We hate U2 so much, Croker is sold out
SO there you have it, we the Irish hate U2. It has to be true. Sure the Guardian printed an article detailing our begrudging attitude towards the biggest rock band in the world, who just happen to be from here.
The British newspaper took to ‘authentically Irish’ Grogan’s pub on Dublin’s South William Street to gauge the feelings of a few of Bono’s fellow Irishmen, and their answers were typically Irish. ‘I don’t really like him. Maybe it’s because he’s a bit sanctimonious. It might be the glasses as well. He never takes off those glasses,’ said one Karl Downey. Another punter called Karl Devereux added, ‘We don’t like them because they did well. They’re not the Dubliners, the Pogues, even the Cranberries – they all weren’t that big. But U2 did very well.’
And there you have it hook, line and sinker. The English have done it again. They have managed to pigeon hole an entire nation into a small sample of people drinking in a pub just off Grafton Street.
What sort of wally thought it would be a good idea to compile a small vox pop in a bar and turn it into a survey of modern Ireland is beyond me.
We don’t know how much this people had to drink before they were asked the most pressing of questions. Even the title of the article was pointless: ‘Where the streets have no statues: Why the Irish Hate U2.’
THE author mused: ‘Walk around the musicians’ home city of Dublin and you’ll barely see an image of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. There’s no major mural solely dedicated to the group. You might, though, catch some graffiti scrawled on concrete walls and darkened doorways, opining in classically Irish slang that, “Bono is a Pox”.’
I have to admit I don’t know of anyone who uses that slang word or have ever seen it painted on a wall. Perhaps if the author went to a couple of other pubs around Dublin he would have seen Bono’s image appear around the place. Or even visited the Italian quarter where Bono’s image is painted along in a bastardised mural of the last supper. There is no statue yet for U2 —we don’t have one for Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell and Liam Neeson but we don’t hate them either.
I have to admit I was really angered by this article, which can be described at best as sloppy click bait. It was a lazy cheap shot at the rockers who have made a decision to stay and raise their families in Ireland. If they were so hated, could they have sold out three Croke Park shows and 240,000 tickets, like they did for their 360 tour?
Or how do you explain the frenzy that is currently under way over tickets for next week’s Croke Park date? Take the band’s new release, which is a 30-year celebration of the Joshua Tree.
Alongside the 11-track album, the super deluxe collector’s edition includes a live recording of The Joshua Tree Tour 1987 Madison Square Garden concert; rarities and B-sides from the original recordings, 2017 remixes from Daniel Lanois, St Francis Hotel, Jacknife Lee, Steve Lillywhite and Flood; plus an 84-page hardback book of unseen personal photography shot by The Edge during the original Mojave Desert photo session in 1986.
It is beautiful in size and composition and is flying out the shelves of shops. Would this happen if the band were hated?
I don’t for a second doubt that some people find Bono’s sermonising unpalatable. I am sure some people hate him. But by taking a vox pop of a few punters in Grogan’s and deciding that we, as a nation, hate U2 is just utter rubbish.
I think there is something wonderfully Irish about our approach to celebrities where we feel better about ourselves by leaving them alone. We don’t hound them walking up the streets or when they are out and about with their families (Beyonce and Jay Z at Dublin Zoo can attest to that). In fact, the only real place they are bound to get any grief is in bars where people are full of Dutch courage.
According to the Guardian, ‘To huge sections of the Irish population, Bono is about as welcome as cold sores and spam email.’ This sort of article is as welcome as 800 years of oppression, pork pies or Alastair Campbell.