TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
U2's Bono puts on 'freedom' show in Kyiv metro
From the platform of a Kyiv metro station, the 61-year-old rock icon belted out U2 classics "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Desire" and "With or without you".
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Bono (Paul David Hewson), Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and the lead vocalist of the rock band U2, Antytila (C), a Ukrainian musical band leader and now the serviceman in the Ukrainian Army Taras Topolia, and guitarist David Howell Evans aka 'The Edge' perform at subway station which is bomb shelter, in the center of Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on May 8, 2022. (AFP/Sergei Supinsky)
I
rish rock star Bono praised Ukraine's fight for "freedom" during a performance in a metro station in downtown Kyiv Sunday, where the U2 frontman also issued his own prayer "for peace".
From the platform of a Kyiv metro station, the 61-year-old rock icon belted out U2 classics "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Desire" and "With or without you".
"The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you are fighting for all of us who love freedom," said Bono during a break.
The singer also referenced the past conflicts in the band's native Ireland and the troubles it had with a more powerful neighbour.
"We pray that you will enjoy some of that peace soon," said Bono.
In the epicenter of global history. Bono from @U2 on the metro station in Kyiv singing for Ukraine. Such a historical moments to show solidarity and pay global attention on putin’s invasion. Please repost and stand with Ukraine by pushing your govts to help us with weapons/money pic.twitter.com/j5aKrkPS60
— Serhiy Leshchenko (@Leshchenkos) May 8, 2022
The surprise appearance by Bono -- a long time humanitarian who frequently lends his voice to a variety of causes including the fight against poverty and AIDS -- came as air raid sirens echoed in the Ukrainian capital and fighting raged in the country's east.
At one point, Bono invited a Ukrainian soldier to sing along who called on the world's support for the embattled country as they covered "Stand by me".
Bono performed alongside U2's guitarist 'The Edge' to a small crowd of fans including fatigue-clad members of Ukraine's armed forces.
"It's some good emotions, that's all," said a member of the Ukrainian territorial forces in the audience.
"It's a strange feeling, like being a child going to first grade," said 36-year-old university lecturer, Olesia Bezsmertna, ahead of the show.
