Hundreds gather for U2 book signing
A major security operation is in full swing at a Dublin bookstore today as hundreds of people gather for U2’s exclusive signing of their new book.
The store has been shut down for the morning as Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jnr agreed to autograph copies of U2 By U2 for 250 lucky fans at Easons, on the capital’s main thoroughfare, O’Connell Street.
Easons general manager Martin Black confirmed the store would not open until 3pm for public safety reasons.
“It’s the worst-kept secret in town and we expect hundreds of people outside,” he said.
The U2 boys are currently recording their new album at London’s Abbey Road studios.
The 250 fans given access to today’s event won competitions on U2’s website and several radio stations.
The rockers’ bad haircuts, hangovers, prayer meetings, partying, encounters with presidents and popes and intimate accounts of the creation of all their songs comes under the spotlight in the book.
“We wore it as a stubborn badge of pride that we weren’t prepared to fall into line with every other group and take the fashionable stance of the day. We were uncool because we were hot, we just erupted as a live band,” the Edge says in the book.
Clayton said: “We are trying to pin down something elusive, something that represents where we are, emotionally, physically, spiritually, but is also fresh and exciting. If it is not absolutely the best it can be, then why bother?”
Easons previously closed its doors in August 2004 when former US president Bill Clinton signed copies of his autobiography.
Mr Black expects U2 By U2, which went on sale yesterday, to be an automatic Christmas best-seller for the supergroup.
“Oh, it’s a certain number one,” he said. “No question.
“It’s well-produced with good photographs. It’s the first time the lads have actually sat down and written about their own lives in their own words.”
In the book, Larry says: “Being in U2 is more like riding a runaway train. We are just ordinary guys, hanging on to this thing for our lives.”
