Irish band U2 are making headlines. Earlier this week, they performed on top of Rockefeller Centre in New York to open Jimmy Fallon’s tonight show debut. They’re also up for an Oscar for their song "Ordinary Love", written for the movie "Mandela: Long walk to freedom". And, for the first time, an exhibition dedicated to the band has been set up in their home town.
U2 may be Ireland’s biggest musical export - but up until recently very little has been done to celebrate the bands history in Ireland. Now for the first time, a rare permanent exhibition has been set up in the bands home town – Dublin, to honor them.
Simon O'Connor, curator of Little Museum of Dublin, said, "Here in the museum we felt that it was unusual that there wasn’t anything of the kind dedicated to the band in their home town. Fans travel to Dublin and they go to windmill lane and they get in taxis and drive around parts of the city where the band are living but there was no dedicated exhibit to U2 and to the story of how they start in Dublin and how they are a Dublin band with a big connection to the city."
Curated by photographers and loyal fans of the band from across the globe. Rare memorabilia, signed photos and albums are on display. And visitors are walked through U2’s history year by year.
"I’m a big fan of U2 and that’s why I came to Dublin to visit the home town of U2 and so I heard about this exhibition from one of my friends and he told me I had to come here and it’s really interesting a lot of photos and I was on a pop mart tour in 1997 and I can remember some nice pictures and photos," said a German tourist.
"They should do an exhibit in the rock and roll hall of fame in Cleveland, that would be fantastic. It reminds me of that, we have been there, this reminds me of that. This would be fantastic there,”American tourists said.
The exhibit is still a work in progress and the museum is calling on fans from around the world to donate rare items.
Members of U2 have also come to visit giving the exhibition their seal of approval.
"Two of the band have come into see the exhibit themselves, Bono and the Edge came in over Christmas but unfortunately none of our staff recognized them. But they signed a lovely note in the visitors book," Simon said.
While the band may have visited unnoticed, museum staff say receiving a piece of memorabilia from the bands own collection would be a dream come through.
