Flashback: Bono and the Edge Perform With Luciano Pavarotti
Bono and the Edge’s performance of “Miss Sarajevo” with Luciano Pavarotti at the 1995 Pavarotti & Friends concert was a truly unique event. It marked the only live performance in support of Original Soundtracks Volume 1, an experimental album U2 recorded with their longtime producer Brian Eno under the name Passengers. Eno sings with the group at this performance, one of the few times the former Roxy Music keyboardist has played live in any capacity over the past couple of decades.
If all that wasn’t enough, the Edge was not wearing any sort of hat. The public has seen the top of that man’s head more often than they’ve seen Steven Van Zandt’s uncovered head, but not by a huge margin. To restore some kind of balance to the universe, Bono opted to wear a hat for the show.
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The show also featured Simon Le Bon and Pavarotti performing Duran Duran‘s “Ordinary World,” Meat Loaf breaking out the Bat Out Of Hell classic “Heaven Can Wait” and Dolores O’Riordan and Simon Le Bon duetting on the Cranberries song “Linger.” Bono, the Edge and Eno also played a gorgeous rendition of U2‘s “One.” Funds from the show benefited the children of war-torn Bosnia.
Bono and Pavarotti became friends after collaborating together on “Miss Sarajevo.” “Some can sing opera – Luciano Pavarotti was an opera,” Bono said after the singer died in 2007. “He lived the songs, his opera was a great mash of joy and sadness – surreal and earthy at the same time. A great volcano of a man who sang fire but spilled over with a love of life in all its complexity. A great and generous friend.”