U2 w/ Interpol
New Meadowlands Stadium
Wednesday, July 20

Better than: ...the real thing?

Every day, you presumably go to work, and sit in a cubicle or in an office. You work on a desktop, check some blogs, IM with your friends, and small talk with co-workers. You do this competently and consistently but surely you'd rather be elsewhere.

This must be what playing before a crowd of 90,000 people feels like for Bono. The 50-year-old frontman of the biggest band in the world commands the stage with such practiced professionalism, one can't help but wonder if he's still having fun.

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Mike Logan and Lennie Briscoe: Not so into rap-metal.

​The news that Law & Order: Criminal Intent would be ripping all those headlines about the struggles of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark for an upcoming episode was notable for its lightning-quick turnaround time, and for its fictionalized take on one of rock's biggest characters: Bono. According to TVLine's Michael Ausiello, "Arno" (seriously) will be "a secretly bisexual rock-star composer who's cheating on the missus with a colleague." (But will he wear big glasses?)

This bit of news inspired a look back at all the times that shows within the Law & Order version of New York City have taken on music-related topics. After the jump, six (in honor of the dearly departed original version's cast roster) of the ones that stuck out the most.

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Let's all do our best to keep this from happening

​So another enjoyable terrible Super Bowl Halftime Show is in the books, and as we wash "I Gotta Feeling" out of our eyes and ears for the thousandth time, the question becomes: Who will grace the stage in 2012? How old will their most famous album be? Will your mom like it? Will Twitter? Will you? Let us now gather the most likely suspects and complain about them in advance.

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​Yesterday, it was announced that Jay-Z would be joining U2 on the band's five-date tour of Australia come November. It makes sense: in addition to commingling at the top of the Forbes 2010 Music Earners List, Jay-Z and U2 have performed together before--more than once, in fact. (Never forget the Brandenburg Gate atrocity of 2009.) Bono, for his part, has long since found his way into rap's highest circles; consider, if you dare, this photo of him dripping sweat all over Swizz Beatz. But it's Jay's penchant for collaborating with rock's most excruciating artists that's the depressingly familiar piece of news here. Think this is the first time Jay's lent his impeccable brand to rockers who have no business borrowing it? From Linkin Park to Chris Martin to Lenny Kravitz to "the Grizzly Bear" and beyond, Jay's been making debatable rock-related decisions like this one for what seems like forever now. You doubt it? Doubt no more:

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It took braver men than us to sit through the entirety of the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon--our taste for artist self-martyrdom/self-aggrandizement is minimal, and since we have no desire to talk to George Clooney or Stevie Wonder personally on the telephone by way of giving money to a desperately necessary cause ($57 million dollars worth!), it seemed like we could go ahead and take Friday night off. But Jay-Z, Bono, and Rihanna most definitely did not. The, um, strident fruits of their labor are below, along with the epic sendoff from the Tonight Show Conan O'Brien staged for himself the same night--essentially a parody of the programming that had preceded him on NBC, starring Will Ferrell, Beck, ZZ Top, Elvis Costello, and Ben Harper. Not enough? How about Jimmy Fallon doing Boyz II Men with the Roots? OK? OK. We're done here.

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WE ALREADY STARTING OUR NEW YEARS PARTY SHOWTIMEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

​Rap music just needs to take a deep breath and step away from the rock luminaries. Seriously. This means you too, Jay-Z. [@therealSwizzz, via Vulture]

Ah, jeez--an awards show, the MTV EMAs, but also a celebration of freedom, see, because Reagan/Gorbachev/the power of music tore down the Berlin Wall twenty years ago so that Bono could branch out into rap, and New York Mayor (?!) Jay-Z could talk about fixed elections in Iran and genocide in Rwanda athwart the Brandenburg Gate. But the walls of mercenary capitalism remain very much intact, right Berliner Kurier?

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Ooooh plus "Iron Man"

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Celebration
Madison Square Garden
Friday, October 30

"When we were down, rock 'n' roll lifted us up," says Tom Hanks in his introductory remarks for the final night of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's benefit-concert extravaganza at Madison Square Garden. "Rock 'n' roll music was American," he later adds. "And it changed the world." Despite his use of the past tense, tonight is anything but a eulogy: Friday's slate features a wider palate of curators than the previous night, this time including Aretha Franklin, Jeff Beck, Metallica, and U2. The headliners' guests, a pop-music dream-team ranging from Ray Davies to Ozzy Osbourne to the Black Eyed Peas, also do a better job than last night's cavalcade of explaining how far rock has come.

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As if U2 weren't already meddling enough in our urban affairs by stranding tens of thousands of our fair citizens in the lawless, trainless wilds of the Meadowlands, the turgid Irish band has now decided to follow President Obama's lead by making random, unwelcome endorsements in states they have no legal vote in. Tell us more about our mayor, Bono! "You know him because he runs New York City and does an amazing job. I know him because he is a fellow combatant in the fight against extreme poverty through disease. Using his enormous...wallet to research new treatments for malaria and stuff, he makes me very proud. He also makes me laugh out loud. I love him very much." Says it all, doesn't it?

MAYOR BLOOMBERG IS BONO'S ROCKSTAR [Mike Bloomberg NYC]
Bono and Bloomberg Should Just Do It and Get It Over With [Vulture]

​New Jersey Transit apparently did their best last night to cause the mass stampede deaths of tens of thousands of U2 fans, who were left to line up eternally in the wilds of the Meadowlands in the wake of the band's show just to get trains back to civilization. "There was pushing and shoving as a crowd of 10 deep fought to cram themselves on to infrequent trains," one horrified participant told NBC New York. "We were told by attendants they would come every 8 minutes or so. Not the case. We waited half an hour." Half a fucking hour! Some have taken to writing angry poetry about the NJT in NBC's comment section:

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