Bono says writing �Spider-Man� easier than for U2

U2 frontman Bono said on Friday the songs composed for the most expensive show in Broadway history were simpler to write than the more personal songs he has written for the Irish rock band.

The songs for the eagerly anticipated US$60 million (RM186.33 million)production of �Spider-Man:Turn Off the Dark,� turned out to be surprisingly less challenging than conjuring up melodies for U2, the singer told TV show �Good Morning America.�

�The real question for us was, could we do it? Could we write songs that drove a story inspired by characters?,� Bono told the TV show via satellite from U2�s world tour. �It turns out it is actually harder to write songs about yourself than it is to write about other people.�

The long-awaited musical inspired by the Marvel Comics hero with music by Bono and The Edge, will open on Broadway in December after being caught in financial problems and delayed from a February opening.


One of the songs played on the show, �Boy Falls From The Sky,� sounded similar to U2�s rock sound, but Bono said there would be variety in the music.


�It swerves all over the road,� Bono said about the sound. �That�s the fun of it from a U2 perspective, you have got the big rock-n-roll tunes, melodrama, big melodies, there�s orchestral stuff too.�


Producers have promised a new take on the story of teenage science geek Peter Parker, who is bitten by a genetically-altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to the ceiling.




�We are interested in it because it is a really quintessential New York story and we are all kind of wannabe New Yorkers,� said Bono. �It�s not so serious, but post-9/11 this idea of everyone being capable of being a hero kind of caught our imaginations...he�s a mythological character.�


It was late Hollywood producer Tony Adams who approached The Edge and Bono with the idea for the Spiderman musical.


�He didn�t know that Bono and I had been talking about doing something on Broadway for a long time,� The Edge said. Adams died on the day U2 signed the musical deal.


Director Julie Taymor said Broadway newcomer Reeve Carney, who will play the title character, had the acting and singing prowess to pull off the role in a production which promises to have elaborate costumes and actors flying over the audience on cables.


Carney will be backed up in the musical by his band of the same name, who will play live, which The Edge said would give the show an �authentic� sound. Tickets for the show go on sale on Sunday.


U2 resumed their tour last month following a two-month absence while Bono recovered from a back injury.

Bono back after surgery, U2 predicts record tour

U2 frontman Bono burst back onto rock�s centre stage yesterday after a two-month absence for a back injury, as the Irish band resumed what its manager predicts will be the most lucrative concert tour in history.

U2 shook a packed Olympic stadium in the northern Italian city of Turin as Bono (picture) strutted, pranced, jogged and danced with little sign of being a 50-year-old rock star just 10 weeks off spinal surgery.

�I don�t really know how to hold back, is the problem. You have to let the songs sing you at a certain point,� Bono told Reuters just before relaunching the second leg of U2�s 360 Degree Tour, so called because fans surround a giant circular platform.






U2 and Bono, who said he had done rehabilitation work for three to four hours a day, kicked off a rousing set with �Beautiful Day� and �Magnificent.� They also played two new tracks called �North Star Acoustic� and �Glastonbury.�

Bono thanked the cheering crowd for letters and emails he had received wishing him a speedy recovery.

�This band is like a family. It�s a family business, U2. I am the prodigal son. I would like to thank my brothers for their patience,� the leather-clad Bono told the crowd, referring to his bandmates.

The singer underwent emergency back surgery in May after injuring himself. His subsequent rehabilitation forced the band to delay the North American leg of the tour until 2011.

U2 began the tour in Barcelona in June 2009.

The band�s manager Paul McGuinness said Bono had trained hard to get back to performing and the band had done some recording during his recovery.

�That�s a process that goes on all the time,� McGuinness told Reuters. �The doctors are very confident. They certified him fit to perform. It�s really a very short time for a spinal injury.�

U2�s tour is widely expected to be a strong point in a weak concert season hit by low sales.

�This tour by the end of this year will be the biggest grossing music tour by anyone of all time,� McGuinness predicted. �And we will still have another 30 shows next year, 20-30 shows next year.�

He added that the group would probably gross somewhere between US$650-700 million (RM2billion-RM2.17 billion) by the time the tour ended in 2011.

That would top the record US$558 million generated by the Rolling Stones� 2005-2007 Bigger Bang tour, according to music industry publication Billboard Boxscore.

McGuinness said that rescheduling the North American tour had brought �enormous� complications.

�It was extraordinarily difficult to reschedule these events, because it�s an outdoor show. But very few numbers of people have asked for refunds, and most of the shows were sold out.�

He said the band had lost around US$15 million as a result of the disruptions, half of which was covered by insurance.

Chaz Bono: All Man After Sex Change, Officially!

Singer Cher�s daughter, born Chastity Sun, is now officially a man named Chaz Bono. After undergoing hormone therapy and surgery he has been granted a gender and name change. Read all about it below, including more photos and a great video.



At the age of 40, this now popular face in the transgender community, decided to become what he felt was normal all along. The born daughter of famous Sonny & Cher, has been undergoing the process of becoming a man for about a year, and though it will be a slow process, he is at least official!

Thursday a court looked over his case to become a legal man and it was approved. His representation made this statement:

�Today the Transgender Law Center represented Chaz Bono in a petition for change of name and gender,� said the center�s legal director, Kristina Wertz. �The court has granted the petition, and Chaz now has a court name change and a court order recognizing him as male.�

He first came out about 11 years ago as a lesbian. Then once he aged, he decided it was time to go the whole way. He has been taking hormones since last March, and in September underwent reassignment surgery. He had both breasts removed, but did not comment on what was done to the lower half. He has been very outspoken about his thoughts since then.

�I believe that gender is something between your ears not between your legs.�

And about his transformation, he said:

�[I'm] still not anywhere near what I will look like but really for the first time I am feeling much more comfortable with how I look physically� I always felt like the male from the time I was a child. There wasn�t much feminine about me.�

Any time a situation like this comes up, it not only affects the individual, but those around: family, friends, and other loved ones. It was difficult enough for Cher to hear her daughter to say she was homosexual, but she is dealing with this new change and says:

It�s �a difficult journey, but one that I will support.� She also appreciates �the courage it takes to go through this transition in the glare of public scrutiny, and although I may not understand, I will strive to be understanding.�

I guess we will all have to get used to it, because as of May 6th there is no more Chastity, only Chaz Bono the man! Let me know your thoughts below, and don�t miss these photos and a video about the transformation.