Joy as an Act of Defiance

December 1, 2015

NEW YORK (AP) - Bono says despite the deadly attacks in Paris last month he believes Paris will remain strong and he is hoping U2's concert there this week moves the audience.

U2 was set to perform in Paris on Nov. 14 and was in a middle of rehearsing when 130 people were killed in suicide bombings and shootings the day before in what has become the worst attack on French soil in more than a half-century.

"Well, knowing our French audience and having a sense of them by now, I would say joy as an act of defiance," he said of what concertgoers can expect when U2 performs at the Accor Hotels Arena in Paris Dec. 6-7. "That's what U2 does, that's what French people want from us and that's it."

"They took a lot of lives we're not going to get back, but they're not going to change the character of the city of Paris," he continued in an interview with The Associated Press.

Bono also praised the U.S. rock band Eagles of Death Metal, who were performing at the concert theater Bataclan in Paris where some were taken hostage and killed.

"We're very, very of course moved by the fact that our fellow troubadours, the Eagles of Death Metal, had such a hard time; they're an extraordinary talented band, they've been through the most ugly nightmare and they have been very graceful about it," Bono said.

Of the audience, he said, "These are our people and they're very familiar faces, the people in the audience, they're our people.

"They're like my daughter, my son, they're like (U2 members) Edge, they're like Larry (Mullen, Jr.) ... so we took it very badly," Bono said. "But we're going back, you bet. Nothing will stop us from going back."

Bono made the comments when discussing a new campaign for his (RED) organization, which is launching Tuesday to coincide with World AIDS Day.

U2's Dec. 7 show will broadcast on HBO. Bono said to those frightened by the Paris attacks and fearful of attending concerts: "Be vigilant, but be unafraid."