U2 and the inauguration

This was a big week for U2 fans. Starting out on Sunday with U2 performing at the "We Are One" concert on the Mall in Washington DC. HBO convinced the major cable providers to allow people without an HBO subscription to watch the broadcast, which was great. AT&T U-Verse actually opened up all of their premium channels for the entire weekend. We stocked our DVR full of movies!

Other performers included James Taylor, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger, and John Mellencamp. Other than U2's performance, the highlight for me was Bettye LaVette and Jon Bon Jovi's duet on Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come." Herbie Hancock, will.i.am, and Sheryl Crow's take on Bob Marley's "one Love" was also memorable.

U2 were the last performers before President-Elect Obama took the stage. The played "Pride (in the Name of Love)", which was very poignant given the concert was the day before the MLK holiday and the Lincoln Memorial was the location of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and "City of Blinding Lights", which had been used by the Obama campaign last year. Bono cheesed it up a little, performing partly seated, giving a mock political speech at the podium and singing directly into the camera as he's known to do. At the end of "Pride," Bono told the crowd that Dr. King's dream is "not just an American dream, also an Irish dream, a European dream, an African dream, an Israeli dream, and also a Palestinian dream." Bono's not one to mince words, even in front of the Pres-dent-Elect.

Watch the full broadcast on HBO.com.



Bono speaking about his experience in Washington.



On Monday, Will.I.Am premiered another patriotic/inspirational song, called "America's Song", on Oprah. It's a pretty pedestrian song, but Bono is featured on it, so I had to check it out. :) Other performers are Will.I.Am, Seal, Mary J. Blige, Faith Hill, and co-composer David Foster.

Lyrics



Then Tuesday, fans get to hear "Get On Your Boots" for the first time. More later.