In a recent interview Bono had with Billboard he was asked why, despite years of speculations, U2 has never actually played in India. The singer’s answer left little room for doubt that it was not for lack of motivation on U2’s part.
“The band kept wanting to go to India,” Bono asserted, “but ended up pushing it off time and time again. We kept thinking, ‘well, the next tour we’ll figure it out,’ and ‘the next tour we’ll figure it out,’ and we didn’t. It’s taken us this long.”
According to Bono, the main reason why U2 has never performed in India is technical: India is huge, and in parts, inaccessible. US’s gear is also huge, and lugging it around poses many difficulties. Ideas to perform in a more stripped-down matter were considered but ultimately shut down.
“We could’ve come to India many years ago with a stripped-down show, but we felt that if we are going to go, we want India to see us as we are everywhere else,” explained Bono.
“At one point we were talking about doing an acoustic show at the Taj Mahal,” he added longingly. “That would be a dream. Just the shapes and the meditation on love that it is; we feel our music is that meditation on love.”
We can only hope for U2 fans in India that this love will eventually find a way to bypass the difficulties preventing the band from coming over.
