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Television/Radio Events: *** U2 PAY PER VIEW ***  Canadian air date: Dec 3rd, 1997 on Viewer's Choice, 8pm Eastern, $19.95 U2, Mexico City, Dec 3rd -- on Showtime in USA U2, "Live at the 10 spot" -- MTV, Dec. 3rd Rotterdam on MuchMusic(4 songs) re-airs Dec. 6th, 8:30pm ET U2, "Egos and Icons" repeat, re-airs Dec. 9th on MuchMusic and MuchUSA Net Events: Expected U2 Releases, and U2-related Releases: Mofo Remixes - 12" released  Dec 15th(NA)  confirmed If God Would Send His Angels CD Single released Dec 8th(EUR), Dec 9th(Canada) Princess Di Tribute(featuring many artists including U2) -- Dec 1st(UK)/4th(NA) NEWS dates: Real Life Lara Croft fired added Nov 27 More info on Mexico City Broadcast added Nov 27 MTV/Showtime both show Mexico City concert...sort of added Nov 27 Bono and Ali remember "Hutch" added Nov 27 ** Please note release date changes ** added Nov 27 Rev. Tim's published article added Nov 27 U2's San Antonio concert, dedicated to Micheal Hutchence added Nov 27 Houston Chronicle article/interview added Nov 26 Please released?  added Nov 26 Mofo (Promo) TrackListing added Nov 25 U2 breaks Canadian Singles record added Nov 25 Heroine re-released on compilation added Nov 24 Seattle Times article added Nov 22 MuchMusic to air "Staged-The Architecture Of Pop Concerts" added Nov 22 ------------ (Prarit's note:  Lara Croft was featured on the first two legs of the POPMart World Tour.)   Eidos Gives Lara the Boot   Wednesday, November 26th, 1997   News   By : Shidoshi                                               Most of you may not know the name Rhona Mitra, but you may very well know her face; she's the actress who has been portraying Lara Croft for Eidos at recent trade shows and events. Or, should we say, who HAD been portraying. Earlier this month, Rhona and Eidos went their separate ways. In a recent issue of Night & Day magazine, a publication released over in the UK, Rhona spoke about her unwanted removal from playing the part of Lara Croft. "I thought they'd have a stonking marketing campaign, and was astonished that they didn't. It's actually been quite soul-destroying for me, because I've been bursting at the seams with ideas, and I've put so much heart into Lara. If they'd wanted me to jump out of airplanes, I could have done it. They could have got Vogue to photograph me climbing the Himalayas. But if they just wanted someone to pose at trade fairs, if they wanted a dolly-bird without a brain, then they picked the wrong person. I don't know how long people can go on fantasizing about someone who doesn't speak, who they can't touch. Well I speak, you can touch me. Maybe they found that threatening. This isn't their medium, after all. They're very good with computers, but I don't think they thought about how to deal with a real-life person." Plans to use Rhona to promote Lara and the Tomb Raider license have, of course, been scrapped; these plans included a "Lara" LP and the first single, "Getting Naked." ------------ NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Nov. 26, 1997--Beginning at 11:00 p.m. (ET) on Dec. 3, SHOWTIME and MTV: Music Television, both Viacom companies, will premiere U2 live from Mexico City, Mexico during the U2 Pop Mart concert tour. The live concert will be performed at the Foro Sol Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Stadium. This marks the first time that SHOWTIME and MTV will simultaneously broadcast a live event. The concert will be taped delayed on the west coast and will begin airing at 11:00 p.m. (PT). The U2 concert, which will be directed by David Mallet and produced by DreamChasers' Ned O'Hanlon, will run approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes. SHOWTIME and MTV will simultaneously broadcast 45 minutes of the concert. After that, SHOWTIME will exclusively broadcast live the remainder of the event. The entire concert will air a second time on SHOWTIME on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT). U2 will perform their classic hits such as "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "All I Want Is You,", "With or Without You," "Hold Me Thrill Me," "I Will Follow," "End Of the World," "Even Better Than The Real Thing" and hits from their recent album "Pop" including "Discotheque," "Staring At The Sun," "Last Night On Earth," and "Please." This is the second time in a period of less than six months that SHOWTIME and MTV have joined forces to capitalize on the corporate collaboration inherent within the Viacom family. In July, MTV highlighted the new SHOWTIME original series THE HUNGER with a behind-the-scenes, half hour preview as well as a same night airing of the series' kick-off episode, "The Swords." MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc., owns and operates five cable television programming networks -- MTV: Music Television, M2, VH1, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, Nick at Nite's TV Land -- all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks. Information about MTV and M2 is available on MTV Online, on America Online (Keyword: MTV) and the World Wide Web (http://mtv.com). Showtime Networks, Inc. (SNI), also a wholly owned subsidiary of Viacom Inc., owns the premium television networks SHOWTIME, THE MOVIE CHANNEL and FLIX. SNI operates and manages the premium television network SUNDANCE CHANNEL, which is owned by SNI, Robert Redford and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. SNI also manages, through a joint venture, ALL NEWS CHANNEL. SHOWTIME en Espanol, a separate audio feed of SHOWTIME, is also available for the Spanish-speaking audience. SNI also markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis. ------------ >From www.jamtv.com : Yesterday, JAMTV reported that Showtime would broadcast a live U2 concert from Mexico City on Dec. 3. Today we have more information for U2 fans. The show is still scheduled for 11 p.m. (EST/PST) on Monday, but MTV will also broadcast the event, marking the first time that the two companies will simultaneously air a live event. The concert, which takes place from Foro Sol Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Stadium, is set to run close to two hours and 15 minutes. However, the cable channels will only show approximately 45 minutes of the concert together and then Showtime will air the remainder of the show exclusively. During the live broadcast, U2 will play both classic and new songs that include "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "All I Want Is You," "With Or Without You," "Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me," "I Will Follow," "Until The End Of The World," "Even Better Than The Real Thing," "Discotheque," "Staring At The Sun," "Last Night On Earth" and "Please." Showtime will re-broadcast the entire concert on Dec. 7 at 10 p.m. (EST/PST) (Ari Bendersky) ------------ >From ATN(about Micheal Hutchence's funeral): Most mourners attending the Wednesday (Thursday in Australia, which is 18 hours ahead of the U. S.) service, which began at 2:30 p.m. (local time) honored Hutchence's parents' wishes that, in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to UNICEF and the Starlight Foundation. One notable exception was a large white wreath to the left of the coffin, sent from U2 singer, Bono, and his wife, Ali. The arrangement was in the shape of a Claddagh Ring, an Irish symbol of love, loyalty, and friendship represented by a heart shape that is clasped by hands and topped with a crown. ------------ Changes to release info: Mofo Remixes - 12" released  Dec 15th(NA)  confirmed If God Would Send His Angels CD Single released Dec 8th(EUR), Dec 9th(Canada) ------------ >From the San Antonio Express: U2'S MUSIC STILL TAKING A LEAP OF FAITH By the Rev. Tim Adams Special to the Express-News On Feb. 14, 1982, 388 paying customers gathered at Cardi's (now Randy's Ballroom) to hear a promising but relatively obscure band from Dublin, Ireland perform along with the Mo-dels and Claude Morgan and the Blast. Valentine's Day would have been an appropriate time to hear this band who wore their hearts on their sleeves. In the non-stick wallpaper-music wasteland that was the early 1980's, U2 brought conviction, compassion and celebration to every concert. Somehow you knew that this band and this music would last. Fifteen years have passed since that first and only U2 concert in the Alamo City. Sunday, Rolling Stone magazine's "Band of the 80's" will have a blue-light special at the Alamodome as the "PopMart" tour comes to town. Don't let the trappings of this incarnation fool you. Cut through the 100-foot high golden arch, the 12-foot wide stuffed olive atop a 100-foot high cocktail stick, the giant mirror-ball lemon and the 56-foot high TV screen, and there is still the music. As lead singer Bono is fond of saying, "It's all about the music." The music first reached America in the form of an autobiographical explosion of adolescent energy known as "Boy," U2's first studio album. Released in 1980 and followed in 1981 by "October," U2's early work, which was on display that night at Cardi's, reflected a bare-bones honesty that has always been at the heart of this band. The featured cut on "Boy" was the anthemic "I Will Follow," and a more appropriate introduction could not have been chosen. This was a band that would follow a different path and rebel against the rock 'n roll status quo by singing about faithfulness, self-sacrifice and God, of all things. Its lyrics have always been steeped in references to God, biblical imagery and spiritual longing, but U2 is not a Christian band, atleast not in the way the contemporary Christian music industry and the evangelical establishment in this country have defined that term. U2 has always been intentional about being on the jagged edge of the music business, messing with the mainstream and defying categorization. In a world that demands black-and-white absolutes and easy answers, where the grayness of ambiguity is the most serious of heresies, U2 finds the tension between the poles to be a comfort zone, a place where boys can become men. While some look at the "new U2" of "Pop" (the band's ninth studio effort released in March) and the "PopMart" tour as a compromising departure from the spiritual and political passion of their earlier work, a closer look reveals a continuity within the contradictions. The band's breakthrough album was 1983's "War," which began with "Sunday Bloody Sunday," a lament over the sectarian strife in Northern Ireland, and ended with "40," a nearly verbatim rock interpretation of the 40th Psalm in the Old Testament. At the two "PopMart" shows I have attended (Dallas and Kansas City), there was no waving of the white flag with Bono exhorting the crowd to join him in singing "Sunday Bloody Sunday." But there was "Please," the next-to-last song on "Pop" and the emotional high point of both shows. The packaging is different but the message is the same whether sung in Belfast, Sarajevo or Jerusalem: Quit killing each other in the name of relgion. The last cut on "Pop" is "Wake Up Dead Man," which touched off a heated debate among the 4,000 plus subscribers to Wire, the Internet mailing list for U2 fans. Those never comfortable with the spiritual dimension in U2's music pointed to the song as proof that U2 has finally outgrown the religious naivete of its earlier work. That they have, happily, abandoned their faith. The guardians of religious orthodoxy who always criticized U2 for not saying enough about God, for not declaring themselves a purely Christian band, pointed to this song of angry lament as proof that they never were. And as has always been the case with this band, they are energized by the tensio between these extremes. "Wake Up Dead Man" and "40" are actually two sides of the same coin. U2 has never settled for the comfortable spirituality that is so often the bane of institutional religion. While faith has its ecstatic moments of praise, it also has its dark nights of the soul. While Psalm 40 captures the empowering zeal one feels when faith is new, Psalm 88 expresses the frustration and loneliness that is at times part of the journey of faith. Faith can be tested, doubt is its twin and easy answers and proof texts often only mock it. "Wake Up Dead Man" is written by a boy who has become a man whose faith has matured enough to teach him that the God he believes in can be experienced through his presence as well as his absence. And the response of this man come of age? The same as it was on Feb. 14, 1982 - "I Will Follow." From Cardi's to the Alamodome, from "October" to "Pop." This band has grown. For U2, the journey continues. A native San Antonian (Lee Class of '79), the Rev. Tim Adams is pastor at Robinson Drive United Methodist Church in Waco. A long-time U2 fan, he credits the band with helping to make his own journey of faith the wild ride that it has been. His e-mail address is u2wesley@swbell.net ------------ >From Yahoo.com news: At the PopMart tour Sunday night in San Antonio, U2 singer, Bono, a friend of Hutchence's, dedicated a song to his departed mate, saying, "This is for Michael Hutchence, a great singer and a great friend. We'll miss him." The show, the first the band have performed since hearing of Hutchence's death, featured a version of "Pride (In the Name of Love)," a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., during which Bono substituted a somber reading of the traditional Australian ballad "Waltzing Matilda" in the final verse. According to a fan on an INXS mailing list, during "Staring at the Sun," a picture of Hutchence was projected on the giant video screen and, instead of closing the show with "One" as they have on most of the PopMart tour, they chose the rarely performed Pop track "Wake Up Dead Man." As the audience shuffled out after the show, INXS' "Never Tear Us Apart" blasted from the sound system. ------------ Pop goes the band Some fans may not be buying it, but U2 says the goods are backed by trademark passion By RICK MITCHELL Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle U2 lead singer Bono has a word-up to rock fans who think the band has sold out with the dance-oriented sound of its latest album, Pop, and the visual extravagance of its current PopMart tour. "That ridiculousness, that fun and that funk, it was there right from the beginning in the 1950s when Elvis Presley wore that sharp green suit with blue eye shadow down on Beale Street," he says. "Rock 'n' roll did not start out its life in sneakers and jeans. That's fine as part of it, but we mustn't allow it to be the measure of authenticity." Bono points out that black pop and rhythm-and-blues artists generally don't see any discrepancy between expressing real emotion in their music and having an outrageously good time while looking fine onstage. "In white music, not only do you have to break your heart, you have to look like your heart is broken. There's a lie there, and it has to be exposed. With the Zoo TV tour, our ship was going against the tide, and I guess it still is. But that doesn't mean that we're wrong. "I think we're being very true to what the essence of rock 'n' roll is." Bono's speaking by phone from Miami, where his plane has just landed after a flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands. U2 performed the night before at the European MTV Awards but lost out in the competition for best video to the Spice Girls. "Isn't the world turning?" Bono says with a chuckle. If he sounds a tad defensive, it could be because the Pop album and the PopMart tour have been commercial disappointments in the United States, though not necessarily in the rest of the world. According to SoundScan tallies, Pop has sold 1.3 million copies since its North American release in March. That's not bad for your average band, but it's well off the mega-platinum pace set by previous U2 blockbusters The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. (Pop has done better overseas, with international sales at close to 6 million.) The PopMart tour, which arrives Friday at the Astrodome, has played to more than 3 million people worldwide. In September, U2 set an attendance record in Italy by drawing 150,000 fans to the Reggio Emilla stadium. The tour also has included dramatic appearances in two recent war zones -- Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Sarajevo in the former Yugoslavia. Yet many U.S. stops have experienced smaller-than-expected turnouts. A source at Pace Concerts, the local promoter, admitted that advance sales in Houston have been "pretty dismal." In a deal worked out between U2's label, Island Records, and national tour promoters Step Entertainment, Blockbuster Music is offering students with IDs two-for-one tickets to the Dome concert with the purchase of the Pop album. Similar deals have been worked out for all dates on the second North American leg of the PopMart tour. Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert trade magazine Pollstar, notes that the first leg of U2's American tour this spring averaged 44,500 fans and $2.3 million in ticket sales per show. "That's something only a couple of other bands could even think of," Bongiovanni says, citing the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd. "But it's been a disappointment to the extent that every date was expected to sell out, which clearly hasn't been the case. Then again, the Stones haven't been doing that, either." With the wisdom of hindsight, Bono says that expectations for the PopMart tour were so high it might have been impossible for U2 to live up to them. And he admits the band initially played along with the hype. "We sucker-punched ourselves on this," he says. "This was going to be the big album, the big tour. It looked like a money machine. People weren't talking enough about the music or the ideas behind it. "Here was a band not taking sponsorship. The cash that people are shelling out for these tickets, it's up on the stage. It's not in our back pockets. This is an extraordinary thing to have pulled off, I think. There were a lot easier ways to go about touring." While the Spice Girls might be more appealing on video, it's unlikely the inhabitants of Spice World will ever witness a live tour as ambitious as PopMart. The show requires 75 trucks to carry 500 tons of equipment from city to city, not to mention 16 buses and a Boeing 727 airplane to transport the band and crew. The show's special effects include what's being advertised as the world's largest television screen (at 56 feet by 170 feet), a 100-foot-high golden arch, a 12-foot-wide stuffed olive on a 100-foot swizzle stick, and the world's first self-propelled 40-foot lemon mirror ball. Rock 'n' roll might have been born to act ridiculous, but this is way beyond a green suit and blue eye shadow on Beale Street. Bono describes the show's intended effect as "sci-fi gospel." At the same time, he insists U2 remains driven by a passion for music, and he hopes the band's fans understand how and why it has arrived at this place in the pop-music market. "One of the reasons we went down the road to Zoo TV was to find another way to stay committed to the ideals of the band, but not belabor the point. It was a great escape, actually. Carrying around the weight of being the band who has to save the world was actually very claustrophobic. "You mustn't as a writer feel those kinds of burdens. You have to go where your writing takes you. We were being cornered. You could feel it coming. We participated in our caricature, I'm sure. But we had to break out of that." 2 didn't set out to be the band that had to save the world. The group was formed in Ireland in 1978 by Dublin high-school students Larry Mullen on drums, Adam Clayton on bass, David "The Edge" Evans on guitar and Paul "Bono" Hewson on vocals. The band's first album, Boy, was released in 1980, followed in 1981 by October and in 1983 by War. The Irish teen-agers had been inspired to form a band by the British punk-rock revolution, which decreed that anyone could make rock 'n' roll, regardless of whether he or she knew how to play an instrument. But it soon became apparent that this band had higher aspirations than merely sneering and spitting at polite society. Early hits such as I Will Follow and Gloria implied a spiritual bent, while New Year's Day and Sunday Bloody Sunday were anti-violence anthems that recalled the '60s protest-rock tradition. U2 put it all together on 1984's The Unforgettable Fire, which yielded a huge hit in Pride (In the Name of Love), dedicated to U.S. civil-rights hero Martin Luther King Jr. A propensity by the band, and particularly Bono, for the Big Statement frequently led to accusations of pomposity and arrogance. But at a time when so much post-punk rock seemed mired in dead-end cynicism, here was a young band willing to pick up the fallen flag of rock's best altruistic impulses. It didn't hurt that its members were learning to play their instruments better. The rhythm section laid down tight, minimalist grooves over which The Edge uncoiled taut guitar lines that avoided both punk's willful primitivism and typical hard-rock histrionics. By 1987's The Joshua Tree, U2 had become the biggest rock band in the world. The album sold 15 million copies internationally and went to No. 1 in 22 countries. This was followed in 1988 by Rattle and Hum, a fascinating double album of live tracks and new songs exploring American blues, country and gospel roots. Achtung Baby, recorded in Germany and released in 1991, was a daring left turn toward the techno-vibe of European pop. But any resistance on the part of American rockers was overcome by uniformly strong songs as The Fly, One, Even Better Than the Real Thing, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses? and Mysterious Ways. The Zoo TV tour that accompanied Achtung Baby challenged U2's more-earnest-than-thou image with an outrageous stage set that included banks of videos, smashed cars and flashing messages such as "Everything You Know Is Wrong." At the end of the night, Bono -- rock's Holy Warrior -- came out in a devil's costume with a phone to dial up celebrities from the stage. The tour simultaneously celebrated and commented ironically on pop culture's trash-worship tendencies. It went around the world twice, first playing arenas, then stadiums, eventually reaching 5 million people. HE PopMart tour was supposed to be even bigger, even more ridiculous, than Zoo TV. But this time, a large part of the American mainstream rock audience isn't buying it. The backlash set in with the release of Discotheque, the dance/electronica-oriented first single from Pop, and hasn't really subsided with subsequent singles Staring at the Sun and Please. "The rock audience certainly didn't respond to that single the way they responded to the hits on their earlier albums," says Max Dugan, assistant program director at Houston album-rock station KLOL (101.1 FM). "The music is not radically different from what they've done before, but I think the packaging and image they've been selling don't resonate with the rock audience. I feel that this album is self-indulgent. I think people were hoping for more of a Joshua Tree-type album." John Peake, program director at contemporary-hit radio station KRBE (104.1 FM), says the dance image doesn't bother his listeners, but the music is not as strong as previous U2 work. "Bono is still a pretty significant pop-culture figure. Even young people know who he is and want to hear what he has to say. There just wasn't the same interest and appeal in these songs," Peake says. David Sadof, music director of modern-rock station KTBZ (107.5 FM), adds it's not as if Pop hasn't been given a fair shot. U2 is considered one of the essential bands of the modern-rock format, along with R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots and Collective Soul. "We've played five songs from it," Sadof says. "Looking at the sales, I think it's fair to say it's not connecting that well to the teen/college-age market, who buy most of the CDs, and their core audience is not that accepting of it, either." Like Dugan, Sadof suggests that the time has come for U2 to get back to some serious rock 'n' roll. Bono says he can see why some rock fans might be confused or even feel betrayed by U2's direction. "I understand that the first three songs on the album alienated some folk, especially with the thinking, `What is all this disco crap? Why don't they just play rock music? They're a rock band.' "But music at this moment is at its most interesting, I think, when different disciplines are put through a blender, when you're not sure if a band is a rock band or a dance band or what. That's the sort of music that's turning us on right now. It was inevitable that this would inform our music." Bono says for U2 to play to the expectations of its audience would be the real betrayal of the band's ideals, the real sellout. "I think the U2 audience has been extraordinary. They've come with us a long way. The die-hards know what we're all about and don't want us to become a parody of ourselves and cash in the check and make easy albums. "I'm very proud of this record. It's quite a complex piece of work, and the songs are there. A song like If You Wear That Velvet Dress might sound like some ambient thing that blows by you on the album, but actually it's a little sci-fi lounge classic. "This is not new, what we're doing. If you listen to the Beatles' The White Album, where they go from metal to (Revolution) No. 9, it's part of keeping yourself interested. "Of course, when you're experimenting, you'll miss as well as hit. This album may not appear as in-focus a record as The Joshua Tree. It's maybe more like The Unforgettable Fire, where we were moving into new territory." Still, after nearly 20 years as a band and 15 years of fame and wealth, is it possible that U2 is losing touch with its audience? Has the band grown self-indulgent? Bono ponders the question. "First of all, I haven't the foggiest notion of how the average person lives, nor have I ever tried to patronize people by presuming I knew. I come from a suburb of North County Dublin. That's a long way from the rest of the world. We started out on an island on the edge of Europe. "I think that if you're true to what's going on in your life and what's going on around you in the world, you're going to connect." He adds that living in Dublin has kept the band relatively insulated from the pressures and rewards of superstardom. "In Dublin, people don't look up to stars. They rather look down on them. It's a very different mentality. "There's a story how in America, a guy looks up at the mansion on the hill and says, `One day, I'm going to live in a mansion like that.' Whereas in Dublin, people look up at the mansion on the hill, and they say, `One day, I'm going to get that (guy).' " Bono says he would like to think that people in Houston -- and, by extension, everywhere else -- who care deeply about rock 'n' roll would rather see U2 succeed than fail. "Rock 'n' roll should always be a little too big for its boots. Once there's a rule book saying what you can and can't do, that's when it's time to walk on the flowers. "As a group, I don't think we've ever compromised our musical ambition. I think it's good that there's a group like us around, and I think we need support. There's something going on here that should be encouraged, rather than trying to rap us on the knuckles. "We're never going to be a dance band. We're a rock band. But God, it's great that no one is comfortable with that. That's my parting shot." ------------ Please was released in some areas of the US yesterday.  Check your local CD store... ------------ These tracklistings are for the MOFO Promo, and were supplied by Olivier Giovanoli.  U2*MOFO (Remixes by Matthew Roberts & Johnny Moy) (12MOFO1) A1 MOFO (Phunk Phorce Mix) (ca. 8:40) B1 MOFO (Black Hole Dub) (ca. 6:40) B2 MOFO (Romin Remix) (ca. 5:45) Sleeve: Silver dots, orange writing, hole in the middle (label of the 12") U2*MOFO (Remixes by Roni Size) (12MOFO2) A1 Mofo (Mother's Mix) (ca. 8:50) B1 Mofo (House Flavour Mix) (ca. 7:15) Sleeve: as 1st 12", but pink writing. The label of this 12" is red/pink, the label of the 1st 12" is orange. There are new vocals by Bono on the Matthew Roberts mixes. ------------ U2 POLITELY TIES CANADIAN CHART RECORD: "Please" by U2 makes it to number ten on this week's singles chart. "Please" is U2's fifth top ten single this year and their fifth from the album, "Pop". That makes U2 one of three acts in chart history to have more than four singles hit the top ten in one calendar year. The Backstreet Boys scored five top ten singles so far this year with "Get Down (You're The One For Me)", "Anywhere For You", "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)", "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)", and the remixes CD of "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)". Equalling that feat is Madonna who in 1987 hit the top ten with "True Blue", "Open Your Heart", "La Isla Bonita", "Who's That Girl", and "Causing A Commotion". "Please" is also featured on "Please/Popheart Live E.P." which sits at number six this week. ------------ Edge and Sinead O'Connor's collaboration "Heroine" which appears on the Captive soundtrack has been re-released for the Celtic Moods CD. ------------ There is an article at:          http://www.seattletimes.com/extra/browse/html97/rollr_112397.html comparing U2 to the Rolling Stones.  Pretty interesting(and funny)... ------------                   Anybody who went to see U2's visually-stunning PopMart show                   at the SkyDome last month or is taking in the Rolling Stones'                   Bridges To Bablyon extravaganza at the same venue in January                   will appreciate Staged - The Architecture Of Pop Concerts.                                       In fact, the hour-long documentary, airing on MuchMusic on                   Sunday at 8 p.m., has mass appeal for any music lover who has                   wondered how the devil the concert-going experience evolved                   from a few hundred people packed in a sweaty nightclub to tens of                   thousands in a stadium.                                        Directed by Toronto-based Jacques Holender, Staged offers both                   concert footage of past mega-tours by the Rolling Stones, U2, Pink Floyd and David Bowie and                   interviews with everyone from Mick Jagger to Bono. Interestingly, most of the performers don't                   seem to think bigger is better.                                       "Stadium rock is not very good for the performer," says Pete Townshend. "I don't think it's very                   good for audience either. It's like something we're stuck with. It's a pity."                                       Adds Bowie: "I always felt displaced in a stadium... I felt better when I was closer to the                   audience."                                       Musicologist Rob Bowman traces the birth of the mega-show back to the Stones ill-fated 1969                   concert in Altamont, where a concertgoer was stabbed to death by the Hell's Angels who were hired                   to provide security.                                       "The violence at Altamont changed stage presentations forever," he says. "Barriers had to be                   erected. Rock stars had to be protected from their audiences. Concerts had to be staged on a grander                   scale. The music had become subservient."                                       Which is often exactly the criticism of people who attend these shows.                                       Jagger is the least critical of the trend. "It's more like a sporting event than a serious music event                   and I think it should be treated as such," he says.                                       But perhaps the most fascinating commentary comes from less diplomatic participants. Like Rolling                   Stones show designer Patrick Woodroff talking about how they come up with the arty, highbrow                   descriptions of the elaborate stages.                                       "Usually, there's a moment, over a meal, when Mick says, `Now the press conference is tomorrow.                   Let's decide what the concept is behind the stage,' " explains Woodroff. "So having built it, we then                   sit down and we have these wonderful, esoteric conversations where we decide that it's to do with                   `positive image of the future' or `retro look at the breakdown of society' or whatever it is."                                       The Who's Roger Daltrey predicts that, due to the expensive nature of tours, bands will eventually                   just give one concert that will be broadcast around the world via satellite.                                       "We can't play any bigger stadiums to any more people," says Daltrey. "We'd just be parodying                   ourselves."                                       In fact, the Bee Gees, Garth Brooks and Whitney Houston have all recently staged pay-per-view                   concerts.                                       Meanwhile, Bowman says concertgoers have already become alienated from the raw musical                   experience.                                       "The largest live concerts are virtual reality now," he says. "You are no longer watching the stage.                   Instead you are watching these big screens, these Jumbotrons. You don't determine what you visually                   focus on anymore. What you get to see is whatever the director of that particular production decrees                   to show you on the big screen. It's a constructed, mediated view of an event." ------------ Prarit..... u2news@cableregina.com http://www.cableregina.com/users/u2news/u2.html "Ahem.  OK, here's what we've got: the Rand Corporation, in conjunction with the Saucer People, under the supervision of the reverse vampires, are forcing our parents to go to bed early in a fiendish plot to eliminate the meal of dinner...We're through the looking glass, here, people..."                         -Milhouse, explaining a conspiracy Oliver Stone would