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U2 back in Mexico after bodyguard beating
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Irish rockers U2 perform at one of the world's most famous soccer stadiums on Wednesday on their first tour of Mexico since a rumpus eight years ago over the beating of one of their bodyguards.
Thousands of fans lined up outside the capital's Azteca Stadium, the only venue to have hosted the soccer World Cup final twice, before the concert.
Basking in glory after winning give Grammy awards last week, U2 will get a warm welcome at the concerts on Wednesday and Thursday.
"I don't know if they're here for the money or if they have forgiven us but the most important thing is that they are here. It doesn't matter why," said fan Fernando Sanchez, 40, outside the stadium.
U2's last tour of Mexico, in 1998, ended badly when a security guard working with the band was beaten with a pistol and hospitalized in an scuffle with the entourage of the son of then-President Ernesto Zedillo.
While Zedillo met the band in his residence and reputedly apologized, and although U2 frontman Bono says he held no grudge against the country, Mexico was noticeably absent from the band's North American tour in 2001.
The Azteca holds some 100,000 people for soccer games but its capacity has been cut to around 70,000 for the U2 gigs.
A fudged investigation into the death in Mexico of a friend of lead singer Bono, British singer Kirsty MacColl, added to speculation that U2 deliberately snubbed the country.
MacColl died in 2000 after being hit by a boat belonging to a Mexican supermarket magnate while swimming.
An employee of boat's owner was given a prison sentence, commuted to a fine, for manslaughter but MacColl's relatives want the businessman to be prosecuted.
At U2's weekend concert in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, Bono dedicated the song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" to MacColl, prompting President Vicente Fox's spokesman to say that the government was following the case.
Despite the long stage absence, Bono is a frequent visitor to Mexico and has described its beach resorts as his "refuge."
He is friends with Mexican actor Jaime Camil -- who appears in a 2005 film about a desperate attempt to bring U2 to play Mexico -- and with actress Salma Hayek, who participates in Bono's "One" campaign against global poverty and AIDS.
Hayek and Bono were photographed arm-in-arm outside the band's Mexico City hotel on Monday.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsA...1_N15383021_RTRIDST_0_MUSIC-LEISURE-U2-DC.XML
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Irish rockers U2 perform at one of the world's most famous soccer stadiums on Wednesday on their first tour of Mexico since a rumpus eight years ago over the beating of one of their bodyguards.
Thousands of fans lined up outside the capital's Azteca Stadium, the only venue to have hosted the soccer World Cup final twice, before the concert.
Basking in glory after winning give Grammy awards last week, U2 will get a warm welcome at the concerts on Wednesday and Thursday.
"I don't know if they're here for the money or if they have forgiven us but the most important thing is that they are here. It doesn't matter why," said fan Fernando Sanchez, 40, outside the stadium.
U2's last tour of Mexico, in 1998, ended badly when a security guard working with the band was beaten with a pistol and hospitalized in an scuffle with the entourage of the son of then-President Ernesto Zedillo.
While Zedillo met the band in his residence and reputedly apologized, and although U2 frontman Bono says he held no grudge against the country, Mexico was noticeably absent from the band's North American tour in 2001.
The Azteca holds some 100,000 people for soccer games but its capacity has been cut to around 70,000 for the U2 gigs.
A fudged investigation into the death in Mexico of a friend of lead singer Bono, British singer Kirsty MacColl, added to speculation that U2 deliberately snubbed the country.
MacColl died in 2000 after being hit by a boat belonging to a Mexican supermarket magnate while swimming.
An employee of boat's owner was given a prison sentence, commuted to a fine, for manslaughter but MacColl's relatives want the businessman to be prosecuted.
At U2's weekend concert in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, Bono dedicated the song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" to MacColl, prompting President Vicente Fox's spokesman to say that the government was following the case.
Despite the long stage absence, Bono is a frequent visitor to Mexico and has described its beach resorts as his "refuge."
He is friends with Mexican actor Jaime Camil -- who appears in a 2005 film about a desperate attempt to bring U2 to play Mexico -- and with actress Salma Hayek, who participates in Bono's "One" campaign against global poverty and AIDS.
Hayek and Bono were photographed arm-in-arm outside the band's Mexico City hotel on Monday.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsA...1_N15383021_RTRIDST_0_MUSIC-LEISURE-U2-DC.XML
