Bono continued his tradition of appearing at Dublin’s annual Christmas Eve busking event, performing U2’s “Running to Stand Still” Friday at the Glen Hansard-organized charity event.
In non-Covid times, the all-star Christmas Eve gig — which raises money for charities fighting homelessness — would take place on Dublin’s Grafton Street, but the 2021 event was moved with the city’s St Patrick’s Cathedral and turned into a livestream to benefit Simon Community.
Backed by a band of Irish musicians including Hansard, Bono delivered an understated rendition of The Joshua Tree standout, with the singer also providing a harmonica solo while the accompanying musicians chanted “Hallelujah!”
The livestream also featured a now-rare performance by the Pogues’ Shane McGowan, who sang the band’s “Dirty Old Town.”
In 2020, Bono and the Edge performed Darlene Love’s classic “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” as part of an Irish TV special modeled after the Grafton Street busk; two years earlier, on Grafton Street, the duo played Songs of Experience‘s “Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way” as well as a pair of Christmas carols, “O Holy Night” and “O Night Divine.”