U2

The Best Vinyl Releases Of October 2023

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vinyl
Uproxx

Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.

Whatever you might be into, each month brings a new slew of vinyl releases that has something for everybody. Some stand out above the rest, naturally, so check out some of our favorite vinyl releases of October below.

Linda Ronstadt — A Merry Little Christmas (Reissue)

ronstadt vinyl
Iconic Artists Group

In the year 2000, Linda Ronstadt carved herself a space in the holiday music pantheon with her A Merry Little Christmas album. Now, ahead of the holiday season, the project is being reissued, with this rerelease being the first time the project is available on vinyl. There are three pressings to suit any festive record collection: metallic silver, evergreen, and poinsettia red.

Get it here.

Mötley Crüe — Year Of The Devil

motley crue year of the devil
BMG

Mötley Crüe came into their own with their second album, 1983’s Shout At The Devil. To mark the project’s 40th anniversary, there’s a fresh new reissue that has a bunch of goodies, like reproductions of 7-inch singles, tarot cards, and event a collection of demos, compiled and dubbed Shout At The Demos & Rarities.

Get it here.

Tom Waits — Bone Machine and The Black Rider (Reissues)

tom waits black rider vinyl
Island/UMe

Tom Waits and longtime collaborator/wife Kathleen Brennan are overseeing a reissue project at the moment, and the latest releases from the bunch are two of Waits’ best ’90s albums: Bone Machine and The Black Rider. Both are available for the first time on vinyl in the US, and come in both black and colored versions. (In case you missed it, Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, and Franks Wild Years were previously reissued in September; Find more information on those in the link below.)

Get it here.

The Blood Brothers — Burn, Piano Island, Burn (20th Anniversary Reissue)

blood brothers vinyl
Epitaph Records

Seattle post-hardcore favorites The Blood Brothers are celebrating 20 years of their classic album Burn, Piano Island, and they’re doing so with a reissue. It’s a fun one, too, as it comes with the album on exclusive colored vinyl (differing depending on where you pick it up), an “Ambulance Vs. Ambulance” 7-inch, and an expanded 32-page booklet featuring new liner notes and photos.

Get it here.

Future — Pluto, DS2, Super Slimey, Monster, Beast Mode, 56 Nights, Purple Reign, Future, and Hndrxx (Reissues)

future ds2 vinyl
Epic

Future is currently offering the perfect opportunity for fans to get his work into their vinyl collections: He’s bringing nine of his albums and mixtapes to vinyl in a series of drops. Pluto, DS2, and Super Slimey kicked things off on October 20; Monster, Beast Mode, and 56 Nights arrived on October 27; and Purple Reign, Future, and Hndrxx are coming November 3.

Get it here.

Led Zeppelin — IV (Reissue)

Led Zeppelin IV reissue
Atlantic

Atlantic Records launched a 75 anniversary campaign not long ago and it’s good news for vinyl fans, as the long-running label has a number of classic releases prime for reissues. Among the lot of LPs getting re-pressed is Led Zeppelin’s IV, which comes in a lovely translucent vinyl.

Get it here.

Coldplay — A Head Full Of Dreams (Reissue)

coldplay head full of dreams reissue
Atlantic

As part of the same campaign as the Led Zep album, Coldplay is reissuing their esteemed 2015 project A Head Full Of Dreams. It’s pressed on 140g colored recycled vinyl and comes with a bonus track, the hit Chainsmokers collaboration “Something Just Like This.

Get it here.

Nirvana — In Utero (30th Anniversary Reissue)

nirvana in utero reissue
Geffen/UMe

Nirvana’s Nevermind reissue was a big deal in 2021, and now it’s In Utero‘s turn. The beloved Nevermind follow-up is 30 now and it’s getting re-released in a number of formats, including an 8-LP edition that includes a whopping 53 unreleased tracks, including two previously unheard full shows from the In Utero tour.

Get it here.

Van Halen — The Collection II

van halen collection ii
Rhino

In 2015, Van Halen unveiled The Collection, which focused on the band’s first six albums. Now, after nearly a decade, The Collection II is here. This five-LP release highlights the band’s second incarnation (Sammy Hagar, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, and Michael Anthony) and features four remastered albums (5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and Balance), as well as some rarities from between 1989 and 2004.

Get it here.

U2 — Zooropa (30th Anniversary Reissue)

u2 zooropa reissue
Island/Interscope/UMe

U2 is currently in the spotlight thanks to their concerts at the wild new Las Vegas venue The Sphere, for a residency dubbed U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere. 1993’s Zooropa, meanwhile, is very much a part of the Achtung Baby story, and as Zooropa turns 30, the band has reissued the album in a transparent yellow vinyl pressing.

Get it here.

Bruce Springsteen – Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.

Springsteen
MoFi

Limited to just 7,500 copies, Springsteen’s debut album gets the audiophile treatment from MoFi, making this pressing of the classic album a must-own for fans of The Boss. For those into the pressing specifics, that means 1/4″ / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe. Get out your good headphones for this, “Blinded By The Light” has never sounded so good.

Get it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Here Is Where The Israel Music Festival Attack Occurred

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Israel flag
Getty Image

I’m desperate for the day when we no longer have to write explainer articles about terrorist attacks, but unfortunately and tragically, today is not that day. More than 260 bodies have been recovered so far from the site of the Tribe Of Nova trance music festival in Re’im, a village in southern Israel, after “Palestinian militants stormed the festival and opened fire as part of a huge surprise attack on Israel” on Saturday, October 7, as BBC News relayed — citing a rescue agency called Zaka.

As per The New York Times, Hamas is “the Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip,” and it “launched in largest surprise attack in decades,” and as of this morning, October 9, “more than 1,100 people have been killed in Israel and Gaza […] with the death roll expected to rise.”

According to multiple reports from such reputed sources as The Washington Post and The New Yorker, the Nova festival (also referred to as Supernova Sukkot) “was one of the first sites targeted.” CNN described the festival grounds as being “in a rural farmland area near the Gaza-Israel border.”

Bruno Mars was scheduled to perform on Saturday at Park HaYarkon in Tel Aviv, Israel, but his headlining concert was canceled in the horrifying aftermath. Across the world at the newly opened The Sphere in Las Vegas, Bono and U2 honored the victims.

“We sing for our brothers and sisters, who they themselves were singing at the Supernova Sukkot festival in Israel,” Bono said in the below clip. “We sing for those. Our people. Our kind of people. Music people. Playful, experimental people. Our kind of people. We sing for them.”

Who Will Perform Next At The Sphere?

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U2 Bono Berlinale 2023
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U2 kicked off their Las Vegas residency recently in the brand new opening of the massive Sphere venue. The group is currently set to play 25 shows in total of their U2: UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere shows through December 16.

However, some might be wondering who will play the venue after them, considering it cost $2.3 billion to build the giant globe. Right now, there aren’t currently any musical acts set to follow U2 — but there very well could be soon.

There will, though, be a premiere of director Darren Aronofsky’s film titled Postcards From Earth inside the venue. He was previously seen setting it up inside to see what the immersive experience would look like.

After social media users started to see photos of what U2’s set looked like inside the venue, many had suggestions of who should play the next. (The stage looked quite small, as it primarily relied on the images around the entire bubble to control the experience.)

“Before I say Taylor Swift I need to know the capacity of this glass ball,” one fan wrote.

Lots of other fans threw out ideas like NMIXX, Monsta X, aespa, and more K-pop acts who could deliver breathtaking visuals. While none of these acts have been confirmed, it is still fun to imagine. Continue scrolling for some more Sphere concept ideas from fans.

Las Vegas Sphere Dazzles on Opening Weekend, Looks to Change the Future of the Live Concert Experience

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Las Vegas Sphere Dazzles on Opening Weekend, Looks to Change the Future of the Live Concert Experience

After years of waiting, the highly-anticipated Las Vegas Sphere finally opened this week with U2 kicking off the venue’s inaugural weekend. And what a weekend it was. The $2.3 billion dollar project was met with amazing reviews with critics complimenting the visuals, sounds, and overall ambience of what some dubbed “the concert of the future.”

The concert’s opening night, which was attended by celebrities such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Josh Duhamel, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Katy Perry, Jeff Bezos, Jon Hamm, Paul McCartney, Flavor Flav, and more, was preceded by a DJ that drove around in a neon car playing classic pop hits before U2 took the stage (a half hour late, reportedly due to technical issues).

U2 performed two hours of their classic hits (and some new ones) on a rotating stage while the sphere’s domed ceilings and walls changed from digital collages of Las Vegas nostalgia to colorful kaleidoscope imagery to falling night stars to a desert scene that was so hyperrealistic that it almost seemed like concertgoers were outside during the day time.

The Sphere’s architects have noted that until now, no major indoor venues were build specifically for music with many concerts taking place at football or basketball stadiums, meaning that the acoustics and viewing were not always ideal for concerts.

Since July, Las Vegas residents and visitors have already seen the Sphere’s 580,000 square foot fully-programmable LED exterior (the Exosphere) become an eyeball, planet earth, a basketball, an emoji, and much more. This weekend,

The Exosphere consists of approximately 1.2 million LED pucks, spaced eight inches apart. Each puck contains 48 individual LED diodes, with each diode capable of displaying 256 million different colors. The Sphere is 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide. For reference- the venue could fit the entire Statue of Liberty (including the base and torch) inside The interior’s bowl-shaped seating area holds 18,600 and boasts 160,000 speakers with over 260 million video pixels, immersing the audience in the experience while still keeping the performers as the central focus.

For now, U2 has scheduled their two month residency, “U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere,” at the venue although many other artists are reportedly in talks for 2024 performances.

While tickets for the U2 show are pretty costly (starting at about $500), the Sphere also offers “the first Sphere Experience,” Postcard from Earth directed by Darren Aronofsky, with tickets starting at about $49. More info on all the venue’s upcoming events can be found here.

The post Las Vegas Sphere Dazzles on Opening Weekend, Looks to Change the Future of the Live Concert Experience first appeared on The Source.

The post Las Vegas Sphere Dazzles on Opening Weekend, Looks to Change the Future of the Live Concert Experience appeared first on The Source.

Sacha Baron Cohen Brings Out Borat To Roast Ye, Joe Biden, And U2

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Sacha Baron Cohen has cemented himself as an icon of Hollywood. While he may have retired his most beloved character from street work, he wasn’t afraid to revive him for a bit at Sunday’s Kennedy Center Honors.

While his purpose at the event was to pay tribute to U2, everyone knows Borat can’t be controlled that easily.

Sacha Baron Cohen attends a screening of the Oscars on Monday, April 26, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Rick Rycroft-Pool/Getty Images)

As soon as Cohen’s character took the stage he wasted no time in turning his focus to current events. Firstly, he targeted Joe Biden, who was in the audience.

“I know the president of US and A is here,” Borat said to the crowd. Among them were celebrities such as George Clooney, Amy Grant, and Gladys Knight.

“Where are you, Mr. Trump? You don’t look so good. Where has your glorious big belly gone? And your pretty orange skin has become pale,” the comedian jokingly mistook Biden for the former president, before turning his attention to the first lady.

“But I see you have a new wife. Wa wa weee wa! She is very erotic. I must look away before I get a Bono.”

Cohen made no attempt to hold back on his comedy. Next, he took aim at Kanye West. “Before I proceed, I will say I am very upset about the antisemitism in US and A,” Borat said.

“It not fair. Kazakhstan is number one Jew-crushing nation. Stop stealing our hobby, stop the steal! Stop the steal!”

The entertainer was, of course, referring to the rapper’s recent anti-Semitic posts which got him banned from Twitter. The Kazakhstan character then went on to poke more fun at Ye.

“Your Kanye, he tried to move to Kazakhstan and even changed his name to Kazakhstan-Ye West. But we said no. He’s too anti-semitic, even for us.”

Borat then turned his gaze to U2 and decided to read them a letter from his mother. Written in the Kazakh language, it translated to “Please remove your wretched album from my new iPhone 6.”

This was a reference to when U2 uploaded one of their albums to all iTunes users without their consent.

The actor ended his skit by telling Biden he hoped he liked his speech, with the final remark, “It is my wish to pleasure you with my mouth.”

Awards host Borat poses in the Awards Room at the 12th annual MTV Europe Music Awards 2005 at the Atlantic Pavilion on November 3, 2005 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for MTV)

Do you think Sacha Baron Cohen hit the mark with his jokes? Or was he too out of pocket? Let us know in the comments and check out Trump’s latest request to terminate the U.S. Constitution.

[Via]

10 Reasons Why Kanye West’s ‘Graduation’ Remains Memorable

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  • Image via Getty

    The Release Day Battle with 50 Cent

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    The Emergence of Electronic Arena Rap

  • Image via Getty

    It Reflected Kanye’s Perfectionism and Tenacity

  • Image via Getty

    That T-Pain Feature

  • Image via Getty

    Takashi Murakami’s Involvement

  • Image via La Times

    It Yielded the Glow in the Dark Tour

  • Image via Getty

    Its Rock Influences

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    Inspired Artists like Drake, Childish Gambino, and Doja Cat

  • Image via Getty

    It Still Has Some of His Best Egotistical Anthems

  • Image via Getty

    “Big Brother” Foreshadows ‘Watch the Throne’

Take A Well-Deserved Break By Watching Tracy Morgan Sing ‘With Or Without You’ In An Airport

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tracy-morgan-top.jpeg
Getty Image

It’s been kind of a stressful summer, hasn’t it? The Supreme Court went on a tear a few weeks ago. Mass shootings keep happening, with no end in sight. Homophobia and transphobia are getting worse. There’s that Joe Manchin creep, doing more bad stuff. You know what you need right now? Tracy Morgan singing “With or Without You” in an airport.

The performer was caught in an airport in Omaha Saturday, sitting among the throngs, waiting on a plane. Unlike everyone else, he was belting out a rendition of “With or Without You,” the classic U2 song off their album The Joshua Tree. He wasn’t performing for the crowds. He was just a regular dude sitting in a seat, singing like he didn’t care who was around him. It’s a good song, too. Good for him entertaining people in an Omaha airport and, thanks to the video taken of him, all of us.

Morgan himself could use a break, too. Back in March, he broke down in tears during a stint on Conan O’Brien’s podcast while recalling the difficulty of doing his first stand-up set after suffering through a car accident thanks to a Walmart truck. He’s got a lot of pain. We all do. Again, stuff is bad, man. So take a little self-care break and listen to the guy sing some U2.

If A Netflix Series About U2 From J.J. Abrams Is What You’re Looking For, You’re In Luck

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u2 bono
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Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, TV show me.

A day after Nancy Pelosi said that Bono “has been a very Irish part of our lives,” Variety reports that a series about U2 is in “early development” at Netflix. J.J. Abrams is attached an executive producer through his Bad Robot production company, while Bohemian Rhapsody writer Anthony McCarten is working on the screenplay.

It is unclear at this time exactly how involved U2 would be in the project. Exact plot details for the show are currently under wraps, but given McCarten’s involvement it seems logical to assume that the show would delve into the history of the band.

There’s a lot of history to tell, from the band’s post-punk beginnings in Ireland to releasing one of the biggest albums ever in The Joshua Tree to the Super Bowl performance to Bono’s humanitarian efforts to the day that Edge found his hat. Say what you will about the music (“All I Want Is You” slaps), but it’s impressive that a group as popular as U2 has stayed together for this long with all the original members still in the band.

Of course, this assumes that Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. will, as expected, allow the show to use their music and likenesses. Otherwise, we’ll have another extremely funny Jackie Jormp-Jomp situation on our hands.

What’s your favorite YouToo song? Mine’s “Tuesday Gory Tuesday.”

(Via Variety)

Nancy Pelosi Read A Bono Poem About Ukraine And St. Patrick’s Day, Which Prompted Many Jokes On Twitter

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Bono U2 2020
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Earlier today, Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi declared that at today’s Annual Friends Of Ireland Luncheon, she would be reading “reading a poem written by Bono about Ukraine.”

Initially, Dan Evon of Snopes speculated Pelosi meant she would be reading a poem by Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, which U2 shared on Twitter earlier this month. That proved not to be the case, though, as the publication confirmed with Pelosi’s spokesperson that the Speaker did actually plan to read a new poem penned by the U2 singer. Now, that reading has taken place and Twitter users have plenty of hilarious thoughts about it.

Pelosi noted the Irish musician and philanthropist sent her the poem this morning and it references St. Patrick’s Day and the ongoing situation in Ukraine. The poem concludes, “Ireland’s sorrow and pain / is now the Ukraine / and St. Patrick’s name now Zelenskyy.”

After the reading, Bono became a trending topic on Twitter as users came in hot with jokes. One wrote, “Just to let the Russians know, if the Bono poem doesn’t work, we’ve got a celebrity rendition of Imagine over Zoom that we can roll out.” Another quipped, “Between Bono’s poem and the TikTok dancers, Putin is toast.”

Some users even speculated what they thought the poem would be:

Check out some more reactions below.