U2 may have left behind the electronica-laced sounds of 1997's Pop for their new All That You Can't Leave Behind album, but the Dublin group has tapped a pair of the genre's finest to open their one-off show in New York City on December 5.

Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, collectively known as the Chemical Brothers, will serve as the warm-up act for U2's club gig at Irving Plaza, the group's only scheduled full-length performance on American soil this year.

U2, who have already sold more than 720,000 copies of All That You Can't Leave Behind in the States (according to SoundScan), are next set to grace a stage for the My VH1 Music Awards, slated for Los Angeles' Staples Center on Thursday, November 30.

As for the Chems, the duo issued a new edition of its Music: Response EP for the North American market on November 21. The disc features seven tracks, including a pair of outtakes from the band's 1999 Surrender LP, "Freak

of the Week" and "Enjoyed," that were previously unreleased on this side of the Atlantic.

The duo will celebrate the release by performing a DJ set at Centro-Fly in New York City on December 2.

In related U2 news, the BBC has reported that the band will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Music prize at the 2001 Brit Awards ceremony, which will be held in London on February 26. The group is likely to perform at the event as well.

The Spice Girls received the lifetime achievement honor at this year's edition of the Brit Awards, following such past winners as the Beatles, David Bowie, the Who, Fleetwood Mac, the Bee Gees, Queen and Eurythmics.

The Brit Awards are widely regarded to be the U.K. equivalent of America's Grammy Awards and are decided on annually by 1,000 representatives of the British music industry.