Creating U2's music 'like making sausages,' Bono quips

Bono signs autographs as he walks to the opening of U2 documentary From the Sky Down/Reuters

U2 singer Bono set stomachs rumbling in Roy Thomson Hall Thursday night before getting the TIFF opening night audience's minds blown with the world premiere of From the Sky Down, Davis Guggenheim's documentary on the band.

He compared the creating of music to making sausages, and warned that it's "not that pretty" to watch either being made.  Not what you'd expect of a group with such rock classics as "With Or Without You," "Where The Streets Have No Name" and "Mysterious Ways."

The band had to think hard about having Guggenheim film their recent rehearsal sessions, preparing for a Glastonbury Festival performance in June of songs from the 1991 album Achtung Baby.

"We are very protective of our privacy, particularly the creative process," said Bono, who was joined on the Roy Thomson stage by bandmate The Edge, director Guggenheim and members of TIFF's executive and programming teams.

"Not just because we're precious -- which we are! (Songwriting) is not that pretty. And that old adage, 'If you knew what went into the sausage, you wouldn't eat it?' You've got some sausages and mash going on, ladies and gentlemen!"

All joking aside, it seems the members of the Irish rock quartet are  pleased with From the Sky Down. Bono and The Edge wanted Guggenheim to show them warts 'n' all, because "we didn't want some lukewarm thing."

Guggenheim may have taken that a little too far, The Edge said.

"If it was up to us, we'd have a lot more jokes, a lot more asides."

And where were their fellow bandmates, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr.?  Back home with their families, the audience was told, resting up after a recently concluded band tour that broke many rock records.

-- Peter Howell.