Irish band U2 pays tribute to women icons Smriti Irani, Gauri Lankesh and Arundhati Roy during their Mumbai concert

In their maiden concert in India, Irish band U2 gave tributes to female icons of the country. The concert took place in Mumbai on Sunday and the band put the spotlight on Union minister Smriti Irani, slain journalist Gauri Lankesh, author Arundhati Roy and others during the concert. 

The Irish rockers closed 'The Joshua Tree Tour 2019' on Sunday with their final show of the tour after performing in Seoul, Auckland, Brisbane and Melbourne in honour of their 1987 album.

Frontman Bono, guitarist The Edge, drummer Larry Mullen and bassist Adam Clayton opened the concert with their classic 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and ended with a visual montage of women icons across the world, including India.

Irani, Roy featured alongside Gauri Lankesh, lawyer Karuna Nandy, astronaut Kalpana Chawla and journalist Rana Ayyub. The band also paid tribute to activist Greta Thunberg. 

To highlight the security concern women face the world over, the band also included pictures from the recent protest march in Hyderabad after a young vet was raped and killed.

"When women feel safe at homes or walking on the street, that's a beautiful day. When sisters around the world are in school like their brothers, that's a beautiful day.

"When women of the world unite to rewrite history as their story, that's a beautiful day. To rewrite history as her story- that's a beautiful day," Bono said as the crowd erupted in applause.

The band also performed the track 'Ahimsa' along with AR Rahman- the song had earlier been released online ahead of their concert. 
Bollywood A-listers like Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Hrithik Roshan and Malaika Arora attended the concert that took place in DY Patil Sports Stadium, Mumbai.