U2 play special gigs at Mount Temple Comprehensive and Grafton Street to mark 50th anniversary
The band U2 performed surprise gigs at their former school, Mount Temple Comprehensive, and Grafton Street to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The event featured the original band members performing classic tracks for students and fans.
Why it matters
It marks a significant cultural milestone for one of the world's most influential rock bands in their home city.
I’m at Mount Temple Comprehensive on the Malahide Road on Dublin’s northside watching one of their school bands going through their set on a podium in the yard.
It’s two in the day on a Friday. This quartet are called, depending when you ask, Feedback or The Hype or U2. Fifty years on from drummer Larry Mullen sticking a note up on a noticeboard seeking bandmates (Bono gives him kudos later in the gig) they’re still going. They played their last gig in this exact location in 1978.
It has been an open secret in the school all week. A friend of a friend’s child went out to the toilet during the week and bumped into Bono in the halls. Another appalled parent tells me: “I had to explain the importance of this to my kid. She said ‘What’s the fuss about?’ What’s the fuss about???”
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