U2 frontman Bono (Paul David Hewson) has been at it again with the charity, helping to raise money for Simon Community, an organisation that works with homeless people. The Irish singer-songwriter did a rendition of U2’s song “Running to Stand Still“, which comes from their classic 1987 album The Joshua Tree.
The event was live-streamed from St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin last Friday (on Christmas Eve) and also saw a host of other well-known names helping out, such as Shane MacGowan of The Pogues (who’s recently announced the release of a new book showcasing his art from the last 60 years, more of which you can read about here). Other performers included The Frames’ Glen Hansard, folk-rock musician Damien Rice, and singer-songwriter Lisa O’Neill.
The live-streamed event was in lieu of the more traditional Grafton Street performance in Dublin, a “Christmas institution“ that has gone on for the last 10 years in order to raise money for homeless people, featuring a number of busking performances from well-known names in the music industry. However, due to the ongoing pandemic, this year and the last could not be performed on the street. Then again, it seems to have worked well so far, with last year’s Late Late Show special raking in €1.5 million.
Of course, with a man like Bono, this isn’t the only reason he’s been in the news recently. The other week he was involved in a charity auction organised by fellow U2 member The Edge (David Evans) where he donated a guitar to be sold in aid of musicians in the Gulf South, suffering from the after-effects of Hurricane Ida and the Covid-19 pandemic (more of which you can read about here).
Also, he’s been in a new film recently with Scarlett Johansson called Sing 2; a computer-animated family film about a load of animals voiced by famous people. Bono plays the character of Clay Calloway – a lion who also happens to be a rock star. Of course, Bono helped out with the soundtrack as well, giving us a new U2 song: “Your Song Saved My Life“. Also, Johansson and Bono did a new cover of U2’s classic “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For“. See what you think of the new recordings below.
The annual charity ‘busking’ event may have occurred last Friday, but donations are still open throughout the rest of the holidays, so if you fancy giving something to help out then you can look here.
