The sight is unsual.Then they become a bit more solemn and try to explain what they are doing still touring round the world for 35 years almost non-stop, they try to convince their interlocutors that their real commitment is with human beings freedom here, there ,and everywhere and they anticipate that the Madres de Plaza de Mayo will be on stage with them again in the three concerts they will start tomorrow at Estadio Unico in La Plata.
"We want you to see them as human beings," Frances, U2 New Zealander publicist joked. In that way she tried to explain the informal meeting, the first one of this kind the band has in South America and the third one in their world tour. "This is not a press conference, the idea is that you can chat with them about anything you want, with the four of them together_which is not very common_ and can understand the chemistry among them when they talk about an album or show in particular."
So there they are, the four members of U2, sitting at the table, ready to have lunch with us.
-Why did you choose to make such a megalomaniac show these days ?
Bono: - Well, it was a long time ago, we were having lunch like today, chatting, and we took some forks and we started to build a structure in the air (he makes a claw with the fork). Being a rock star is dangerous because if you ask somebody to do something for you, even if it looks impossible, he does it...
Edge: - I think the answer to your question is that we’ve been planning it for a long time. When we think about a show like this, it’s not just a few days and then in six months you’re on the road. When we started to plan it, the world was different. We are often asked about the ecological impact of building such a stage and we do have it into account. However people never ask the same question for other kind of events, like the Olympic Games or the World Cup. There are no talks of neutral carbon footprint in that kind of event. We feel that rock and roll is very responsible in that sense.
-What does it feel like to play inside such a huge structure?
Edge: It was a challenge at the beginning, but little by little we realised that it has another dynamic and it’s very comfortable to play in. It was a great moment for us.
Bono: -Every stadium show I’ve seen in my life has the same structure (now he tries to make a conventional stage with pieces of brown bread).And it’s really a pity. It’s good to blow that structure up and start all over again. In fact, if you see the first Beatles shows, in the Shea Stadium, for example, they didn’t have anything around them and it creates certain psychological feeling when you see the four of them standing on stage. In this tour, after some time the show started, the scale disappears and the only thing you see is a small stage in the middle of a stadium like the Beatles or Stones original rock and roll shows
McGuinness: - The only difference is that nobody here has seen the Beatles,(he laughs).
-Did you see The Beatles?
-Yes, in the south of England, in Portsmouth, in 1964. I didn’t hear anything, just screaming. The truth is that I didn’t recognise any song because of the shouting.
From The Beatles to La Plata, with just a bite from the kebabs they were eating, the band was appalled to know the lines of fans already camping around the Estadio Unico to see their concert. "we should send them some pizzas, "Bono suggests and Edge believes that "all those things are the ones that makes us step on the stage every night feeling a huge responsibility."
-Do you like people talking about how incredible and impressive your show is even much more than what they say about the music?
Bono: -I don’t know how this will sound but people talk more about the value of money and art at the same time as a contradiction and it’s not. People pay their tickets, which are expensive, after working or studying a lot and there’s a responsibility in this that we take. When we got into punk rock in the 70´s, we saw The Clash and everything changed. At that time, that movement that was just starting, was against progressive rock , where the musicians were on top and they gave the audience a shit. Rock stars shouldn’t be ordinary people and their mood was the most important thing. If they were in a good mood , they made a good show, if they were in a bad day, they didn’t care. There was no real connection. It was never like that for us.
- How do you feel now as regards your mental and physical energy after all those years on the road?
Edge: -It`s surely different, but we try to use it in our benefit. When you are into all this, and I love the place I am, but it is true that there’s something of the rock and roll energy that squeezes you.
Bono: -I saw The Who recently and it was very interesting because I could see the physical event Pete Townshend produces when he plays the guitar, which of course, is very violent, it`s as if he made sounds of a very violent nature and at the same time he had an extraordinarily powerful weapon in his hands. But I was so close that i could see how he moved in more fluid way. Something I would have never thought before. It was dancing. And it was incredible to realise that the level of energy does not come from his body but form the music and the kind of music you make and how it sounds. When you leave the stage, you may think in another thing, as when we were 20 but there is nothing like it. You go home or to a hotel and there it is. We call it people’s ghost, it’s what leaves you empty after the show., but the following night you are full of energy again. It`s amazing.
Bono closed his concept, took another gulp of beer and for the first time he took off his shades and we can see his blue eyes. He said that this concert is more beautiful if you see it from far, "it’s really a psychedelic trip, I think people should take mushrooms before the show." The guy is a 24-hour comedian and everybody enjoys his show, here in the informal lunch n a Palermo restaurant too.
