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Back in April, the rock band also donated €10m to Irish COVID-19 relief efforts

U2 have donated a further $1,500,000 (£1.2m) to helping the live music survive during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to reports.

It comes after the Bono-fronted rock band donated €10m to Irish COVID-19 relief efforts back in April.

According to Billboard, this new amount also includes the €200,000 (£180K) amount that the group raised in a recent fundraiser for Ireland’s music industry.

U2
U2. CREDIT: Prodip Guha/Getty images)

Bono and the Edge shared a video of their acoustic rendition of the Led Zeppelin classic ‘Stairway To Heaven’ from the fundraiser earlier this week (July 28).

The members of U2 also dedicated their take on the classic to their long-serving road crew. In the video, which jokingly opens with a ‘fact’ that U2’s road crew would much rather work for Led Zeppelin, Bono says: “There’s one annoying aspect of an Irish crew that has to be said.

“Wherever you go in the world, whatever venue you’re playing — whether it’s the Olympia or 3 Arena or Madison Square Garden — you walk into the venue and it’s a big moment, and you’ll hear a song that we said, ‘We’ll never, ever play this.’ And that’s right, ‘Stairway to Heaven’.”

“These professionals believe they play this better than the band. And you know, it might be true.”

Back in June, Bono shared a powerful speech about the social ideals of America as he introduced a new star-studded cover of the band’s seminal hit ‘Beautiful Day’.

Taking part in YouTube’s virtual ‘Dear Class of 2020’ series, Bono described the US as “a dream that belongs to the whole world.”

He continued: “We now know that America is a song yet to be written. That America might be the greatest song the world has never heard. It’s a wild thought — that America is yet to exist. And even wilder that the class of 2020 might be the very people that bring it into being, after 244 years of striving for freedom — sometimes marching, sometimes protesting, sometimes on your knees, sometimes taking the knee, you get there.

“I don’t know how, but I know who — you, you can vault the barricades of bigotry and with your vote you can dismantle institutions that uphold that bigotry and are in your way. You can enter America — you can enter America, we will all enter with you, but it’s gonna be you, and that is gonna be a beautiful day.”

The post U2 have reportedly donated £1.2 million to help Irish live music industry through coronavirus crisis appeared first on NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM.

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