1998-03-13

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Offices, Cape Town, South Africa

Set List of Show:

Songs Performed:

"Amazing Grace"
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"

Additional Music

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

Show Details:

U2 meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu upon arriving in South Africa for the PopMart tour. It is their first meeting with the man, and they meet with him at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Offices. There’s a small problem however, he’s promised those there that U2 are there to perform, and they do give a short performance of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Amazing Grace”.

In remembering ArchBishop Desmond Tutu after his death, Bono shared, “I cannot forget the look on the very reverend’s face the first time we met him in 1998, when U2 and other guests crowded into his office of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Cape Town. The look wasn’t indulgent or even dutiful, it was polite verging on dismissive. If I could have spelled it out: TOURISTS. ‘Let us bow our heads,’ he said to the traveling circus (half of whom were not at all religious). ‘And let us ask the Holy Spirit into the room to bless the work going on in this building, and to search all of our hearts for how we can do more to fulfill Your Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven.’”

“The Arch wasn’t messing about. For all the mischief he was known to make, he was just not going to let us waste his time, and he wasn’t going to waste ours. He talked a while about the philosophy behind truth and reconciliation—about his deep belief that they have to happen in that order, that we need to see ourselves before we can be redeemed. Only after the truth has its way can a clenched fist become an open hand.”

“Then without warning he trundled us upstairs, where he had assembled a hundred or so volunteers in a large room. He announced, again without warning, that U2 was ‘here to play for you.’ Which was awkward. We had no instruments, and we’ve never been known for singing a capella. We attempted a version of ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,’ to which he added the full stop and amen: ‘Neither have we.’”

Officially Released Tracks