- Music
- 16 May 17
As U2 begin their worldwide tour celebrating the 30th Anniversary of their Joshua Tree album, Hot Press' Olaf Tyaransen had a chance to grill the band members as part of a round-table interview. Here, Bono talks about Brexit, the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and their opinions on President Trump.
The Joshua Tree Tour was into its third day, when Irish journalists got the opportunity to pick the brains of the world's biggest rock band. Noting that their set includes two songs relating to the Northern Irish troubles, 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and 'Where The Streets Have No Name', the band were asked whether they thought a hard Brexit would lead to renewed conflict.
"That'd be a great laugh wouldn't it?" Bono replied. "Ah the good old days, they were great weren't they? All the shooting and rioting. They were great, brilliant craic – you'd miss it!"
He was, of course, being funny. The U2 frontman went on to suggest that, while borders may placate xenophobic types, they do not provide long-term solutions to the big global problems.
"It is mad, the border thing," he said, "because borders are impossible to deal with. You've seen what a country the size of Syria has done to Europe - the shape of Europe - so now imagine a country the size of Egypt, what that would do? Or a country the size of Nigeria, were it to implode, which is the stated objective of Boko Haram? So, Europe as we know it then becomes what? Fortress Europe? Can you really build walls that high?
"We've shown that people will strap themselves to tin cans, to pieces of wood – so I think the whole concept of the border will be have to looked at again."
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And he finished his reflections on the theme with one of those great Bono aphorisms.
"I don't think there's a drawbridge big enough to block the future," he said.
He might just be right.