U2 Changes ‘Pride’ Lyrics to Honor Hundreds of Music Fans Slaughtered in Israel Festival Massacre

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic U2 struck a topical, tragic note in the band’s show Sunday at Sphere in Las Vegas, adding “Pride (In the Name of Love)” to the set and dedicating it to the hundreds of music fans killed at a music festival in Israel, referring to them as “stars of David” in rewritten lyrics. “Sing for our brothers and sisters — who they themselves were singing at the Supernova Sukkot festival in Israel,” Bono said. “We sing for those.

Our people, our kind of people, music people. Playful, experimental people. Our kind of people. We sing for them.” After leading the crowd in a wordless refrain, Bono continued, “In the light of what’s happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence… But our hearts and our anger, you know where that’s pointed.

So sing with us… and those beautiful kids at that music festival.” As the first verse of “Pride” kicked in, Bono changed the first verse to refer to the massacre in Israel instead of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. “Early morning, Oct.

7, the sun is rising in the desert sky,” he sang. “Stars of David, they took your life but they could not take your pride.” He repeated the “Could not take your pride” line three times before leading the band into the anthemic chorus.A post shared by U2 (@u2) The attack on music fans by Hamas took place at the Supernova festival, held in the desert in southern Israel in conjunction with the Jewish festival of Sukkot.