Some twenty years ago, Dianne Beeaff sat down to write a spectacularly detailed and thrillingly absorbing account of music fandom. It asked a hard question: What possesses a woman of otherwise sound mind to spend ten years of her life following a rock band around the world and detailing everything that happens to her in such lyrically forensic detail? In A Grand Madness: Ten Years on the Road with U2, Beeaff went toe-to-toe with Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry on their Joshua Tree, Zoo TV and Popmart tours. The result was a diary/travelogue that went well beyond the music. Her powers of analysis and insight into not just U2, but into music and fandom became sharpened with each new journey taken. Now, in A Grand Madness: U2 Twenty Years After, she is once more unto the breach beginning with the Elevation tour and again going one step beyond in her attempt to locate herself and the reader in the faraway but so close world of U2's music. From airport terminals to street corners, you can almost taste and touch everything here as Beeaff shadows the band, providing us a rich, nuanced commentary that has the knowledge of an Insider but the perspectve of an Outsider. Even if you know nothing about the band and think U2 is the name of the spy plane piloted by Gary Powers, this new book will read as a magical mystery tour into the meaning of music and those in thrall to it. As Beeaff documents her own world tour, she accesses all areas of U2's life. There is information here I doubt even the members of the band know themselves. As I turned these pages, I heard Bono singing words that best sum up the author's tenacity and sense of purpose: When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide Where I stop and I turn And I go for a ride Till I get to the bottom And I see you again. . . --Brian Boyd, music and entertainment contributor to The Irish Times and author of U2 Experience

 

From airport terminals to street corners, Dianne Ebertt Beeaff's memoir, "A Grand Madness, U2 Twenty Years After" offers readers a tour-side glimpse of Ireland's iconic rock sensation, U2. Spanning nearly two decades and six tours, Beeaff's sharply detailed and lyrical memoir sources from her personal journals, enveloping her readers in the euphoria of fandom and the personal impact that U2's music has had on her life. Rife with adventure, "A Grand Madness, U2 Twenty Years After" is an inspirational depiction of one fan's journey on the road, brimming with insights into one of the most famous rock bands of our time. In the sequel to "A Grand Madness, Ten Years on the Road with U2", author and dedicated U2 fan Dianne Ebertt Beeaff brings her experiences and the band's continued career fully up to date. Enhanced with numerous black-and-white photographs, "A Grand Madness, U2 Twenty Years After" is exceptionally well written, organized and presented, making it a truly 'must read' book for the legions of U2 fans -- and is certain to be an enduringly popular addition to both community and academic library Contemporary Popular Music history collections. --James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review