Watch as U2's The Edge Becomes First Rock Musician to Perform in Sistine Chapel
By Shane Barnes
Seeing as legendary rockers U2 have been around since 1976, it's not typical to read about them in a trailblazing sense. This isn't that, either, really, but it's still pretty neat: This weekend, U2's guitarist, The Edge (birth name David Evans, which is nowhere near cool as The Edge) became the first rock musician to perform at the Sistine Chapel.
The acoustic performance included U2 songs "Ordinary Love," "Yahweh," "Walk On," and a beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen's "If It Be Your Will," on which The Edge was assisted by an Irish choir. According to Reuters, The Edge accepted the invitation to perform with some apprehension, seeing as he's not the member of U2 who is usually first approached to perform. "When they asked me if I wanted to become the first contemporary artist to play in the Sistine Chapel, I didn't know what to say because usually there's this other guy who sings," referring, if you couldn't guess, to Bono.
Watch some snippets of the performance below. Thoughts on U2 or The Edge aside, the space is undeniably one of the most beautiful and historically significant in the world, and for both performer and audience it must've been an amazing experience.