AUGUST 3: 1st time southern Europe / 1st time of "Silver And Gold" / photographers on stage during UTEOTW-red shirt #2 / Salty dogma / U2 gives music rights to HIV centre / 55th 'VERTIGO' show: Bono discuss aid for Africa-Rainy night-white balloons during 'Pride'-Anton Corbijn photographs during the show-a male fan during 'Party Girl' on stage / When Pirate Hal Came To Town / Billboard announces Music Rising to recieve the Legend of Live and Humanitarian Awards !

"October" tour - august 3, 1982. U2 perform their first concert in southern Europe, in Vilar De Mouros, Portugal.

"The Joshua Tree" tour - august 3, 1987. U2 perform in Birmingham, England at the National Exhibition Centre. U2 change the opening to the show--they now walk out to Jimi Hendrix's version of "The Star Spangled Banner" performed at Woodstock, and immediately jump into "Bullet The Blue Sky". U2 also perform "Silver and Gold" live for the first time, which has now been re-recorded and released as the B-side to the "Where the Streets Have No Name" single. Bono sings about his experience at Live Aid during "Bad": "Holly came from Miami, Florida, hitchhiked to Birmingham for the day, saw U2 at the NEC...what rhymes with NEC?" Bono asks softly at the end of the song. Bono discusses the band's past during the beginning of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For": "Over the years we've gone from laying for 200 people to 2,000 people to 20,000 people and I want to tell you, I don't think we've changed. And it doesn't seem like you've changed either, at least not for the worse, and I hope a little bit for the better." Bono dedicates "MLK" to the late Bob Marley. Bono also asks the crowd for requests and decides on "People Get Ready". After the first verse, an audience member joins the band to and Bono shows him the three chords, "Yeah, sing with me," Bono continues, "Faith is the key, if you wanna start a rock & roll band, you just need a lot of guts..." Bono lets the man finish the song, and afterwards he doesn't want to leave the stage. "For the first time in my life I feel like Jim'll fix it," Bono says referring to Jimmy Saville's BBC-TV show which makes people's dreams come true. Bono sings about England during "Pride(In the Name of Love)": "For Birmingham and Liverpool and Newcastle and Manchester, places that mean so much to the memory of U2. I want to thank you for coming tonight...Look after yourselves on the way home. We'll see you again--sooner, rather than later." Support is "Hoodoo Gurus".

"ZOOTV-Zooropa" - august 3 1993 U2 perform in Nijmegen, Holland at Goffert Park. PJ. Harvey and Stereo MC´s.

"Elevation" tour - august 03, 2001 / Arnhem, The Netherlands - Gelredome - Kelis - Bono brings a group of photographers up on stage during 'Until the End of the World' and they shoot photos on the catwalk throughout the song. He also brings a female fan on stage during 'Mysterious Ways.' Edge wears red shirt #(yellow) 2.

Salty dogma - Bono gives an explicit confession of being saved by Grace, not Karma - August 3, 2005 - Is Bono, the lead singer and songwriter for the rock group U2, a Christian? He says he is and writes about Christianity in his lyrics....in a new book of interviews, Bono in Conversation by Michka Assayas, Bono, though using some salty language, makes an explicit confession of faith. The interviewer, Mr. Assayas, begins by asking Bono, Doesn't he think "appalling things" happen when people become religious? Bono counters, "It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma." The interviewer asks, What's that? "At the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics-in physical laws- every action is met by an equal or an opposite one," explains Bono. "And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that.

U2 gives music rights to HIV centre - August 3, 2005 - Rock band U2 has agreed not to charge DDB South Africa for the use of their song 'Kite' which will be used in an Nkosi's Haven television commercial. They have also wavered usage rights because the commercial is for South Africa's first care centre for HIV/AIDS mothers and children. The commercial was the work of DDB's creative team Derek Postmus and Nicole Scanlan and was directed by Dominic Black from the production company Fade2Black.

55th 'VERTIGO' show - august 3, 2005 - Munich, Germany - Olympic Stadium - The Zutons, Keane. Rainy night / white balloons during 'Pride' / Anton Corbijn photographs during the show / a male fan during 'Party Girl' on stage! Another rainy night prompts Bono to sing bits of songs to fit the weather. Bono brings a male fan on stage to play guitar during Party Girl. Anton Corbijn is on stage taking photos during I Will Follow. He had planned to do it in Amsterdam, but had an accident that week and had to rest his back for a while. During Pride, thousands of fans release white balloons. This was organised by U2tour.de. The stadium webcam is on during the show, the balloons are clearly visible. **** 'For 99,000 white balloons SING!' : 'Thanks for coming out, standing in the rain, dancing in the rain, singing in the rain.' (And thanks for the balloons!)...And as the rain persisted, so Bono kept interjecting lyrical references to the weather, turning the moment to everyone's advantage. 'Thank you,' he said in German. 'Thanks for coming out, standing in the rain, dancing in the rain, singing in the rain .' Anton Corbijn got a shouted greeting from the stage during Elevation, a nod to the fact that the great Dutch lensman was prowling the stage tonight....There was blanket lighter-coverage for I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, a dazzling sight through the speckled raindrops. 'Let me see them Bruce!' says Bono to Lighting Director Bruce Ramus....A special tribute at the opening of Miracle Drug went out to the 'people who will get us to the future,' tonight with a nod to some of the team who 'keep our band well'....'This next one I must take my glasses off for,' he explains, perhaps a slightly wistful look in his eye. 'Because my dad used to say to me , 'What are you wearing those glasses for? You look stupid in them.'...the simple idea behind the graffiti CoeXisT 'is going to get harder over the next few years.' For Sunday Bloody Sunday the stadium is a massive carpet of red, reflecting beautifully off the stage umbrellas which protect the equipment from the weather. But there's not a cloud in the heavens for Bullet the Blue Sky, Adam moving around the stage, home from home. Miss Sarajevo was dedicated once more to the victims of terrorism and now the German fans show their creative nous with the dramatic appearance of dancing white balloons, all over the venue. 'For 99,000 white balloons SING!' leads Bono, with a deft reference to some eighties balloon-featuring europop. 'This is our moment, I want to feel white balloons in my face, I want to take shelter from the hurricane...' The balloons, at one point, appeared to have taken life with plans on taking over the show ­ they were everywhere. 'This might be a good good moment to take out your cell phones , ; Be a light in the world , This is the moment,' says Bono in German. 'In a tiny country called Niger hundreds of thousands of people who look like your sister, mother, father, brother are dying because of poverty'....The German crowd know what to do and they hit the phones, applying their political pressure through the wonder of technology. No surprises that the place goes ballistic with the opening notes of Zoo Station. 'Are you ready for the laughing gas ?'...There's a cool twist at the end of the show when a young man holding up a sign labelled 'I Can Play Guitar' is obviously eager for a walk on part in Party Girl. Instead, Bono having said 'You better not be kidding' pulled him up and a star is born playing Party Girl instead of Yahweh....And it was finally dry. 'What a wonderful night !',,,. The crowd and the rain. The white balloons. The crowd, the sky and the lights up. **** Edge had to tell him how to sing / Bono´s amazing Pavarotti / Larry´s smile at the last song! : ...rain all day long...but as soon as U2 came out on stage smiling and Bono shouted "let's take a bath together!' we knew it was gonna rock!... Luckily the rain eventually slowed down, Bono added snippets of Sgt. Peppers and Here Comes The Sun (very apropo indeed) to the end of Beautiful Day...The greatest highlight for me was hearing Miss Sarajevo live for the first time in my life and Bono's amazing Pavarotti... Bob would be so proud! I will never forget Larry's smile at the last song. I think he was expecting 40, but Edge started the Vertigo riff and I saw Bono turn to Larry and I have never seen such a huge smile from Larry Mullen as he beat those drums like mad! Other great moments, the guitarist from the crowd who could hardly play Party Girl, Bono who asked for the lyrics (it's smart that the crew now have them all ready for him) but even with the lyrics he messed up and The Edge had to tell him how to sing it... it was classic! Then a crew member brought out a bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne and Bono sprayed it all over the front of the ellipse. Two funny Dallas messups: he gave Edge the wrong guitar at the start of Streets and when Edge started to play it he made the funniest face: "WTF is this?" and Dallas ran and gave him the correct guitar, and then after the second encore Bono was thanking the crowd and Dallas plugged (or unplugged) something and made some horrible feedback, so when U2 came back after the break Dallas ran to Bono and apologized, Bono just laughed! The Munich fans were just so great, all day in the GA line they were passing out white ballons and during the human rights declaration people started blowing them up and during Pride the floor was just full of white ballons bouncing around... it looked amazing!!!... **** Some photos on: U2-Vertigo-tour. Prior to tonight's concert in Munich, Bono meets German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to discuss aid for Africa.

When Pirate Hal Came To Town - August 3, 2006 - U2.com reports: 'Hear Bono’s version of ‘Dying Sailor to His Shipmates’ and read our interview with Hal Willner, producer of ‘Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys’. ... ‘Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys’. Due out August 22nd, it’s a maverick collection filled with contemporary reinterpretations of songs from a genre of music that has all but disappeared – the sea chantey. ... Listen Now to Bono’s performance of "Dying Sailor to His Shipmates"

Billboard announces Music Rising to recieve the Legend of Live and Humanitarian Awards - August 3, 2006 - 'Sir Elton John and Music Rising will receive the Legend of Live and Humanitarian Awards, respectively, at the Third Annual Billboard Touring Conference & Awards, to be held Nov. 8-9 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. Awards at the Nov. 9 reception will also go to a wide variety of tours, venues, and touring professionals, based on data reported to Billboard Boxscore between Dec. 1, 2005, and Sept. 30, 2006. ... Music Rising is a musical instrument replacement fund founded by U2's the Edge, producer Bob Ezrin, and Gibson Guitar chairman Henry Juszkiewicz, with MusiCares and the Guitar Center Foundation. "We are so thankful to Billboard for this recognition," says Ezrin, "especially because it keeps the devastated musical culture of the Central Gulf in the minds of our peers. We need the help of the entire industry to restore that culture. This award shines a brilliant light on that need." Jusczkiewiz says when Music Rising was launched in November 2005 with the intention of helping as many musicians affected by the Hurricane disasters as possible. "We have helped close to 2,000 musicians regain their livelihood and the spirit of a region in our country rich in music heritage and tradition," he says. Adds the Edge, "We are just trying to help out our brother musicians from the Gulf Coast, and while getting this award is a great honor and a wonderful thing, we feel like there is still so much to do before New Orleans and the whole area are back to full strength. Here's to seeing that day."