With its European tour now over, U2 is set to issue a new limited-edition, vinyl-only live EP next month called Wide Awake in Europe — adapting the title and cover concept from 1985’s stopgap Wide Awake in America — that will feature the first-ever release of fan-favorite track “Mercy.”
Limited to 5,000 copies, the three-track 12-inch will be released by Universal Music on Nov. 26 through independent record shops in the U.S. as a Record Store Day-like promotion on the “Black Friday” shopping day following Thanksgiving.
According to online retailer The Ideal Copy, the limited-edition EP is a “special release put together by the people who do Record Store Day. There’s about 40-plus items that are exclusive or early release for indie stores for ‘Black Friday.'”
For fans, the draw of Wide Awake in Europe — which also includes live versions of No Line on the Horizon’s “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” and “Moment of Surrender” — is the debut of “Mercy,” a track recorded during the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sessions that later leaked online. U2 debuted the song in September during the European leg of its 360° Tour, and has played it several time since (see video below).
See tracklist for U2’s ‘Wide Awake in Europe’ and hear ‘Mercy’ after the jump…
Tracklist: U2, Wide Awake in Europe
SIDE A
1. “Mercy” (Live) [Recorded in Brussels, 9/21/10]
SIDE B
1. “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” (Live) [Recorded in Dublin, 7/27/09]
2. “Moment of Surrender” (Live) [Recorded in Paris, 9/18/10]
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Video: U2 plays ‘Joshua Tree’ B-side ‘Spanish Eyes’ for first time in a decade
- U2 remastering ‘Achtung Baby’ in Los Angeles for possible reissue
- Video: U2 debuts new song ‘Every Breaking Wave,’ announces Australian dates
- Video: U2 debuts ‘Glastonbury,’ ‘North Star,’ ‘Return of the Stingray Guitar’
- Audio: Listen to U2’s ‘Soon,’ outtake from ‘No Line on the Horizon’ sessions
When will it be on CD in UK?? :-)
Nice scoop.
Nice to find it on time. http://twitpic.com/3adxqk (see I bought it today, found your announcement yesterday)
You have one factual error though.
The recording in Brussels of ‘Mercy’ took place on 09/22/10. It was not the 21st.
I did not have to look at the sleeve to know that. I bought it because of the date.
Hey
Michael Kurtz, co-founder, of Record Store Day here.
Thanks for posting a note about our U2 release but I need to add one correction.
Ideal Copy didn’t sell this EP as no on-line retailers carried it. The reason for this is because the band, who chose the tracks for the record, created the piece for Record Store Day stores. Only they were okayed to sell. This means only physical record stores were the only guys who carried the release.
For a minute some on-line retailers, including Amazon, were erroneously listed as carrying the piece but didn’t acutally end up having it to sell.
Thank you for posting this note and clearing up confusion about where this piece was available.
Best,
Michael Kurtz
I picked up two copies at two shops in Berkeley, CA yesterday. They both sold out this release within 5-10 minutes. They are going for $60-$180 on Ebay (median around $75).
One of my copies is stamped as #5699 so the ltd to 5000 statement is not true. Not sure how many are out there.