(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Sat 28 February 2026 14:00, UK
There’s no better way to pay tribute to another artist than to perform a cover of their work, and as one of the biggest rock bands in the world, U2 have likely been on the receiving end of this on many occasions.
Whether it’s ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ being covered by Cher, or ‘Beautiful Day’ being covered by a bunch of blokes down the local pub, the Irish group exist at a level of infamy whereby it’s possible to have anyone perform a rendition of one of their songs, and it be instantly recognisable. Reaching this level takes something special and requires you to have written a song with universal appeal in the first place, and that’s something that you can’t take away from U2.
Their humble origins as something more akin to a post-punk group in the early 1980s were a far cry from the purpose-made stadium rock they’ve turned their hand to now, and while some of their earlier albums received critical acclaim, they had to push themselves in a particular direction in order to earn themselves the right to be performing in some of the biggest venues in the world.
U2 worked hard to get where they are now, but they arguably pulled from a far more varied pool of influences when they were in their early days, some of which they leaned into in more obvious ways than simply utilising them as influences.
When you don’t have much of your own material, you’ll quite often lean on covers as a way of bolstering your setlist. As mentioned, while this is a good way of paying respect to your idols, it only ever seems like a mark of respect if the cover is good in the first place, and if you’re going to completely butcher the work that your favourite artists have produced, then it’s probably not a good idea to be venturing into this territory.
As a huge Thin Lizzy fan, as many rock fans in Ireland are, Bono wanted to do his best to pay tribute to the iconic group when his own band were first starting out as teenagers. However, by his own admission, they lacked the musical aptitude to be able to replicate the magic that the famous Dublin rock group had when they attempted to work some of their material into the early U2 shows.
“We were 16 when we formed the band, and we were trying to learn other people’s songs, and we weren’t very good at it,” Bono later recalled during an interview with Hotpress. “Occasionally one would speak to us, and I remember us trying to work out ‘Don’t Believe A Word’, and I couldn’t understand exactly what he meant.”
He went on to note the lyrics that frontman Phil Lynott utters in the song, noting how, “Don’t believe me when I tell ya / Not a word of this is true / Don’t believe me when I tell ya / I’m in love with you” as being “a great lyric device,” before arguing how bad their version was.
“We tried playing that, just murdered that one,” he added. “They were such good songs to murder. ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’, we murdered that one. We still play that one in soundcheck.”
They might not have been very good, but you do have to respect Bono for acknowledging that the original simply couldn’t be replicated, and while U2 have certainly upped their game in the years since they first formed, the fact that they’ve chosen to abandon performing Thin Lizzy songs from their main set is perhaps more respectful of the legendary group than it would be to savagely pull apart their best work.