With the world’s eyes glued to the plethora of World Cup qualifiers yesterday, even the biggest stars had to take a backseat. No matter how famous, everyone got the memo: don’t come in between soccer fans and their huge matches. And so, we have the story of U2 in Buenos Aires.
The megawatt Irish rock band delayed their concert at the Estadio Unico de La Plata in the Argentina capital, so that fans at the stadium could watch Argentina attempt to qualify for Russia 2018. Even Bono and The Edge didn’t want to go head to head with the Albiceleste festivities. Instead, the organizer of the event, Daniel Grinbank, sent former Oasis star Noel Gallagher out at 7pm. Following Gallagher’s set, four giant screens on the stage showed Argentina’s clash with Ecuador in Quito. It was only after Lionel Messi had singlehandedly dragged Argentina to the World Cup–via a hat trick in a 3-1 win–that U2 took the stage, at approximetaly 10:20PM.
In hindsight, the plan was genius. Argentina pulled out a win, and the rest of the group played perfectly into its hands, sending Messi and co. to Russia directly. Fans that attended the concert were thrilled with the win, and were able to ride the high of the win throughout the show. Meanwhile, U2 didn’t have to worry about people checking their phones for scores throughout their set; Bono even took a moment to give a toast to Messi after his first ever hat trick in World Cup qualifying. Say what you will about U2, but they definitely know what the fans want.