Bono, How I Love Thee; Let Me Count The Ways

It’s happened gradually, but I fear I am near complete saturation in my attempt to be all things Bono to the ministry of worship. How so?

I can’t do “Everlasting God” without adding the bridge of “With or Without You.”

I continually ask my band to play U2 songs in soundcheck or dismissal of services.

I ask people to join me on stage.

Let me explain: as many of you know, during the Vertigo tour, Bono began allowing people on stage to actually play with the band. At the particular show I attended in Dallas, they let a 20-year old kid strap on one of Edge’s acoustics and rock “Angel of Harlem” in front of thousands of people.

As I watched it play out on stage that night, I remember Bono saying something like, “Why do I do things like this?”

Well, I had one such Bono-esque thought tonight.

We took a three-piece to Colmesniel and it went quite well. This always happens when I do stuff w/ acoustic, drums and bass. I end up enjoying it a great deal, mostly because drums and bass are a bit more present and I am required to play in a much different style.

However, in setting up, Sean (the pastor at the church) mentions that the kid who’ll be running our Powerpoint is a very good electric guitar player. You know what happened, right? I pull Sean aside and say something like:

“If I asked Cameron to play electric for us tomorrow night, do you think he could?”

Sean gives me a definite yes, so I find Cameron a few minutes before we started. I thought the kid was gonna’ hug me. He was so excited. Then to make matters worse, I tell the crowd in between songs that Cameron will be joining us for the Tuesday night service. Talk about over-committing!

I actually think the kid is gonna’ do great, but I do hear a tiny little Bono-voice saying “Why do I do things like this?”

Question of the Day:Musicians, who COULD you join on stage?