It struck us so strongly that President Zelensky, this person who has rallied his entire country to stand up to the bully of Vladimir Putin, was, in his previous life, an actor and stand-up comic. That was our entry point for the new words.
It’s a funny thing, how things turn out, since it was a little while later that we got the word from his chief of staff that they would like to invite us to come and play in Kyiv. About a week after that request came through — since there was a very short window where it was possible — myself and Bono were on a train, which we climbed on in Poland. We were traveling at night through Ukraine to get to Kyiv. The following morning, we arrived just as the air raid sirens were going off, which was a little disconcerting. We went almost directly to this subway station where they set up a little stage area for us to perform. We did about seven or eight songs.
We had thought to ourselves to involve a local musician. Through a friend, we found the number for this Ukrainian singer, Taras [Topolia], who is a very well-known Ukrainian singer. Bono cold-calls him the day before we leave. He gets on the phone, and we hear him running breathlessly. He goes, “Taras, it’s Bono.” “OK, hold on one second.” It turns out that Taras, like so many young Ukrainians, had volunteered for the armed forces and was actually on the front line in Ukraine when we called him.
We made the call very brief, and basically communicated to him that we were coming to Kyiv to perform and would he come sing with us? We weren’t sure if he was going to be able to. He said that if his commanding officer was up for it, that he would. Sure enough, we got word that he was on his way.
He came and climbed onstage with us to perform “Stand By Me” at the end of our little set in the subway station. He was still in his uniform. He literally came straight from the front line.
That was quite a trip. To see the devastation in some of the districts of Kyiv that had been occupied by the Russians was extremely distressing. To talk to some of the local people that survived and see the mass graves of those that didn’t survive…. It was a lot to take in, and very, very affecting. And again, this bizarre collision of art and reality. But it just shows you again how songs, to some extent, have a life of their own if you’re so prone to serve them.