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"But when you do these collections, they are usually to mark the end of something, and our band has certainly reached the end of where we've been at for the last couple of albums. I want to see what else we can do with it, take it to the next level." -- Bono, on U218, 2006 |
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@U2 QOM May 2009: Happy Birthday, Bono! And in honor of our favorite singer, what's your favorite Bono moment?
@U2,
June 04, 2009
(Each month, @U2 puts a spotlight on U2 fans with our "Question of the Month." We pose a question to our readers and invite answers of 200 words or less. If you're interested in taking part, check our home page to see if the current question is still open. If not, check back shortly after the beginning of next month and we'll have another question ready to be answered!)
-- Allegra My favorite Bono moment -- learning who wears the pants in his family.
It was the second night of the Elevation Tour and Bono was outside chatting it up with a group of fans after the show. After about half an hour, a limo pulled up and the window came down. Out of the limo came a very sweet voice that said, "Bono, its time to go." -- Robie Sprouse My favorite Bono moment is when he sang "Love Me Tender" using Elvis' voice and he forgot the lyrics. Amazing. -- Marvin Lee Tang This is a hard question. I am torn between two really fun moments. On March 5th they were on David Letterman and performed "Beautiful Day" and towards the end of the song, Bono heads over to the crowd who are all sitting down. He motions for them to get up. It is as if he was saying, "Come on, get up!!" They jump up like they had been waiting for someone to allow them to be free!! You can feel the pure excitement that the crowd felt at that moment. This one guy in the front row just burst out of seat! I know if it were me, I would have also soiled myself being that close to Bono. It was really cool to see that. -- Jen Willins For me, my favorite Bono moment will not just be when he belts U2's great music, but when he is out there reminding us that there is a global emergency, that millions of people are deprived of basic needs in life like food, clean drinking water, shelter, intravenous drugs to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS, bed nets to prevent malaria, and an education. As he says, it's not about charity, it's about justice!! -- Howard Cutter My favorite Bono moment is from Dec 12, 1997; the last North American Popmart concert stop in Seattle, WA at the Kingdome. During "If You Wear That Velvet Dress," Bono pulled up what appeared to be a lady with long auburn-brown hair wearing a long blue cocktail dress. She soon starts dancing aggressively with him, grabbing his butt. At the conclusion of the dance, Bono pulls off the lady's wig to reveal it was one of the U2 roadies dressed in drag, with Bono exclaiming, "Roadcrew - Can't live with them, Can't live without 'em!" -- Lauren Thousands to choose from ... but, I think what brought U2 to true prominence as a great rock band was the concert at Red Rocks. My favorite moment from that is when Bono says, "This is not a rebel song, this is 'Sunday Bloody Sunday.'" Classic Bono, classic moment. -- Jeff Young My favorite Bono moment is when at Live Aid he danced with that girl during "Bad." -- Sean I was at the Boston Elevation show and Bono grabs my arm and pulls me toward the stage, and we pull each other back and forth. What makes it even better is that it made the Live DVD from Boston and you can see me waving my arm towards Bono, than showing him reaching for my hand and pulling me towards him. -- Andrew Panagos There's been a lot of favorite Bono moments, to be honest with you. But the one that sticks out for me is during his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Speech in which he honored his fellow band members by inciting specific memories of them. Edge and his excellent hand-eye coordination, Larry and his thunderous attitude and presence and most of all, Bono and his tear-inducing memory of Adam Clayton standing as his guard and best friend during a concert and potential assassination attempt. It was a glimpse of a man who truly loves his band mates and treasures the memories he has of them. -- Lisa L It wasn't until I saw this question and looked at the online calendar that I realized my wife and I got married on Bono's birthday (six years ago). But I have a favorite memory of holding a small speaker to my wife's belly and playing "Grace" to our daughter in utero. It became my daughter's middle name. -- Jonathan Lowe It was during the ZooTV tour, Hampton, Virginia. We had "seats" next to the small stage that they would walk out on, and during "Until The End of the World," Bono grabbed my outstretched hand while singing. I had total tunnel vision - couldn't see anything but him and didn't even hear the music! When he tried to back away, I grabbed him back. I remember that our hands were so wet with sweat that we finally lost our grip. It was incredible and something I'll never forget. Whenever I hear that song, I think of the moment. -- Tracy Waddell I can't exactly pick just one moment because it is the sum of all the little things that make Bono such a great man. I have to say that some of my favorite Bono moments are the times that he has done stuff for other people when he doesn't have to. Whether it is buying a necklace for a little girl in Africa, or meeting with my friend's little boy who had been sick but is a big Bono fan. Not only did Bono meet with him, but he picked him up and gave him a big hug. They are the cutest pictures and I would have loved to have been there. I know how it feels because he has done so much for me. That is why I am really looking forward to the new tour so that we will all be able to share all our stories about Bono and U2 and all the great things they do for the world. -- Elsha Stockseth At my first U2 concert in Buffalo, 2005, Bono was introducing the song "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own". He said, "every conversation I had with my father for the last 10 years began with my father saying 'Son, when are you going to take those f**king sunglasses off?'". And then he took off his sunglasses and started singing. It was both touching and funny. Happy Birthday Bono! -- Kelly Powell My favorite Bono moment was in NYC after 9/11. I was on the floor for the second show in New York. I handed Bono a bouquet of irises and I will never forget when he pulled them out of my hand. He said later that "City of Blinding Lights" was inspired by those concerts in New York and I wonder if the "purple irises the cameras can't see" were my flowers! -- Gwen McGill My fave moment was during the Elevation Tour- It was Bono's 41st birthday at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. During "Mysterious Ways," Bono invites a couple dozen or more girls on stage who dance around the circle with him while he sings "It's my birthday...." - and then the kicker was when he says "I feel like Hugh Hefner." Too funny ! -- Sherry Underdown Among many, many others, there is this one anecdote in U2 by U2 that really touched me since I've experienced the same kind of situation. Bono is talking about his dad: "…This is it! This is the moment! Finally he's going to tell me something! This is a moment I've waited for all my life. My father was going to tell me he loved me...” (p.161). I pretended I was tired to justify my teary eyes. -- Grace My favorite Bono moment was in my first concert, during the Vertigo Tour in Boston. The band closed out with "Fast Cars," which, obviously, they hadn't practiced. Bono completely messed up the song, and had to keep asking Edge what line was next. He used his "dancing" to help distract the audience. As they were leaving the stage, Bono said "Good night, Boston! Who's gonna leave you out on a song you've never heard before?" :) -- Dan Sobchuk How can I pick just one moment out of 20+ years of moments? If I'm really only going to choose one moment, it would be when he plunges the imaginary needle into his arm during "Running to Stand Still" on the ZooTV DVD. I'd been a casual fan for years, bought all the albums from Joshua Tree on, watched the videos on MTV, but never saw them live or followed them too closely. When I saw the ZooTV DVD, I didn't quite know what to make of the Fly or MacPhisto, but there was something about the intensity of "Running to Stand Still" that grabbed me, made me sense there was much more to Bono -- more depth, passion, and expressive power -- than I'd ever realized. I remember sitting on my living room floor with my mouth open and just thinking, WOW. In that moment I became a completely obsessed fan and the rest, as they say, is history! -- Cathy My favorite Bono moment is the moment when the band played the Super Bowl and during the performance he opened up his jacket to reveal an American flag lining. To me it meant how much Bono loves the USA and how much he supports this country, especially when this Super Bowl came after 9/11. It had a lot of meaning. After this moment, I have considered Bono to be an honorary citizen of the US. As a longtime U2 fan, it made me proud! -- Debbie Clark This is really, really an unfair question since there are so many moments, instants even, when Bono has floored me. He is such a flamboyant and passionate singer/performer and an absolute joy to listen to in his interviews. I love reading Bono In Conversation over and over because I so enjoy his brilliant mind & sparkling humor, not to mention his love for his family, friends and interests. -- Mariel As much as I love the humanitarian that Bono is, and as much as I love the fact that he has brought that out in me, my favorite Bono moments are when he's with Larry, Adam and The Edge. On stage when the crowd is going crazy for U2 and the four of them exchange smiles... that's the best, and the best seconds to capture on film. It's the smile that shows the unity of the four of them and the fact they know how the other feels and what they are thinking. So yeah, my favorite Bono moment is when he is 100% in the moment of being U2. Happy Birthday Bono! -- Julie Knudsen
(c) @U2/individual contributors above, 2009.
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I wish I could say that I've met him, but I haven't. I've come very close at least three times. The closest I have been was three feet in front of him during a meet-and-greet right outside the San Diego arena after the opener of the Vertigo tour, at 1:30 in the morning. 
