Wide Awake in Europe
Encyclopedia
Wide Awake in Europe is a live
extended play
(EP) by rock
band U2
. The release was created by the organizers of Record Store Day
to bring customers into independent record shop
s for holiday shopping. A limited number of EPs were produced, and were released on Black Friday
in 2010, mostly to record shops in North America. The EP features three live tracks on a 12-inch vinyl
record, taken from three different concerts during the U2 360° Tour
in 2009 and 2010. Among the three tracks is "Mercy", a song that debuted on tour and was previously unreleased.
Adam Clayton
in an August 2010 U2.com video, after stating that the band was not yet ready to release another album. In mid-October, listings for the EP appeared on Amazon.com
, with a release date of 22 November. Details of the release were officially announced by website SlicingUpEyeballs.com on 26 October with the track listing and release date information, along with details about its exclusive release to independent record stores, despite its listing on Amazon.com. U2.com officially announced the release on 16 November, and "Moment of Surrender" from the release was streamed
on the website exclusively for the site's subscribers, beginning the following the day. On the day of the EP's release, U2.com streamed all three tracks for the site's subscribers for a 48-hour period.
The EP was created by the creators of Record Store Day
for an exclusive release as part of the "Back to Black Friday" program, along over 30 releases from other artists. The program's objective was to draw customers to independent record shops on Black Friday
and throughout the 2010 holiday shopping season, as opposed to big-box store
s and shopping mall
s. The EP was released by Interscope Records
on 26 November 2010 (Black Friday), exclusively for independent record shop
s in the North America
, with a select number of copies available in Europe. U2.com stated copies would be available in the United Kingdom
and Ireland
, although the London
newspaper The Daily Mail reported that it was only available at Tower Records
in Dublin.
The release was limited to 5,000 copies, all of which were individually numbered, although some pressings had numbers higher than 5,000, as jackets damaged during the manufacturing process were destroyed and reprinted with newer numbers. Because only 5,000 copies were created, the availability to record stores was limited, and an owner of a Milwaukee store compared ordering the EP to a roulette
, and said he "ordered 15 [copies] hoping to get 6". Twenty of the 5000 copies were given away in a December 2010 sweepstakes
for U2.com site subscribers.
Pre-order
s for the EP were available from online retailer The Ideal Copy, but had sold out by the end of October, almost a month prior to the release. New Jersey
-based retailer Vintage Vinyl Records described the EP as an "Indie-Exclusive Black Friday item", and also sold pre-orders online, but had ended pre-orders early to ensure copies were available for Black Friday. One the day of its release, record shops in Boston
, Nashua, New Hampshire
, and Nashville, Tennessee
reported Wide Awake in Europe as one of their best-sellers. The EP was sold for around US$10–20, but copies were selling on eBay
the following day for $75.
. Both albums' titles are inspired by the lyrics of U2's perennial live favorite, "Bad
".
Side A of the record features the first-ever release of the song "Mercy", which was debuted during the U2 360° Tour in September 2010. The performance included on the EP is taken from band's concert in Brussels
during the month of its debut, and was the fourth-ever live performance of the song. Side B features performances of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
" (from Dublin in July 2009) and "Moment of Surrender
" (from Paris
in September 2010), both of which are from U2's 2009 studio album, No Line on the Horizon. The EP's live version of the "I'll Go Crazy" live remix from Dublin was previously released on the 2009 U2.com member-exclusive remix album, Artificial Horizon, and was remixed by Redanka and Dirty South
. The track also features a clip of "Beshno Az Ney/Windfall" by Sussan Deyhim
. All the tracks were recorded
by Alastair McMillan, and mixed
by the EP's producer, Declan Gaffney.
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
extended play
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
(EP) by rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
. The release was created by the organizers of Record Store Day
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an internationally celebrated day observed the third Saturday of April each year. Its purpose, as conceived by independent record store employee Chris Brown, is to celebrate the art of music...
to bring customers into independent record shop
Record shop
A record shop or record store is an outlet that sells recorded music. Although vinyl records and audio cassettes are no longer sold in the majority of music stores, in favour of compact discs and home video recordings products, people in some countries, like the UK, still use the term "record...
s for holiday shopping. A limited number of EPs were produced, and were released on Black Friday
Black Friday (shopping)
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing...
in 2010, mostly to record shops in North America. The EP features three live tracks on a 12-inch vinyl
12-inch single
The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...
record, taken from three different concerts during the U2 360° Tour
U2 360° Tour
The U2 360° Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. It was named for a stage configuration that allowed the audience to almost completely surround the stage...
in 2009 and 2010. Among the three tracks is "Mercy", a song that debuted on tour and was previously unreleased.
Background and release
The potential release of an EP was first announced by U2 bassistBassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Adam Clayton
Adam Clayton
Adam Charles Clayton is a musician, best known as the bassist of the Irish rock band U2. Clayton has resided in County Dublin since the time his family moved to Malahide when he was five years old in 1965...
in an August 2010 U2.com video, after stating that the band was not yet ready to release another album. In mid-October, listings for the EP appeared on Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
, with a release date of 22 November. Details of the release were officially announced by website SlicingUpEyeballs.com on 26 October with the track listing and release date information, along with details about its exclusive release to independent record stores, despite its listing on Amazon.com. U2.com officially announced the release on 16 November, and "Moment of Surrender" from the release was streamed
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
on the website exclusively for the site's subscribers, beginning the following the day. On the day of the EP's release, U2.com streamed all three tracks for the site's subscribers for a 48-hour period.
The EP was created by the creators of Record Store Day
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an internationally celebrated day observed the third Saturday of April each year. Its purpose, as conceived by independent record store employee Chris Brown, is to celebrate the art of music...
for an exclusive release as part of the "Back to Black Friday" program, along over 30 releases from other artists. The program's objective was to draw customers to independent record shops on Black Friday
Black Friday (shopping)
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing...
and throughout the 2010 holiday shopping season, as opposed to big-box store
Big-box store
A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store...
s and shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
s. The EP was released by Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
on 26 November 2010 (Black Friday), exclusively for independent record shop
Record shop
A record shop or record store is an outlet that sells recorded music. Although vinyl records and audio cassettes are no longer sold in the majority of music stores, in favour of compact discs and home video recordings products, people in some countries, like the UK, still use the term "record...
s in the North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, with a select number of copies available in Europe. U2.com stated copies would be available in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, although the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
newspaper The Daily Mail reported that it was only available at Tower Records
Tower Records
Tower Records was a retail music chain that was based in Sacramento, California. It currently exists as an international franchise and an online music store....
in Dublin.
The release was limited to 5,000 copies, all of which were individually numbered, although some pressings had numbers higher than 5,000, as jackets damaged during the manufacturing process were destroyed and reprinted with newer numbers. Because only 5,000 copies were created, the availability to record stores was limited, and an owner of a Milwaukee store compared ordering the EP to a roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
, and said he "ordered 15 [copies] hoping to get 6". Twenty of the 5000 copies were given away in a December 2010 sweepstakes
Sweepstakes
The United States consumer sales promotion known as a sweepstake has become associated with marketing promotions targeted toward both generating enthusiasm and providing incentive reactions among customers by enticing consumers to submit free entries into drawings of chance...
for U2.com site subscribers.
Pre-order
Pre-order
A pre-order is an order placed for an item which has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came when people found it hard to get popular items in stores due to their popularity. Companies were then given the idea to allow people to reserve their own personal copy, before the release, ...
s for the EP were available from online retailer The Ideal Copy, but had sold out by the end of October, almost a month prior to the release. New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
-based retailer Vintage Vinyl Records described the EP as an "Indie-Exclusive Black Friday item", and also sold pre-orders online, but had ended pre-orders early to ensure copies were available for Black Friday. One the day of its release, record shops in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Nashua, New Hampshire
Nashua, New Hampshire
-Climate:-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 86,494 people, 35,044 households, and 21,876 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,719.9 people per square mile . There were 37,168 housing units at an average density of 1,202.8 per square mile...
, and Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
reported Wide Awake in Europe as one of their best-sellers. The EP was sold for around US$10–20, but copies were selling on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
the following day for $75.
Content
The title and cover of the EP, are references to U2's 1985 EP Wide Awake in AmericaWide Awake in America
-Charts and certifications:AlbumSongs-Personnel:*Bono – vocals*The Edge – guitar, keyboards, vocals*Adam Clayton – bass*Larry Mullen Jr. – drums-See also:*Music of Ireland*U2 discography*List of covers of U2 songs - The Three Sunrises...
. Both albums' titles are inspired by the lyrics of U2's perennial live favorite, "Bad
Bad (U2 song)
"Bad" is a song by rock band U2 and the seventh track from their 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire. A song about heroin addiction, it is considered a fan favourite, and is one of U2's most frequently performed songs in concert....
".
Side A of the record features the first-ever release of the song "Mercy", which was debuted during the U2 360° Tour in September 2010. The performance included on the EP is taken from band's concert in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
during the month of its debut, and was the fourth-ever live performance of the song. Side B features performances of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
"I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" is the fifth song from U2's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon. The song was released as the album's third single in a digital format on 25 August 2009 and in a physical version released on 7 September 2009...
" (from Dublin in July 2009) and "Moment of Surrender
Moment of Surrender
"Moment of Surrender" is a song by rock band U2 and the third track on their 2009 album No Line on the Horizon. During the initial recording sessions for the album in 2007 in Fez, Morocco, the band wrote the song with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois within a few hours...
" (from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in September 2010), both of which are from U2's 2009 studio album, No Line on the Horizon. The EP's live version of the "I'll Go Crazy" live remix from Dublin was previously released on the 2009 U2.com member-exclusive remix album, Artificial Horizon, and was remixed by Redanka and Dirty South
Dirty South (DJ)
Dragan Roganović , better known by his stage name Dirty South,is a Serbian-born Australian DJ, remixer and record producer based in Melbourne.-Biography:...
. The track also features a clip of "Beshno Az Ney/Windfall" by Sussan Deyhim
Sussan Deyhim
Sussan Deyhim is an Iranian singer, composer and dancer.Born in Tehran, her career began as a dancer with Iran's Pars National Ballet company...
. All the tracks were recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
by Alastair McMillan, and mixed
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
by the EP's producer, Declan Gaffney.
Track listing
Personnel
- ProductionRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
– Declan Gaffney - RecordingSound recording and reproductionSound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
– Alastair McMillan - MixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
– Declan Gaffney, Russell Fawcus (assistance on "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight") - MasteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
– Scott Sedillo at Bernie Grundman Mastering - Audio post productionAudio post productionAudio post production is the general term for all stages of production happening between the actual recording in a studio and the completion of a master recording. It involves, sound design, sound editing, audio mixing, and the addition of effects.-Film:...
– Cheryl Engles at Partial Productions - PhotographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
– Aaron Harris - SleeveRecord sleeveA record sleeve is the outer covering of a vinyl recording. The sleeve is technically the paper covering that is closest in contact to the surface of the recording, as in "dust sleeve", "liner" and "album liner". The term has come to be synonymous with "record jacket" and "album jacket", which is...
design – Shaughn McGrath at Amp Visual