MAY 17: not a Duran Duran concert / Self Aid Festival / from Sydney is released / Edge attends Radiohead / 22nd VERTIGO show / Bono began a new African tour in Lesotho!

"War" tour - may 17, 1983. U2 perform in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at Massey Hall. During the encore, four girls jump on stage and mob Bono. Bono mumbles something about "not being at a Duran Duran concert". Bono dances with two of the girls at a time, and lets them take pictures. Support is "Dream Syndicate".

"Self Aid Festival" - may 17, 1986. U2 play their only European date of 1986 at the Self Aid festival in the RDS Showgrounds, Dublin. With 27 separate acts performing it's the largest Irish musical festival ever. Much controversy is generated when In Dublin magazine runs a highly critical story entitled "The Great Self Aid Farce - Rock Against the People", using a shot of Bono on the cover. The criticism is levelled at the concert organizers who are accused of whoring the unemployed for financial gain. Most acts are limited to 15 minute performances, except the last five: Rory Gallagher, Christy Moore, Elvis Costello(and The Attractions), Chris Deburgh and the headliner U2. U2 make their entrance while The Edge thrills the crowd with an extended guitar solo from Eddie Cochran's "C'Mon Everybody". The band play 4 other songs, "Pride(In the Name of Love)", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Maggie's Farm" and "Bad". During "Maggie's Farm", Bono changes the lyrics to reflect the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl: "Temperature is rising, the fever is high; I can't see the future., when they're screwing up the sky. The water is heavy, and so is my head. I don't live in Chernobyl, instead I live in Sellafield..." "Bad" is the encore for the show, selected by the audience when Bono asks for requests.

"U2 releases Sydney home video" - may 17, 1994. U2 releases a home video version of the Sydney pay-per-view concert taped last November 27th. "Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World" is edited out amongst great speculation -- possibilities suggest the edit allows the concert to fit on one 2-hour VHS tape, or that the female dancer didn't agree to appear in the home release, or that she was underage and drank champagne on stage with Bono.

"Edge catches Radiohead" - may 17, 2003. NME reports that The Edge is in attendance as Radiohead plays a club gig in Dublin tonight.

22nd 'VERTIGO' show - may 17, 2005 - E. Rutherford, NJ - Continental Airlines Arena - Kings of Leon - 8 songs to the encores / "Vertigo" ends after "40" / Bono hugged Edge during the start of the Who-ish blast "All Because of You" (Bono stopped him - he made an announcement that sometimes guitar players are too fast). The band was incredible today. Bono got into it round the time he took the little girl up on the extended stage, and there was no looking back. His comments for Vertigo the second time round were great...something to the effect of..."you know encores are an italian opera thing...and if they like a song, they say encore and you do it again...I think you guys liked this song the first time round...but what do i know? I'm Irish!..."Vertigo! so cool!!!! Bono grabs the spotlight that he uses at the end of 40 and just starts going nuts...another memorable moment: Bono added a short snippet of "please" into BTBS, right before the "johnny comes marching home" part. Such a great way to end what was a very energetic show. Some photos on: Interference

Bono began a new African tour in Lesotho - May 17, 2006 - Bono began a new African tour in Lesotho and will unveil a new initiative to fight Aids in the country's ailing textile industry. "In a small African country, the three issues - debt, aid and trade - come together in an unholy trinity," the U2 frontman said yesterday, as his plane landed in the capital Maseru with a delegation of activists and private sector executives. Bono has billed this as "Measuring Success and Promises Kept" to highlight the progress in the treatment of HIV/Aids in Africa, the search for economic growth and rich nations' pledges to cancel some debts and more than double aid to the continent by 2010...Bono is due to announce a new initiative to fight HIV/Aids in Lesotho's textile and garment industry with US clothing maker Gap Inc. Gap is contributing 50% of its profits from the sale of Gap Red products to a global fund for Aids in Africa and has committed to make some of the Red products in Africa. The Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight Aids project will ensure workers have access to free drug therapy. Read more about it, here