Watch: U2 Play 'Sunday Bloody Sunday,' 'Scarlet' With Jay-Z

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Last week U2 began their 10-date tour of New Zealand and Australia by having opening act Jay-Z come out to join them for "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and their 1981 super rarity "Scarlet" at Auckland's Mt. Smart Stadium. "Scarlet" (shown below) was played to celebrate the release of Burmese political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi, and was mashed up with Jay-Z's "History," which he wrote after President Obama was elected.

U2: The Rolling Stone Covers

The collaborations seemingly went off without a hitch, but the next night Jay-Z didn't come out during either of the songs. The tour continues December 1 at Melbourne Australia's Etihad Stadium.

Look back at three decades of U2, onstage and off

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'This Is the End' Brings the Goods
• 
  TV The Women of 'Mad Men'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

More Song Stories entries »

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