U2's The Edge surprises Dublin music students at graduation

The Edge at the ceremony

U2’s The Edge surprised students from Dublin’s BIMM music college at their graduation ceremony.

The guitarist’s appearance was kept firmly under wraps until he was welcomed on stage at the city’s Tivoli Theatre – with some pearls of wisdom for BIMM’s (British And Irish Modern Music Institute) Class of 2016.

He says: “When U2 were in school, we managed to benefit from the tuition of great music teachers. We maintain a strong belief in the idea of music education and that’s why we co-founded Music Generation.

“BIMM Dublin is such a cool thing, and I’m delighted to be here and support what I think is incredibly useful and helpful for the rock’n’roll scene in Dublin.”

The Edge, real name David Howell Evans, also recalls their own rocky rise to stardom – in which they were almost dropped from their label after their second album October in 1981. He says accepting lower advance payments in return for greater artistic control over their own work helped secure their recording contract.

The Edge continues: “Success can be many different things, and everyone’s definition is going to be different. If you try too hard to please the world will lose interest.

“The best way to becoming commercially successful is to ignore the world and concentrate on the work. I’m sure it feels like you still have a lot to prove, but you’ve already succeeded. You’re here, you’ve graduated, you live in Ireland, and I look forward to seeing you down the road!”

The Edge then personally greeted each graduate and gave them a specially commissioned BIMM pin before they were given their scrolls by senior staff.

It was recently announced that U2 frontman Bono would be named Glamour magazine’s first ever Man Of The Year at their Women Of The Year Awards next week.

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Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.