Before it was either profitable or fashionable, U2 were extolling the sense of Ireland. Occasionally they expressed their opinions about the nonsense of Ireland, too. Yet underlying their close and intricate associations with the country is a genuine understanding and empathy for its multi-stranded nuances, foibles and culture. Today and next Saturday, some 160,000 people of varying ages and from a cross section of social groups will gather at Slane Castle in Co Meath as testament to this - an achievement which it is doubtful could be matched by any other four people on this island.
U2 started out in 1976 as a group of young idealists, spurred on - as much as anything connected with rock music - by their own sense of ambition. They have long since laid claim to the title of Biggest and Best Rock Band in the World, releasing records of varying quality but always invested with the expressiveness and exploration that lies at the heart of all serious art. The fact that 25 years after their formation, they are still here, very much the same unit, speaks volumes about their mutual loyalty. The fact that, in their early 40s, they are at pole position in terms of rock music, bridging the generation gaps, speaks volumes about their business savvy and their creativity.
In Irish terms, U2 are unique; in global terms there are very few rock/pop acts that can approach them. Of course, there are people who look upon them and their ilk as self-aggrandising self-promoters. Bono is certainly not backward in coming forward, his continuing involvement in the Drop The Debt and Jubilee 2000 campaigns being singled out by his detractors as but two notable examples of an allegedly self-serving ego. Whatever the reasoning behind his involvement - and there are many more who would say it is his humanity and social commitment that drives him - there is little doubt that he sincerely cares about his fellow human beings. It is this commitment to communality that takes U2 out of the legion of ordinary rock bands and places them in a singular context.
The two concerts, which begin today at Slane Castle, are noteworthy achievements, not only in terms of ticket sales - 160,000 over the two days - but of the way in which the planning laws were changed to allow them take place so close to each other. On a rather higher scale, it subverts what Noel Coward once said about the potency of cheap music, in that U2's art is wrought more out of a sense of personal conflict than of cash. So perhaps the concerts at Slane are more opportunities to celebrate U2's success than to criticise their perceived failings.
As Bono will doubtless sing, have a beautiful day.