U2 at the BBC: Special Edition

CAR HORN BEEPS All right.

Sorry for bringing down the neighbourhood.

We go this way, Adam.

Oh, yeah.

Tradesman's entrance.

LAUGHTER

And I get to play the gaffer.

Yeah, right.

# Hey...

# Beautiful day...

# Hey...

APPLAUSE

SONG: Beautiful Day

# The heart is a bloom

# Shoots up through the stony ground

# But there's no room

# No space to rent in this town

# You're out of luck

# And the reason that you had to care

# The traffic is stuck

# You're not moving anywhere

# You thought you'd found a friend

# To take you out of this place

# Someone you could lend a hand in return for grace

# It's a beautiful day the sky falls

# You feel like A beautiful day

# Oh

# You're on the road

# But you've got no destination

# You're in the mud

# In the maze of imagination

# You love this town

# Even if that doesn't ring true

# You've been all over

# And it's been all over you

# It's a beautiful day

# Don't let it get away

# A beautiful day

# Touch me now

# Take me to that other place

# Teach me now, love

# I know I'm not a hopeless case

# Yeah

# There's a starman

# Waiting in the sky

# He'd like to come and meet us

# But he thinks he'd blow our minds

# There's a starman

# Waiting in the sky

# He told us not to blow it

# Cos he thinks it's all worthwhile

# See the world in green and blue

# See China right in front of you

# See the canyons broken by cloud

# See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out

# See the Bedouin fires at night

# See the oil fields at first light

# See the bird with a leaf in her mouth

# After the flood all the colours came out

# Day, day

# Day, day

# It was a beautiful day

# Don't let it get away

# A beautiful day

# Touch me now take me to that other place

# Reach me, I know I'm not a hopeless case

# What you don't have you don't need it now

# What you don't know you can feel it somehow

# What you don't have you don't need it now

# You don't need it now

# Beautiful day

# Beautiful. #

Abbey Road.

APPLAUSE

The brilliant U2, everybody.

Now, these four unassuming Irish boys were school friends who

embarked on a musical journey that's taken them to the very top of rock.

I first met them about...

Should I say, even? 20 years ago?

-No!

-It was that long. It was that long ago.

And we've been friends ever since,

so, I'm very pleased to say welcome to U2 At The BBC.

CHEERING

You guys are famous for pioneering some of the biggest shows in rock.

You're used to performing in front of 70,000 people, I think.

Tonight, though, you're going to squeeze that performance

into the tiny Abbey Road Studios

which I'm imagining is actually going to be fairly difficult.

Or do you enjoy it?

Well, first of all, I am actually more nervous about this

-than getting on stage in front of 70,000 people.

-Why?

Because that 70,000-people stadium experience is something we have done

since we were in our 20s - we've never done this before.

We've never played our songs to a tiny, little crowd

in a setting like this.

So, actually, got a few jitters about it.

So why did you choose Abbey Road?

What was it about Abbey Road that made you...?

Well, it's a legendary place.

It's one of the best studios in the world,

and I guess The Beatles anointed it that way.

You do feel like you should take your shoes off or something.

Or do a few kind of, yeah, prayer bows or something.

We got to know Macca a little bit

and actually we met him in our Mecca here.

I can't remember what album it was,

but he came down and took us

through what it was like and he reminded us that when they came,

when The Beatles come to Abbey Road

they'd to come in the tradesman's entrance.

-No, they didn't.

-Yes, because musicians were...

They weren't scientists and they weren't...

They were of a different caste system.

And of course the whole thing about The Beatles was they broke through

that and became these great producers

as well as great songwriters and great players.

So that all happened in here.

You could say that this is the Big Bang of pop music,

this... This room.

Is that why Adam and Larry and myself went in the other entrance?

-LAUGHTER

-Is that what that's all about?

Larry, how on earth did you choose the songs

that you are going to perform tonight?

14 albums to choose from, so how did you decide?

Kind of left it to the scientist in our band, The Edge.

It was really about...

The choice of songs was about what would make sense for U2

plus an orchestra.

It is a long way from punk rock as well, it has to be said.

And there was a sense of, "Is this too much?

"Are we being self-indulgent here?"

We've a choir, we've a 38-piece orchestra,

and we felt kind of naughty

because we've had big arrangements on A song

but the idea of doing an entire night

with those kinds of arrangements,

it felt a little self-indulgent

but we delighted in that self-indulgence.

I was going to say, just enjoy it. We're all going to enjoy it tonight.

Let's have a treat right now.

What song are you going to give us next?

Lights Of Home.

-Watch out for this one.

-It's going to be good?

It's one of the most extraordinary things

we've ever had the good fortune of being a part of.

-I'm ready. Are you ready?

-CHEERING

OK, you guys go and get ready, off you go.

CHEERING

Next up, we have a very special performance,

it's an exclusive from U2's brand-new album -

this is the brilliant Lights Of Home.

It feels really good.

This is...

Thank you. This is a moment...

These songs you're about to hear are very personal.

They're sort of letters, a lot of them, to family, friends, to places.

And to our audience, you know, to you.

This is Lights Of Home.

APPLAUSE

SONG: Lights Of Home

# I shouldn't be here cos I should be dead

# I can see the lights in front me

# I believe my best days are ahead

# I can see the lights in front of me

# Oh, Jesus, if I'm still your friend

# What the hell, what the hell you got for me?

# I've got to get out from under my bed

# To see again the lights in front of me

# Hey, I've been waiting to get home a long time

# Hey, now

# Do you know my name?

# Hey, now

# Or where I'm going?

# If I can't get an answer

# In your eyes I'll see it

# The lights of home

# The lights of home

# I was born from a screaming sound

# I could see the lights in front of me

# I thought my head was harder than ground

# I could see the lights in front of me

# One more push and I'll be born again

# One more road you can't travel with a friend

# Saw a statue of a gold guitar

# Bright lights right in front of me

# Hey, I've been waiting to get home a long time

# Hey, now

# Do you know my name?

# Hey, now

# Or where I'm going?

# If I can't get an answer

# In your eyes I see it

# The lights of home

# The lights of home

# Hey, now

# Do you know my name?

# Hey, now

# Or where I'm going?

# If I can't get an answer

# In your eyes I see it

# In your eyes alone

# I see the lights of home

# Free yourself to be yourself

# If only you could see yourself

# If only you could

# Free yourself to be yourself

# If only you could see yourself

# If only you could

-# Free yourself to be yourself

-Free yourself

-# If only you could see yourself

-Free yourself

# If only you could

# Free yourself to be yourself

# If only you could see yourself

# If only you could see. #

HE INHALES AND EXHALES DEEPLY

APPLAUSE

It's amazing to...

..to be in the company of, well...

..great musicians.

Adam, Larry, Edge.

These extraordinary, extraordinary instrumentalists.

John Metcalfe, right there, conducting.

And what have we got next, Edge?

That's good. Help me out here.

SONG: Every Breaking Wave

# Every breaking wave on the shore

# Tells the next one there'll be one more

# And every gambler knows that to lose

# Is what you're really there for

# Summer I was fearlessness

# Now I speak into an answer phone

# Like every fallen leaf on the breeze

# Winter wouldn't leave it alone

# If you go

# If you go your way and I go mine

# Are we so

# Are we so helpless against the tide

# Baby, every dog on the streets

# Knows that we're in love with defeat

# Are we ready to be swept off our feet

# And stop chasing

# Every breaking wave

# Every sailor knows that the sea

# Is a friend made enemy

# And every shipwrecked soul knows what it's like

# To live without intimacy

# I thought I heard the captain's voice

# But it's hard to listen while you preach

# Like every broken wave on the shore

# This is as far as I could reach

# If you go

# If you go your way and I go mine

# Are we so

# Are we so helpless against the tide

# Baby, every dog on the street

# Knows that we're in love with defeat

# Are we ready to be swept off our feet

# And stop chasing

# Every breaking wave

# The sea knows where are the rocks

# And drowning is no sin

# You know where my heart is

# The same place that yours has been

# And we know that we fear to win

# And so we end before we begin

# Before we begin

# If you go

# Your way and I go mine

# Are we so

# Helpless against the tide

# Baby, every dog on the street

# Knows that we're in love with defeat

# Are we ready to be swept off our feet

# And stop chasing

# Every breaking wave

# Every breaking wave

# Every breaking wave. #

APPLAUSE

Amazing stuff, guys. Thank you so much.

Absolutely brilliant. Take a breather. Take a breather.

For four decades you have been world leaders

when it comes to massive arena tours.

When you're on tour, do you actually pack your own suitcases?

Bono does his and mine.

I haven't changed much in that I never really pack my suitcase.

I never really had a suitcase.

I've been sort of sleeping on people's couches,

and just turning up in other people's houses.

Myself and Larry shared a room.

He was excellent for a while - he tried to put some manners on me.

Were you tidy, Larry?

Did you have to keep picking up after him?

I imagine you to be very tidy and liking things in their proper place.

I'm not sure that I was very tidy,

it was just clear that Bono was extremely untidy.

LAUGHTER

Larry, is it true that Bono would steal your underwear

from time to time?

That's not true.

In fairness, that is not true.

However, there was a lot of borrowing.

Scarred for life.

What's the worst fight you've ever had?

I think I threw a drum-kit into the audience -

it wasn't to do with Larry. LARRY MOUTHS

It was more my own existential angst.

And then they told me they would throw me out of the band

if I ever did that again.

Can I just correct you? You threw the drum-kit at me.

-Oh, yeah.

-Sorry about that.

That's fine, seriously. I forgive you, really.

See, that's nice. It takes a BBC special.

Old wounds are healed.

APPLAUSE

This year U2 celebrated their 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree.

30 years - I can't believe where that time has gone.

CHEERING

They went on a world tour and invited me to join them

in Sao Paulo for the final shows.

We agreed to meet in a quiet corner of the city to absorb some culture.

It WAS quiet, but not for long.

Look at that.

-Hello.

-My God.

-Shall we leave them in there?

-Shall we? Drive. Drive, drive.

We wanted to show you some graffiti.

This is...

Just a casual walk down the street.

How long do you think we're going to get away with this?

Not for very much longer, actually.

The game is already up.

So what are the fans like here in Sao Paulo?

I would say Ireland is 10, Brazil 100.

Are you serious?

No, no, they're drowning out the band.

It's really something.

Oh, I like this.

That's cool. Can we buy a chair?

Come on, this is great.

Bono, it's for you.

Hold on a second. Get me the Pentagon.

-It's like the Batphone.

-It is.

Bono, the Pope is on here.

Sorry, I was just talking to The Donald there.

He says he hasn't got time to take his confession.

Yes, I will get down on my knees.

Bye

Taxi!

-Do you need to go off and get ready?

-Yeah, we do.

Because hair and make-up is going to take a while.

-It's going to take hours.

-Oh, man.

-Go put your lip gloss on.

-So where are we going now?

-We're going to go inside.

-Oh!

Usually, where these dressing rooms are,

it's the dressing rooms for sports-people,

so there is a smell of men...

..which I don't particularly like.

So we have to fumigate and we put these...

This is called pipe and drape.

This is cheap material hung on scaffolding pipes

just to make it seem a little girlie.

-But it doesn't really fool anyone.

-It's not white and floaty,

Mariah would have white and floaty.

-It's a little bit white and floaty.

-Yes, that's more Mariah.

And here we have an actual rock star in a natural habitat.

Would you like a cup of tea, darling?

It's not as impressive as I thought it was going to be.

You don't want to come here hungry, that's for sure.

-No, definitely not.

-That's Edge's dinner.

What are you having, Edge?

I don't know.

-Meatballs.

-Lamb! Oh, you devil.

You definitely weren't getting that in one of your first gigs.

-No.

-What's this for?

It's something to do with the sound system.

Nobody can work that.

I mean, look...

Look.

On, off.

I need these in my house.

We still can't work it.

Guitars, are they just for show or are they...?

That's for warm-ups, the keyboard, the sound, just...

-You've got to get the fingers moving.

-Oh.

Can you give me a bit of something?

Sure.

Oh, it makes me go a bit funny.

Shall we go and look at some clothes and let him have his dinner?

OK. Enjoy your meatballs, then.

Has anybody ever done this before?

We don't normally show people the sort of back area.

This is smoke and mirrors.

That's Larry's show clothes,

with his 28-inch waist, I think.

This is my show jacket, which is very nice.

And you've got to have something glamorous to change into after

the show, so I have this.

It's a nice combination of pink stars and camo.

This is the restaurant area.

"Pork and barley soup, coconut veggie soup, sirloin steak."

This is much better than we get.

Do you want to come and see the underworld,

-under the stage where all the equipment is?

-Absolutely.

-I think he means guitars.

-Do you?

-Later.

Do you know your way to the stage?

Normally we have arrows on the floor.

Look, there's one!

So this is where all the magic happens.

By the way, your face actually lit up at that point.

-It is still your favourite place, isn't it?

-It really is.

Do you have one side and Adam has the other?

This is all my stuff.

Do you get competitive about it?

No.

Adam's only got four strings, I have six strings -

it's a totally different world, you know.

Incomparable.

So do you want to come this way?

-OK.

-I think I should lead.

-Where are we going? Will I be OK?

After Edge there.

CAT GASPS

CHEERING

I almost fell off the stage!

So this is the crowd.

Thanks, guys.

It's an amazing feeling, isn't it?

-Are you OK?

-Yes, I think I'm done.

Good.

Apparently we're about two minutes out.

Are you ready?

Good luck!

And with that...

show time.

Hello.

Are you OK?

Yeah. Is this the BBC?

Yes.

There she is.

How are you?

I'm...

I'll be with you in a minute.

So how long is this going to take us, Edge?

With the police escort, probably about 15 or 20 minutes.

I came down, I sang to you, I don't know if you saw me.

-Yes!

-Oh, you did.

-It was amazing.

I do this thing at the end of the show, I hope you don't mind.

It's a little meditation.

OK.

OK, let's have a beer.

-And old friends.

-Cheers.

We go to some of the most glamorous places in the world...

-You take me to all the best places.

-..and then go through the kitchen.

Hello.

MUSIC DROWNS OUT SPEECH

CHEERING

Now that was a good party!

But...the gig was even better.

And what I love is as you're watching that, you go,

"Wow. That's where we were."

Yeah. Sometimes we don't think about it or stop to think about it

but seeing that there, seeing it on your face was also just beautiful.

When I went out there with you...

I was such a wuss but I couldn't help it.

It made me go so funny. Like, really...

Well, to be honest, it's never got old for us.

It's always the same -

that rush that you get from getting out in front of the audience

and playing your songs is the same.

Right, well, we want you to play some more songs now.

We want more. We want more!

So what are you going to play for us next?

-With Or Without You.

-With Or Without You.

OK, off you go. Get out there.

-Come on.

-Come on.

-CHEERING

OK, get ready for a sing-along.

This is U2 and With Or Without You.

SONG: With Or Without You

# See the stone set in your eyes

# See the thorn twist in your side

# I'll wait for you

# Sleight of hand and twist of fate

# On a bed of nails she makes me wait

# And I wait without you

# With or without you

# With or without you

# Through the storm we reach the shore

# You give it all but I want more

# And I'm waiting for you

# With or without you

# With or without you

# I can't live with or without you

# Yeah

# And you give yourself away

# And you give yourself away

# And you give, and you give

# And you give yourself away

# My hands are tied my body bruised

# She got me with nothing to win

# And nothing left to lose

# And you give yourself away

# And you give yourself away

# Yeah you give, you give

# You give yourself away

# With or without you

# With or without you

# I can't live

# With or without you

# Oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh

# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

# With or without you

# With or without you

# I can't live

# With or without you

# With or without you

# Ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh. #

All right, check it out.

# Love

# Love will tear us apart again

# Love, love will tear us apart again

# And love

# Love will tear us apart again

# Oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh

# Oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

SONG: 13 (There is A Light)

# And if the terrors of the night

# Come creeping into your days

# And the world comes stealing children from your room

# Guard your innocence

# From hallucination

# And know that darkness always

# Gathers around the light

# There is a light

# We can't always see

# If there is a world

# We can't always be

# If there is a dark

# Then we shouldn't doubt

# And there is a light

# Don't let it go out

# When the wind screams and shouts

# And the sea is a dragon's tail

# And the ship that stole your heart away

# Sets sail

# When all you've left is leaving

# And all you've got is grieving

# And all you know is needing

# Ta-ra-ra-ra

# Ra-ra-ra-ra-ra

# Ba-ra

# If there is a light

# We can't always see

# If there is a world

# We can't always be

# If there is a dark

# Then we shouldn't doubt

# That there is a light

# Don't let it go out

# This is a song

# A song for someone

# Someone like me

# I know the world is done

# But you don't have to be

# I've got a question for the child in you before it leaves

# Are you tough enough to be kind?

# Do you know your heart has its own mind?

# Darkness gathers around the light

# Hold on

# Hold on

# There is a light

# You can't always see

# And there is a world

# We can't always be

# If there is a dark

# Then I don't doubt

# That there is a light

# Don't let it go out

# And this is a song

# A song for someone

# This is a song

# A song for someone

# Someone like me

# Someone like me

# Someone like me. #

Thank you.

APPLAUSE

John Crawley on the piano there.

Thank you so much.

Oh! Sit down here.

Now, then, we've all made some pretty bad decisions

when we were teenagers.

I know I have, definitely.

But, Larry, you actually made a brilliant decision as a teenager

cos it was you that put the advert - was it on a school notice board?

Yes, I'd love to take total responsibility for that

but it was actually my dad.

He was very anxious to get me out of the house.

OK. He just want to get rid of you, basically.

He just wanted me out of the house.

I was taking up the boxroom and I was very noisy.

I think he felt if there was a band thing I would move into

somebody else's house.

-Or the shed.

-Or the shed, something like that.

-And these three reprobates turned up?

-Yeah, that's it.

Was it difficult to choose them?

Or were they the only ones that turned up?

It was one of those great things where you think you're choosing them

and it turns out that they actually chose you.

And it could have been somebody else's kitchen.

It was my kitchen that Saturday but I think they had plans for a couple

of Saturdays along the way, there were a couple of people lined up.

I think I made the best coffee.

-Do you know, that's not true.

-No?

Larry definitely started the band.

There would not have been a band without him.

Adam was the second most ambitious person.

He actually printed up cards with, "Manager - Adam Clayton."

Because Edge and myself strangely enough were kind of...

We were like, "What?

"Yes, we would like to be in a band,

"but, you mean, for the rest of our lives, kind of thing?"

And I wasn't going to go to the rehearsal.

I was just another, whatever it is, angry kid,

and if Larry hadn't done that,

I wouldn't be anywhere, I don't think.

But hold on, hold on.

There was that moment where I think you won

a competition in Limerick and you won £500, is that correct?

Is that the first competition you won?

Did you think you were millionaires at the time?

Did you think...? What did you spend it on?

-The manager ran off with it.

-Did he? Boo!

I do remember we also got posters, which was again Adam's idea.

And didn't your mum used to drive you around

and you used to stick them over other people's posters?

This is true.

She had a Welsh accent and an orange Beetle.

Yep, a VW Beetle and we would all jump in the back

and when there were no police on the street,

we'd get out and we'd have pre-made long posters which we used.

I think wallpaper was the basis of it.

-What did they say, The Edge?

-What did they say?

"U2 at The Baggot Inn", blah-blah-blah, whatever.

No. "U2 can happen to anyone."

-I see what you've done.

-I still don't know what it means.

LAUGHTER

Another choice that you made...

WELSH ACCENT: "The police have gone, Edge."

Is that what she'd say?

"OK, go, the police have gone. Get out, lads."

She was our first roadie, Mrs The Edge.

I love the idea of her, I love it.

With the wallpaper paste, like...

I remember Larry's mother also putting the drums...

Very hard to get drums around, and then Adam's mum, Jo, arrived...

..and she was also quite posh. And she'd smoke and just go...

HE INHALES "When will this be over?"

She wanted him to be a brain surgeon or something.

Yeah, he went to posh school.

I told her I was the manager, she liked that.

Didn't land very well in the posh school, ended up in our school,

nobody got expelled from our school, but he got expelled from our school.

How did you get expelled? What did you do?

I don't think I showed enough interest in the school system.

One of the other ideas that you had was to have nicknames.

The nicknames were just...

I mean, it's probably... It's an odd thing, you know, to,

in one sense, reject your family name

and to be known by something else.

But our names sometimes say a lot about you,

the names that friends call each other.

I mean, is he not The Edge?

And what about Bono?

I was originally Bono Vox.

Yeah, and it was the name of a hearing aid shop.

I think it means "strong voice."

If you're in trouble with Ali, does she still call you Bono?

What do you have written on your cup at coffee shops?

The only person...

Sometimes people come up and use the name Paul,

but it makes me nervous because the only person who called me Paul

through my life was my father.

-When you were in trouble.

-So I would be twitching.

Ali calls me Bono and I've been Bono since I was 14.

-So...

-That's it. It's there to stay.

But you obviously have been together for these 40 years now

and, Larry, you're the guy who sits at the back,

that sees these three come in front of him every time you perform.

How have they changed over the years?

Cos I think you're the man to ask this question to

cos you've seen them come, you've seen them go,

you've seen them come back, you've seen them go again.

How have they changed?

Which particular part of the anatomy are you talking about?

LAUGHTER

Cos I only...

I only see from the back down.

-OK.

-And there have been some changes over the years.

-I'm sure.

-Not all of them good.

-Fine, physically.

-I wish I'd taken photographs over the years.

-Yes.

-Because it's quite...

-Everything started much perter.

Well, it's just...

It's even little movements...

-Give me an example.

-Just small things like that,

for instance, The Edge does and they're small things,

and I noticed in the kitchen 42 years ago, he did them as well.

-You heard a bit of it.

-This is news to me.

-I'm really interested in this.

-Dun-du-dun-dun...

He did that 42 years ago, and every time we get on stage,

Edge plays that song.

And it's the song...

That basically is the one that he needs

to get us all to understand that we are in that band.

That really wide thing, so Edge does that for us.

There you go.

You didn't know that, did you? All turn round...

But we have had to listen to "dun-du-dun-dun" quite a lot.

Now I know... Now I will look at it differently.

Can you tell me about your next song?

-What are you going to play next for us?

-Stuck In A Moment.

Why are you choosing to play this song?

Well, last month, November,

was the 20th anniversary of the exit

of our great friend Michael Hutchence from the planet,

the singer of INXS.

Extraordinary person,

this luminous mind and beautiful soul

and this is kind of...

This song is like an argument with him, even though he was gone.

It's the argument and it's the kind of argument you have

with somebody you love.

You're being unreasonable but you want to make a point in it.

So, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of.

I said that like a DJ.

-Off you go. Go do it.

-OK.

APPLAUSE

This is the incredible Stuck In A Moment.

SONG: Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of

The guitar...

# I'm not afraid of anything in this world

# There's nothing you can throw at me that I haven't already heard

# I'm just trying to find a decent melody

# A song that I can sing in my own company

# I never thought you were a fool

# But, darling, look at you

# You gotta stand up straight, carry your own weight

# These tears are going nowhere, baby

# You've got to get yourself together

# You've got stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it

# Don't say that later will be better

# Now you're stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it

# I will not forsake the colours that you bring

# But the nights you filled with fireworks

# Did they leave you with nothing?

# I am still enchanted by the light you brought to me

# I still listen through your ears and through your eyes I can see

# And you are such a fool

# To worry like you do

# Hey!

# I know it's tough and you can never get enough

# Of what you don't really need now, my, oh, my

# You've got to get yourself together

# You got stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it

# Oh, lord, look at you now

# You're stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it

# I was unconscious, half asleep

# The water is warm till you discover how deep

# I wasn't jumping for me it was a fall

# It's a long way down to nothing at all

# Oh, yeah

# You've got to get yourself together

# You got stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it

# Don't say that later will be better

# Now you're stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it

# And if the night runs over

# And if the day won't last

# And if your way should falter

# Along the stony pass

# And if the night runs over

# And if the days won't last

# And if your way should falter

# Along that stony pass

# It's just a moment

# It's just a moment

# This too shall pass. #

APPLAUSE

It's a very different thing for us.

There's been a couple of moments

where I looked out there and I saw 100,000 people.

And I'm not drinking. LAUGHTER

What happened to the pyro? I was told there was going to be pyro?

No pyro. There's no pyro.

They're like letters, a lot of these songs and...

..this next one I thought was to our daughters.

But, like everything,

you preach what you need to hear.

Isn't that right, The Edge?

Well, you preach what you need to hear.

Oh, yeah.

SONG: Get Out Of Your Own Way

# Get out of your own way

# Get out of your own way

# Love hurts, now you're the girl who's left with no words

# Your heart's a balloon but then it bursts

# It doesn't take a cannon just a pin

# Your skin's no covering

# Resistance, love has got to fight for its existence

# The enemy has armies of assistants

# The amorous, the glamorous

# A kiss, a fist

# Listen to this, oh

# Get out of your own way

# Ah!

# Get out of your own way

# Ah!

# I can sing it to you all night, all night

# If I could, I'd make it all right, all right

# Nothing's stopping you except what's inside

# I can help you but it's your fight, your fight

# Fight back, don't take it lying down

# You've got to bite back

# The face of liberty is starting to crack

# She had a plan and then she took a smack in the mouth

# And it all went south like

# Freedom, the slaves are looking for someone to lead them

# The master's looking for someone to need him

# The promised land is there for those who need it most

# And Lincoln's ghost said

# Get out of your own way

# Ah

# Get out of your own way

# Ah

# I can sing it to you all night, all night

# If I could, I'd make it all right, all right

# Nothing's stopping you except what's inside

# I can help you but it's your fight, your fight

# Get out of your own way

# Get out of your own way

# Get out of your own way

# Get out of your own way

# Get out of your own way

# Blessed are the arrogant

# For theirs is the kingdom of their own company

# Blessed are the bullies

# For one day they will have to stand up to themselves

# Blessed are the liars

# For the truth could be awkward. #

APPLAUSE

Come and sit down here for me, guys.

Come and sit down.

So, tell us a little bit about the new album.

Is it the sequel to Songs Of Innocence?

Yeah, they were always a two-album set.

And...

We had written quite a few tunes for this second album,

but then we got in the studio and we just kept writing, kept writing.

We just got really excited about songwriting,

just writing great songs.

I think we've kind of reached a kind of crescendo with

the songwriting on Songs Of Experience.

Yeah, for us, going in, it was like the song is going to be the boss.

-Yeah.

-So, that's what we're going to serve, we going to make sure

that every single one of these tunes is potentially a song we'd hear

played on a rickety old piano in a bar in 25 years somewhere

or on the...

..the speakers in the elevator, like in a Muzak form because that,

believe it or not,

is when you really know your work has entered the language.

Our aspiration is to be Muzak.

Like, when I first heard a U2 song in Muzak, I was, like, "Yes!"

-When was that? Do you remember?

-I think it was in Japan,

-Where The Streets Have No Name.

-And were you all in the lift together?

-Did you nudge each other?

-I think I might have been

in the lift with Bono but it was, like, actually a big moment.

It was like... "We've arrived, mate. We're Muzak."

And a lot of the songs on the album are letters to people.

Who are they letters to and why have you chosen to do that?

I've had a few brushes with mortality over the years,

or reminders that we might not be around forever.

And I just thought, well, if I'm not around, just in case,

I should really have it laid out for my kids, my sons and daughters.

For our kids, for our friends, our families.

There is a letter to a country there,

America, it's called American Soul.

There's a letter to our audience about how you shouldn't trust

performers too much.

And not all of them are letters but that's where it came from.

And when you're writing songs to... I mean,

do you write songs together? And I know that you kind of make up

lyrics that aren't really words or...?

What do you do? Bongolese?

-Is it called Bongolese?

-I think every singer does that.

What is it, though?

It goes back to Little Richard "Be bop a Lula, she's my baby."

It's the sound. You know, I just make things up.

A lot of U2 songs come from improvisations

but I'm not the only singer that ever did that.

You have to step out into, you know, whatever the unknown is

and just start singing about what's on your mind, or what's going on.

I mean, you see it in comedy.

-People, you know... Or rap, freestyle.

-Yeah.

Unfortunately, when you listen to it back,

some of it's really not very good.

So, on an album called Unforgettable Fire,

there's a song called Elvis Presley In America.

-Yeah.

-If you want to hear Bongolese, full Bongolese,

that is me trying to get inside Elvis

in the last moments of his life.

I mean, it's a mad idea. I do apologise.

-I love it.

-But there you go.

One of the things that you actually did with your last

album was you gifted it to people.

-And some people weren't very happy about it.

-Yeah.

-They were quite vocal about it.

-A couple.

They weren't happy when it turned up on their iPhone.

But then again that's only the people you know about,

but we had a lot of people thank us for the gift.

We have a much bigger audience now.

-And I talked them into it.

-Did you?

I went into Apple and just said,

"Look, you are the people who get people to pay for music.

"Why not reward the people who pay for music by a gift?"

And Tim Cook said, "That's a brilliant idea, really good.

"And a gift? OK, good.

"So you're giving your album free?"

And we said, "No.

"You pay us, and then you give it free."

-And...

-Did they agree to that?

Yeah. We were trying to...

If you imagine this as like our album, like a bottle of milk,

was to arrive on your doorstep as a gift.

-You'd open it up, there it is.

-Open the door - "Ooh, that's lovely!"

Our bottle of milk ended up going into your kitchen, into your fridge

and actually sometimes on your Cornflakes.

That's what happened,

that upset people, but it was not the intention.

Would you do it again? That's the question.

Of course, yeah, yeah.

It is time for another song, you guys. Can we have another one?

-We can.

-OK, head on up there for me.

Thank you. You're out of here. See you in a minute.

APPLAUSE

OK.

It's hard to imagine now, but in the early '90s,

U2 were on the verge of breaking up.

This is the song that brought the band back from the brink.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's U2 with One.

SONG: One

So we wrote this in Germany after the Wall came down.

And 30 years later we are singing it as walls are going up.

One.

# Is it getting better or do you feel the same?

# Will it make it easier on you now you got someone to blame?

# You say one love, one life

# When it's one need in the night

# One love, we get to share it

# Leaves you, baby, if you don't care for it

# Did I disappoint you

# Leave a bad taste in your mouth?

# You act like you never had love and you want me to go without

# Well, it's too late tonight

# To drag the past out into the light

# We're one, but we're not the same

# We get to carry each other, carry each other

# One

# Have you come here for forgiveness?

# Have you come to raise the dead?

# Have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head?

# Did I ask too much, more than a lot?

# You gave me nothing now it's all I got

# We're one, but we're not the same

# Well, we hurt each other then we do it again

# You say love is a temple, love a higher law

# Love is a temple, love the higher law

# You ask me to enter but then you make me crawl

# And I can't be holding on to what you got

# When all you got is hurt

# One love

# One blood

# One life you got to do what you should

# One life with each other

# Sisters, brothers

# One life, but we're not the same

# We get to carry each other, carry each other

# One

# There's no-one else there's only us

# No-one else, there's only us

# No-one else, there's only us

# No-one else, there's only us

# Ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Sit down for me.

There you go. Another instant classic. OK.

It is now time for a quickfire quiz against the clock. Are you ready?

Larry, who's the worst person to have on a tour bus?

Say it.

LAUGHTER

Edge, who's had the most embarrassing stage moment?

I think Bono, for sure, when his leather pants split open

on the stage of the Lyceum, I think? And you were climbing up the PA...

Wow, you were high up, too!

-It was death.

-We felt for him.

It was quite difficult but he recovered very quickly.

-Thank you.

-Adam, who is the grown-up of the band?

-He's the grown-up!

-Are you the grown-up? OK.

Who is the fussiest?

You are. OK.

-Who is the most delusional?

-Me.

You? Nice. Who is the worst-dressed offstage?

Yeah. What do you wear offstage?

Erm... Pyjamas.

That's good. But a good thing.

The guy in the Boomtown Rats, Johnnie, pyjamas.

Big influence.

Who has the strangest pre-gig ritual? Do you do clucking?

No, no, no. You've heard animal noises.

I do make animal noises but that is to...

That's how singers prepare for singing. It's just...

-Sounds like animal noises.

-OK.

-But it isn't?

-PJ Harvey, I heard her, she does the same noises!

Then we had the discussion together. That's how you sing.

When was the last time you saw The Edge without his hat?

I see it every day. Yeah, we do a sort of nude meditation.

Too much information. Let's hear it for them, time's up.

APPLAUSE

Now, what an amazing evening we have had.

That's almost all we've got time for

but there is room for one, final song.

A big thank you for watching

and a big thank you to Larry, Adam, Bono and The Edge.

Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the one, the only U2.

CHEERING

SONG: Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way

# It's not time to make a change

# Just relax and take it easy

-# You're still young THE EDGE:

-One, two, three, four

# That's not your fault

# There's so much you have to know

# Find a girl, settle down

# If you want, you can marry

# Look at me, I'm old

# But I'm happy

# The door is open to go through

# If I could, I would come too

# But the path is made by you

# As you're walking start singing and stop talking

# Oh

# If I could hear myself when I say

# Oh

# Love is bigger than anything in its way

# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

# So young to be the words of your own song

# I know the rage in you is strong

# So write a world where we can belong

# To each other and sing it like no other

# Oh

# If I could hear myself when I say

# Oh

# Love is bigger than anything in its way

# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

# If the moonlight caught you crying on Killiney Bay

# Oh, sing your song let your song be sung

# If you listen you can hear the silence say

# When you think you're done you've just begun

# Love is bigger

# Than anything in its way

# Love is bigger

# Than anything in its way

# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

# Love is bigger than anything in its way

# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

# Love is bigger Bigger

# Nothing you can do that can't be done

# All you need is love

# Love is bigger than anything in its way

# Love is bigger... #

Thank you.

# Love is bigger than anything in its way...

Thank you so much.

# Love is bigger

# Than anything in its way. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE