Londoners attending the Mencap's Little Noise Sessions charity gig at Union Chapel knew something was afoot when the room started buzzing about the "special guests" opening the night, and Jo Whiley's intro must've sent 'em through the roof. According to NME she prepped the crowd for "a new band with a lot of potential...Dave the guitarist is very nervous...If he makes a mistake forgive him, he's new. The singer is very shy." With that Dave "The Edge" Evans and shy guy Bono made their way out for a rare and stripped four song set being for the benefit of the few in the pews of Union Chapel, and of course for anyone down with a little shoddy, fan-captured YouTube.
According to Rolling Stone, the band's chipping away at their next LP these days, due sometime in '08, reuniting the Joshua Tree team of U2 + Brian Eno + Daniel Lanois (making Eno and Lanois full writing partners for the first time). A vestige of that collaborative mojo made its way into Friday's secret set with a Joshua outtake, the Facebook-premiered "Wave Of Sorrow," Bono saying "So about 20 years ago we started a tune on The Joshua Tree and yesterday we just finished it. This song is based on the experiences that my lovely wife Ali had in Ethiopia. This (song) has never been played before. Just don't tell Larry (Mullen) and Adam (Clayton) we're doing it...Oh Adam's here! This is for you sir." Bono takes it there at 2:50.
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The other tunes Bono and Dave gave the crowd were opener "Stay (Faraway, So Close)," "Angel Of Harlem" ("This is our only Christmas song ... Merry Christmas Yoko"), and the below embed, a "Need You Tonight" by INXS-teasing "Desire."
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Lucky crowd. But of course the night's big winners were headliners Biffy Clyro, who are now the youngest band on earth to be able to pull out that old chestnut about "that time U2 were our warm-up act."
