In the world of social media and YouTube, in particular, many future musicians and singers build fame and a following by busking on the streets and uploading videos of their performances. It’s highly unusual for massive worldwide superstars to go back to busking on the streets – that’s the wrong way round! But that’s exactly what U2 did when the famous Irish band were appearing on The Jimmy Fallon show.
Fallon is famous for having his guest(s) perform off the cuff sketches and pranks. So when U2 came on the show, he had them dress up in disguise and busk in the 42nd Street Subway station in Manhattan, New York.
As the video begins, Fallon sets the scene for his viewers. As he fits his disguise, he explains that U2 is going to go down to the platform to play and that no one knows it’s going to happen. He then puts on sunglasses that contain a hidden camera, called the U2cam, to capture the performance and the reactions of the crowd.
As they reach the station, Jimmy begins a shout out for the band in a broad New York accent. He introduces them as native New Yorkers who need donations and will perform at your party, wedding or bar mitzvah. On another day, Linkin Park also did a busking session in the train station, check out their performance in the video below.
Then the band begins to play their hit I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. At first, the crowd casts a few curious glances their way and nothing more. New Yorkers have seen it all before and continue to go about their business. After a minute or two, though, the rawness and power of Bono’s voice is impossible to miss.
As a crowd starts to build, Fallon halts the performance and announces it’s not working, and they need plan b. He takes off his disguise and introduces the band. Unsurprisingly, the crowd goes crazy! After all, who expects to see a massive band like U2 on the subway platform on your way home from work?
The band rounds off their performance with a beautiful acoustic version of Desire. The crowd is clearly loving it, cheering, clapping and singing along. I’m sure everyone there that day is grateful that pure chance allowed them to witness this once in a lifetime event. For the rest of us, we just wish we could’ve been there too.