Anais Gutierrez
On Monday, U2’s bassist Adam Clayton was honored for his charity work by MusiCares. Clayton opened up about his alcoholism. He also delivered a heartfelt speech to his bandmates thanking them for their support during his alcoholism struggle.
The band then performed an intimate setting as part of the MusiCares MAP Fund concert in New York City. They announced 12 more dates for the 30th anniversary of ‘The Joshua Tree’ album.
Honoring the man
MusiCares is one of the music business’ foremost charities, providing medical and emergency assistance to thousands of musicians and related people. Its statistics — it’s distributed $48 million since it was founded in 1989 and $10 million over the past 10 years to nearly 3,000 substance-abuse clients — are indisputably powerful.
The 57-year-old bassist was honored with the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award at the 13th Annual MusiCares MAP Fund concert in New York City on Monday night for his work with the charity.
During his passionate speech, Clayton thanked his bandmates, who have supported him through his battle with alcohol.
Taking the stage, the bassist quipped: “I’m not used to achieving anything on my own.”
Turning serious, he said: “I’m an alcoholic, addict, but in some ways that devastating disease is what drove me towards this wonderful life I now have. It’s just that I couldn’t take my friend alcohol. At some point, I had to leave it behind and claim my full potential.”
It was Eric Clapton, he said, who finally told him he needed help. The U2 member also said The Who’s Pete Townshend regularly visited him in rehab, where he “put steel on my back.”
‘We have a pact with each other’
Clayton also took a moment to deliver a heartfelt speech to his friends and bandmates. He thanked them for sticking to him through his alcohol struggle.
“Bono, The Edge, and Larry (Mullen) truly supported me before and after I entered recovery, and I am unreservedly grateful for their friendship, understanding, and support.”
“We have a pact with each other,” said Clayton, who was receiving an award from MusiCares. The charity arm of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
“In our band, no one will be a casualty. We all come home, or none of us come home. No one will be left behind. Thank you for honoring that promise, and let me be in your band.”
Monday’s event, held at the PlayStation Theater in New York’s Times Square, was a fundraiser for the organization’s substance-abuse specific MAP Fund, hosted by British TV presenter Cat Delley.
The event was attended by several hundred executives and fans that featured performances from the above artists. Also, Macy Gray, Jack Garratt, and a three-song closing set from U2 themselves.
Joshua Tree 30th anniversary and huge tour
In 1987, U2 released their fifth album ‘The Joshua Tree’, which was marked for its socially and politically conscious lyricism. To celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary, the band have announced a run of stadium dates through North American and Europe.
The Irish rock band has extended its current Joshua Tree tour for an extra two months. They’ll add 12 additional shows added in North and South America, as they announced on Wednesday. The tour was originally set to wrap up August 1.
The 30th-anniversary celebration of the band’s seminal album ‘The Joshua Tree’ kicked off last month and had previously been announced to run until August 1 with 25 announced dates from May to August.
The tour will now take August off and then resume on Sept. 3 in Detroit. In October, the band will head to Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. They will close the tour on October 19th.
Outspoken former Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher will open for U2 on the tour’s South American dates with his band, High Flying Birds. Other guests include Mumford & Sons, the Lumineers, and OneRepublic.
Big time celebration
With an anniversary tour already mapped out, it would make sense for U2 to unveil a new edition of their seminal 1987 album ‘The Joshua Tree’ to mark the occasion.
And that’s just what they did. The band has revealed the details behind the record’s 30th-anniversary edition.
Arriving in a plethora of different formats, the anniversary edition is due out on June 2 through Interscope. The largest of the formats is the 7xLP Super Deluxe Box Set, which features the album itself, the record live at Madison Square Garden in 1987, and a collection of remixes, outtakes, and B-sides.
The box will also feature a folio of eight rare color prints from Anton Corbijn and an 84-page hardcover book of personal photography from guitarist the Edge, shot during the cover art photo shoot session in the Mojave desert.
The anniversary edition of ‘The Joshua Tree‘ will also be arriving in a 4-CD deluxe box set, in addition to standard CD and vinyl editions.
Source: CBS News
