Although they had been around since the release of Boy back in 1980, U2 didn’t start to earn the massive global recognition it enjoys today until the mid 80s. Most rock historians agree that the moment which effectively introduced them to the world was their 20-minute-long performance as part of the storied musical event known as Live Aid, 1985. This 16-hour concert featured over 70 acts performing in two different cities and was staged as a fundraiser for famine relief in Africa. U2 was the 15th act to perform on the Wembley Stadium stage, singing two tunes: “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” and “Bad.”
It was their earnest and impassioned performance of “Bad” that is especially remembered today. Part way through the song, Bono began beckoning to a young woman in the crowd, gesturing for her to be brough up on stage; when this failed, he unexpectedly jumped down into the crowd and found his way to the woman in question. Then, while she kept her face buried against his chest, he slow-danced with her for 30 seconds or more, before returning her to the crowd with a kiss and climbing back onto the stage to finish the song.
It is one of the most iconic and quintessential scenes from the annals of U2 lore. Bono, the guileless and passionate frontman, throwing convention to the wind to connect with his audience, while The Edge keeps the chiming notes of his echoing guitar sounding out over the crowd. It would later be revealed that the woman in question was being crushed by the crowds pushing forwards, and Bono had jumped down to help her.
As Wikipedia puts it, though, “The [performance] turned out to be a breakthrough moment for the band, showing a television audience of millions the personal connection Bono could make with audiences.”
This desire to connect with the people they are performing for has always been a part of U2’s ethos, and, arguably, their appeal to their fans. In his biography of the band, Unforgettable Fire, Eamon Dumphy talks about this aspect of their live shows in the earliest iterations of the band. Even as a teen, Bono was a highly sensitive soul, and tended to launch into rambling monologues during performances, intent on connecting, not just musically, but emotionally with his audience.
A yearning for connection shows up in their songwriting as well, with lyrics that explore both the emotional landscapes of the human heart and the political landscapes of the modern world, trying sincerely to map each onto the other. "Bullet the Blue Sky"—a song ostensibly about America, but also about the thumbprint the idea of America has left on the human heart—or "Zooropa"—a song about the political upheaval of 1990s Europe, but also about the mark that upheaval has left on the modern soul—are both great examples of this (as are: "Mothers of the Disappeared," "Silver and Gold," "Pride (In the Name of Love)," and "New Years Day").
Of course, U2 is hardly the first band ever to believe that their music could do more than simply entertain or excite, that it could also, in fact, illuminate and unite. But they are probably one of the biggest bands ever to have emphasized this aspect of their art. And they got as big as they are, arguably, because of their conviction that music could connect human hearts in this way, that a song was more than just a song, it was an emotional bond between performer and audience.
Their music, and the storied career they have enjoyed performing it, is a testimony, I think, to this particular power that music possesses, and as a Christian pastor, it makes me wonder if it’s why, even though the group has been so ambivalent about their faith, still their music feels so Christian, even when they’re ”only” singing about streets with no name or Billie Holiday, the Angel of Harlem.
I say this because music-making has always been a central aspect of Christian community, one of the ways the community forms itself and expresses its collective life before God. From the New Testament witness, it seems that this goes back to the earliest days of the church. In 1 Corinthians 14:26, Paul talks about believers coming to the community’s meeting with a song to share; and from the sounds of Ephesians 5:19, the earliest believers used songs, hymns and spiritual songs as a way of communicating to one another about their love of and devotion to the Lord.
A good deal of contemporary Christian worship music places the emphasis almost entirely on the individual, with the focus almost exclusively on the way music helps the singer connect with God; but a deep dive into the Psalms will show that the Scripture is fully aware of music’s ability to connect us one to another as well. This goes beyond the framework of the traditional rock concert, of course: part of the community-forming power of music comes, not from it being performed and consumed, but from what happens when we make it together. Even so, if we wanted something to inspire us to reclaim the connection-forming power of music, and maybe imagine ways it could happen, we could do worse than to look at how the best of U2’s music forms deep bonds of connection between the band and their audience.
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