Irish rockers U2 have paid tribute to a number of New Zealanders including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the Christchurch terror attack victims and their former roadie Greg Carroll as they kicked off their Joshua Tree 2019 world tour at Mt Smart last night.
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The band first met Greg Carroll in 1984 when they performed their first concert in Auckland.
He then becomes a member of their crew, forming close bonds with the band, even being part of the on-stage crew for the band’s iconic 1985 Live Aid performance.
A year later, Carroll tragically died in a motorbike accident in Dublin. He was just 26 years old.
The band would pen the hit 'One Tree Hill' from The Joshua Tree in his honour, which they performed for the Mt Smart audience.
"We sort of adopted him, or perhaps it was the other way around,” Bono told the crowd before the performance.
"But we were very grateful for his companionship over those precious times together. He was taken from us too soon, but in a certain way, he’s still very present. So this is for Greg Carroll."
U2 also paid tribute to a number of female leaders including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and former Prime Minister Helen Clark, whose faces among others were displayed on the stage’s backdrop as the Irish rockers performed 'Ultraviolet (Light My Way)' from their 1991 Achtung Baby album.
The band then closed their concert with an emotional rendition of 'One', which they dedicated to the victims of the Christchurch attack, displaying each of the victims' names on the stage screens.
Newshub.
