"THE calm before the storm" was how The Edge described life on Tuesday night, at the opening of multimedia artists Russell Mills and Ian Walton's joint exhibition at the Guinness Hopstore. With U2 preparing for their imminent world tour, the guitarist was enthusiastic about the prospect of a year on the road.
"We're rehearsing here for another few weeks, then we'll go over to the States for the final rehearsals before we start the tour in Las Vegas," said The Edge. "We're going to do something big and spectacular, nothing small scale or predictable.
"We have a lot of new ideas. We want to go to places we haven't gone before, like South America ... Maybe find a new audience. The tour is condensed into a year rather than two years like Zooropa, so I reckon we'll be that bit fresher. We're really starting to look forward to it."
A long time fan of the work of Mills and Walton, he says he was "blown away" by the artists' installation in the Hopstore. Mills, over from Britain with his wife and young son for the opening, has been a close friend of the musician for several years, since they were introduced by mutual friend Brian Eno during the recording of The Joshua Tree in Slane Castle.
"I met Brian Eno just after he'd left Roxy Music," said Mills.
"We were working on some album covers together and I was over in Dublin teaching for a few weeks in the National College of Art and Design, so Brian said to come on down to Slane Castle for a bit, where he was working on something.
"So I went down for a few days and met the guys in the band and we had a great time. Edge and I got on particularly well and the friendship has been very strong since.
"He's fairly up to his eyes at the minute with the tour coming up, so it's been fantastic for us to have him here."