U2 reunite for Sean Penn’s annual Help Haiti benefit
From Caribbean360
The star-studded event raised about US$6 million for the J/P Haitian Relief Organisation, which has been working to rebuild the country since the 2010 earthquake.
CALIFORNIA, United States, Friday January 17, 2014 – Ever since Haiti was devastated by the massive 2010 earthquake, Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn has piggybacked on selected awards ceremonies, in locations from Cannes to his native United States, to stage celebrity-studded fundraisers in aid of the impoverished Caribbean country.
The resulting concerts have raised millions from altruistic A-list participants, not to mention raising a few eyebrows with highly publicised stunts ranging from Penn’s booze-boosted, expletive-riddled rants to the dropping of F-bombs from no less a person that CNN’s revered “Silver Fox” Anderson Cooper.
This year’s bonus came in the form of a surprise reunion when enduring Irish rock band U2 regrouped to perform their first live gig in three years at Penn’s third annual Help Haiti show which was held at the five-star Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills over the Golden Globes weekend.
An audience mainly comprising the rich and famous was treated to three classic songs – I Will Follow, Desire, and Vertigo, when U2 took the stage as the surprise closing act.
Bono and the Edge had made an earlier appearance to accompany Haitian singer Anaelle Jean-Pierre, who performed a version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
The glittering proceedings also included a performance by Israeli musician Asaf Avidan, speeches by actors Idris Elba and Emma Thompson, and MC duties by longstanding Haiti champion Anderson Cooper.
“Haiti pulses with life,” Cooper told the audience, according to Variety. “Tonight, we celebrate that life, and that hope and that strength.”
The Help Haiti event raised about US$6 million for Penn’s J/P Haitian Relief Organization (HRO), which has been working to rebuild the country after the deadly earthquake four years ago.
Celebrity donors at the Montage Hotel included Piers Morgan, Julia Roberts and Michael Douglas, as well as Charlize Theron and Chris Martin, who reportedly fought a charity bidding war over an original painting by renowned British street artist Banksy.
As for U2, who haven’t played together since Britain’s Glastonbury Music Festival in 2011, the Haiti benefit is not expected to be their last performance of 2014. Their 13th studio album will reportedly be out in April via a new deal with Island Records, with live dates expected to follow.
The rockers started the year off right by receiving a Golden Globe award for their song Ordinary Love, from the soundtrack to the motion picture Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
“This really is personal for us,” Bono said. “[Mandela] turned our life upside-down, right-side up. [He was] a man who refused to hate, not because he didn’t have rage or anger, but that he thought love would do a better job.”
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