U2 recently received an invitation to Ukraine from the country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky. With that, Bono and The Edge from the band decided to take Zelensky up on his offer and visit the country. During their trip there, Bono and The Edge took over a subway station-turned-bomb-shelter to hold an acoustic concert for nearby citizens. “The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you are fighting for all of us who love freedom,” Bono told the audience, which included soldiers, according to Rolling Stone. “We pray that you will enjoy some of that peace soon.”
The Irish Times reports that the duo played songs that included “With or Without You,” “Desire,” “Angel of Harlem,” and “Vertigo.” Bono and The Edge also covered Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” which replaced the word “Me” with “Ukraine.” U2’s set also featured appearances by Ukrainian musicians that were pushed into military duty after Russia invaded the country. One of them included singer Taras Topolya from the Ukrainian band Antytila.
Bono and The Edge’s performance comes after they appeared in Global Citizen’s “Stand Up For Ukraine” livestream where they performed a rendition of “Walk On” which addressed the invasion.
You can check out videos from Bono and The Edge’s performance in Ukraine in the videos above.