MSN Host says: Hello everyone – welcome to our MSN chat with
the Edge! Are you going to put out a live album or video from the
tour?

Edge: We have no plans for an album as yet . . . we are putting
together some live tracks that will probably be released with the
next single . . . as one or two CDs we’re putting out. There’s no
video planned, but we might try to do something on TV at the end
of the tour. It will probably be a broadcast on TV.

tiempo asks: Edge: Are you going to make a different set list to
places where you hadn’t been (South America, South Africa,
etc.)? We’d like you to play some oldies too.

Edge: The intention would be to try to change things around . . .
do a few songs that we haven’t been to before.

Aingeal asks: Does your love/need to play live ever influence or
even interfere with what happens in the studio? Do you ever look
at a song and wonder “How are we going to do this live?” Would
you ever alter a song solely for the reason of making it easier to
recreate on stage?

Edge: We change songs a lot when we’re playing them live –
almost every song is rearranged for live because it demands a
different approach. Some songs, become more changes, other
songs, like Staring At The Sun, we stripped back to two acoustic
guitars and two voices. I think that pure acoustic arrangements
have a place on a record, but I have a feeling that for us, if we
were to go into an acoustic arrangement it would be for an entire
record.

MSN Host asks: Are you going to do more acoustic stuff on the
album or further on the tour?

Edge: We’re interested in it, but it’s something that we want to
explore fully.

pix asks: What’s the next step after Surrealism and Pop Art?

Edge: I think that it’s too soon to say where we’re going next. It
seems that music, like art, is starting to look back on itself. The
90s have turned into a post-modern period for music, and we are
determined to keep going forward no matter where that leads us.

U2AB asks: Do you find it difficult composing songs on the road?
Are you working out any new songs now, like you did on
Zooropa?

Edge: We’re working on new songs all the time . . . any days off, I
take up the guitar and use whatever time off I have to work on
some songs in hotel rooms.

Reno asks: Hi Mr. Edge, this PopMart Tour seems to have an
exuberant, well thought out theme, and yet I think its essence
goes above people’s head, so what exactly is PopMart?

Edge: PopMart is just our way of making sense of playing in big
open air stadiums. It’s a big show and it’s really a setting as much
as it a theme for the concert. It’s trying to be humorous about the
position we find ourselves in as a big band playing big stadiums .
. . we don’t want to make the mistake of taking our position too
seriously. We take the music seriously, but we’re able to laugh at
the sheer commercial size of what we’re undertaking.

MaryG asks: How do you feel about fans putting your copyrighted
material on their web pages??

Edge: I don’t have a problem with music being on the Internet, as
long as it’s not resold because I don’t believe that music on the
Internet is bad for music . . . I think it’s OK for music. To me, it’s a
bit like when cassette tapes were first made available, the music
industry thought that blank tapes would destroy the business
because people would be at home churning out copies for their
friends. It never happened. I think music on the Internet is going to
work out as just another place for people to discover new things.

Kirsten asks: What’s the U2-Willie Nelson relationship?

Edge: We recorded a track with Willie Nelson that Bono and I
recorded a few years ago, called Slow Dancing. He was in
Dublin making a film and he walked into the studio. We just cut
the song, it took two hours to record, but at the right time for the
right project, it’ll come up.

sun asks: Can we expect you will do again more small stadiums?

Edge: We’re happy playing big venues right now because we’ve
taken on that challenge. I do like playing smaller arenas and
maybe for the next tour we’ll play smaller venues.

MSN Host asks: Are we going to hear “Van Diemen’s Land” in
Dublin?

Edge: I doubt it. I think that Van Dieman’s Land is a tune that I
wrote for Bono to sing. I ended up singing it on the album
because I was just working it out, really. Although I like the tune, I
don’t think I’ll be singing that one. I always thought Bono could
sing it better, but he never got around to it.

Mirrorball asks: Were you and the guys shocked by William
Burrough’s death?

Edge: I was very surprised and saddened by his death – he
seemed so full of light when we met him for the Last Night On
Earth video. We’d met him before and he was always incredibly
funny and smart and sharp and if I was half as bright as he was at
his age, I’d be very happy.

Aingeal asks: Edge you have said in past interviews that you
won’t play a song like Bad live because you feel it has been
played too much over the last fifteen years. The same could be
said for Pride, yet you ARE playing it . . . why?

Edge: All the songs we’re playing in the show are songs that we
feel we can make sense of in this tour, in PopMart. I wouldn’t rule
any old song out, I feel we can play any of our old songs, but
we’ve chosen the ones we have because they work – they make
sense.

brii asks: Edge – does anyone on the crew/in the band ever read
Wire? Have you figured out what it IS yet? And if so, what do you
think of it?

Edge: I haven’t read it recently.

MsTheEdge asks: Do you use the internet on your own time for
personal purposes?

Edge: Occasionally, but mostly just for email and what have you.

Eric asks: Why haven’t y’all played any Zooropa tunes on your
tour yet and do you plan on putting any Zooropa tunes on the tour
in the future?

Edge: We might well, we haven’t made a decision not to, it’s just
we found ourselves leaning towards other tunes. We don’t think
about what album something’s come from, we just figure out if it’s
going to make sense in the context of what we’re doing.

bonowannabe asks: Please tell us about the oh so Spinal Tap
moment when the Lemon wouldn’t open!

Edge: It’s just funny for us – we knew that there was a chance that
it would happen at some point on the tour. When it finally did, we
couldn’t stop laughing.

Delaware_usa asks: Edge if you could have personally
witnessed one event in history, what would you want to have
seen?

Edge: I’m happy living right now and seeing what I’m seeing. I
wouldn’t have liked to have lived at any other time.

RENZO asks: Will there ever be another U2 movie ala Rattle and
Hum?

Edge: I don’t think we’re going to do another movie in a hurry.

Mr_Jetlag asks: Do you find after a tour when you hear the
opening song on the radio you get a tingle like you’re about to go
on stage

Edge: Yeah – it’s a strange sensation. You’ve heard of Pavlov’s
dog? I can tell you it’s all true.

Bonedog asks: Are worried about safety in Belfast?

Edge: No. Not at all. We’re just looking forward to a great show
and a great day.

Gibigiane asks: What do you think of Sojourner – the Mars
Probe?

Edge: I’m all in favor of Mars. I think Mars is a fantastic idea.

ParadiseCowgirl asks: Edge, what’s one of your favorite songs to
perform live right now?

Edge: Right now, Please, because we’re having a lot of fun
playing different arrangement ideas.

Severian asks: What do you think of bootlegged concerts?

Edge: I have no problems with bootlegs. I think, again, if people
make recordings and give them to their friends – as long as
people don’t get ripped off.

Boogaloo asks: What happened to your Gibson Explorer?

Edge: It’s actually just on a long vacation, but it’s still around.

NYCGavin asks: What can you tell us about your next single?

Edge: It’s gonna be finished in another few days and we’re going
to be giving it to the radio probably in another 3-4 weeks and it’s
a new version of Please.

Candy asks: Where do you think you’d be if you weren’t in U2
now?

Edge: Sitting at home.

KatrinaD asks: Will there be anymore songs off future albums that
you will be singing lead vocals?

Edge: We actually have a very good singer, so I don’t know if I’ll
do any more lead vocals, but maybe.

USTAY2 asks: What is your most memorable moment of the
whole tour so far?

Edge: I think the opening night, and realizing that everything
worked and no one had been killed trying to get out of the lemon
and that we’d remembered all the songs and that we hadn’t had a
big argument . . . just that it went so well in the end.

godpart3 asks: Is the chemistry in the band on a personal and
professional level still as strong as it was in 1977 or whatever?

Edge: We’re still getting on just as well as we always have and
everyone does what I say, that’s the important thing.

RENZO asks: Where is the coolest place you’ve ever been in
your travels with U2?

Edge: The coolest place. I’ve been to a lot of cool places along
the way, it’s hard to say which is the coolest. Currently, Tokyo is
somewhere I’m fascinated with because it’s so different to where I
grew up, but it changes, you know. I love America. The southwest
in particular.

NYCGavin asks: Will Brian Eno and/or Daniel Lanois be involved
in producing future U2 albums?

Edge: I hope we do end up working with Brian and Danny again
because they’re fantastic to work with. It would depend on what
record we were trying to make was and what they were doing at
the time.

Kirsten asks: Have your parents ever been to a show?

Edge: They tend to come out a couple of times every tour to have
a laugh.

Chia_Pet asks: How’s it feel to be getting older in a business
that’s rough even when you’re young?

Edge: I still feel like I’m 16 – that’s not a problem.

Patrick_M asks: Mr. THE EDGE: Rumor has it U2 recorded over
30 songs for Pop. However, only one brand new song has
emerged – “Holy Joe” so far on the B-sides. What about the other
songs? Will they ever hit the surface?

Edge: Yeah, they definitely will along the way. We have to finish
them first.

Wintermute asks: Any hance of collaborations with people like
Bjork and David Bowie?

Edge: We’re always interested in a new collaborator, but there’s
no plans to work with either Bjork or Bowie.

Guggi asks: Any idea who will open up for U2 on the third leg of
the tour?

Edge: We’re still listening to CDs and seeing who’s available. We
can’t really say just yet.

Kirsten asks: What advice do you have for bands just starting
out?

Edge: Write brilliant songs.

salome269 asks: Edge . . . what keeps you motivated for
performing?

Edge: Just playing every night with Adam and Larry and Bono
and the fact that every show is different and every time we play,
there are new discoveries.

alison2 asks: Edge, why did all of you choose the Microsoft
Network for your website?

Edge: We wanted to do something that was more ambitious than
most other websites. To do that, we felt that we needed a partner
and Microsoft Network seemed like the perfect partner for us to
put this together with.

USTAY2 asks: How do you manage to keep an exceptional
relationship within U2 for over 20 years?

Edge: We met before we were a band, so that helps everything.

ParadiseCowgirl asks: Edge, what’s your least favorite thing
about touring?

Edge: Coming home and having to figure out how to live a regular
life again.

metal asks: hi edge, I’m pastry chef at the intercontinental in
helsinki. did you get the birthday cake me and steve made for you

Edge: Yes, it was fantastic! Sorry I couldn’t bring it with me.

VON asks: Are U2’s tours actually going to get any bigger? Or
are you going to go back to smaller venues

Edge: I can’t see them getting any bigger . . . but we haven’t
decided what we’re going to do next time.

m_doughty asks: What bands have you been listening to lately?

Edge: All kinds of stuff . . . I love the Verve’s new single . . . Fun
Lovin’ Criminals, Nina Simone’s early recordings.

MSN Host asks: When you look back on your life with U2, did you
ever imagine you’d come this far and stay in the business for so
long?

Edge: Always hoped that we’d be making great music for a few
years, but I never thought that we’d be still so into it all after being
together for over a dozen years. We’re still aiming to make the
perfect record.

MSN Host asks: Any last thoughts for us, Edge?

Edge: Stay in touch. Hopefully we’ll see you along the way – and
thanks for tuning in.