More than 400 rare photographs and illustrations will chronicle U2's live performance history in the book "U2 Show: The Art of Touring." Assembled by photographer Diana Scrimgeour with the full cooperation of U2 and its associates, the 312-page volume will hit bookstores Oct. 21 via Riverhead Books.
"Diana did an amazing job -- it all comes together really well," said Riverhead senior editor Sean McDonald. "U2 has put together some pretty spectacular shows over the years, from the famous Red Rocks show to the extravagant ZooTV and PopMart tours to the much calmer Elevation shows. And the book is appropriately spectacular, I think -- lavish when it needs to be, more intimate when it needs to be."
Besides U2's members, such music luminaries as Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois and artists Peter Gabriel and Steven Van Zandt were interviewed for or contributed to the project.
"U2 Show" also features reminiscences from "all the people involved on the ground in putting together a U2 performance, like stagehands and the lighting guys," McDonald says. "These are the people who have been really involved in making U2 what they are."
The volume is not being specifically tied in to the release of U2's long-awaited new Interscope studio album, which is expected sometime this fall. "It would be great for us if [the album] came out at the same time," McDonald says. "Clearly it's expected to be around that time."
