Bono’s Bible
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Biblical Allusions in U2 songs + Inspirational U2 moments
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The video for U2’s “The Greatest Show on Earth” (released today, October 15, 2026) was directed by longtime collaborator Anton Corbijn and filmed in the California desert. Corbijn, the Dutch photographer behind the iconic 1987 The Joshua Tree album photos, returned to similar stark, arid California landscapes for this clip. The black-and-white visuals are classic Corbijn: high-contrast, cinematic desert landscapes that strongly evoke the Joshua Tree era. The band performs in fake beards and carnival masks. The video satirizes U2 as a religious cult in which women do all the heavy lifting, playing on the song’s themes of lovers struggling to keep faith in each other (and faith itself). Many crosses appear in the video: on Bono’s necklace, as a neon sign, and carried by a woman through the desert. Bono sings of “stained glass,” “the altar of our wedding mass,” “a church of love or fear, have we made God feel like a stranger here?” The song (co-written with Brian Eno) and the video premiered together today. The track also titles U2’s upcoming 2027 stadium tour.
Bono’s Bible53,530 次观看 • 14 天前
September 11, 2001. A few months later, on the biggest stage in America, U2 did something simple and heart-wrenching. While they played “Where the Streets Have No Name,” the names of the victims rose on a giant screen behind them. Bono read a Psalm. Then the screen came falling down.
Bono’s Bible150,980 次观看 • 1 个月前
Bono is still pushing the idea that all religions can COEXIST. It’s already shown up in two U2 tracks this year: “COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?)” and the video for the new single “The Greatest Show On Earth.” Expect it to surface again on the upcoming tour—echoing the 2005 Vertigo Tour, when Bono wore the headband and declared: “Jesus, Jew, Muhammad… it’s true, all sons of Abraham.” A big idea. And a controversial one. Perhaps more a prayer. Which side are you on? Can all religions COEXIST, or is Bono being too idealistic? 📽️ Scenes from “The Greatest Show On Earth”
Bono’s Bible19,111 次观看 • 8 天前
40 YEARS ON from Live Aid U2’s “Bad” was a 12-minute mistake, yet somehow redeemed them. Bono’s spontaneous leap off the stage delayed the setlist, kept them from playing “Pride,” drew ire from the band, yet sparked the defining and unforgettable moment of the entire event.
Bono’s Bible797,722 次观看 • 1 年前
THE TRUE STORY OF BOB GELDOF BULLYING BONO TO SING THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL LYRIC IN CHARITY ROCK HISTORY November 25, 1984. Sarm West Studios, London. Midge Ure & Bob Geldof have written “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in a single night. The original lyric in the big finale was the gentle, saccharine: “Tonight we’re reaching out and touching you.” Geldof decides it’s too soft. At the absolute last minute — while artists are already arriving — he scribbles a new line: “Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.” Bono (24 years old) walks into the vocal booth, sees the lyric sheet, and immediately refuses. According to everyone in the room (Midge Ure, Paula Yates, the engineers, Bono himself in later interviews), he said something like: “I’m not singing that. It’s crass, it’s smug, it’s revolting. It sounds like the rich West saying ‘thank God the starving people are African and not us.’” Geldof storms into the booth and unleashes one of his legendary tirades (compiled from multiple witnesses + Bono’s own retellings): “It’s not supposed to make you feel warm and fuzzy, you little Irish prick! It’s supposed to be a slap in the f*cking face! It’s supposed to make the listener in their nice warm house feel uncomfortable — that’s the entire bloody point! Now stop being a precious little art-school wanker, get back in that booth and sing the f*cking line like you mean it!” After several minutes of shouting, Bono finally relents — but only if he can deliver it with total disgust and venom, turning the line into an accusation instead of a celebration. He does exactly that. You can hear the disgust in his voice — it’s the moment that made the song unforgettable. For decades Bono still hated the line. He called it “the most cringe thing I’ve ever sung.” When the song was re-recorded in 2014, Bono insisted they change it back to the original soft version: “Tonight we’re reaching out and touching you.” Which version do you prefer? 🎥 1984, 2014 and 2024 versions of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
Bono’s Bible299,722 次观看 • 10 个月前
25 years ago today, Bono said goodbye to his father, Bob Hewson, who died August 21, 2001. Bob was a working-class Dublin man with a fine tenor voice and a sharp, dry wit. He conducted opera records with knitting needles and told his son that dreaming only led to disappointment. Their relationship was complicated—full of silence, stubbornness, and few words. Yet in the end, something shifted. Bono has said that after his father passed, they somehow became closer friends. Bono realized that the man he once struggled to understand was the reason the opera lived in him.
Bono’s Bible66,888 次观看 • 2 个月前
On this day, October 10 in 1988, U2 released their album “Rattle and Hum.” 17 days later they released the film, directed by Phil Joanou. Panned by critics but adored by fans, it captured U2’s grandeur in black-and-white cinematic film. Do you remember the intro and when it turns to color? 📽️ Watch it again
Bono’s Bible19,947 次观看 • 19 天前
Elijah Hewson, Bono’s first son, was born on August 17, 1999, in Dublin, Ireland (full name: Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q Hewson), making today his 27th birthday. The name Elijah suggests boldness and sensitivity, since the prophet Elijah is known for both fiery conviction and quiet revelation. One of Bono’s favorite Bible passages is when the prophet Elijah encounters God’s “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). As Inhaler’s frontman, Elijah has carved his own path, unfazed by his father’s fame. Bono shared with Jimmy Kimmel last year that Elijah is “completely not bothered” by it. It appears Elijah not only has the conviction, but also the calm amidst the storm—the “still small voice.”
Bono’s Bible44,612 次观看 • 2 个月前
On this day, September 10, 1974, Bono’s mother Iris died at the age of 48. Bono was 14. She had suffered a brain aneurysm days earlier, collapsing at her own father’s funeral. Bono later said that though she left him, she left him an artist — an artist trying to fill a God-shaped hole. When Bono speaks of God, you often feel he is also speaking of his mother. He does not deny it. He treats it as part of his psychology. In the chapter “Iris (Hold Me Close)” in his memoir Surrender, he wrote: Someone has likened prayer to being on a rough sea in a small boat with no oars. All you have is a rope that, somewhere in the distance, is attached to the port. With that rope you can pull yourself closer to God. Songs are my prayers…. What strands of memory I had left of my mother I’d attempted to weave into the song “Iris.” I would sing myself to her. I would find her.
Bono’s Bible26,984 次观看 • 1 个月前
On the 1992 ZOOTV tour, Mirror Ball Man was Bono’s merciless parody of American prosperity-gospel televangelism and commodified religion. Dressed in a dazzling, mirror-tiled silver lamé suit, white shoes, and cowboy hat, Mirror Ball Man threw stacks of cash from the stage and preached a gospel of prosperity. At the time, Bono explained his inspiration: “The Mirror Ball Man, he’s ‘the preacher stealing hearts at the traveling show.’ He’s a cross between a tele-evangelist and a politician/country singer.” Bono later described the character: “He had the confidence and charm to pick up a mirror and look at himself and give the glass a big kiss. He loved cash and in his mind success was God's blessing. If he’s made money, he can’t have made any mistakes.”
Bono’s Bible19,281 次观看 • 1 个月前
On U2’s iconic first song, “I Will Follow,” Bono reflected decades later: “It’s a song about unconditional love, which is what a mother has for her child. If you walk away, I will follow. No matter what you do, you cannot separate yourself from my love. Which echoes the scriptures: ‘nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.’” (U2 by U2, p. 101) The quote is from Romans 8:39 KJV: “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Bono’s Bible10,632 次观看 • 20 天前
On this day in 1977 (January 17): Gary Gilmore became the first person executed in the U.S. after the death penalty's reinstatement, dying by firing squad in Utah at age 36. Convicted of two murders, he waived appeals and demanded his sentence be carried out—his last words: “Let's do it.” U2’s “Exit” from The Joshua Tree (1987) was inspired by Gilmore’s story. Bono drew from Norman Mailer’s novel The Executioner's Song (and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood) to delve into a killer’s psyche twisted by religious fanaticism and violence. The song’s original working title: “Executioner's Song.” Bono aimed to explore the mind of a killer gripped by religious fanaticism, psychosis, and twisted faith—portraying a man who believes in “healing hands of love” yet descends into violence. The intense, dark track remains one of U2’s most haunting. It later drew controversy when cited in the 1989 murder trial of Robert John Bardo (for actress Rebecca Schaeffer’s killing), though U2 had no responsibility and were troubled by the link—rarely performing it live for years. 🎥 U2’s “Exit” with Biblical Allusions
Bono’s Bible87,785 次观看 • 9 个月前