In the name of love, Bono

**Xlex** · 13/12/2001, 10:08 AM

In the name of love, Bono - I don't know whether or not this should be the humour section or not

Brendan O'Connor feels our national chief mourner's pain and is sorry for his troubles

SURE every family has one. The one who somehow ends up chief mourner at every funeral she goes to. If it's her neighbours long lost cousin she'll somehow end up carrying the coffin, collapsing in tears and emotionally accepting condolences. If she's really good, the bereaved family may find themselves commiserating with her. "Sorry for your troubles. I know ye were very close."

Normally it's a woman, but for us it's a man. Bono is our national chief mourner. Wherever there is a country churchyard or a lonely graveyard you will find him there, emoting for Ireland. As one US website wryly observed about U2's recent New York concerts, "nobody grieves like the Irish".

The significance and serendipity of U2's recent New York concerts was not lost on Bono. New York last week was a city primed for some rock 'n' roll healing, Fr Bono style, some vague ramblings about peace on earth and drop the debt and ban the bomb and feed the whale. Introducing the anthemic One, which carries the message that we are all, well, one, Bono exhorted the crowd to "turn a song into a prayer". Fr Bono is a man who is beyond parody.

In the course of the concert he emoted about dead Americans and dead Afghanis. He even "cheered" and rather unfortunately "saluted" the men of the IRA for laying down their weapons. But then of course, he's largely responsible for that. Just as bad Euro-soft rock band The Scorpions brought down the Berlin Wall with their epic ballad Winds Of Change, it was surely Sunday Bloody Sunday that brought peace to the North.

And of course Bono's songbook was written for fuzzy, epic occasions like a grieving New York coming together in song. With a bit of tweaking the lyrics to "New York" were perfect to usurp a nation's grief. Sunday Bloody Sunday took on a new resonance in the light of decommissioning and One is great come all ye for any epically emotional occasion.

The fact that many of U2's songs are so vague and meaningless anyway meant that they could all be easily updated to achieve an extra poignancy. "He says it's a beautiful day Herb. That's so appropriate in the light of current events."

THE highlight of the service was when the names of some of the New York dead appeared on screens for the encore.

New York had the dignity to be affronted. On Monday, Dan Aquilante of the New York Post wrote a swingeing column entitled "Hey Bono, Just Sing". Aquilante said that Bono's political correctness made him want to puke green. Mostly he took umbrage at the fact that, "as an outsider, (Bono's) audacity to think his celebrity gives him the right to tell us how and when to let go of our anger made the rage hotter. You wanted to hit him upside the head".

The Post went on to point out that actions speak louder than words. For all their empathy U2 had failed to keep an appointment at a memorial concert for the dead of New York the weekend before their (paid) New York shows. Bono and The Edge cited "family reasons" as their excuse for the no-show. Family reasons however hadn't stopped them playing a (paid) concert in Baltimore the night before the NY charity gig, or two gigs at Slane just after Bono buried his father.

You can understand people's anger. America made U2. By the end of their current tour the band will have grossed $100 million in America alone. Add to this the fact that U2 have professionally co-opted America's grief and the no-show becomes even more hurtful.

But then it can't be easy trying to please all men. Bono has been selectively critical of American foreign policy in the past but presumably mindful of the current mood of patriotism in the US and the 100 million bucks, he tread very carefully in New York last week. He empathised with the dead and the bereaved of New York, but was careful to point out that "the Koran is a beautiful book and the people who follow it are beautiful people". At no point did he take a firm stance on the war against terrorism.

But then, as we know from Bono's dalliances in the North, the complexities of real life and the tough moral decisions required in real politics are not good for Bono. He is an artist who works in broad brush-strokes. He is roughly on the side of peace, love and understanding, but he's on the side of America too. But hey man, Bono's not a politician, he's just a man who was sent down here about 33 years ago to preach a simple message - that if we all get together and sing U2 songs everything will be OK.

With his New York Fire Department T-shirt and his leather jacket lined with the stars and stripes Bono was so brimming with empathy for Americans, he no doubt empathised when the NY Post suggested that he should consider that "he's not a priest, just a singer".

The only good news is that Bono appears to have the empathy vaguely under control.

One of his meaningless catchphrases recently has been that "The Irish are just Jamaicans who can't dance", a clear sign of reverse Michael Jackson syndrome, where the artist gradually turns black claiming it's a skin disease.

But Bono tells the latest edition of Details magazine, "I'm very secure with the fact that I'm not black." I hear you Bono baby. I feel your pain. Don't you wish that we could both be women and experience first hand the pain of childbirth?

It's our pain too baby.

**A face** · 13/12/2001, 11:13 AM

I mean just think of it, all the poverty, staving, all the war, refugees, it would really make you think, the third world and the global debt, us humans have alot to answer for .... *sob* *sob* i wont get a stroke done today, it just wouldn't be right.
Some one pass the concern box quick, and what is Chris Kindle's direct line ? I hate them playing the "save the world by buying our records" card but i suppose someone has to do it.