Bono #7

This was very early in my photography career –  I was sent to Ireland to shoot U2 for Smash Hits just before Christmas, 1982, during The Troubles. Went to Keith Johnson Photographic to pick up supplies, and while I was there someone broke into my car and stole my portable studio lights. Had to go back to KJP and rent a set of lights and then drive to Heathrow.

This was right before New Year’s Day was released. We went to Belfast, where U2 were playing at the Mayfield Leisure Centre. They weren’t that big in England or the rest of the world yet, but they were already huge in Ireland. The gig was in a gym that must have had at least 2x as many people as it was licensed to hold. It was PACKED. People were hanging off EVERYTHING. So many people were smoking, there was brown sticky goo dripping off the ceiling. Nicotine!

This was to be the first time the band had played Sunday Bloody Sunday in Belfast, so Bono asked the audience if that was OK, and promised that if they didn't want to hear it, they would never play that song in Belfast. The crowd went wild, and during the song Bono climbed up and grabbed the peace flag that the band was flying.

The next day we drove with the band, in a minivan, back to Dublin. Sometime in the late afternoon, in the middle of the countryside, I saw a barn and asked to stop. We did an impromptu photo session in the golden light. And the next day, we did a “studio” session, with the rented lights, at the band’s house in Dublin.