by Fredrick C. Fairbairn

It was a great show(of course)but it seems that out of every review or posting I have read on this show and was somehow omitted from their movie "Rattle And Hum" Was a little known occurance. It was the first bay area show after the "Save The Yuppies" concert at the Embarcadero Center where Bono Tagged the hideous so-called piece of art fountain with the words "Rock-n-Roll Stops The Traffic". It was the first of two shows at the Stadium in Oakland Ca. Bono at the begining of the show informed the audience that he was told he would be arrested if he set foot in San Francisco for de-facing the fountain there. He then invited a dozen or so street artist that had been recruited from the Market Street onto the stage. The artist were positioned behind the stage,the lenghth of the stage. As the concert progressed a mural the width of the stage was raised as the artists painted away on it. This went on for the entire show. When the mural was finished it read "Peace In Centro America". He thanked the artists and said that the mural would be sent to the office of the then presiding Mayor of San Francisco Diane Feinstein as an apology for vandalizing the fountain in her fair city. Later Bono was quoted as saying that "I am an artist not a vandle". In his defence over the whole fiasco. Later to be enlightened when he got lost down a one way street in his native land of Ireland he read someone elses graffiti which read "I'm not an artist I'm a vandle". Bono also said that seeing that put things into perspective for him.

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