It’s hard to fathom the excitement that Gabriel Pate, Martin Chorlton, Mark Baker, and Michael Wood — known collectively as U2 tribute band Acrobat — experienced on July 6, 2015 at what was then Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.
All lifelong fans of U2, the quartet were invited onstage by the Irish rock band to perform their 1988 hit “Desire” alongside their idols. It was, and remains, the stuff dreams are made of.
One good turn deserves another, and you can bet that U2 has an open invitation to join Acrobat onstage anytime at any place.
Yes, it’s a mile-long stretch that Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. will ever take Acrobat up on that offer, but Saturday (August 2) at Del Crary Park marks the next opportunity to do so when Peterborough Musicfest welcomes Acrobat to its stage.
With or without U2 in the mix, admission to the 8 p.m. concert, as always, is free, thanks to the continued support of several longtime sponsors, kawarthaNOW among them.
Formed in Toronto in 2004, and named after a track on U2’s 1991 album Achtung Baby, Acrobat has since brought the excitement of a live U2 concert experience to thousands across Canada, the United States, and Latin America.
Performing a generous mix of U2’s biggest chart hits and rarities, Acrobat’s continued success is as rooted in its members’ fandom as it is their talent.
According to the band’s website, Prince Edward Island singer Gabriel Pate (who goes by the stage name Gabrielvox) was introduced to U2 in 1982 when a childhood friend shared a cassette of an early U2 show with him. He was hooked, and has since seen the band perform more than 30 times.
VIDEO: “With or Without You” performed by Acrobat
Regularly stopped by fans who want their photo taken with the young Bono look-alike, Pate was, 10 years prior to that memorable night at the Air Canada Centre, brought on stage by Bono at a U2 concert in Detroit.
As for Acrobat guitarist Martin Chorlton, as a teen he idolized Eddie Van Halen, but his growing obsession with The Edge’s guitar style was cemented when he saw U2 live for first time on the band’s 1992-93 Zoo TV Tour.
Known worldwide by U2 fans as U2BROTHR, Acrobat bassist Mark Baker has seen U2 live more than 50 times, is an avid collector of U2 memorabilia, and was featured in a film that documents his fandom.
Acrobat drummer Michael Wood, meanwhile, learned to play drums as teen by playing along to songs on U2’s 1987 album The Joshua Tree. He first saw U2 live in 1997, and has since taken in 14 shows.
Despite their varying introductions to U2, Acrobat members share, with millions worldwide, an unbridled infatuation with the band that formed in 1976 when its members were teenage pupils of Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin. Four years later, U2 released its debut album Boy. Featuring the single “I Will Follow,” that album served notice that there was more to come from Bono et al.
U2 first found commercial success with the band’s third album, 1982’s War, which knocked Michael Jackson’s Thriller from the top of the UK charts to become the band’s first number-one album there. It was also U2’s first overtly political album, with the singles “Sunday Bloody Sunday” about the Troubles in Northern Ireland and “New Year’s Day” about the Polish Solidarity movement.
U2’s breakout album, however, was 1987’s The Joshua Tree, which many still point to as the band’s piece de résistance. With singles including “Where The Streets Have No Name,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” and “With Or Without You,” the album propelled U2 to international superstardom, reaching number one in over 20 countries and becoming one of their best-selling albums.
VIDEO: “Where The Streets Have No Name” performed by Acrobat
With sales of the band’s 15 albums estimated at 170 million, U2 has garnered pretty much every honour available, including 22 Grammy Awards, eight Brit Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards.
Inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, and ranked at number 22 on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list, it’s estimated that U2 earned a staggering $2.13 billion US up until 2022, making the band the second-highest-grossing live music group of all time behind The Rolling Stones (Taylor Swift is the highest-grossing live music artist of all time).
All this considered, is it any wonder that a tribute band dedicated to recreating the U2 concert experience and sound will get is fair share of attention? Still, none of the countless tributes to U2 can lay claim to appearing onstage with the real thing, which, for Acrobat, proved to be worth years of the best marketing imaginable.
In a July 2015 interview with CBC, Pate related that prior to U2’s Air Canada Centre performance, he and his bandmates chatted with U2’s crew and came away believing there was a chance they would be invited onstage. And so they positioned themselves close to the stage, and waited, and waited … and waited some more.
“I said to the guys ‘Sorry boys, it’s not going happen,'” recounted Pate. “No sooner had I said that, than Bono strolls over to the edge of the stage and says ‘You have the whole band here. OK, let’s do this.'”
Bono, says Pate, handed his microphone to him, and the members of U2 gave up their instruments, and it was game on for Acrobat in the grandest concert setting imaginable.
“In a split second I was like, ‘I can’t screw this up … I gotta go for it,'” said Pate.
After watching on for a bit, U2 joined Acrobat to finish out performing “Desire,” and a rock music story for the ages was written. The next day, Acrobat was on the lips of U2 fans, not just in Toronto but worldwide.
VIDEO: U2 Tribute Band pulled onto stage by U2 in Toronto (2015)
Acrobat is appearing at Musicfest as the first act of what’s billed as Irish Week, being presented in partnership with Nine Ships 1825, which is coordinating and partnering with a number of local organizations to commemorate the bicentennial of the 1825 arrival of Irish emigrants to what is now the Peterborough region.
Irish Week at Del Crary Park will continue next Wednesday (August 6) with The Mudmen, joined by special guest Irish Millie, and conclude next Saturday (August 9) with The Celtic Tenors, that trio making the trip across the Atlantic Ocean from Ireland — much the same as some 2,000 settlers did 200 years ago, but much faster and in considerably greater comfort.
This Saturday’s concert will be preceded at 6:30 p.m. by rock-a-billy singer and guitarist Nicholas Campbell performing under the Cogeco tent near the George Street entrance to Del Crary Park. He is appearing as part of Musicfest’s new Future Sound Series featuring the talents of local performers this summer.
Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 16 free-admission concerts during its 38th season, each staged on Wednesday and Saturday nights until Saturday, August 16th.
Overseen by executive director Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission remains “to provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”
For more information on this concert or the 2025 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a headline sponsor of Peterborough Musicfest’s 2025 season.
