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BBC One to air hour-long U2 show

By | Published on Tuesday 14 November 2017

U2

Hey, remember when the BBC gave U2 a load of free promo for their 2009 album ‘No Line On The Horizon’, and everyone – even the BBC – said it was all a bit too much? Well, it’s happening again.

OK, actually, that’s not quite true. These are different times. Nowadays any appearance of actual music of any kind on BBC TV is welcomed by everyone in the music industry, like they just found water after three days lost in the desert. So I’m sure no one will moan that U2 are being handed the Beeb’s new semi-regular ‘have some free promotion for your new album’ slot on BBC One, which has been previously occupied by the likes of Adele, Michael Buble, Harry Styles and Sam Smith.

‘U2 At The BBC’ will be broadcast on the Corporation’s flagship channel at some point in December, presented by Cat Deeley. On the show, the band will play a few songs off their new album, ‘Songs Of Experience’, run through some old hits, and do a bit of chatting about their tax affairs. Well, maybe not that, but there will be chatting. And who doesn’t like chatting? Especially when it’s with Bono, who always seems like an alright guy in interviews, which just makes you hate him even more.

“U2”, says Deeley. And she doesn’t stop there. “Biggest band in the world. Stadium Rock Gods… and all round good eggs! I had the privilege of joining them on tour in Sao Paulo and now they’re coming back to the UK for an intimate show at Abbey Road Studios. I’ll be catching up with the band and there will be performances of brand new tracks and U2 classics. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and I can’t wait!”

The BBC’s Head Of Commissioning for music TV, Jan Younghusband, adds: “We’re delighted to welcome U2 to the historic Abbey Road Studios, where they have previously recorded tracks. BBC Music is currently broadcasting a huge array of music on television, and the addition of ‘U2 At The BBC’ to this stable of programming is a coup, as we continue to put musicians centre stage on BBC television”.

Speaking of music on the BBC, have you all been watching ‘Sounds Like Friday Night’? Well you should, given how much you moaned about ‘Top Of The Pops’ being cancelled. It’s really not as bad as you’d think. OK, the sketches are terrible, and getting worse if anything. And I’m yet to actually watch it on a Friday night, so having a day in the title of the show seems like a bad choice.

But there is music on it. And you’re always saying that there’s no music on the TV anymore. You were saying it just now. But look at all this music on the TV that we’re talking about here. Make sure you watch all of it, then I’ll quietly walk away when it turns out that this was all just a ploy to finally cancel ‘Later’.



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