SCOTT: You must have felt very proud at the premiere on Thursday night. Everybody stood up at the end, and there was your big night. How did you feel ? Larry? MULLEN: Well, the Savoy, we used to go there as kids. I was wondering if we get in for free from now on. It was great. People in the city went to a lot of trouble. It's sort of difficult in your own city, especially now that the band has got quite big. There's a lot of cynicism, particularly within the press, so on one hand it was thrilling, on the other hand it was a little bit frightening. People think you set it up. It was mixed emotions, and mixed feelings. NIGHTINGALE: Talking of cynicism, there's always the inevitable backlash after anyone's very successful. Did you expect it to happen now ?. BONO: Yeah, actually, we did. It gets boring to say that U2 are great. In Ireland they've had this for years. And of course there's a lot more things going for Dublin, and for Ireland, than U2. So when they have U2 rammed down their throats I don't blame them throwing up now and then. I also think it is a very healthy thing to be cynical about rock'n'roll groups. I think it's particularly good to be cynical about the sort of groups that aspire to the sort of things that U2 do. Because we saw in the seventies how rock'n'rollers just got incredibly fat on their acclaim, so I actually think it's a good thing. I do understand it, although I obviously would prefer praise. SCOTT: One of the things that really came out of that film for me was the sense of danger, of not playing it safe, of taking chances. Was it important for that to come across? EDGE: I don't know if we'd know how to play safe, to be honest. The band's been surviving on its wits since we started. In the movie you probably see it in a way that you haven't seen up to now. We've got tracks like "Watchtower" that we'd never played before. It was the first time we played it live, and we put it on the record. SCOTT: But why did you do that? You were in the caravan rehearsing the thing just before you went on stage in San Francisco to do it. CLAYTON: Rock'n'roll is where you get up on the stage and you do it. I think we felt that there was something that was missing from these long, heavy American tours, that you're suddenly trapped and you can't get on to a stage without millions of roadies, and lights, and PA and whatever. But we said, "fuck it, we'll do for it." SCOTT: A lot of the recording that you did in the famous Sun Studios in Memphis was extremely exiting because it was recorded live. Bands, as I say, who've got to where you are, don't do things like that. They take two or three years. They hone and they refine. EDGE: We would do that if we were good enough to do it, but we've never been able to do that. We are not a band who could get the right by spending months. We would kill a song within about six hours, so normally it's the first few takes that have the magic. And from then on, it's terrible. NIGHTINGALE: Do you still have a backlog of stuff which is going to appear in the future?. BONO: We do intend to basically block up the airwaves for some time to come. The soft of mega-album from the mega-band, then the mega-silence, is just too much of a cliché at this point. It's so boring. U2, we're on a suicidal kind of - not physically, but mentally - we intend to make music until people are sick of us. We just don't care at this point. We've nothing to loose. All we intend to do is make sure that the BBC sounds like rock'n'roll for the next few years. SCOTT: Hear, Hear!. So how did it feel when you got "Desire" at Number One?. Your first Number One…. BONO: …and Bo Diddley was never Number One either, was he?. Well, he is now! (LAUGHTER) SCOTT: It must have felt good, though. BONO: It certainly did. We wrote it in five minutes, and recorded it in five minutes. It's true. It's a demo we put out. We nearly chickened out of it, but we didn't. It's about ambition, it's about wanting to be in a band, it's about wanting to be in a band for all the wrong reasons, not all the right reasons. People think U2 want to save the world, in fact we want to save out own ass - as well as the world, as it happens. It's about lust - lust for success. We've been in Los Angeles for the past six months, and I met with some very shady characters at various times, and they're doing terrible things in order to survive, and I have to say that rock'n'roll was our way out. We just wanted a way out. No big deal, no wanting to save the world. And, er - "guilty, Your Honour". "Desire" is a record of that. It's a beautiful three-minute rock'n'roll song. I'm delighted that the BBC play as much as the do. SCOTT: And I was delighted to hear it at Number One, after so much crud over the year. It was a great Number One. NIGHTINGALE: What did it feel like after the success of Joshua Tree? You had all the classic landmarks, like three Number One singles in America, the cover of Time magazine… So did you think, "What happens now?". BONO: No, not at all. Couldn't care less. One of the great things about being stinko (stinking rich)…(LAUGHTER)… is we don't have to worry about any of that. We couldn't care less about the success of our records at this point. We've had one LP that sold so many records that we don't have to worry about things like that again. We didn't even worry in the first place, I must say. But we certainly don't worry now. We're just after music. We haven't made the record that we want to make yet. And we're going to, one day, and that's really where we are right now. And I'm telling you, this is not the band of the eighties. We're just getting it together, just about. NIGHTINGALE: We've been asking people to ring in with some questions. This is an unusual one. Alan Ivory from Kent: "What do you think about bootleg tapes being sold?." BONO: As long as people don't pay too much for them, we've no problem with bootlegs. What I have a problem with is people charging five quid for a record that's you know, inferior, or a live concert that's been done on a Walkman. They're just extorting people who are into music and into U2. So I really object to them, and I think that they should all have their toenails pulled out. But if they do them at reasonable prices, no problem. MULLEN: I don't necessarily agree with Bono on this, because I think 99 per cent of it is rip-off merchants. The only system that works is when people tape things and swap them, no one has any objections to that. But when people start selling them on the street, I think it's always going to lead into extortion, and ripping people off. SCOTT: Let's throw this over to Paul McGuinness, who's their manager. Do you actually go after the bootleggers? McGUINNESS: Yes, if there are boatloads of them, yes. But I remember a few years ago when there was that stupid campaign that the record industry organised called "Home Taping is Killing Music". I remember thinking, "What a stupid thing to say. How could home taping kill music?. Home taping was spreading music, and I thought it was a good thing. Actually, let me qualify that a little. If there is some bastards in Taiwan who has got a boatload of couterfeit copies of Rattle and Hum, and he ships them to Europe, I hope it sinks…. NIGHTINGALE: We have a question from a Mr Davies from Cornwall: "What are the connections between U2 and the IRA? Does money from concerts go to the IRA? BONO: Well, the answer to that is very obvious to most people. And it's absolutely, no, there is no connection between U2 and the IRA. We stand against the IRA, we stand against the UVF, we stand against any men of violence. Our movie is very clear about that. But I will say that I would also be against the British Army being in Ulster. I don't think they want to be there. I don't think they should be there. It's a complex situation, there are no simple answers. But we are against violence, whatever way in manifests itself. NIGHTINGALE: Does that question shock you? BONO: It does, actually. I wonder who told that person that. Because that doesn't sound like their own theory. MULLEN: I remember there were a lot of letters came into the office about that. I think there was obviously something in the press or something. CLAYTON: It's like someone's not listened to the music. Why are they asking that question? BONO: I just feel that it is a very complex problem. I sympathise, I understand where they've come from. I don't understand the situation, really, but I can guess. Let's face it, Ireland is a small island off Europe, and the fact that the British government divided it into two countries is a bit ridiculous. I must say, I recognise that. It was a British government started the problem. I would hope that they could find a solution to the problem. But I know one thing. The solution is not in violence - wherever it comes from. And U2 stands against that. NIGHTINGALE: We have a live person who's going to ask you a question. Ian Murphy is from Sutton in Surrey. Hello, Ian. CALLER: Do you plan to bring session musicians on the road for the next tour? For example, the trumpet part from "Angel of Harlem"?. BONO: I'll tell you what my dream would be. I would love to take B.B. King on tour with us next year, with his brass section. What do you think of that, Ian?. CALLER: I think that the four of you on stage, the power is just something special. I wouldn't like to see that affected by the backing musicians. BONO: It's funny, our manager feels exactly the same way, with his hand on …not his heart, his wallet (LAUGHTER). I must say, that's a very interesting question. If we do take people on the road next year, I wouldn't like it to interfere with what goes on between the four of us, and I absolutely agree with that. EDGE: So we're all taking trumpet lessons… MULLEN: It's very hard, when you have four members of a band, to bring other people on. If you bring a keyboard player or an extra guitar player, I think that can definitely interfere. But I think with a brass section, it wouldn't be for the whole concert. SCOTT: Now Alison is on the line from Mansfield. CALLER: I've got a question for Bono. What is "tour madness", and how does it affect you? BONO: Tour madness? It's like cabin fever. I think I talked about tour madness in defence of my own indefensible behaviour in San Francisco, where I sprayed on the sculpture. When you're on tour for long periods of time..Listen, I've got the greatest job in the world, and I'm totally overpaid for it, but that said, there are times when no matter how beautiful your hotel room is, it doesn't matter what hotel it is, at times you start to feel like a prisoner. It's true, and it's a terrible Spinal Tap Cliché, but sometimes it just brings the worst out of you. You find yourself not going to bed at night, because you can't come down after the concerts. Concerts are everything for me, but basically twenty-two hours of the day are hell, and two hours when you walk on stage are sort of heaven. But after you come back to your hotel room, it's a very lonely place. Even if your mates are just down the hall from you sometimes it's just a very lonely place. NIGHTINGALE: Now, Mel from Wrexham. CALLER: First of all, I'd like to say thanks to U2 for their music, because I find it very moving and inspiring. Thanks for being one of the few bands that really matter. My question is this - you deeply held Christian beliefs are evident in your music. How does they influence you day-to-day lives as rock stars? BONO: They really, really confuse us. It's true, I am a believer, and some of us are believers. We are Christians, and yet I don't feel I can say that lightly. I don't feel I'm worthy of the term Christian. I don't feel that I really live up to that. It's a very private thing with us, and we're not very comfortable talking about it in public, because we're only just working it out. So I can't really answer your question, because I haven't really found an answer to it. SCOTT: Let's go to Willesden now, and it's Nia Harty. Hello. CALLER: Why is Larry so shy?. MULLEN: Why am I so shy? (LAUGHTER) It's not a question of being shy. It's just that it's hard to be something that you don't really feel - this is hard to explain - I don't feel like a pop star. I don't feel like I can articulate myself in the same way as some of the other guys, so I just keep quiet. When I have something to say, I say it. When I don't have something to say, I won't say it. It's just more a question of keeping the trap shut until there's something to say. CLAYTON: I think Larry is so much better than the rest of us, the only way he can make us relaxed is by being shy. NIGHTINGALE: Listen guys, it's been marvellous, we've enjoyed it. BONO: Thank you, It's a great thing, you know, the BBC. No commercials, it's just the way it should be. We really like being here. In fact, when the group first came to London, we used to do these sessions (for Radio 1), because it was the only way to get heard. I just wish John Peel had played us, actually, I called him up once from a phone-box. I was eighteen, I suppose. I don't know how I got his phone number, but I called him up and got through. His wife answered, and I said, "Hello, could I speak to John Peel, please?:" She was very nice, actually. She said, "John, I think this is for you". - this you'll laugh at, but in Ireland, the public phones don't work the same way, and it was chewing up all my change, it kept cutting on and off - and his wife said, "This guy keeps getting cut off. I think he's a Paddy." (LAUGHTER) And I said, "I am a Paddy. Play our records on the radio. He never really did put our records on the radio, but I must say still his show is a great, great show. CLAYTON: I think we should mention that Annie Nightingale kept us warm through many a long night in the back of a Ford Transit van… NIGHTINGALE: Really?. (LAUGHTER) Thank you, Adam!.