irish poet

U2 win ‘2005 Ambassadors of Conscience’ award

U2 and their manager Paul McGuinness have been named ‘2005 Ambassadors of Conscience’, an Amnesty International Award.

Art for Amnesty spokesperson Bill Shipsey said that ‘for their art and music alone U2 would be worthy recipients of Amnesty’s most prestigious human rights Award’. The Irish poet Seamus Heaney, whose work inspired the award, commented ‘U2 have sung themselves to where great singing comes from, that place where art and ardency meet in the light of conscience.’

The band were lauded for their promotion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights during the shows on their current Vertigo World Tour.

Amnesty International Secretary Irene Khan said: ‘From Live Aid in 1985 and Amnesty International’s 1986 ‘Conspiracy of Hope’ tour, through to Live 8 this past July, U2 has arguably done more than any other band to highlight the cause of global human rights in general and Amnesty International’s work in particular. Their leadership in linking music to the struggle for human rights and human dignity worldwide has been ground-breaking and unwavering. They have inspired and empowered millions with their music and by speaking out on behalf of the poor, the powerless and the oppressed.”

Amnesty International’s “Ambassador of Conscience” Award recognises exceptional individual leadership and witness in the fight to protect and promote human rights. Past winners include Vaclav Havel and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson.

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(via U2 Sweden. More at U2.com)

U2 at Croke Park: ‘What’s Irish for 14, Larry?’

Bono is serious. For their second performance of ‘Vertigo’ of the night, he walks over to the drum kit to ask Larry Mullen how to say 14 ‘as Gaeilge’.

Misunderstanding, Larry shouts: ‘A h-aon’! (‘one’) Bono asks again and this time the drummer gets it right: ‘Ceathar déag’. Three times he tells Bono how to say it.

‘A h-aon, a dhà, a trì, a ceatharmmmmmfrgh!’

Close enough. With an apology to the venue’s local neighbours because the show ran 10 minutes past the 11pm curfew, the band tear up the song something wicked. (They might as well skip the first time they play it at the start of the show.) The place is alight, and all around us kids’ faces are in ecstasy. Croke Park sings along as they have done all night.

The European leg of the Vertigo Tour has officially got lift off. While the first two shows in Brussels and Gelsenkirchen left us a little indifferent and having missed the reportedly better gigs in the U.K., Croke Park I has it all. Drive, energy, emotion and fun – this time the boys were truly back in town.

There were, as expected, few real surprises in the setlist (Wild Horses, With or Without You, I Will Follow), but the passion, the Irish banter (Bono mentioned the Irish poet John Keats when he noticed a banner in the audience that said ‘see you in Rome’) and various ‘new’ snippets like Thin Lizzy’s ‘Jailbreak’ and an improvisational ‘Northside in the Rain’ well made up for that. Talking about the rain… Bono sang some lines of it, twice during the show.

‘Oh, you look so beautiful tonight,’ Bono told the Croke Park audience. Absolutely gorgeous, yes.