OCTOBER 8: Sheffield / champagne during 'Party Girl' / Bono gets back on the AIDS crisis trail / U2's touring sound team have won a prestigious industry award / 72nd 'VERTIGO' show: 'Happy B-Day' for Gavin Friday-Mary J. Blige joins U2 on 'One'-two sisters on stage / U2´s Bono and Edge are among the celebrities to benefit hunger relief organizations (Food Bank for New York City and the Lunchbox Fund) / U218 Singles is named-the cover of The Saints Are Coming!

"October" tour - october 08, 1981 / Sheffield, England - Lyceum. Gloria, Another Time Another Place, Rejoice, An Cat Dubh, Into The Heart, I Threw A Brick Through A Window, Electric Co., I Fall Down, October, Stories For Boys, I Will Follow, Twilight, Out Of Control. Encore: Fire, 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, The Ocean

"LoveTown" - october 8, 1989. U2 perform in Melbourne, Australia at the National Tennis Centre. The seven shows orginally started as two, and then an additonal three were added. Another two were added when ticket sales for the additional three were extremely quick. This second night features an unsually poltically charged version of "Bullet The Blue Sky": "So I cross the open fields, I see the sky ripped open, and I find myself in the city of Melbourne...with enough powerful ammunition to blow the President of the United Stated to Kingdom Come!...or the President of the Soviet Union...or the Prime Minister of Australia for that matter. There's another law that operates in this building...a law we call LOVE...and that isn't a 'flower in the hair' kind of Love...it aint the hippy dippy 1969 kind of love...it's a new hard as a stone, it's made of concrete and steel, and it's going to change things in the future if we want to!" Champagne is brought out during "Party Girl" to end the seven nights in Melbourne. Support for all seven shows is "Weddings Parties Anything" and B.B. King.

"Bono gets back on the AIDS crisis trail" - ocotber 8, 2003. Bono is one of the featured speakers at the 2003 Global Leadership and Humanitarian Action Awards, presented in New York by the United Nations Association of the USA and the Business Council for the U.N. Bono speaks to the attendees about DATA and the situation in Africa, and presents the night's big award to Dr. Alex Godwin Coutinho, Executive Director of the AIDS Support Organization (TASO).

U2's touring sound team have won a prestigious industry award - October 8, 2005 - The Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio held its 21st annual technical excellence and creativity awards at the weekend. The Outstanding Creative Achievement in Tour Sound Production went to U2's Vertigo Tour. Big congratulations to Joe O'Herlihy, Robbie Adams, Niall Slevin and Dave Skaff. The U2 team beat off competition from Green Day, Prince, Toby Keith and Josh Groban.

72nd 'VERTIGO' show - october 8, 2005 - New York City - , NY - Madison Square Garden - Keane. 'Happy B-Day' for Gavin Friday / Mary J. Blige joins U2 on 'One' / two sisters on stage! City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Elevation, I Will Follow, All I Want Is You, Beautiful Day, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Love and Peace or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet the Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, One. Encore(s): The First Time, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, With or Without You, All Because of You, Fast Cars, Original of the Species, 40. Bono borrows a fan's cell phone and calls Gavin Friday to wish him happy birthday -- and gets the whole crowd to sing 'Happy Birthday' before hanging up. Speaking of phones, Bono spots and yells at a fan who's talking on a cell phone during the show. He later apologizes for the outburst. Mary J. Blige joins the band to sing 'One,' just as she did last month in Toronto at the Hurricane Katrina relief telethon. **** Two of three sisters who came on stage for With or Without You. None of whom were 'right' for Bono, since their focus was on each other, not on him. He sparred with one, pointing at his eyes, 'watch ME, look at ME', but she wouldn't. Bono then pulled on stage the only Sikh male in full regalia, giving the song a whole new meaning. Or a special guest, for example. The funky-hatted Mary J. Blige joined U2 on stage for One, her input a blessing for the song which has sounded a bit stale on this tour. But most of all for ringing up Gavin Friday very early on in the set to have the audience sing Happy birthday to him on his voicemail. Bono paid tribute to his friend (though he didn't really mention his name) for playing a big part in the creation of the Vertigo tour, and being its 'midwife'. Friday, currently holed up in a studio in Santa Monica with Quincy Jones to create the score for Jim Sheridan's film Get Rich or Die Tryin', told us earlier in the day that he declared his birthday 'cancelled' this year, due to his work commitment. Some photos: interference

U2´s Bono and Edge are among the celebrities to benefit hunger relief organizations - October 8, 2005 - Diddy, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, U2's Bono and the Edge, David Bowie, Missy Elliot and Kenny Chesney are among the celebrities who have created one-of-a-kind personalized lunchboxes for an online auction to benefit hunger relief organizations. Beginning Oct. 14 and running through December, the AuctionCause/eBay sale at thelunchboxauction raises funds for the Food Bank for New York City and the Lunchbox Fund. Other musicians who have turned lunchboxes into art for the cause are Seal Paul, Rob Thomas, John Mayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, Q-Tip, Chuck D, Pharrell, Cindy Lauper, Simple Plan, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's and Conner Oberst. President Bill Clinton and celebrities such as Naomi Campbell, Emeril Lagasse, Clint Eastwood and Spike Lee have also contributed. Edge won the auction ($11,000) and his own got the highest bid...everything to support children´s lunch programs: Get your hand-created, one-of-a-kind lunchbox and support a great cause! 100 top celebrities in entertainment, fashion, art, music, literary and culinary worlds have designed lunchbox art to benefit children´s lunch programs. The Food Bank for New York City is the city´s primary supplier of food for the hungry and helps provide over 240.000 free meals served each day - one out of four children in New York City depend on the Food Bank for meals. The Lunchbox Fund, founded in 2004, is a non-profit organization that provides lunch to children in schools in South Africa who would otherwise go without sustenance. Many of these children are AIDS orphan who are running child-headed households, and who cannot afford to pay their basic school fees of $15 per day. THE EDGE, won the auction for a lunchbox designed by former US President BILL CLINTON for $11,000 (GBP6,100) MARTIN BEATS BONO TO STIPE'S LUNCHBOX - CHRIS MARTIN outbid BONO to win a lunchbox designed by REM frontman MICHAEL STIPE at a charity auction in New York City at the end of last week (ends14OCT05). Martin's bid of $20,000 (GBP11,100) proved too much for the U2 star to meet at the Wooster Projects Gallery event to raise funds for the Food Bank For New York City and The Lunchbox Fund. A disappointed Bono quipped, "It was death by Coldplay!" However, Bono's U2 bandmate, THE EDGE, won the auction for a lunchbox designed by former US President BILL CLINTON for $11,000 (GBP6,100). The rocker had bought the box, designed by Clinton, for $11,000 at a Food Bank fund-raiser. Clinton gladly signed it so The Edge could auction it again for charity... Among the other celebrities in attendance at the opening Thursday (13OCT05) night gala were NAOMI CAMPBELL, ALICIA KEYS, MIKE MYERS, CHARLIZE THERON and MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL. The more-than 100 stylised lunchboxes were contributed by stars including Myers, Theron, CLINT EASTWOOD, BRAD PITT and ANGELINA JOLIE. The Edge's lunchbox had the highest bid of all of them. Look for Edge and Morleigh, having at Edge´s back, the two lunchs by Edge and Bono, the red lunch by Bono and the other by Edge here. Some photos on: interference

U218 Singles is named and the cover of The Saints Are Coming - October 8, 2006 - U218 Singles is the title of the single disc 'best of' coming in just a few weeks. Featuring 16 of the band's best known songs, 'U218 Singles' also includes two new tracks produced by Rick Rubin at Abbey Road Studios last month. A limited edition bonus live CD comes with it... and a DVD's on the way too. Still waiting to hear about the tracklisting on 'U218 Singles' but the bonus live CD will feature 10 songs from the Vertigo Tour stop in Milan last year while the 'best of' DVD is a collection of videos from 'U218 Singles'. The first of the two new tracks is the collaboration with Green Day on The Skids’ 'The Saints Are Coming', released as a single later this month. Cover of The Saints Are Coming, first release from U218 Singles: here