It was the landmark concert on May 19th, 1998 that helped the push for a Yes vote during the referendum campaign for the Belfast Agreement, held just three days later.
One scene from the concert became a defining image of the campaign and the march towards peace in Northern Ireland. It was U2 frontman Bono raising the hands of David Trimble, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader, and John Hume, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), like prize fighters, coming – unusually – from the same corner and fighting for Northern Ireland to say Yes.
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“I found myself in between two great men,” the singer says, recalling the moment 25 years on from the agreement. “Not the meat but the butter in the sandwich. The referee at the big fight holding up the hands that history should be kind to, and everyone living on this island.”
Looking back, Bono remembers planning the moment backstage at The Waterfront Hall in Belfast as guests at the concert of Northern Ireland band Ash. He recalls making an unusual request to the politicians before going out on stage.
“In the dressingroom I had one half-good idea that turned out great,” Bono says, “which was to win over the crowd with an impossible ask for a politician: ‘Could you walk on the stage and not speak?’
“‘If you speak,’ I told them, ‘you’ll likely invite some boos as is the tradition at rock shows. A photo op is all we need here. This is deadly serious, but it’s also show business.’ They both smiled.”
During the interaction on stage with the politicians, the singer “caught a glimpse of two men from different traditions who came to a common understanding about the common good”.
Bono mentions that in the One Campaign group he cofounded, they say that “you don’t have to agree on everything if the one thing you agree on is important enough”.
For Hume and Trimble, he says, the common ground was peace.
The two men were later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their long and difficult efforts in finding a peaceful solution to the Troubles.
“Alfred Nobel invented both dynamite and the detonator. Both of these men knew very well the suffering that followed in the wake of those inventions,” Bono says.
This week, Mark Durkan, who headed the SDLP campaign for a Yes vote and later succeeded Hume as the party’s leader, said the buzz generated by the concert helped boost the Yes campaign against strong campaigning by those opposed to the Belfast Agreement.
The concert helped energise the campaign, Durkan told the Press Association. Three days later, the referendum passed with a resounding 71 per cent of votes cast in favour of the peace accord.
To mark the agreement’s 25th anniversary, Bono put pen to paper and attempted, he says, to turn “glimpse into eulogy” by paying tribute in pen portraits – “one poetry, one prose” – to two architects of the peace – Hume, who died in August 2020, and Trimble, who died last July.
Portrait of John Hume
Leadership.
We were looking for a giant and found a man whose life made all our lives bigger.
We were looking for some superpowers and found clarity of thought, kindness and persistence.
We were looking for revolution and found it in parish halls with tea and biscuits and late-night meetings under fluorescence.
We were looking for a negotiator who understood that no one wins unless everyone loses something... and that peace is the only victory.
We were looking for joy and heard it in the song of a man who loved his town so well and his missus even more. We were looking for a great leader and found a great servant. We found John Hume. – Bono
Portrait of David Trimble
Faith in the future.
The man who celebrated the Good Friday Agreement… by going for a quiet meal with his family in a fish restaurant was not just a product of Presbyterianism. He was an expression of it.
In the Presbyterian tradition the congregation stands when the bible is brought in.
Words matter. They really matter. Not for them the smells and bells and very few symbols… because symbols matter too.
David Trimble’s religion was defined by a reverence for education, for intellectual rigour and an unbending but deep sense of moral duty.
A man with a quick temper but an even quicker intellect.
A brilliant lawyer who turned out, when it really mattered, to be a brilliant listener as well.
A politician who was seen as “a hardliner” who, when the moment came, made the hard choice for peace.
A leader whose tradition has often said “No”, who understood the painful but vital work of ensuring that the tradition could say “Yes”.
Shy, bookish, a little socially awkward but courage brings its own charisma.
David Trimble in the end, despite the caricatures common on this island, showed us southerners that Presbyterians can smile and even laugh – as long as it doesn’t lead to dancing! – Bono
The portraits of Hume and Trimble by artist Shane Gillen are part of a hand-drawn series called The Architects of Agreement commemorating the signatories of the Belfast Agreement to mark the 25th anniversary of the peace deal. Known for his Pandemic Portraits, Gillen has turned his attention to the Northern Ireland peace process for his latest work, featuring more than 30 portraits of politicians, civil rights activists and community leaders who played a pivotal role in the peace process.
