Prime Minister Paul Martin and U2 lead singer Bono have a good relationship. You could even say they’re friends. They forged their friendship while Martin was Canada’s finance minister and the two of them were working on joint international projects such as helping to alleviate poverty in Africa. Bono even made an appearance at the Liberal convention last year where Martin was elected leader of the party.
Recently, to support its most recent record, U2 headed out on a world tour — but Ottawa, as it turned out, wasn’t going to get a tour date.
An Ottawa radio station, however, thought this was a shame and petitioned the Prime Minister’s Office to see if the PM could convince his pal Bono to have the band swing through Ottawa. The station, known as BOB-FM even promised that if the PM’s influence bore fruit, they’d rename the station to PAUL-FM for a day. Martin actually participated in a phone-in show (listen to that phone-in interview) earlier this year and promised to do what he could.
Well, yesterday, U2 announced it will be coming through Ottawa on November 25. And, good to its word, BOB-FM listeners are tuning in to only to find they’ve dialled in to PAUL-FM.