from WRAL News:
Senator Helms Attends His First Rock Concert
--U-2's Bono, Helms, Have Become Friends
WASHINGTON, 2:42 p.m. EDT June 16, 2001 --
Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., isn't a rocker, yet, but the man known as "Senator No" says he was fascinated by his first rock concert.
Helms, 79, was invited to a Washington concert by his friend Bono, front man for the group U2.
"It was filled to the gills, and people were moving back and forth like corn in the breeze," Helms said. "They had that crowd going wild. ... When Bono shook his hips, that crowd shook their hips."
Helms and Bono struck up a friendship last fall when the singer lobbied Helms on international debt relief.
Bono set up Helms and his grand children in a sky box for the Thursday concert and invited them backstage before the show, where Helms met U2 guitarist the Edge.
Helms said he was impressed with the stamina of Bono.
"I don't see how he lasts physically," he said. "He runs and skips and just goes and goes."
The senator also said he turned down his hearing aids and put his hands over his ears during the show because it "was the noisiest thing I ever heard. ... It was so loud I couldn't really understand what he was saying."
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