WASHINGTON — During Sunday's concert at The Sphere in Las Vegas, U2 updated the lyrics of one of their classic songs to pay tribute to the hundreds of people killed at a music festival in Israel during an attack by Hamas gunmen.
"In the light of what’s happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence…" Bono said while introducing the song "Pride (In the Name of Love)."
"But our hearts and our anger, you know where that’s pointed. So sing with us… and those beautiful kids at that music festival…"
The song, originally released in 1984, was written by the rock band as a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.
“Sing for our brothers and sisters — who they themselves were singing at the Supernova Sukkot festival in Israel,” Bono said, according to recordings posted on social media. “We sing for those. Our people, our kind of people, music people. Playful, experimental people. Our kind of people. We sing for them.”
“Early morning, Oct. 7, as the sun is rising in the desert sky,” he sang as part of the updated lyrics. “Stars of David, they took your life but they could not take your pride.”
He then repeated the “could not take your pride” line three times before leading U2 into the "Name of Love" chorus.
The open-air electronic music festival will go down in Israeli history as the site of the country's worst civilian massacre after paramedics recovered at least 260 bodies from a field near the border with Gaza.
The Tribe of Nova festival brought together thousands of young people to dance and revel in the swirl of bass-heavy beats. Dozens of Hamas militants who had blown through Israel’s heavily fortified separation fence and crossed into the country from Gaza opened fire on the Israelis.
“We were hiding and running, hiding and running, in an open field, the worst place you could possibly be in that situation,” said Arik Nani from Tel Aviv, who had gone to the party to celebrate his 26th birthday. “For a country where everyone in these circles knows everyone, this is a trauma like I could never imagine."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.