The Edge

U2’s The Edge finally gets Irish citizenship—62 years and one form later

Bearing a lapel-pin Irish tricolour and a nonchalant admission of bureaucratic tardiness, The Edge—born David Howell Evans—finally secures Irish citizenship after 62 years of residence. Born in Essex to Welsh parents, he’s lived in Ireland since age one, making his official paperwork feel both overdue and strangely timely.

Speaking with a quiet grandiosity at the citizenship ceremony, he praises Ireland for its “real leadership” on the global stage, name-dropping the ICC and UN like political accessories to his now-official national outfit.

When prodded about procrastination, his reply borders on the ironic: the process, he says, was “quite straightforward.” Just a matter of forms lost in the shadow of stadium tours and sonic experimentation, perhaps. Now, with 7,500 others, he’s formally tethered to the island he's long called home.

His newly minted status arrives in the slipstream of U2 becoming the first Irish act to snatch the Fellowship of The Ivors Academy. Concurrently, Bono alludes to unfinished studio sessions, cryptically describing their goal as crafting something the world doesn’t want—unless it’s extraordinary. No pressure, lads.