U2, the Irish rock band whose name is associated with a wartime spy plane and whose early hits were on an album called “War,” blasted the Russian aggression against Ukraine as “one man’s war,” during an underground concert Sunday in a Kyiv subway-turned-bomb shelter.
“I think it’s one man’s war, really,” frontman Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, told Sky News in Ukraine’s capital city.
“I think that the people in Russia … younger people know what’s going on. I trust in the younger people in Russia to throw this man out of his office, that is so high and is so low, right now.”
Bono (U2) and “Antytela” band in Kyiv metro ?? #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/C89h2gehZD
— Kristina Berdynskykh (@berdynskykh_k) May 8, 2022
“President @ZelenskyyUa invited us to perform in Kyiv as a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and so that’s what we’ve come to do,” Bono and the Edge tweeted Sunday.
Bono was joined by U2’s lead guitarist David Evans, professionally known as the Edge, as the pair performed a 40-minute acoustic set of some of the group’s greatest hits, including “With or Without You,” “Desire,” “Angel of Harlem,” “Vertigo” and a version of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” that was altered slightly to sing “Stand By Ukraine.”
“The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you are fighting for all of us who love freedom,” Bono told the crowd of about 100 huddled inside the Khreshchatyk metro station.
“Really there is nowhere in the whole world that we would rather be in today than in the great city of Kyiv.”
“This evening, 8th of May, shots will ring out in the Ukraine sky, but you’ll be free at last,” he told the crowd in talk-sing fashion between numbers. “They can take your lives, but they can never take your pride.”
“It’s a Beautiful Day in the Kyiv metro,” U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken tweeted. “The people of Ukraine have shown remarkable determination and resilience in the face of this brutal invasion. We stand #UnitedWithUkraine and support its pursuit of more peaceful, democratic, and beautiful days ahead.”
It's a Beautiful Day in the Kyiv metro. The people of Ukraine have shown remarkable determination and resilience in the face of this brutal invasion. We stand #UnitedWithUkraine and support its pursuit of more peaceful, democratic, and beautiful days ahead. https://t.co/BN7FlT7O8U
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 8, 2022
The U2 duo were joined by Ukrainian performers who have since joined the military to fight the Russian invasion, including Ukrainian band Antytila and its lead singer Taras Topolia.
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