Michael Eavis and his Glastonbury Festival team proudly announced this week on their website – “We’re very pleased to announce that U2 are the third headliner joining Beyoncé and Coldplay on the bill for Glastonbury 2011. Having been forced to cancel their scheduled Friday night performance in 2010, the Irish rock legends will headline the Pyramid Stage on the Friday at this year’s Festival (June 24th)”.  My immediate reaction was one of dismissive indifference!! This is a bland, corporate style line up, that goes against the grain of Glastonbury’s rustic roots. You are left wondering how long it will before the mud splattered tents are replaced by carpetted corporate boxes that characterise all our leading sports venues!!

The news that U2 are to be the  headline act at Glastonbury was officially announced at this week’s NME Awards, via a video message from The Edge, who was congratulating Michael and Emily Eavis on winning the Best Festival award.  In the video message, The Edge waxed lyrical – “It’s more a way of life than a festival. I made it last year to the Friday show – got to play with Muse, got to hang out, ate a veggie burger and fries, and got to play on the Pyramid Stage. I have to say there is something really special and iconic about that stage. So we’re all looking forward to coming back to pick up where I left off. And we’re so excited to get to play in front of the world’s greatest festival audience. We’ll see you there.”

The Edge. Is there a less appropriate name for a rock star? There is nothing edgy about U2 these days – they sold out to the mass American corporate market years ago in the mid 1980s. They betrayed their roots, and there is no way back. Don’t get me wrong, I was the world’s biggest U2 fan in the early eighties, and their gig at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester in1982 is still the best concert I’ve ever attended. Physically my ears were still ringing 36 hours later; emotionally and spiritually my heart still skips a beat 29 years later!! But this was in the days when their stage performance and music catalogue was based on the tracks from the albums “Boy” and “October”. These were truly passionate anthems like “I Will Follow”, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “Gloria” that derived from a real sense of Irish injustice at “The Troubles”. Bono and his band possessed a real integrity; a genuine belief that championing the cause could help produce a better future for all Irishman, South and North.

Of course that day arrived in 1998 when “Phoney Tony” ( as in Tony Blair ) finally announced that “the hand of history was on his shoulder”. By this stage, the equally phoney Bono had long ago sold out, and had become a self promoting Ambassador for many global causes. Maybe he was always a little disingenuous. Maybe I’ve got Bono totally wrong. But that same man and his fellow U2 band members that I saw all those years ago in Leicester seemed to have genuine passion for a cause that they really believed in. On the other hand, it’s just possible that Bono and I have both been corrupted by the cynicism of middle age!!

Why not mark U2’s landmark appearance at Glastonbury and preserve some of the U2 back catalogue for posterity as a souvenir?…………Get your favourite U2 vinyl records or compact discs ( singles or albums ), framed and mounted, by clicking on….. http://www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/

Alternatively you can buy a U2 “Song Souvenir” for a family member, or friend……this would make a unique present or original gift for a special celebration ie a 40th, 50th or 60th Birthday, A Silver, Ruby or Golden Wedding Anniversary, Mother’s or Father’s Day!! THE PERFECT PERSONALISED PRESENT!!

MyFirstRecord.co.uk currently have most of U2’s singles and albums available in their original vinyl record format.  Despite the writer’s obvious bias towards “Boy”, “October” and “War”, you can select from this full list of albums  –

1980 Boy

1981 October

1983 War

1983 Under a Blood Red Sky

1984 The Unforgettable Fire

1985 Wide Awake in America (EP)

1987 The Joshua Tree

1988 Rattle and Hum

1991 Achtung Baby

1993 Zooropa

1995 Original Soundtracks No. 1 (Passengers)

1997 Pop

2000 All That You Can’t Leave Behind

2004 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

2009 No Line on the Horizon

2010 Artificial Horizon (Vinyl)

2010 Wide Awake in Europe (Vinyl EP)

Have you selected the U2 album of your choice? Order now, by clicking on…… http://www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/framed-albums/

If you would like to see U2 et al at The Glastonbury Festival 2011,there maybe the chance of getting cancelled tickets at……. www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/glastonbury/2011/

If you would like further information on the Glastonbury Festival 2011, click here……. www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/

For all the latest news on U2, go to the group’s website…….. www.u2.com

For those of a digital persuasion, for all your U2 Mp3 downloads, click on…….. web2txt.co.uk