U2 - MLK + Where The Streets Have No Name (2002 Super Bowl Live)

U2 performed this at halftime of the 2002 Super Bowl between the Patriots and Rams.

As they played, names of victims in the September 11 attacks were scrolled on a giant screen. At the end of the performance Bono opened his jacket to reveal an American flag in the lining.

"Where the Streets Have No Name" is more like the U2 of old than any of the other songs on the LP, because it's a sketch - I was just trying to sketch a location, maybe a spiritual location, maybe a romantic location.

I was trying to sketch a feeling. I often feel very claustrophobic in a city, a feeling of wanting to break out of that city and a feeling of wanting to go somewhere where the values of the city and the values of our society don't hold you down.

An interesting story that someone told me once is that in Belfast, by what street someone lives on you can tell not only their religion but tell how much money they're making - literally by which side of the road they live on, because the further up the hill the more expensive the houses become.
That said something to me, and so I started writing about a place "where the streets have no name."

- Bono from Propaganda 5, 1987

Category:

Music

Tags:

• U2
• MLK
• Where
• The
• Streets
• Have
• No
• Name
• Super
• Bowl
• Live

[DoThatReject]

This is what we want for a SuperBowl half-time show. Not the freaking Black Eyed Peas!

[dochypnos]

This was the right song, the right band and the right moment in the right time in America. There won't be too many moments like this in our life.

[australoameribelge03]

I still can't believe how long that list is... 

[yatsumoto]

@sequalls MLK from The Unforgettable Fire

[wenders99]

Best.halftime performance.ever.

[mbglosser]

Looks like there were 117 9/11 truthers disliking this video... surprised they haven't flooded the comment section with their nonsense... Thank you for this Bono... I haven't seen this since it came out when i was 17 years old.. I shed a tear then and I shed a tear now

[adn2934]

best superbowl ever

[sequalls]

What does Bono say quietly as the intro to Streets Have No Name is playing? Sounds like he repeats it twice?

[xxdublincitygirlxx]

@Matty415100 I agree with you totally. I have always thought U2 were the best - no other band can ever top them or any other band has even come close to them in my opinion :)

[Matty415100]

This performance proves without a shadow of a doubt that U2 is the greatest band of all time and in my opinion they are the greatest band of all time by far.

[vinophilius34]

At a time of profound grief in America this performance was exactly what the country needed. Respectful, commemorative but at the same time, uplifting and profoundly moving. A real moment in history. There was controversy at the time that super bowl 02 got an Irish band to play half-time, but U2 were the perfect band to use. Few other bands have captured the spirit of a nation so successfully. I watch this every year on the 9/11 anniversary (I lost friends in NY).