U2-2

Achtung Baby was formed by Luke Pepper in 1993 and were the second ever tribute to U2.

After playing Sheffield Arena & Don Valley Stadium, the band were joined by Andy Bagnall, who was fresh from his TV appearances on ‘Stars in their Eyes’.

In 1997 the band appeared in numerous magazines including NME, Now and Heat and is firmly established as one of the worlds leading tribute acts.

During a short tour of Holland, the band (with Wayne Taylor on vocals) performed on Dutch TV & were lucky enough to perform alongside U2 at Feyenoord Stadium. Due to the band being all ‘look-a-likes’ they were led into U2′s own changing rooms by mistake!

1998 was a big year for the band as they embarked on a tour of the Middle East. After several sell out shows in Bahrain, the band returned to Europe to play in Belgium, Portugal & Holland with a sell-out show at the UZ in Rotterdam. Achtung Baby then returned to the UK & supported “Echo and the Bunnymen” for their comeback show in London to an audience including celebrities such as Eddie Izzard and Denise Van Outen. To round off this amazing year the band supported “The Lightening Seeds” at Wimbledon University and “Shed 7″ at Cheltenham University.

The band toured Ireland in 1999 with shows in Galway, Cork and the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. In Belfast, Achtung Baby played a sell out show to 2000 fans with “Samantha Mumba” on the bill. To promote this show the band also made an appearance on The John Daly Show on Irish TV where they performed “Pride”.

Also in 1999, Achtung Baby made their Sky TV debut with an exclusive interview on the 11th Hour Show. They performed two songs, “Desire” and “Angel of Harlem”. The band was then approached by an Irish film company to record “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, for a short film called “Buskers”. U2 themselves listened to the recording and gave the film company permission to use it. The Film won best short film award at the Aberdeen film festival and has been broadcast on CH4 and Sky Moviemax.

In early 2000 the band received the greatest compliment possible. In an exclusive interview to MTV, Bono is asked how he feels about the U2 tribute Achtung Baby; he replied “I’m quite flattered by what they do”.

Later that year Achtung Baby were chosen from 200 tributes to appear with 5 other acts in the search for the UK’s finest on BBC1′s “Battle of the Tribute Bands”, a one hour TV Special hosted by Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson. The band won the much coveted award for “Best sound-alike tribute band in the UK”.

In 2001, Andy (vocalist) appeared on the “Pulp” single, “Bad Cover Version” as Bono. The single is a send up of the 1985 band aid song, Do They Know It’s Christmas and along with the DVD Video is still available at HMV stores and online on iTunes.

In 2008, the original Achtung Baby (U2-2) reformed & after many successful shows, the band performed in Sheffield’s Meadowhall as part of the official 360 tour experience. Many people thought they were seeing the real thing, as both BBC1 & ITV1 lined up to interview the band.

In 2009, Blackberry hired the band as ‘look-a-likes’ to promote their latest cell-phone & the band tour Ireland three times.

During the next two years, the band consolidate their new name & perform alongside The Bootleg Beatles in Ricoh Stadium. (Ringo uses Andy’s Larry Mullen custom drum kit)

In 2012, the band are once again joined on vocals by Andy Bagnall and for the rest of 2012, the band perform under both the names of Achtung Baby & U2-2.

The band can play all of your favourite U2 tracks with a show that can last up to 2 hours if required.

Members:

VOCALS/HARMONICA – ANDY BAGNALL

GUITAR/KEYBOARDS/VOCALS – LUKE PEPPER

BASS – STEVE KEAN

DRUMS/PERCUSSION – ANDY BOTT