exploremusic

You’ve got to hand it to Bono.  He always knows what to say to make the locals happy.

Sunday night—the day the band arrived for its historic Moscow concert (and make no mistake; it IS historic as far as Muscovites are concerned)—U2 held a press conference at a restaurant called Kamin.  In an interview with Ren-TV, Bono said “You’re the lads who saved Europe.  And I am proud we are performing in front of such people.  I have always liked the bravery at the Russian people.”

I wonder how the Brits, the US and Canadians feel about that.

At the same press conference he quipped “We pretend that we are a great rock group, but as long as we had not played in Russia, that is not true.”

The media—and fans—ate it up.

But it wasn’t all flattery.  Bono joked about canceling today’s (Tuesday’s) meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev in Sochi on U2’s anti-poverty RED campaign because of the president’s poor taste in music.

“What kind of music does he like?  They say he’s a Beatle maniac.  Is that true?”  When informed that Medvedev loved Deep Purple, Bono pretended to stand up and march out.  “That’s it.  I’m gone.  I’m canceling the meeting.”  Meanwhile, the other three members of the band hummed “Smoke on the Water.”

U2 flew in on their specially painted A320 (leased from Air Canada) on Sunday.  They landed at Vnukovo-3, a secretive state airport reserved for government officials and important foreign guests.  They and their families have since been shopping, attended a performance of the ballet Sleeping Beauty and planned to visit Red Square and the Kremlin, both of which are half a block away.

Tomorrow’s 360 show at Luzhniki stadium will feature a pre-recorded link up with Roman Romanenko who is currently aboard the International Space Station.  Expect the crowd of 80,000 to lose their minds.

Russian fan site www.u2.ru is urging everyone to wear shamrock green.  “We in Russia want to welcome our favourite Irish band with these symbols and create a green shamrock field at the stadium for the opening U2 song.  If you have seats or aren’t planning to stand close, you are encouraged to just take something green with you and wave it from the moment Larry appears on stage until the end of the first song.”

There’s a pre-show party for fans tonight at a place called Radio City a couple of metro stops from my hotel.  I think I’ll be there.