U2 Flog Off Their Stuff For Hurricane Katrina

We usually find it hard to agree with anything U2 do, but now that U2 have auctioned their instruments to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, we're thrilled - this way disaster victims get funds and U2 don't have anything to play their crappy songs on.

Wait… what? U2 didn't sell all of their gear off for the New York Hard Rock Cafe Hurricane Katrina auction? They still have a bunch more instruments left over to make music with? That's a disappointment - and what's with Bono? The Edge sold a guitar, Larry Mullens Jr sold a drum and Adam Clayton sold a bass - but Bono? A pair of sunglasses and a guitar, which is hardly what he's famous for. Perhaps the auction would have raised more money if Bono had promised to slice out his vocal cords and hand them over to the winner instead. We'd have certainly placed a bid.

Hurricane Katrina happened close to two years ago now, and yet the wounds it left are still fresh. But it's not all bad, because at least it gave famous people something to do. Sandra Bullock immediately donated a million dollars to the relief fund, Brad Pitt did his best to rebuild New Orleans, Elton John played a special charity concert and Sharon Stone wrote a not very good song. And yet money is still needed. 

While the world waits for that Michael Jackson Katrina single, U2 have decided to take matters into their own hands. This time, though, it was guitarist The Edge who was in charge of things and not Time's man of the year, honorary Knight of the British Empire, part-time magazine editor and full-time costly hat transporter Bono, as U2 headed the bill on Saturday at an auction that raised close to $2.5 million for musicians whose livelihoods had been decimated by Hurricane Katrina.

Although none of U2's instruments raised the highest amount of money, at least they had the decency to turn up and watch the auction - unlike bloody Jimi Hendrix, whose guitar went for $400,000 and somehow felt the need to stay at home. Reuters reports:

The beloved Gibson Les Paul guitar of U2's The Edge fetched $240,000 (120,000 pounds) and Bono's sunglasses pulled in $20,000 at an auction on Saturday… The Edge [also] donated his 1958 Gibson archtop guitar, which sold for $105,000 and an assortment of accessories worn on stage, including a pair of sneakers ($7,000) and one of his signature cotton knit caps ($11,000).

But it wasn't all The Edge and Jimi Hendrix at the Katrina auction. Bono also sold a guitar for $180,000, Adam Clayton sold a bass for $22,000 and Larry Mullen Jr sold a tom tom for $19,000, while Bill Clinton's saxophone and a pair of John Lennon's sunglasses all helped to raise money for charity.

As well as helping the musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina, the auction also marked the first time that a large selection of U2 memorabilia had been put up for sale. And it's just as well that it made a lot of money, because if it hadn't U2 may have been forced to sell their trousers to top up the funds. And we all know the sort of shitty tantrums that U2 throw when they're parted with their trousers.

Read more:

U2's Instruments To Help Katrina Victims - Reuters