NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Brady, Brees and Bono. How’s that for a middle-aged power trio?
When New England quarterback Tom Brady and his prolific New Orleans counterpart, Drew Brees, take the Superdome field on Sunday, it’ll be just days after U2’s concert. Seems fitting, given the association the Irish rockers had with key moments for both franchises in that stadium.
U2 played when the renovated Superdome reopened a year after Hurricane Katrina for the Saints’ triumphant 2006 home opener . They also played halftime of Brady and the Patriots’ maiden Super Bowl victory in the Big Easy in 2002.
For many football fans in New Orleans, U2’s latest Superdome show Thursday night served as an apt prelude to a game featuring two quarterbacks who are not only among the most accomplished in NFL history, but who can actually remember when “The Joshua Tree” album came out in 1987.
The Saints presented the band with a football signed by Brees and coach Sean Payton. U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. wore a T-shirt with “Saints” printed on the back, and the crowd roared when it was shown on the big screen. U2 also played riffs of “The Saints Are Coming” – which they’d also performed with Green Day at the dome’s ’06 reopening – as Saints-style fleur-de-lis symbols scrolled up the expansive screen behind the stage.