob Geldof is a master of the art. Me, I got a US TV network into trouble for uttering an involuntary expletive in 2004 on accepting a Golden Globe. It went all the way to Congress, where the legislation became known as the Bono Bill. Not to be confused with Buffalo Bill. It was a pyrrhic victory, but I'll take it. I know it's not cool, this year I managed to keep it clean.

G IS FOR GLAUCOMA

Completely unintentionally, in London in the autumn I confessed to the talk show host Graham Norton the reason that I wear tinted glasses is that I have been diagnosed as having glaucoma for the last seven years, but that I've probably had the disease as long as I've been wearing these kinds of glasses, which is 23 years!!!!

I think it shocked him a little bit… it certainly surprised the band that I'd gone public, but maybe it is time to be honest about such things. I remember I had the nickname old red eyes. I remember the agony of flashbulb staying permanently in my vision for the rest of the day after I'd been photographed. I had many eye checks over the years but one of the sly things about this "silent thief" is that you can have 20/20 vision straight ahead for some years even after your peripheral vision goes... If it's not treated, blindness results. I think anyone who reaches 40 should have their eyes properly checked.

H IS FOR THE HEWSONS

I am so proud of our family... our oldest girl Jordan is studying poetry and fighting for the world's poor as founding editor of Global Citizen. This is a great organisation inspiring a whole new generation to join the fight against extreme poverty.

Eve was the star of the year in our house, even having a billboard to herself in our local village of Dalkey for her role in Steven Soderbergh's THE KNICK. Eve has discipline and mischief, real depth that she chooses to float above, until it's necessary to take that dive.

The boys Elijah and John are men now. I refuse to admit John at 13 is taller than me. I still clip his ear to make him laugh while I can... he's a natural comedian whose heroes are graffiti and street artists like JR. He plays rugby as I did but he's better than I ever was. He broke his nose in a match this year. His mother and I were badly shaken. He rolled his eyes, and explained that greatest living Irishman Brian O'Driscoll broke his nose 13 times. So that's a dozen more to go.

Elijah Bob, or Eli as he's known, is 15 and already a guitar shredder. Royal Blood is his favourite at the moment and their debut album is quite something. Motorhead is right up there too. I told him that Lemmy once helped U2 unpack their gear into the Marquee Club in 1980. When everyone wondered what he was still doing there mid-morning from the night before he said "playing space invaders". He wasn't joking. A master. Our boy Eli won't be a student for long.

I IS FOR ITUNES

Our album was to be like a bottle of milk dropped at the door of anyone interested in music and iTunes. As I understand it, the journey from the front door to the fridge and into what to some people felt was their bowl of cereal has something to do with a switch called "automatic download" - if you turn it on, you sign up for being pushed stuff.

That's about it...no flagrant abuse of human rights, but very annoying to people who a) like being annoyed, and/or b) felt it was like someone robbing their phone in the pub and taking a couple of photos before leaving it back on the table... some kind of breach of privacy which was really not intended. I empathise with the b)'s, but for the a)'s I've started referring them to the philosopher Jimmy Kimmel.



That Apple remains a music company is the best news for any one who wakes up with a melody in their head or wanting to hear one. Apple is unique in big tech in trying to get artists paid. That they would agree to pay Universal for SONGS of INNOCENCE, and then gift it to all the people who still believe music is worth paying for, both makes sense and is a beautiful thing.

I IS FOR INVISIBLE
(Released 2 February 2014. (RED) Superbowl commercial).






I IS FOR IRISH PRIDE

I broke my hand, my shoulder, my elbow and my face but the real injury this year was to my Irish pride as it was discovered that under my tracksuit I was wearing yellow and black Lycra cycling shorts. Yes, LYCRA. This is not very rock 'n' roll.

Recovery has been more difficult than I thought... As I write this, it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again. The band have reminded me that neither they nor Western civilization are depending on this.

I personally would very much miss fingering the frets of my green Irish falcon or my (RED) Gretsch. Just for the pleasure, aside from writing tunes. But then does the Edge, or Jimmy Page, or any guitarist you know have a titanium elbow, as I do now? I'm all elbows, I am.

My deepest Irish pride is seeing the smarts and resolve of the Irish people as our country emerges from the mess of last five years... I said as much in March at a speech in Dublin in front of a load of European leaders: "I want to give an enormous gigantic big up to the Irish people who, a) were screwed; and b) fought back with dignity. Irish people don't bruise easily, but we don't like the feeling of being bullied. But when the public sector had to pay for the arrogance of private sector stupidity, we got both bullied and bruised. And that was not fair... we're coming through, and I'd love to say it was the Troika; but I think, frankly, it was despite the Troika. The way we see it, the Irish people bailed the Irish government out".

J IS FOR JESUS

At this time of year some people are reminded of the poetic as well as the historic truth that is the birth of Jesus. The Christmas story has a crazy good plot with an even crazier premise - the idea goes, if there is a force of love and logic behind the universe, then how amazing would it be if that incomprehensible power chose to express itself as a child born in shit and straw poverty.

Who could conceive of such a story? If you believe it was the protagonist, as I do, then we should try to be really respectful of people who think the whole thing is a bit nutty or worse... Religious people are the best and worst of us...handle us with scepticism...

Strangely, maybe, some of the most rational thinkers see some kind of cosmic sense in all this... Francis Collins, who led the human genome project, is an obvious one… the language of science and faith are not necessarily at odds....



Earlier this year the Hewsons got to see the view that John had as he wrote the Book of Revelation in a cave on the Greek island of Patmos. I can't make head nor tail of that book but I love the idea that he was taken by a vision... a poetic rhapsody of man describing what looks like a nuclear firestorm ending the world.

William Blake was similarly seized by visions which he tried to write or draw. We stole the title "Songs of Innocence/Songs of Experience" from Blake. You can't approach the subject of God without metaphor... literalism like legalism is an attempt to shrink God to recreate him in our own image.

Almost as glorious as that cave is the Matisse Chapel in Vence, France, which we visited this year with a friend on her birthday. The birthday girl couldn't get over the fact that Matisse designed not only the stained glass but the priests' vestments which can only be described as, eh, 70s Funkadelic. The chapel opened in 1951.

But back to the Christmas story that still brings me to my knees - which is a good place for me lest I harm myself or others. Christmas is not a time for me to overthink about this child, so vulnerable, who would grow so strong... to teach us all how vulnerability is the route to strength and, by example, show us how to love and serve.

To me this is not a fairy tale but a challenge. I preach what I need to hear...

J IS FOR JIMMY FALLON

He is the second coming of the late show.
But the reasons are very 21st century - a horizontal rather than vertical relationship with his audience. He is not just a friend of the famous he is everybody's friend. The pain of my bike accident didn't compare with the disappointment of cancelling a week hanging out on his show. He made it worse by being a better Bono than I could ever be.



K IS FOR KANYE

Kanye is a real innovator... an artist who like a lot of the artists I respect is interested in everything and wants to include that everything in his art. Words, fashion, design, religion, racism, stardom... He blew U2's mind when he showed up on stage with (RED) in Times Square this world AIDS Day, fighting for an end to the disease.

Yeezus walks, Yeezus talks. Yeezus walks the talk.

L IS FOR LARRY MULLEN

The cover of the U2 album is, I think, our best.



There was a moment when we did the Graham Norton show - a moment that, to keep the pace up, got left out of the final edit, but that really knocked us all out. When Graham asked Larry why he and his son would agree to appear on the album cover (the Mullen Juniors are very protective of their privacy), Larry talked about how he and his son have at times had a stormy relationship - and that beautiful photograph by Glen Luchford meant so much to the two of them in their new closeness. "I'm not sure who is holding onto who," Larry said. "Check my son's hand... He's a tough kid but not so tough that he can't hold onto his father as his father holds onto him".

M IS FOR MANDELA

It's one year on, but I and more importantly the world miss him. "Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings".

M IS FOR MALALA

Such noblesse. "They only shot a body but they can't shoot my dreams".



N IS FOR NOEL GALLAGHER

I've heard his new album, this is one of the truly great British songsters. But of course like a lot of them he's Irish. Ha.

O IS FOR ONE

ONE ends 2014 with over 6 million members, 2.4 million of them on the continent of Africa. Our African members say that by 2030 they'll be giving us aid, and the job of us white messiahs is to put ourselves out of business. I look forward to that day.

Some highlights... The World Bank says that after the Drop the Debt mob...52 million more children are in school...The Global Fund says that 13 million people with HIV are now on life-saving medication.

It's bizarre, but there is a new African proverb: "Pray that we do not discover oil". I want you to know that ONE fights corruption too. There's less noise about that side of what we do, it doesn't lend itself to photo-ops or 140 characters. Along with the Publish What You Pay coalition, ONE have helped pass laws in Europe and America which force mining/extractive companies to declare what monies they are paying, to whom. You'd think this would be simple, obvious. Not if you are the American Petroleum Institute, they took legal action to grind the US law to a halt... for the moment.

We couldn't do what we do without the Gates Foundation. Outside of my parents, Ali, and the band, I don't think anyone has given me more support in my life than Bill and Melinda Gates. The man who changed the world with his software, is, with his missus, changing the world again with their foundation... which was doubled in size by another family, the Buffetts ...who through their own fortunes had even before that been changing the fortunes of so many others.

O IS FOR OSCARS

We came. We lost. We had one hell of a night out.
We got to meet one of our all time idols though.
Well sort of...



P IS FOR PAUL

U2 is like the mafia. You can never really get out. Don McGuinness may be in the back garden petting his cat but he still whispers in our ears. His voice carries, as does that of the irreplaceable Keryn Kaplan. Paul McGuinness is always going to be the fifth member of U2, our Confessor. Maybe it's more like the priesthood than the mafia. This year, we took on a sixth member, Guy Oseary. Guy "so serious" as my kids call him. He's not, but I like that in a manager.

Q IS FOR QUINCY JONES

Standing in a garden in France looking out over the sea... my mate Simon says "Ah, it's great to be alive"... Q looks puzzled. "Great to be alive??? It's crucial, man!!"

R IS FOR (RED)



These Percocets (painkillers) are pretty perky until they are not... you are in a kind of fluffy land floating till you wake the next morning with a bump ...but the evening of World AIDS Day, December the first, before that bump I had a vision ...television.
I was watching the giant TV screens of Times Square turn crimson... the ultra vivid advertising morphed from advertising products to advertising Hope... And Gratitude .... Mothers and their kids, nurses and farmers from Accra, Colombo, Phnom Penh holding up signs saying... Thank you New York... Thank you Boise... Thank you Chicago... For those AIDS drugs that mean we are alive... About 8 million people are on anti retroviral drugs paid for by the USA
Thank You America.

Then through the red neon I saw Edge, Adam, Larry play the opening of Where The Streets Have No Name ... but I wasn't there ... Somebody much more New York than me was beginning to sing ... somebody who had been down many more streets ...most of them with names or numbers and particular letters... Either the Governor of E street, Bruce Springsteen, was actually performing with U2 or I'd overshot the runway on the opiates....

It's said that Frank Sinatra owned four American cities. New York, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles all felt like hometown crowds to him. Bruce Springsteen has the whole country to call his hometown. He stepped in for the (RED) Times Square show so America could be thanked... he was a real improvement on the original running order.

Earlier I had hallucinated Chris Martin kicking off a beautiful night with Beautiful Day. I imagined I heard him sing With or Without You, but knew that song would be too painful for him to sing this year.... these analgesics can mess with you ... But it was actually real... A pregnant Carrie Underwood is singing to stop the HIV virus being passed from other mothers to their children ..."You're just a fool, just a fool to believe you can change the world" she sings.. knowing that only fools don't try.

The concert wrapped up another bright (RED) year. Some numbers... $10 million from Bank of America to kick off January... in December, news that Apple hit the $100 million mark, taking (RED) to over $300million for the Global Fund. (RED) Belvedere flowed. (RED) Cokes hit the shelves.

But it's not all about the money - the neon and fizz is just as important. What's on the minds of the people is also on the minds of the politicians, who can really put an end to this awfulness if they want to. The best news of all in 2014 was that we have reached a tipping point in the pandemic. For the first time the number of people starting on medication outstripped those contracting the virus.



S IS FOR SONGS OF INNOCENCE

So proud of these songs... we really went there. I took the advice of my old friend and producer Jimmy Iovine who told me the person you have to be to write this album is a long way from where you live.
He wasn't talking about a nice house in Dublin or Nice... he was pushing me/us to drop a deep well and ask hard questions about why you are where you are ...I didn't realize it at the time, but he was pushing me back to the place I used to live, the place I didn't grow up... 10 Cedarwood Road.

The only criticism that stung is that the album should have had more of the energy of the musicians and those who inspired it... a bit more anarchy, a bit more punk. We didn't want a pastiche of the era so we put all those 70's and early eighties influence in the juicer and a blend emerged... more like an Irish whiskey than a single malt.

"We march backwards into the future" said Marshal McLuhan, or maybe it was Michael J. Fox. Either way a highlight for U2 in 2014 was SOI being named album of the year by Rolling Stone.

S IS FOR THE SDG's

You may not have heard of them yet, but if you haven't by the end of 2015, we've all failed... you may be forgiven for thinking an "SDG" is a new kind of sexually transmitted disease, but the Sustainable Development Goals are actually the next phase of old goals agreed in 2000... the Millennium Development Goals aka the MDGs... yes, they sound like an illegal substance, but despite the wonky name, the really great news this year was that we are on track to meet the main promise -- which was to halve poverty by 2015.

It's possible, if the world makes these SDG's a priority, then by 2030 we will no longer be faced with images of malnourished children with distended bellies or watch a disease like Ebola, essentially a condition of extreme poverty, cause such heartache and fear. The SDG's will also wrestle the climate crisis, because by the way, it is one. Ask anyone from Bangladesh for starters.

(check out ONE’s film on ebola)



T IS FOR THE UNHOLY TRINITY

This year the media was full of stories about ISIS and other groups like Boko Haram, who kidnapped 140 school girls in northern Nigeria... A couple of years ago it was Mali and Somalia all over the news as well as Afghanistan. There's a thread of continuity here, and it's runs along the border of this map:



The region known as the Sahel goes from west to east Africa and beyond if you look - all the way to Afghanistan, where, though it's not known as the Sahel, it is roughly the same terrain. Here we see what I have been calling the unholy trinity of the three extremes... extreme climate, extreme poverty and extreme ideology. In this gigantic region, which sends out so many shockwaves, the way the world deals with these three extremes will determine the pace of human progress for everyone on this planet.

U IS FOR U2 LIVE ....We don't finish our songs, we just put them out. U2 is a live band. Live is where we live or die. The songs continue to grow night after night. We have some extraordinary ideas up our sleeve for this tour I've just got to be rebuilt by 14th May.

V IS FOR VISION OVER VISIBILITY

This is my mantra.... but V IS ALSO FOR VIABILITY

We all now understand the Internet is giving us access to information that is mostly flattening an uneven playing field. This is all good except when some technologists think that creative content is only valuable in its ability to show off their wares - hard or soft.

Some say musicians should be pleased with new ways to promote live concerts but I remind people that Cole Porter didn't play live shows. Songwriters are getting a poor deal right now. The reason I respect for-fee services like Spotify is that they are slowly turning people who are used to getting their music for-FREE, into paying ten dollars a month for a subscription model.

These payments don't add up to replacement for income from physical or digital sales at the moment - but I think they can if everyone sits down – record companies, artists and digital services - to figure out a fairer way of doing business.

I'm proud of Universal group, not least because Lucian Grainge took a big risk with our Apple release, but David Joseph, CEO of the UK, encouraged by his boss, is beta-testing a fresh approach to transparency ... a Universal artist will be able to find out weekly, maybe even daily, on their cell phones, how many plays they've had and where in the world they've had them; also they can be direct-credited the payment. U2 can survive without these changes but we can't live with ourselves if other artists cannot.

W IS FOR WEDDINGS

Marriage is a grand madness. It's like jumping off a very tall building and discovering you can fly. I was at some special weddings this year that reminded me and my missus why we jumped.

W IS FOR WEBSUMMIT

The F.ounders and Websummit in Dublin masterminded by Paddy Cosgrave, a network in himself, were fun this past November, if nearly too well attended. It's basically a load of nerds surfing their jet lag, drinking pints, and coming up with their best ideas. A great ad for Ireland, a great way to get tech companies to set up shop here.

The really extraordinary thing is the leader of our country, the Taoiseach – or, as he is known during the week of websummit, the "Tech – shock" – seems genuine when he promises that he and the government will be a phone call away from trying to solve any problems along the way to setting up your business here, meaning it's not just our lower corporate tax rate that's attractive, our people are great problem solvers. I found myself being more outspoken in 2014 in my support of Ireland's right to set its own corporate tax rate... and the right of Irish companies to take advantage of the same...then Brendan O'Connor from the Irish Indo got me on it: "We can understand why people, at first glance, get upset with U2 if they mistakenly think we don't pay tax. We do. Millions of euro in Ireland. But isn't it absurd if Ireland as a country can have a culture of tax competitiveness but Irish companies cannot? This doesn't make sense, what also doesn't make sense are abuses such as the so-called 'Double Irish', which is being phased out and rightly so."

X IS FOR X-RAY

Here's my titanium elbow for a laugh.



Y IS FOR WHY

Peaches Geldof. Robin Williams. Philip Seymour Hoffman. RIP.

Z IS FOR ZERO GENERATION

Some people call them the millennials. I call them Generation Z... because they can take us into the zero-tolerance zone for a lot of the awfulness in the world right now... As they age, I don't know if they'll be playing our music, but if we are still around, I hope to be deafened by the joyful noise of a world unrecognizably better because of the innovations in science, medicine, and equality they bring about. The biggest breakthroughs are always in the way we see the world. We could do with some fresh eyes. On U2 too.
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zorzi
Get Well!
Pain Killers make you anxious !!! The arm and elbow will heel. The only easy day was yesterday! Look forward to seeing you all at the Garden come July. In the future, as a fan please do not cycle in Central Park it's way too busy to be out there to be on two wheels.
bportala
Thanks for sharing...
I know I'm not the only one who'll never tire of hearing your thoughts, or of the music you make with Larry, Adam, & the Edge. Your music is my lifeblood, threading itself through all the changes, all the ups & downs. Stay strong-- if anyone can be up and running around after such an accident, it's you!-- but get lots of rest first, of course :) Can't wait to see you here in Chicago in June xo
il_capo
From a steel elbow to a titanium one
Really great to read your New Year message. You’ve been on my mind a lot since the accident as 1. I had been listening to Songs of Innocence a great deal in the last months of the year – lyrically it’s as good as anything you’ve ever done, and 2. you then went and had the same bike accident as I had 4 years ago: open fracture of the left distal humerus after going over your handlebars. I thought I was unique! Your elbow looks just like mine now - plates and pins arranged in the same Eiffel Tower pattern. So you’re not the only guitarist in the world with such a cool bionic elbow; well, perhaps you are as mine is made of heavier steel not up-to-date titanium. Keep up the physio and I’m sure you’ll get a great range of movement back and with luck you’ll not need pain meds for long. I haven’t needed any for years, but I didn’t break my shoulder, etc. Very much hope to hear you play guitar again – still remember that intro to Staring at the Sun in 97 and want to hear you do it again...
kellybailey79
Hang In There!!!
I'll admit, I didn't read the whole post, but I kind of skimmed & read what caught my eye. I wanted to just let you know that 8 years ago on December 21st, I had an ice skating accident that shattered my right tibia & fibula (lower leg bones). The orthopedist said it looked more like a motorcycle accident. The only reason it wasn't a 'Compound' fracture was because the skin didn't break. My foot was facing a completely different direction from my knee. Recovery took longer than I thought it would as well... by the time I recovered, the womens rugby team in Newport, RI had disbanded & so I only played one season... However, eventually, I returned to running, something I had done in high school. On Dec. 15th this year, I participated in my 2nd 10K ever. The first one was in Dec of 2013, and when I completed that, I cried. I had accomplished something physically that I never thought I'd ever do... I had never even run that far as a HS athlete, much less a mother of 2 teens in her 50s...... What I'm trying to say is that rehab will take longer than you want it to, but keep at it. It will get better! Do what you can, and it will get better. Promise!!
Mario Colombo
Get well and cheers from Costa Rica
Bono I hope you recover 100% and the soonest. Great letter and better reading! Covering many aspects of your personal and public life as well as of our world and your work for it. Just a quick note to let you know that I grew up as fan of U2 since the band's early days. It was 1984 when a high school friend - whom's father had an electronics repair shop in their house and was an audiophile - lend me this audio tape of a band I was not aware of. The album was Boy and I was fascinated with the fresh sound, the punk rock style, with the authenticity, the lyrics, a totally new sound for me. I didn't return it. Not that I am a thief but in the early 80's it was not easy to find U2 music in Costa Rica. From this record on I was buying every U2 album, every VHS - DVD concert, documentary and book released. I still have some very old magazines covers you made. I also still remember in 1988 (I think it was) when I went to watch the Rattle and Hum movie to an old theater in San Jose downtown called Cine Omni. My good friend Jiddu - an intellectual philosopher from the left who dreamed about the revolution and was already a big U2 fan back then - got upset at Bono when you said "fuck the revolution" performing Sunday Bloody Sunday. For years I dreamed about seeing you performing live. It was until 2001 after what for me was saving lots of money that I finally travelled with my wife and two friends to see you guys in Charlotte, North Carolina for the Elevation tour. Yeah it was the only place with tickets available. Then in 2006 we went to Miami for the Vertigo tour and again back in Miami in 2011 for the 360 tour, this time with our girl. I grew up with your music and have been a big fan of your activism as well as a supporter of the the Jubilee, One and Red Campaigns. I admire and respect your work. By the way the new album SOI is great. Some may like other albums better than this but the truth is, this album is technically impeccable. And more importantly it reaches our hearts and minds. I can' wait to see and hear the new songs live. I already have tickets for Chicago! So these haters yelling and screaming because they got a courtesy music album in their iTunes library can f*ck themselves. Please, please consider a show in Costa Rica for the upcoming tour. This is a great country with a great history of peace, education, health care system, respect for nature and minorities. If you do, just make sure you bring your own production as some shows here have been unfortunately shitty due to lack of experience, equipment and organization for big shows. In February 2013, I was lucky enough to had been informed that you will be coming to the CIMA Hospital in western San Jose to pick up your wife - happy to know she fully recovered from the accident in Costa Rica -. Thank you for turning around when you were about to get in the helicopter, thank you coming to us, for saying hello and for taking a few pictures with us. And I had the opportunity to shake hands with you and pay you my respect. Thank you! Mario Colombo Costa Rica
Aylish
Thank you!
Such a rare quality in a rock star to communicate directly with his fans in such a personable fashion. This is why I have had a 30 plus year love affair with this group! Get well soon Bono! Looking forward to seeing you and the Lads in PHX.
ElliotTrudyRhiannon
God Bless Y'all
God Bless Y'all
bons1
prayers
thx! great read for the new year! SO bummed that I was not able to get tickets for this year's tour. i would have been there to see U2 - with or without your guitar! praying for your recovery bono!
Brenda
THANK YOU ....
.... once again Bono - for your words, your heart, your music. You are an inspiration to many. You are appreciated by millions. You are loved by gazillions. Never doubt yourself - you have one of the purest hearts in the world. See you on my birthday - May 18 - in San Jose, CA!!!
Sweden1974
Thank you
Thank you for a very personal letter. Get better and see you on tour.
marychc
Thank you for sharing...
Hi Bono, Thank you for sharing your thoughts with all of us. I'm always inspired by how inspired you are, by others. From my days as a Youth Minister, using U2's songs to teach students about Social Justice, to today, while still trying to decide what I want to do, "when I grow up" (at age 51)...I find inspiration in your consistent desire to learn more, about yourself, in and through others. I identify with your pride in your kids. I have 5 of my own that my husband and I are extremely humbled and proud to call, "our kids". Looking forward to seeing you and your mates at MSG in July, along with my sister Mo, who introduced me to all of you back in the day, before you became a household name. (Please play "Bad" on July 19th!!) I hope you are able to recover fully, and I am extremely grateful to God that your self deprecating sense of humor is in tact, and all that really matters, is clearly in perspective, in your beautiful mind. God Bless, Mary (Hanlon) Castronuovo
Aineniko
Thank you and please get well!
Dear Bono - Paul, words fail me but let me just give it a try... Thank you ever so much for sharing these very personal thoughts which I feel I'll be coming back to again and again because, like your music, something about them resonates with me on that very deep, almost subconscious level; thank you for being a constant source of inspiration, hope and the feeling of incredible, endless, limitless freedom.I know it might sound corny for some but U2's music give people wings -- almost literally. Thank you for the brilliant Songs of Innocence (which prompted me, among many other things, to re-read William Blake's poetry). Thank you for completely changing my worldview and providing me with innumerous thoughts and ideas to contemplate. Please get well soon and please take care of yourself -- and I'm sure you will do just fine because someone who has so much love in them and who is loved as much as you are is just bound to forever stay safe :) Keep praying for you with the same (no -- even with much more!!) passion as I did 20 years ago when I first got into the magic that is U2. Stay spirited and inspired! Greetings from Russia. And I'll say it once again: thank you for the hope.
jaevans
Playing guitar
Wow, can I ever identify with your plight. First here are my wishes to you for a speedy and successful recovery with no after effects. I lost function in my left hand last year due to nerve damage and, among so many other things, I can no longer play mandolin. So I know what you are going through. Take care and heal well, physically. mentally, and spiritually.
tjordan
Thanks for this
Bono - thank you very much for this post. So many of us treasure your words and thoughts. I pray for a quick recovery, and that the Spirit will continue to flow through you to millions around us.
Thanks
Thanks for sharing. Prayers for healing and a blessed 2015 for you and yours.
davidvoxmullen1
I don't know if you'll see this
I have been blessed with being an entertainer for most of my life. I have been fortunate to have met all of my heroes (save one). If I ever had the chance to meet you in person. I would (want) to tell you all about how your expression of self has been an inspiration to me through my high school years. I would (want) to let you know that being able to recognize the holy spirit that seemed to swell within the music of U2 when the church just wasn't as accepting of a "secular band" back in the days. I would (want) to tell you that your courage to stand up for "even the least of these" is beyond the very meaning of sacrifice. I would want to say all these things. But instead, if we ever have the opportunity to share the same space & time, I think I'll simply look you in the eye and shake your hand and say "THANK YOU" #DavidVoxMullen
dawnovox
G is for gratitude
Gratitude that you have been in my life for so long (we are the same age and I am rebuilding my body from a joint replacement). Thank you for this great and enlightening missive. I echo the comments of so many fans here. We're with you Bono (and with Ali too)!
trainmaniac
Get well soon, B
Dear Bono, rest, enjoy your family, write some more good songs, and we will be waiting to see you back in action in May. Challenge the band to have Acrobat, Please, Love is Blindness and Mofo back live!
phunnell
many thanks!
this fine read made back to work after holiday much better. May all the healing you have fostered return to you as needed in your recovery!
jilltheresa
WOW... an A to Z reflection
Outstanding wordsmith you are Bono. Wishing you, your family and all the boys and their families all God's blessings. An inspiration for us all to not just look back but to look to our futures with this heartfelt love of all humanity. We have it in all of us to change our world. What a joyful noise YOU are!! A speedy recovery, see you at MSG the 24th of July ;)
johannah90
Thank you...
....for your C, which stands for COMPASSION, which for you, Sir, never waxes or wanes, but is steadfast. And thank you for sharing your A to Z, all very eloquently put. And should you not be playing any of your beloved guitars again, that's okay with us......it's that sexy Irish voice we love so dearly.........sending good vibes and prayers for perfect healing and powerful therapy sessions. <3
NotHumerus
Faigh go maith agus Dia duit
My wish for you - a good night's sleep. Humerusly speaking, even the pain killers don't always cut it. Having sustained similar injury two weeks prior to your accident, (mine was on Oct 23) believe me - I know exactly what you're going through and you've been in my prayers ever since. Get well and God bless you.
Thunderhawk
Focus on Today
Just focus on the moment and your next step to get to the next step and the next! Walking is very hard and we take it for Granted like everything until its Gone, thank ouy Higher Power, and internal Will to Survive. I lost all my motor Skills to Cervical Spinal Stenosis, I went from running & Walking to a wheel Chair in 5 Months, I couldn't even write my own Name. after MRI and a Great Surgen I begin a New journey of Learning what I lost and to apply it to I Know Now, The Best Therapy I believe in and Works! is Music it Self, I am a Drummer and Thought I would NEVER play again let alone Walk, Write, Ride Ect; Let the Journey Begin one Day at a Time, your Body has its own Memory and it Will remember So Keep the Faith Brother and Listen to Life
CaraCarolina
YOU WILL RECOVER
YOU SING TO YOURSELF AS MUCH AS YOU WANT!!!!!!! SOMETIMES.......IT'S FUN TO BE DELIRIOUS!!!!!
MYSOFTCLOUD
STRENGTH
In your weakness you will find strength and meaning. For reasons you can't explain; you hear him calling your name, for it is written on your heart and mind. -your kindred spirit
akronsbiggestfan
Your biggest fan...
You are so inspiring. I have followed you since the beginning and continue to still be blown away not only by your incredible music, but by your compassion for humanity. You are such a positive person and wonderful role model for all of us. I wish more people could see what is really important in life , as you do. While material possessions are nice, family, friendship and helping those in need are far more satisfying. You see it all so clearly and care enough to take the time to do amazing things for so many. I wish you a speedy recovery and many more years of music... I am counting on it. I will see you in Toronto in July and am counting the days. XOXO Happy New Year
pieroni73
enjoy life and family, please!!!!!
Hi Bono, please enjoy life with family...... sorry about your accident. Ale.
luftiee
All the best for 2015
Dear paul i managed to read your thoughts till the end of the page. First i hope you will get better soon and i am convinced you will. Anyway a good health has priority above everything else. I believe now with this situation you have time for your closest family more then you had the last 2 Decades. The time you have now is maybe a good occasion to think about things in live or get inspiration for the coming future. I wish you all the best a quick recover and hope to see you live in Antwerp. Like the lyrics of a song of an Irish Rock Band " We re One but not the same but we got to carry each other. greetings from Belgium Marc
realthing3
"This is too long?"
NO - thank you so much for sharing these personally and emotional words with us! Do you should have time to read all our comments and thanks? I think, all comments as long as your letter ... ;-) Bono, Edge, Adam, Larry & families: god bless you and all the best for 2015 - and Bono: get well soon! Thanks for your music, see you on tour! Petra from Germany
rrachee
Wonderful reading!
Thank you, Bono after a very trying day that gave me something to share with my daughter while I both laughed and cried reading it. I actually made it all the way to the end without pain killers ;-). I'm so looking forward to sharing your live performance with my daughter in MSG this July. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and family and friends with us. Get well soon!
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