The Edge U2

The U2 guitarist on the scientific theory that connects us all, drawing on walls and the resurgence of Irish folk music.

[Lankum](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/oct/21/one-leg-one-eye-and-take-the-black-worm-with-me-review-ian-lynch-lankum), whose song [Go Dig My Grave](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhqpQiXnFx0) is wonderful, and [Lisa O’Neill](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/feb/11/lisa-oneill-all-of-this-is-chance-review-sky-soaring-folk-drama), who’s a unique voice in Irish songwriting – you can hear shades of Seamus Heaney in her words, and a band called Ye Vagabonds, whose latest album, [Nine Waves](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/may/14/ye-vagabonds-nine-waves-review-a-gently-engaging-follow-up), is a beautiful piece of work. I found the film a great cautionary tale about how, if we do not pay attention, events can overtake us and we can end up on a road that no one in their right mind would have chosen. I’ve always got an eye out for something that’s not necessarily highfalutin – sometimes the best food is street food, the stuff that everyone eats on a daily basis. Spending a lot of time in LA, over the years I’ve discovered how amazing the Mexican food trucks are. The graphic power and textures and use of colour are incredible, and it all comes together for this massive tour de force. El Chato does a great meat taco and veggie taco, and I love the beef cheek burrito. It’s well worth going here just for the artworks – by Sean Scully, Tracey Emin, Andy Goldsworthy – but I don’t know if there’s anywhere in the world that has this concentration of works by the most eminent architects of the day: Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry, Richard Rogers, Jean Nouvel. It explains the limitations of science and how there are other routes to understanding. Some of my favourites are the Tadao Ando chapel, which is encased in glass, and Oscar Niemeyer’s pavilion, the last thing he designed, an amazing gallery space and auditorium with a reflective pool. The Edge and his wife live in Dublin and LA. So he puts forward a proposal that, because of our interconnectedness, there is a thing called big-C Consciousness, or collective consciousness – that, through deep contemplation and intuition, you can access certain truths. [U2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/u2) guitarist The Edge, was born in Barking, east London, in 1961 and grew up in Dublin.