In a move that will be surprising to basically no one, Bono and the Edge performed a surprise concert at a subway shelter-turned-bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine today at the request of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Bono is no stranger to a grand political statement, so this makes plenty of sense. The pair took to the official U2 Twitter account to explain the performance, writing: "President @ZelenskyyUa invited us to perform in Kyiv as a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and so that's what we've come to do."
As reported by The Irish Times, Bono and the Edge played a handful of U2 songs including "With or Without You," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Angel of Harlem," and "Desire." They also performed a rendition of Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" — replacing the titular "me" with "Ukraine," in a move that couldn't be more Bono if it was developed in a lab — with Taras Topolya, a Ukrainian soldier who's also a member of the band Antytila.
"The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom," Bono said during the performance. "You are fighting for all of us who love freedom."
Watch some videos of the performance, plus the duo's tweet, below.
Bono is no stranger to a grand political statement, so this makes plenty of sense. The pair took to the official U2 Twitter account to explain the performance, writing: "President @ZelenskyyUa invited us to perform in Kyiv as a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and so that's what we've come to do."
As reported by The Irish Times, Bono and the Edge played a handful of U2 songs including "With or Without You," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Angel of Harlem," and "Desire." They also performed a rendition of Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" — replacing the titular "me" with "Ukraine," in a move that couldn't be more Bono if it was developed in a lab — with Taras Topolya, a Ukrainian soldier who's also a member of the band Antytila.
"The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom," Bono said during the performance. "You are fighting for all of us who love freedom."
Watch some videos of the performance, plus the duo's tweet, below.
