Students Watch U2 at Abbey Road Studios

A handful of lucky students from BIMM London were recently given the rare opportunity to watch an intimate performance and interview with Irish rock legends U2 at the one-and-only Abbey Road Studios.

The opportunity arose when the 22 time Grammy-award winning band visited London after finishing their recent Joshua Tree Tour, which saw them perform to over 2.7 million people in 51 shows across Europe and America. Their purpose in London was to record a one-off Christmas special for the BBC, which was presented by Cat Deeley and filmed at Abbey Road Studios in front of an extremely limited number of lucky guests.

One such guest was current BIMM London student, Sara Palazzo, who not only was one of the privileged few in attendance, but also had the pleasure of speaking with the group’s iconic frontman, Bono.  She explains in her own words:

“It was one of the best gig experiences. Such an experienced band, at such a top-class studio, with all these orchestral musicians in the back, the lighting setup with lightbulbs and spotlights all around – You could see it was a one of a kind event that you don’t get to see every day.”

When showtime was over, the band came back onstage for an informal interview. I was in the front row amidst the public, so when they took one of their breaks and came towards the audience, Bono turned around and I happened to be just in front of him. He asked: ‘What are you guys studying?’. Being centimetres away, I felt I needed to answer. ‘Music Business’, I said. Suddenly, he seemed pretty interested in the topic. ‘Wow, Music Business! If only we could have had the chance to study that in our time! We need to talk about that!’.

Afterwards, during the interview, Bono looked at us again and brought up the topic. ‘I was discussing with some students about the music business nowadays, how it has changed and how it will keep changing…’ While he was being filmed by the cameras, he asked us what it was we were studying and where exactly. Once again, feeling responsible for answering, I spoke. When the interview finished, Bono approached me and apologised: ‘Sorry for bringing you up in the middle of the interview!’. What a kind LEGEND!”

As if that wasn’t enough, Sara even walked away with one of the Edge’s personalised guitar picks.

What an honour!