New U2 X-Radio Shows: 11 O’Clock, Van Morrison and More

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2020-08-27)

UPDATE: 08-28: It appears that the free stream that was working when this article was written has now ended.

There’s a bunch of new content coming up soon on U2 X-Radio over the next couple of weeks. And right now the station is in free preview mode, which means some listeners internationally have been able to listen in right now! (More on that at the end.)

On Saturday at 12 noon ET, a special “Record Store Day Special” will air on the station. The show will celebrate “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” which is being released that day for it’s 40th anniversary in independent record stores. The show, airing at noon will feature the tracks on the new release, as well as commentary from U2 friends and family on the tracks, including Rocky O’Riordan, who hosts her own show on the station and has previously discussed her love of U2’s early tracks. For those interested in the “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” release, you can check out our discography entry for more information, and also our questions and answers feature about Record Store Day. The description of the show is as follows: “Forty years after fans heard U2’s “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” for the first time, U2 are planning a limited edition re-release for Record Store Day 2020. Hear all the exclusive tracks on the commemorative EP, plus commentary from U2 X-Radio hosts Rocky O’Riordan, Gavin Friday, and Michael Kurtz – the founder of Record Store Day.”

A second special will air on Monday at 4pm and 8pm ET. This will be a “Van Morrison Birthday Special” and will feature Bono and the Edge selecting and discussing their favourite Van Morrison tracks to celebrate Van Morrison’s 75th birthday. The Edge gives us a sneak preview of the list, choosing “Into the Mystic.” The show is described as “On Van Morrison’s 75th birthday, U2’s Bono and The Edge pay tribute to the iconic musician with hand-selected tracks and commentary.”

Over Labour Day weekend there’s another new show, “The 100 most Desired U2 Songs” a new spin on the “Desire” feature we’ve been hearing where fans get to pick five songs and introduce them. This time? The station is counting the 100 most popular tracks requested out of all the submissions for the “Desire” program and playing the top 100 tracks chosen by fans. “We have our favourites, let us know yours,” is the tag line for the show. Fan voices are heard in the advertisement for the show, so we expect each of the 100 songs will be introduced by fans, like we hear in the normal “Desire” segment. No set time has been given, but they say it will air throughout labour day weekend.

On Sunday there will be another new episode of John Kelly’s “Elevation” and this time John will feature Britain’s Poet Laureate, and professor of poetry at the University of Leeds, Simon Armitage, who also fronts the band, LYR. New episode of Discotheque (Friday), The Dan Hegarty Show (Sunday), The Rocky O’Riordan Show (Tuesday) are also expected this week.

About that free preview…Some international readers are reporting success listening to the station at http://player.siriusxm.com/home/foryou via a computer or lap top, using a non-Safari browser. (Click free preview and then choose the U2 banner, don’t pick sign up.) It doesn’t seem to work from mobile devices unless you are able to access the desktop version of the site. And some people have been unable to access without a VPN. We apologize we are unable to give additional advice about listening, but give it a try.

For those interested in more information we keep a calendar of scheduling highlights for the station which we are in the process of updating, as well as episode guides for programs that have aired on the station. Many thanks to Sherry for her assistance with this article!

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