U2’s ex-manager Paul McGuinness has called on Ireland to stop attacking the band at every opportunity.
The Dublin band pushed their new album, Songs of Innocence, as a free download to half a billion iTunes users – the biggest record release of all time.
And Paul – who was U2’s manager until last year – thinks the country should be more proud of U2’s achievements.
He said: “People forget that U2 have been the world’s champions of music for over 20 years now.
Proud: Paul insists the country needs to give U2 a break | VIPIRELAND.COM
“And while it may become routine, there’s no reason not to be very proud of it.”
Now the 63-year-old expects U2 to be back on tour next year.
He said: “I think we can expect a new U2 tour starting next summer.
“It will be what everyone expects from U2: ground breaking, unique and world beating.”
On the road: U2 expected to start next summer | VIPIRELAND.COM
And Paul admitted he was shocked the band could keep their album release plans under wraps.
“I thought the way they released Songs of Innocence was absolutely brilliant,” he told Newstalk.
“It is an extraordinary event to release music this way and I can’t believe they managed to keep it a secret until they did it.
“To be able to say: ‘We’re releasing the new album in five seconds’ and there it was on the iTunes library of 500 million subscribers is just incredible.”
