U2 lay down tracks on Berlin subway

Tom Chaplin’s Big Issue Busk must have made waves as far away as Berlin as U2 gave their own intimate street-side gig in the German capital.

The veteran Irish rockers celebrated the release of 14th record Songs of Experience earlier this week by stunning commuters with renditions of old classics One and new tune Get Out of Your Own Way.

The Vertigo combo boarded an underground train at Deutsche Oper to, aptly, perform for 120 competition winners on the U-Bahn in a 15-minute acoustic set.

The moment your subway stops at the station and Bono enters the door singing….#U2#U2SongsofExperience#TheU2Experience#U2Berlin#bvgpic.twitter.com/qXaldf9Tkm

— U2tour (@U2tour) December 6, 2017

U2 just performed in the my underground line of U2 Berlin ???? pic.twitter.com/V9VXRozSf7

— RΛMIN NΛSIBOV (@RaminNasibov) December 6, 2017

The concert was just a short distance from where Bono and Co recorded Achtung Baby at Hansa Studios in 1990.

You can see Malcolm Jack’s thoughts on whether U2 have gone off the rails or if Songs of Experience has given them a new platform here.

While it might have been a Beautiful Day for German commuters, Keane fans up and down the UK were treated to exclusive intimate gigs with Chaplin last weekend.

The former indie band’s frontman played festive favourites from his new Christmas album Twelve Tales of Christmas alongside old classics like Somewhere Only We Know and a cover of East 17’s Stay Another Day in London, Birmingham’s St Philip’s Cathedral and Buchanan Street in Glasgow.

“If you see a Big Issue seller, please buy a copy. Every week, for the rest of your life,” Chaplin told the 200+ crowd inside London’s Christmas-tastic Borough Market on Saturday.

He added: “I live in London and spend a lot of time in the city, and with it being such a freezing cold winter and still seeing homeless people on our streets, it seemed right to do this.

“The turnout was fantastic. It was really nice because there were the more dedicated fans who got down for the start, but then more and more people turned up and the numbers began to swell.

Tom chaplin busking in Glasgow for the big issue. Another lonely Christmas. @tomchaplin@keaneofficial@BigIssue@KeaneShadowpic.twitter.com/0q2ZFJln3L

— Jambo-Glasgow (@jambo_glasgow) December 7, 2017

“This is a time of year when we’re all buying lots of stuff, we’re in this mode of celebration and hooking up with family, but for many people the reality of Christmas is obviously very different.

“It’s important to stop and reflect how it might be different for other people at this time of year, and how supporting initiatives such as The Big Issue is a very important thing to do.”

See all of the best photos from Tom Chaplin’s whistle-stop busking tour of the UK in next week’s Big Issue, available on Monday, December 11.