Honorary Knighthood for Bono

Bono will receive an honorary knighthood. The British Ambassador to Ireland, Mr David Reddaway, announced the news on Saturday.

He will receive the honour, Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order, for “his services to the music industry and for his humanitarian work.” The ceremony will take place in Dublin shortly after New Year’s Day. Bono will not be adding his name to the long list of people who have declined a British honour, like David Bowie, Francis Bacon and John Lennon, who eventually returned his MBE.

Knights and Dames Grand Cross and Knights and Dames Commander who are not not citizens of the United Kingdom or another country ruled by the Queen are not entitled to the prefix “Sir” or “Dame”, but may still use the post-nominal abbreviations: Paul Hewson, KBE.

A statement on U2.com reads:

We understand that Bono is ‘very flattered’ to be honoured, particularly if the honour – like its French counterpart – opens doors for his long standing campaigning work against extreme poverty in Africa.

The sainthood can’t be far off. Though maybe The Mrs has dibs.

Instant Karma for NYC

Instant Karma’s gonna get you
Gonna knock you off your feet

U2 knocked the audience at Madison Square Garden off its feet this evening (Nov. 21) by performing a full version of John Lennon’s “Instant Karma” with Patti Smith, who opened the show. Bono introduced the song by saying the band wanted to do “something special for New York City.”

The Lennon tune was followed by the show’s final song, “Bad,” for which Bono led the crowd to sing “People Have the Power” by Smith.