Today marks the 25th anniversary of Live Aid, the Bob Geldof-organized African famine relief concert that remains one of the cultural signposts of the ’80s. For readers of this site, the event is perhaps best remembered as the tipping point in U2’s ascent from college-rock upstarts to global superstars.

Fans who shelled out big cash for the just-issued mega-deluxe edition of U2’s new ‘U2 360° at the Rose Bowl’ concert DVD received a nice bonus: a red-vinyl 7-inch single featuring the previously unreleased song ‘Soon,’ a 2-minute track left over from the ‘No Line on the Horizon’ sessions.

While U2 was knocked out of its first-ever Glastonbury headlining slot by Bono’s recent tour-scuttling back surgery, fans still got a taste of the Irish megaband tonight when The Edge joined Muse for an encore of the all-time classic ‘Where the Streets Have No Name.’

This week’s new releases include the ‘U2 360° at the Rose Bowl’ DVD/Blu-ray, the new single from Erasure frontman Andy Bell’s forthcoming solo album, a new Television Personalities album (‘A Memory is Better than Nothing’) and a reissue of King’s ‘Steps in Time.’

With Bono’s recovery from back surgery expected to take at least eight weeks, U2 today canceled its first-ever Glastonbury appearance and pushed this summer’s North American leg of its massive 360° Tour to sometime in 2011.

U2 today postponed the opening date of the second U.S. leg of its monstrous 360° Tour — June 3 in Salt Lake City — after Bono this morning underwent emergency surgery in Munich ‘for an injury sustained during tour preparation training,’ according to the band’s official site.

Today we commemorate Bono’s 50th birthday, knowing full well the frontman, and U2 itself, are somewhat divisive forces in the annals of ’80s college rock. Check out the band’s epic performance of ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ from ‘Rattle and Hum.’

Despite having split in 2008, The Mission UK returns this summer with a new compilation of rare B-sides, previously unreleased demos, new songs left over from the ‘God Is a Bullet’ sessions and a brand-new dance mix of ‘Dumb’ by late-period guitarist Mark Gemini Thwaite.

As it marks its own 25th anniversary this year, Spin magazine has churned out a list of the 125 best albums of the past quarter century — an honor roll topped by U2’s 1991 left turn ‘Achtung Baby,’ a record the mag says ‘genetically engineer(ed) rock music into the hybridized mutant we know today.’

As promised, U2 is set to release a live DVD and Blu-ray of its massive October concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., which was seen by more than 10 million fans in one week during an unprecedented live stream and subsequent replays on YouTube.

U2 today revealed plans to release its recent fanclub-only remix album ‘Artificial Horizon’ as a limited-edition triple vinyl collectors’ set that will be sold to the general public only through May 14.

The short career of enigmatic Liverpool indie-pop act The La’s will be celebrated this spring with Callin’ All, a four-disc, 91-track box set that compiles singles, b-sides, unreleased outtakes and live material — and no fewer than six versions of ‘There She Goes,’ the band’s signature tune.

U2 today informed fans that it has begun shipping copies of ‘Artificial Horizon,’ the free remix album being sent to paying members of the band’s website.