From

http://www.u2.com/news/index.php?mode=full&news_id=2274

 

 

Completing the Circle

 

Edge and Bono dropped in on Dublin's brand new O2 arena at the weekend, performing a couple of numbers from Rattle and Hum ... just as they did in the same place more than twenty years ago.

 

They were there to take part in a special RTE programme about the late Ronnie Drew which will be screened over the holiday period and the performance had a certain synchronicity about it.

It was twenty one years ago that Harry Crosbie set up camp in the then derelict old railway goods yard on Dublin's deserted docks to begin work on what became The Point Depot - one of the city's great music venues of recent times.

 

The first phone call Crosbie got, surrounded by trains and freight, was from U2's office. The band booked the venue for the filming of Rattle and Hum. They shot 'Desire' on their first day in the venue.

 

'The first morning,' recalls Crosbie. 'When Bono arrived to shoot, he picked up a red guitar and played a chord and that was the first music ever played at The Point.'

 

Harry asked Bono to come back and do it again for luck for the O2, a brand new venue which has been built on the site of The Point. It was a pretty intimate performance by all accounts - the venue doesn't open for a few more days. 'The circle is complete and Ireland's greatest venue had its first music played by its greatest band.'

 

More on the RTE tribute to Ronnie Drew as we get it.

 

http://i36.tinypic.com/ekqkab.jpg

 

 

 

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertai...w-14102180.html

 

U2 make the point with first O2 Dublin show

 

Thursday, 11 December 2008

 

They were the first band to play in the Point Theatre two decades ago and now U2 have become the first act to perform in it since its re-birth as the O2.

 

 

Well, half of them have played it. Bono and The Edge both played guitars and sang to a handful of people, including owner Harry Crosbie, the other night.

 

 

The first concert lined-up for the new, expanded venue is the Childline Charity gig next Tuesday, but rumours had been doing the rounds that U2 were going to slip in ahead of everybody. There was even a rumour that they were going to go on as an unannounced support act to The Kings Of Leon there before Christmas.

 

 

The pair strolled into the venue with their guitars to film part of a new TV tribute show to the late Ronnie Drew that will be presented by Gerry Ryan over the Christmas period. The pair played to 15,000 empty seats.

 

 

The first time U2 were in The Point they were filming parts of their movie 'Rattle And Hum', as well as recording some of the album, including the hit single 'Desire'. So this week they decided to play two songs from the movie and album of the same name. They ran through 'Van Diemen's Land' with The Edge on lead vocals and 'Desire', with Bono back in control.

 

 

Bono once referred to the late Ronnie Drew as "the king of Ireland". He also co-wrote the number one single 'The Ballad Of Ronnie Drew' earlier this year and was delighted to take part in the musical tribute.