''Wide Awake in Europe'' is a live EP by

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band U2. The release was created by the organizers of

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

to bring customers into independent

record shop A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record sho ...

s 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 The U2 360° Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of the group's 2009 album ''No Line on the Horizon'', the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. The concerts featured the band playing "in the round" ...

in 2009 and 2010. The EP comprises the songs "

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 Sept ...

", "

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 an ...

", and "Mercy", the latter a previously unreleased track that was debuted on tour.

Background and release

The potential release of an EP was first announced by U2 bassist

Adam Clayton Adam Charles Clayton (born 13 March 1960) is an English-born Irish musician who is the bass guitarist of the rock band U2. He has resided in County Dublin, Ireland since his family moved to Malahide in 1965, when he was five years old. Cla ...

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 Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

, with a release date of 22 November. Details of the release were officially announced 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. U2.com officially announced the release on 16 November, and "Moment of Surrender" from the release was

streamed Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

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 originated with the creators of

as an exclusive release as part of the "Back to Black Friday" program along with 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 The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November ...

, as opposed to

big-box store A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The t ...

s and shopping malls. The EP was released by

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

on 26 November 2010, exclusively for independent

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. The release was limited to 5,000 copies, all of which were individually numbered, although some pressings had higher numbers, as jackets damaged during the manufacturing process were destroyed and reprinted with newer numbers. An owner of a Milwaukee, Wisconsin store compared ordering the EP to a roulette, and said he "ordered 15 opieshoping to get 6". Twenty of the copies were given away in a December 2010

sweepstakes A sweepstake is a type of contest where a prize or prizes may be awarded to a winner or winners. Sweepstakes began as a form of lottery that were tied to products sold. In response, the FCC and FTC refined U.S. broadcasting laws (creating the ...

for U2.com site subscribers.

Pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

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. On the day of its release, several record shops in the US 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 Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

the following day for $75.

Content

The title and cover of the EP are references to U2's 1985 EP '' Wide Awake in America''. All the tracks were recorded by Alastair McMillan, and mixed by the EP's producer, Declan Gaffney. Side A of the record features "Mercy", which was debuted during the U2 360° Tour in September 2010. Previously, "Mercy" had leaked online as a track from the sessions for U2's 2004 album ''

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb ''How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb'' is the eleventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 22 November 2004 in the United Kingdom by Island Records and a day later in the United States by Interscope Records. Much like their previ ...

'', but ''Wide Awake in Europe'' was the first official release of the song. 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 "

" (from Dublin in July 2009) and "

" (from Paris in September 2010), both of which are from U2's 2009 studio album, ''

No Line on the Horizon ''No Line on the Horizon'' is the twelfth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, and Steve Lillywhite, and was released on 27 February 2009. It was the band's first record since ''How to Dismantle an A ...

''. 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 The attitude indicator (AI), formerly known as the gyro horizon or artificial horizon, is a flight instrument that informs the pilot of the aircraft orientation relative to Earth's horizon, and gives an immediate indication of the smallest orien ...

'', and was remixed by Redanka and Dirty South. The track also features a clip of "Beshno Az Ney/Windfall" by

Sussan Deyhim Sussan Deyhim (born December 14, 1958) is an Iranian American composer, vocalist, performance artist and activist. She is internationally known for her invention of a unique sonic/vocal language. LA Times quotes her as "One of Iran's most potent ...

. In a review published by

Sputnikmusic Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur c ...

two weeks after ''Wide Awake in Europe'' release, critic Irving Tan praised the EP, stating how "Mercy" was "the biggest treat to fans", while the "I'll Go Crazy" remix gives the EP a "party vibe", and that "Moment of Surrender" "manages to be hopeful, glorious, and resplendent all at once". Tan concluded by saying that the EP sends a message of the band's "youthful defiance" and stated that he looks forward to U2's fourth decade.

Track listing

Personnel

*Production – Declan Gaffney *

Recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

– Alastair McMillan * Mixing – Declan Gaffney, Russell Fawcus (assistance on "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight") * Mastering – Scott Sedillo at

Bernie Grundman Mastering Bernie Grundman is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan, and Mi ...

Audio post production Audio post production is all stages of audio production relating to sound produced and synchronized with moving picture (film, television, or video). It involves sound design, sound effects, Foley, ADR, sound editing, audio mixing, mastering et ...

– Cheryl Engles at Partial Productions *Photography – Aaron Harris *

Sleeve A sleeve ( ang, slīef, a word allied to ''slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, acro ...

design – Shaughn McGrath at Amp Visual

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wide Awake in Europe 2010 EPs 2010 live albums Live EPs U2 EPs U2 live albums Interscope Records live albums Interscope Records EPs Record Store Day releases