During a U2 concert, Bono pays tribute to those who died at the Israel Music Festival and modifies the lyrics to “Pride”
U2’s Bono paid a moving homage to the hundreds of young Israelis who sadly perished on Saturday during a desert event in Israel that was targeted by Hamas militants on Sunday night. In their song “Pride,” which they performed at the Las Vegas Sphere, Bono paid tribute to “those beautiful kids at that music festival.” He spoke and sung about the numerous people who had died, disappeared, or been kidnapped while attending the Supernova music festival close to Re’im.
In his opening remarks before starting “Pride (In the Name of Love),” Bono said, “In light of what’s happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence. Sing at the music festival with us and those adorable youngsters.
As Bono added additional lines to the 1984 song, paying homage to Martin Luther King, the crowd started singing the opening chords:
He sang, “Early morning, 7th of October, the sun is rising in the desert sky.” “Stars of David, they took your life, but they could not take your pride.” Before leading the band into the stirring chorus, he spoke the phrase “Could not take your pride” three times.
Notably, U2’s last concert in Israel took place at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park in 1997, despite receiving a request to play there a decade later.
This is not just an American dream, Bono sang in 2009 during a concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, emphasizing that it is “also an Irish dream, a European dream, an African dream… an Israeli dream… and also a Palestinian dream” in the modified lyrics to “Pride.”
The current heartfelt homage, however, came after a horrific assault by Hamas on music lovers at the Supernova festival, which was held in the southern Israeli desert and coincided with the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Witnesses said that multiple terrorists invaded the festival grounds and launched rocket strikes, followed by close-range gunfire and sniper bullets. Over 260 dead had been removed from the event scene as of Monday morning, and many people were still missing. The performance, which was three kilometers from the Gaza Strip border, drew around 3,500 attendees.
