The performance was a preview of U2’s new album, Song Is Delivered, featuring tracks from the band’s repertoire. It helps pull off some reimagined songs from the 2000 album Everything you can’t leave behind, Bono and The Edge invited a young choir from the Duke Ellington School of Arts in Washington, DC, to join them. During rehearsals, Bono told the students to think of “Beautiful Day” as the kind of “after drinking” song you play with friends after leaving a bar. He quickly realized that none of them were old enough to drink, before feigning a heart attack.
Traveling without bassist Adam Clayton or drummer Larry Mullen Jr., Bono and The Edge made the trip from Ireland to the States specifically for the Tiny Desk, arriving in DC after five days of rehearsals at the Bono’s apartment in New York. When they settled in for the performance, they performed four songs, including a soulful rendition of “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” written for the late INXS singer Michael Hutchence, with a sample of “Walk Up,” which Bono said was inspired by and dedicated to the people of Ukraine.
SET LIST
- “Beautiful Day”
- “In a little while”
- “Stay in a Time You Can’t Get Out of”
- “walk up”
CONSTRUCTION
- Bono: vocal
- The Edge: guitar, vocals
- Duke Ellington School Choir: Petra Munter, Ayan Yacob, Kirston Holmes, Jayla Norwood, Dyor Taylor, Jaylyn Pickney, Jevon Skipper, Joshua Jennings, Jordan Freeman
- Patrick Lundy: choir director
- Special thanks to: Sandi Logan (principal/HOS), Isaac Daniel (school assistant)
LITTLE LITTLE SHIPPING
- Producer: Bob Boilen
- Director: Joshua Bryant
- Sound engineer: Josh Rogosin
- Series Producer: Bobby Carter
- Director: Maia Stern
- Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Sofia Seidel, Michael Zamora
- Voice assistant: Alex Drewenskus
- Support Assistant: Jill Britton
- Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer, Pilar Galván
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
- Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann