The day Bono flew a hat first class: “Panic stricken”
Step aside, children battling famines and caught up in wars: the real priority is Bono needing his hat back.
This might seem like a wild exaggeration at best or gross libel at worst, but it turns out that the U2 frontman has none of those excuses to pull out of his hat – ironically enough – as the story is the verbatim truth. Yes, really. Bono actually did fly a hat he wanted on a plane in first class, just because he wanted to wear it so much.
Of course, for a rock star who likes to portray himself with an image of being a man of the people, this was hardly a good look. First-class flights being your automatic mode of transport will raise a few eyebrows in the ordinary world at the best of times, let alone when you’ve got enough cash to splash for a hat to get the celebrity treatment. Surely a cargo hold would’ve been enough.
But no, Bono wanted his hat to live the high life, so the high life it was. It was certainly a slight fall from grace, given he had spent the better part of the last two decades feigning to be part of the working man’s revolution, but in 2003, he knew he had to pull those rock star levers for all they were worth.
He was set to perform in Modena, Italy, with Luciano Pavarotti and had planned to wear his most special black trilby hat to mark the seismic occasion. However, stupidly forgetting to put it in his case and leaving it behind, Bono was aghast to discover that he had got on the flight without his prized possession in tow. “Panic-stricken” was how the Italian press actually described it.
So, he did what any sensible person would do: not scour the shops in the streets of Modena, because Italy, of course, is hardly famed for its fashion; but instead decided to pay £1000 at the drop of a – ahem, hat – to have it flown over and delivered to him in first-class style. Desperate times call for desperate measures, they do always say.
You can imagine the reaction of the flight crew when their rather inanimate passenger boarded the flight that day. Champagne or caviar for the hat, anyone? You almost wouldn’t have blamed them if they did try it on for the sheer bizarreness of the whole situation, but then, when they found out the client that this prized piece of fashion was for, it was enough to strike fear in their hearts.
Indeed, so terrified that the hat would get misshapen as it ridiculously sat in its own first class seat, the cabin crew subsequently moved it to the cockpit, where it enjoyed the birds’ eye view of travelling with the captain. When they landed, the hat was passed to a driver, who then delivered it to Bono in time for his big moment at the concert. What was the gig in aid of, I hear you cry? Homeless people in Iraq, as if that shouldn’t have given him at least a shred of perspective.
But no, man of the people and charitable philanthropist Bono placed the coveted black trilby back safely where it belonged on his head, and went out to rock the concert with Pavarotti stood by his side. Raising money for the homeless people in Iraq was, of course, his only goal if you asked him in that moment, but God forbid that hat didn’t arrive on time. The masquerade might have slipped once and for all.
