Watch Bono and The Edge perform U2 gig in Kyiv bomb shelter

Virgin Radio

9 May 2022, 13:22

U2 band members Bono and the Edge have shown their support for the people of Ukraine with a performance in a bomb shelter in Kyiv.

In a post from the band’s official social media, they revealed the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky invited the Irish rock singer to play for the people of his country.

The duo performed to a small crowd at Khreshchatyk metro station for 40 minutes as a way to show their “solidarity” with the country, which is being invaded by Russia.

They wrote: “President @ZelenskyyUa invited us to perform in Kyiv as a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and so that’s what we’ve come to do. -- Bono and The Edge #StandWithUkraine.”

Members of Ukraine’s armed forces wearing their uniforms and fans of the band were among the 100 people watching Bono and the Edge as they played some of their biggest songs, including an acoustic version of the 1987 hit With Or Without You.

They also played a touching rendition of the Ben E King song Stand By Me with Ukrainian singer turned soldier, Taras Toplia, and they substituted the word “me” for “Ukraine” in the song.

Bono also had some words of support for the people in the audience in between songs.

At one point, he said: “The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you are fighting for all of us who love freedom.”

Speaking to Sky News about the gig, Bono said the invasion of Ukraine was “one man’s war” since it began on 24 February.

He added: “I think that the people in Russia…younger people know what’s going on. I trust the younger people in Russia to throw this man out of his office that is so high and is so low, right now.”

Most underground stations in the capital have been transformed into bomb shelters during the invasion, however Russia withdrew its forces from in March to concentrate on the east of the country after failing to take the city.

U2 are the latest in long list of musicians to show their solidarity with the country. Last month John Lennon’s son Julian performed a rendition of Imagine for the first time for Ukraine, and Pink Floyd released a brand new single in aid of the country.