February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Among those lauding the U2 front man for his efforts to eradicate Third World debt and the scourge of AIDS in Africa was his old pal, former president Bill Clinton.
The relationship between the politician and the rock star goes back over ten years. During the Zoo-TV concert tour in 1992, Bono got into the habit of ringing up then-candidate Clinton from the stage, and chatting with him about world issues. The two forged a warm friendship, which continued during and after Clinton’s White House residency.
On Thursday night, the former commander-in-chief presented the singer with the prestigious award. Bono responded by noting that Clinton was “more of a rock star than any in this room.” (We’ll spare you the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll reference, OK?)
Bono must have felt the love all around him that night. The evening’s MC was actress Ashley Judd, who traveled with Bono on the Heart of America Tour to awareness of AIDS and poverty in Africa. A who’s who of music stars performed covers of U2 songs, including B.B. King, Wynona Judd, No Doubt, Mary J. Blige, Patti Labelle, Sheryl Crow and Elvis Costello. The Edge and Bono sang “That’s Life,” “Night and Day” and the Oscar-nominated “The Hands That Built America.”
The enthusiastic audience included Michael Stipe, Jay-Z, Limp Bizkit, Diana Krall, Jimmy Fallon, Salman Rushdie, Tony Bennett, Eunice Shriver and Bobby Shriver, Carly Simon, Robert DeNiro, Steve Van Zandt and David Bowie.
During his acceptance speech, Bono addressed the issue of America’s impending war with Iraq. He pointed out that constructive dialog can achieve great success, citing the move toward peace in Northern Ireland and the success of the Drop the Debt campaign as prime examples.
“The world is much more malleable than you think,” he said.
In more Bono news, we hear that our favorite rock star has been shortlisted for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. (If he wins, he’ll be the first Nobel Laureate to be in constant rotation on our mp3 player.) We also hear that Bono and Clinton will reprise their mutual admiration thing at next week’s Meteor Irish Music Awards in Dublin, where Bill will again hand Bono a statue and some praise.