On Sunday, May 29, 2016, U2’s Bono joined Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for a rousing rendition of “Because the Night.” The duet occurred while Springsteen and the E Street Band were in Dublin for part of The River Tour at the city’s Croke Park.
“Because the Night,” which was written by Springsteen and Patti Smith, first appeared on the Patti Smith Group album Easterand was released as a single in 1978. Springsteen earlier began working on the song for his album Darkness on the Edge of Town, although his recordings of the song would not appear on official albums until the 1986 box set Live/1975–85 and the compilation CD The Promise (2010).
The recent Dublin performance by Springsteen and Bono is not the first time the two men have performed the song in public together. In 2003, they sang “Because the Night” at a Springsteen show in Miami, and then they teamed up again on the song during U2’s portion at the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 2009. What song would you like to hear Bono and Springsteen sing together? Leave your two cents in the comments.
With Bono recovering from a bicycle accident, Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay’s Chris Martin filled in for the U2 lead singer at a performance for World AIDS Day on December 1. The performance, in Times Square in New York City, included Springsteen singing “Where the Streets Have No Name” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”
Coldplay is often compared to U2 for various reasons, so another natural choice for a Bono fill-in was Chris Martin. Check out Martin sang “Beautiful Day” and “With or Without You.” [Update: Unfortunately, videos of these performances are no longer available as of 2024.]
Nobody can match Bono on these songs, but Springsteen and Martin do a great job, with Springsteen adding a rough edge while Martin most closely matches Bono’s voice. We wish Bono a quick recovery and are thankful that these superstars filled in for a good cause.
Mumford & Sons recently collaborated with Elvis Costello to record Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad.” They made the recording for Bono’s One campaign to get world leaders to focus on poverty issues as the leader meet in Northern Ireland at the G8 summit.
In this video, Elvis Costello and Mumford & Sons talk about the song before playing it. Check it out.
The new recording of “The Ghost of Tom Joad” is part of a collection of protest songs that you can listen to for free and learn more about on the One website, including songs by Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, The Cranberries, and may others. The collection is listed as “songs that changed the world.”
What do you think of the new version of “The Ghost of Tom Joad”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Bono recently joined Glen Hansard, who was taping for Sirius/XM’s The Loft at The Living Room in New York. Together, the U2 frontman and the Once film star sang “The Auld Triangle.” The 1960’s song was written by the brothers Brendan and Dominic Behan for the play The Quare Fellow.
Hansard often plays “The Auld Triangle” on his own and with his band The Frames. Several Irish music artists like The Pogues, The Dubliners, and Dropkick Murphys have played the song. Bob Dylan and the Band also played the song during their recording of “The Basement Tapes” in 1967. Here is the latest take on this Irish classic from Hansard and Bono:
“The Auld Triangle,” which has gone on to a life of its own outside the play, opened the play set in a prison the day that a prisoner is set to be executed. The triangle in the song refers to a metal triangle that was banged to wake the inmates every morning at Mountjoy Prison in Ireland: “And that auld triangle went jingle-jangle / All along the banks of the Royal Canal.”
The play The Quare Fellow, which was loosely made into a 1962 movie with Patrick McGoohan, grapples with a number of social issues, including Ireland’s use of the death penalty at the time. Ireland has since abolished capital punishment.
2014 Bonus Version Update: “The Auld Triangle” appeared in the movie Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). In the movie, the song is performed by The Punch Brothers, Marcus Mumford, and Justin Timberlake. Below is a concert inspired by the movie, featuring The Punch Brothers and Marcus Mumford.
What do you think of the Hansard-Bono duet? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Happy new year! In case you have been too busy preparing for the new year, here is a sample of recent pop culture stories you might have missed. As you might guess, many of the interesting stories look back at the best and worst of 2011.
Bob Seger recently explained his 2011 highlight was playing with Bruce Springsteen. The Los Angeles Times interviewed Woody Allen about his career playing New Orleans jazz.
