U2 - A Celebration

What this video is

Released on 22 March 1982 as a non-album single, 'A Celebration' occupies a liminal moment in U2's early discography — positioned between the introspective Christian mysticism of October (1981) and the political urgency of War (1983). Filming at Kilmainham Gaol, the site historically associated with the 1916 Easter Rising executions, grounds the video in specifically Irish post-colonial memory while simultaneously…

Why it matters

A landmark in early U2 visual identity and a key document of the Irish post-punk promotional film tradition. It is the third in a consecutive trilogy of Meiert Avis-directed U2 promos that established the band's on-screen aesthetic vocabulary — location-based, kinetic, symbolically loaded — years…

The director

Meiert Avis is a music video and commercial director who established a long collaborative relationship with U2 in the early 1980s, directing their first several promotional videos including 'I Will Follow,' 'Gloria,' and 'A Celebration' (all 1981–1982). He…