recipient

The Edge to present Peter Gabriel with Ambassador of Conscience Award

Peter Gabriel is the recipient of the Amnesty International ‘Ambassador of Conscience Award’ 2008, Art for Amnesty has announced. The award will be presented to him by The Edge at a the Hard Rock Cafe in London, on September 10th, 2008.

The Ambassador of Conscience Award recognises exceptional individual leadership and witness in the fight to protect and promote human rights. In 2005, U2 and Paul McGuinness were the recipients of the award.

It’s a fun packed week for Edge as the Davis Guggenheim documentary ‘It Might Get Loud‘ in which he’s featured alongside Jimmy Page and Jack White will officially premiere at the Toronto Film festival this Friday, September 5th.

NYC 4: “We’ll shine like stars…”

Welcome to moodswing central. Fans attending multiple shows in New York got to see plenty of different sides to U2’s lead singer.

From run-of-the-mill Bono on the 7th, to pissed off Bono on the 8th, to distracted and going-through-the-motions Bono on the 10th and absolutely determined to kick ass Bono on the 11th. We can’t possibly predict which of the ‘nice bunch of guys’ exactly will be fronting U2 on the 14th. You let us know.

Maybe it wasn’t The Edge’s smoothest show of the tour, but this time Bono didn’t snark. (His ‘I really enjoyed that, The Edge.’ earlier in the week came out a little cutting.) The man was too busy enjoying himself on stage. All smiles, all fun and happy banter.

During Sunday Bloody Sunday, he picked a little girl off the shoulders of her father in front row, and made her sing ‘no more’. Later, he gave her his COEXIST bandana as a memento. At another point during the show, a German fan was the lucky recipient of Bono’s pricey specs.

But the moment we were sure this was a special one came when Bono finally pulled out the fan-favourite ‘shine like stars in the summer night’-verse of With or without you, for the first time since God knows when. Trainspotters world wide wet themselves for sheer ecstasy.

The chorus of ’40’ echoed through the ‘Gardens’ (as Bono kept calling the MSG) for the longest time. Then the lights came on and for your U2log.com editor-in-chief at least, it was the end of Vertigo 2005. Thank you, Madison Square Garden, thank you, New York.