I am always looking for great cover versions of songs that add something to the original or I also like when artists strip a song right back to its core and play the song on acoustic or with a couple of band members. I found out in an interview with Blur's Damon Albarn that their rock classic "Song 2" was originally penned as a kind of melancholic ballad that never got fast. It was meant to be a slow one. Graham Coxon got his mitts on it and it became what is today. I love little stories like this about a song. The Beatles are famous for this kind of thing. I was on a Beatles black cab tour recently and past by the gravestone of Eleanor Rigby. She wasn't around when Paul was young but he always passed her gravestone by the church. There is a famous Liverpool football manager called Bob Paisley in a grave a little bit down so for a music and football fan , I was in my element. Anyway back to the music.
The other night I went back to my old favourites . Tiny desk concerts where you see the artist pretty much naked performing for a group in the office. These Tiny Desk concerts can reveal an awful lot about an artist and why they are famous in the first place. I remember watching Lizzo perform and my mind was totally changed about her after watching her. She is crazily talented and can even play the jazz flute. I also seen a French band called Phoenix on it who were all a bit sheepish and shy and they were excellent. The stunning beautiful lead singer from Wolf Alice was very visibly uncomfortable in the office environment but again put on a great performance. And then I remembered Alt J who looked like 2 nerds in a garage with little childrens instruments put on a great show with a choir who were in awe of them. All these new bands have shy musicians who are not really performers as such. How would Jagger get on in a tiny desk or some old school rock band in their 60's. Their voices would be well gone so they wouldn't dare go on a Tiny Desk. Until last week it just so happened an old aging band did go on Tiny Desk. U2 front man Bono and the Edge appeared on Tiny Desk much to my surprise. U2 are an Irish band who made it big in the states and then globally. They are a bit like marmite. You either love them or you hate them. They caused uproar when Apple gave away their album for free with their new itunes update. How dare they give me music for free. HOW DARRRRREEEE THEY!!! When you think of the reason why people give out now. It is rather funny. For me I always liked a few U2 songs. I was never a massive fan but I did like some of the Edges guitar techniques which are quite hard to do. He's a harmonics man and anyone who has ever tried to play harmonics on a guitar knows it is rather hard to get right. This makes the Edge massively underrated. For years Bono has been going on about saving the world and the environment and people have got sick of him. But he is meant to be a sound man. Whenever any bands such as Oasis or the Verve came over and did a big gig in Ireland , Bono used to have a keg waiting for them, In fact most of the rock hall of fame love Bono, even the rebel rockers such as Liam Gallagher loves the man. There are many stories where Bono has stopped for fans and took pictures. So I always say give the man a chance. Bono always converts.
So here I was looking at this Tiny Desk with two old timers with a duration of around 20 minutes. It was 1am in the morning. Why bloody not. It's either going to be a disaster or very very good. And I have to say it was very very good.
The thing I noticed most of all was that these guys have been playing with each other for 40 years now. So they could find each other in the dark and know what the other one is about to do. Bono has gotten older looking but the edge is still the same. And the most surprising thing about it was that Bono didn't get a note wrong. They were excellent. It was the best Tiny Desk I have seen in a long time. They played Stuck in the Moment which I found out is about Michael Hutchinson. I never actually knew that. I makes sense when you listen to it. They played beautiful Day as well. I am not a fan of this song but they gave it a good showing. In a little while was played which is a great song to learn when you are starting out your guitar. The song "Walk On " at the end was changed for the Ukraine which I found excellent. The whole gig was emotional listening to old songs. There was a choir backing them as well and I think they just rang the local choir up to come in so you want to see their faces singing with two rock legends. They were so happy looking. So all my three tunes are in one location today. On this video. I will leave out Beautiful Day if 
0:20 - Beautiful Day
5:01 — In A Little While
10:08 — Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
16:09 — Walk On
Tell me what you think. It is a free U2 concert though so don't give me hassle if you don't want it.
