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U2 will honour a late Kiwi friend when they return to New Zealand to begin their Joshua Tree 2019 tour.
The Irish rock band is planning a special tribute to former roadie Greg Carroll during two shows at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium on November 8 and 9.
Carroll famously charmed his way into a job with U2 during their first visit to our shores for The Unforgettable Fire tour in 1984. He developed a close friendship with lead singer Bono and later worked as his personal assistant, before he was killed in a motorcycle crash in Dublin in July, 1986. He was 26.
Beginning the Australasian leg in Auckland will give special meaning to the tour as the band revisit their classic 1987 album and the iconic single One Tree Hill, which commemorate their dear friend.
“I’m so delighted that we’re starting in New Zealand,” Carroll’s former colleague, Willie Williams, U2’s long-time creative director, told the
Weekend Herald.
“Greg’s someone we’ve never forgotten. Obviously the album is dedicated to him. And even though One Tree
Hill, if you read the lyrics clearly, is about other things as well, it’s very much Greg’s spirit in that song and indeed in the album.
“In the past when that song has been played in New Zealand we’ve always tried to make it special for them and I’m sure we’ll do something for Greg again.”
Williams fondly recalls Carroll boldly approaching him and U2’s former production manager, Steve Iredale, on Karangahape Rd, just hours before their concert at the Logan Campbell Centre.
“This young lad came up to us and basically said, ‘hi, my name’s Greg, can I have a job?’ to which
we said, ‘bugger off ’,” he explained. “Greg, in a jovial way, of course, said, ‘no, really, man’. So Steve said, ‘oh sure, fine’ and he came to the show.
“He was obviously just a great spirit and a real live-wire, and he ended up helping out.” Carroll’s big break led to him being invited to continue working throughout the Australian tour leg, after which he moved to the UK to take up a fulltime gig with the band. Footage of U2’s 1985 Live Aid performance captures the good looking Maori boy from Wanganui going about his work onstage in front of 72,000 fans at Wembley Stadium and an estimated television audience of 1.9 billion. Carroll’s sister, Christina Asher, says it’s no surprise her charismatic brother quickly became a welcome addition to the U2 family. “He was just a very open and friendly guy, a bit cheeky, confident and intelligent.”
The circumstances of his death greatly affected the band, particularly Bono. The frontman had asked Carroll to deliver a motorcycle to him on a cold and wet night before he was hit in a head-on collision. “It was really a shock to the system because we were young, we were still mid-20s,” said Williams. “Particularly for Bono, it was a very, very big blow.”
Asher appreciates them maintaining connections with the family. “They always ask about mum. They are really lovely guys.”