Although U2 is renown for tackling covers of such heroes as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, and more — Bono and The Edge took everyone by surprise with their new online cover of Led Zeppelin's “Stairway To Heaven.”
Rolling Stone posted that the pair took a break fro their recent activities to launch the band's upcoming SiriusXM channel U2 X-Radio and decide to pay tribute to their road crew, with Bono explaining, “There’s one annoying aspect of an Irish crew that has to be said. Wherever you go in the world, whatever venue you’re playing — whether it’s the Olympia or 3 Arena or Madison Square Garden — you walk into the venue and it’s a big moment, and you’ll hear a song that we said, 'We’ll never, ever play this.' And that’s right, 'Stairway To Heaven.' These professionals believe they play this better than the band. And y'know, it might be true.”
The Edge explained that ultimately with U2, the more things change, the more they stay the same: “That's the thing about a band, you get together at age 17, 18 — you all decide you wanna do the same thing, which is make music together, and then the years go by but you kinda still kind of maintain that same dynamic and it's, it's remarkable not so much what's changed over the years, but how little has changed over the years. Y'know, when we get into the studio, it still feels like we're making our first album. It's that same sort of intensity and combines with ambition and a little bit of desperation, as well. And you really just wanna give it your best, and nothing really much has changed over the years.”
