U2 Launch Promotional Blitz as "No Line on the Horizon" Hits Stores

With their new album out tomorrow, U2's promotional blitz for their five-star No Line on the Horizon begins tonight as the band performs the first of five consecutive gigs on The Late Show with David Letterman. After the long struggle of recording Horizon, U2's promo appearances are pure fun, the Edge tells Rolling Stone. "In some ways, it's a relief from the intensity of trying to finish the album," he said. "It's a holiday."

The band is expected to wrap up their Letterman residency with a not-so-secret show at New York's Fordham University on Friday, March 6th. Rumor of U2 coming to campus began when professors at the Bronx university were told to cancel their morning classes for security reasons. Don't get too excited U2 fans: WFUV reports that you'll need a student ID to get in. (And no worries, we previewed U2's upcoming tour last week — stay tuned to Rolling Stone for much more on the band in the next issue, on newsstands this week!) Earlier Friday, the band will also appear on Good Morning America.

There's also talk on the U2.com message board that the band has planned a secret show in Boston. The band does have a history of bustinhg out small, gonzo shows to coincide with the release of a new album: remember their brief concert under the Brooklyn Bridge in the days leading up to How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb?

The group recently wrapped up their buzz-building trip in the U.K., playing both a BBC gig and a concert atop a London rooftop. Bono made some headlines when he told BBC Radio that Coldplay's Chris Martin is comparable to Paul McCartney as a melodist, but "he's a wanker" and " he's a dysfunctional character and a cretin." Evidently the Brits didn't get the singer's Irish humor: Bono went on to apologize and tell the radio audience, "I was just joking entirely."

Related Stories:

• U2's Bono Previews Innovative "No Line on the Horizon" Tour
• Label Leak to Blame for Early Arrival of U2's "No Line on the Horizon"
• Album Review: U2's No Line on the Horizon

• 
  MUSIC Exclusive Live Chat With Linkin Park and Incubus
• 
  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter