Kirsten Holmes and Jevon Skipper shared the Tiny Desk space with the U2 stars.
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Kirsten Holmes and Jevon Skipper shared the Tiny Desk space with the U2 stars.
Brianna Scott/NPR
Or maybe Bono and The Edge performed them.
Who are they? A bunch of DC’s most talented teenagers! Members of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Concert Choir joined Bono and The Edge for their Tiny Desk performance.
- Kirsten Holmes and Jevon Skipper are both students at the arts-centered school in Washington, DC, and received a call from their choir director about a month earlier with the opportunity to perform with the rock stars.
- The two vocalists, who aspire to use their talents to delve into the worlds of gospel, opera and R&B music, accepted the performance with a few other classmates and members of the choir.
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What’s the big deal? It’s a small desk! Enough said, right?
- The performance features four songs, including a version of “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” written for the late INXS singer Michael Hutchence, and a reworked version of “Walk On.”
- The performance was a preview of U2’s new album, Songs of Surrender.
- Although it may not have immediately impressed Kirsten and Jevon as much as some others. The Gen Z duo admitted they weren’t particularly familiar with the Irish crooners and their band.
- (I guess they never had to deal with the shock of an unsolicited album showing up on their iTunes one fateful morning in 2014.)
The Duke Ellington School of the Arts Choir performs with Bono and The Edge in the Tiny Desk Concert.
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The Duke Ellington School of the Arts Choir performs with Bono and The Edge in the Tiny Desk Concert.
Stephanie Miter/NPR
What do they say?
On learning about Bono’s existence:
Kirsten: I had found out before… but (because) my parents (know).
Jevon: Not even my parents. My father. Because I know my father said, “Go after them!” So I look them up and I see they performed at the Super Bowl. I say, ‘Oh, they must be like big news if they perform at the Super Bowl.’
Kirsten: We are young. You know, we’re young so we’re still learning and stuff, but it’s just a wow moment.
On meeting Bono:
Kirsten: (He was) really chill, like down to earth. And I love how they weren’t that big because I know how sometimes being in the presence of someone of a higher status can be really intimidating. And I didn’t feel that any of us felt intimidation from them. It was just really like a learning experience. They were like, ‘Well, what do you think would go well in this part?’
Jevon: One of our friends accidentally got the words wrong. So he accidentally sang the wrong thing. And Bono said, ‘Oh, wait, what did you do?’ He said, ‘I like that, man.’
It was fun. It was funny because we all knew it was an accident, but then we kind of went with it and Bono liked it. So we just did it.
On the joy of performing:
Kirsten: It was fantastic, really happy. I think my moment was just to see people’s reaction, just to allow other people to feel the enjoyment of what we are gifted to do. And it was just really good.
Javon: I like the feeling that I can make someone’s day with the gift that God gave me. Ever since I was younger, I just loved singing to people and making people feel better and just encouraging people.
Now what?
- You can see the entire Bono and The Edge Tiny Desk along with hundreds of others on our website.
- U2’s latest album, Songs of Surrenderwas released on Friday, March 17.
- And get ready for the Tiny Desk Concert Series’ 15th Anniversary next month!
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