Last night I was fortunate to watch U2 perform at Madison Square Garden. The last time I heard this band play live, it was outdoors on a pier on Manhattan’s west side, in the summer of 1982 or 1983. At that time, AIDS was just starting, and most of the then-young group’s inspiring songs drew on tensions in Ireland.
In the encore last night, on July 30 2015, Bono spoke about his ONE foundations, and how his and other agencies around the world are fighting poverty and disease. He focused on AIDS, and reminded the audience that now, taking 2 pills through pregnancy can enable a woman with HIV to give birth to a child who is disease free.
And then he mentioned that Paul Simon was in the audience, and he sang these words:
“No I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day…
There’s a clip on YouTube with the message and then the song, relevant to yesterday's discussion of hope.
It was a lovely rendition of Simon's song on motherhood, adopted to convey what medicine and the future might bring. Bono invited Paul Simon on stage, segued though a “Let it Be” reference, and ramped into “Where the Streets Have No Name.”
