“In light of what happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems a bit ridiculous, but our prayers have always been for peace and non-violence,” said the leader of the Irish band U2 in his successful presentation in Las Vegas. During his recital in Sphere, Bond he reformulated the lyrics of the renowned song “Pride (In the Name of Love)”referring to the victims killed by Hamas fighters at the music festival Supernova developed in Israel.
“But our hearts and our anger, you know where it points. So she sings with us… and with those beautiful children at that music festival,” the singer encouraged, inviting the audience to sing the famous song and adding: “We sing for them. Our people, our kind of people, music people. We sing for them.” In this way, the European band made mention of the events that occurred in the last few hours in Middle East.
Bono later modified the song’s lyrics, singing: “Early in the morning, October 7, the sun rises in the desert sky. Stars of David, they took your life, but they couldn’t take your pride.” The original lyrics of the song, dedicated to the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is: “Early on the morning of April 4, a gunshot rings out in the sky over Memphis. Free at last, they took your life, they couldn’t take your pride.”
On Saturday, fighters from Hamas They opened fire on 3,500 spectators at the Supernova electronic music festival. An event that coincided with the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. At the moment, it is estimated that there are hundreds of civilian deaths from the terrorist attack at the festival, many of the bodies were found in the Re’im kibbutz, although dozens of kidnapped people are also counted.
It is not the first time that Bono has made these tributes. Throughout their performance history, U2 often changes lyrics during their concerts in response to current events and uses the stage to call for tolerance and peace. The singer has spoken in the past about various tragic events. One of the most remembered was in tribute to the victims of the Paris attacks of November 13, 2015. In the concert hall Bataclan, during a concert Eagles of Death Metal 130 people died in a terrorist attack.
U2’s residency at the 18,000-capacity Sphere in Las Vegas will run through December 16, with 25 shows in total. This is an interpretation of each song on their album Achtung Baby from 1991, in addition the band also added some more songs from their extensive catalog of more than four decades.
by RN
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