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Shake, Rattle And Roll

• Stuart Bailie
• 11 Mar 08, 11:55 PM

I occasionally ask myself that if Bono hadn’t encouraged Trimble and Hume to shake hands ten years ago, would we currently have peace in Northern Ireland? This might seem like a facetious idea, but really, if the ‘Yes’ referendum had died back then, the centre ground might also have perished. We could still be living in a mean, fractious place. We might not have witnessed the housing boom, the construction fever and the arrival of .

The feature on this week’s ATL TV was a perfect time to consider all this. Rigsy, myself and Rick McMurray from Ash spent some time at the Waterfront, musing over that intense run of events on May 19, 1998. The ‘Yes’ concert had followed on from a series of bad news days, featuring Michael Stone and the Balcombe Street Bombers. The posters on the wall had been urging us to ‘Build The Peace’ but the wreckers were everywhere. And the poll predictions were looking nasty.

So U2 and Ash played to 2 000 Sixth Formers at the Waterfront, and Bono copied an old trick that he’d learned from Bob Marley at the One Love concert in Kingston, 1978. The reggae boss had pulled the political leaders Manley and Seaga together onstage, to send out a positive signal to the riotous city. And so Belfast got its first public handshake from Trimble and Hume, while the U2 singer held their arms up like prize fighters.

John Hume was in tears afterwards. He was all used up, emotionally busted. We watched the News At Ten and the story had made the third bong. Larry Mullen grinned the biggest grin and Edge did the inscrutable zen twinkle. Rock and roll had turned impending disaster into a publicity coup. It saved Northern Ireland from an uncertain nightmare. That’s not me being absurdly dramatic. That’s simply what happened.

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.

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