Our intrepid reporter and photographer Phil Romans is at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA this evening bringing us the play-by-play as Bono receives the Liberty Medal for his philanthropic work. Here’s his report from the field:
6:00 p.m.: There are alot of people wearing (RED) and ONE T-shirts in the audience. There are three main viewing areas – the seats are towards the front, then about 85 yards away is the media stage (where Phil is); behind the media stage is the first of two General Admission standing areas. Across the street from the first GA area is the 2nd GA area outside the Independence Hall Visitor’s Center. Former President George H.W. Bush is “in the house” and because of that, security is very tight for the event.
DATA’s Jamie Drummond came to speak with the media. Phil asked him “How important is Bono to DATA?” Jamie’s reply was that he wanted other people to help out Bono…Bono carries too much of the load for DATA and he’d like to see the load be shifted away from Bono and more towards others.
8:00 p.m.: Bono has finished his remarks. He begins by saying he is the “Fidel Castro of speechifying.” In a surprising move, he’s created new “bono-isms” this evening such as: “I’m not exactly what you call house trained, or White House trained.” (Bono’s full remarks will be posted shortly.) Other news Bono shared – the rest of the U2ers are in the studio this evening and have chosen not to fire Bono for, yet again, not being with them. Bono said the band understands that Philadelphia is an important city for the band.
There were *many* empty seats at the start of the ceremony. The event organizers brought some of the general admission fans who were standing farthest in back and let them sit in the areas where it looked pretty sparse.
Prior to receiving the medal, former President Bush gave remarks. He described Bono as one of the “brightest points of light.” He also brought some levity and humor to the occasion by suggesting that Bono change his look. He suggested that a pair of shades he wore on a recent trip to Indonesia would be a good choice in shaking up his image. (Those shades were not exactly the best fashion statement – big, black, and well, really ugly.)
Other remarks came from the Mayor of Philadelphia, the Governor of Pennsylvania, the President and CEO of the National Constitution Museum, and the former Finance Minister of Nigeria and fellow DATA Policy Board member Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Her remarks were quite inspiring as she shared the success of the Jubilee 2000 campaign in Nigeria, as well as the attitude Bono and DATA have – to support Africans supporting themselves. There was also a video introduction narrated by George Clooney with interviews by Sen. Rick Santorum, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and DATA’s Jamie Drummond.
The full set of photos are available in our Flickr set.
(c) @U2/Lawrence & Romans, 2007