Wide Awake in Europe
| Wide Awake in Europe | ||||
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| EP (Live) by U2 | ||||
| Released | 26 November 2010 | |||
| Recorded | July 2009, September 2010 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 18:31 | |||
| Label | Interscope | |||
| Producer | Declan Gaffney | |||
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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 shops for holiday shopping. A limited number of 5,000 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. The EP comprises the songs "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight", "Moment of Surrender", and "Mercy", the latter a previously unreleased track that was debuted on tour.
The potential release of an EP was first announced by U2 bassist 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.
"We all wanted to get behind Record Store Day. My local record shop introduced me to music I didn’t know and I might never have discovered."
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 stores and shopping malls. The EP was released by Interscope Records on 26 November 2010, exclusively for independent record shops 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 Daily Mail reported that it was only available at Tower Records in Dublin.
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