It's a Mitzvah: U2 Reschedules Concert Because of Jets Game and Jewish Holiday

By Dave Itzkoff, New York Times

U2 would not seem to be the sort of band that takes Jewish holidays into account when preparing its touring schedule, but the coming observance of Yom Kippur has required the group to reschedule a show planned for Giants Stadium next month. In a news release on Thursday, publicists for U2 said that the group's concert scheduled at the stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. for Sept. 25 has been moved to Sept. 23. The change was made after the New York Jets rescheduled their Sept. 27 football game against the Tennessee Titans to 1 p.m. from 4:15 pm to avoid a conflict with Yom Kippur, which starts at sundown that day. In their release, U2's publicists said that the staging installation for the band's tour requires up to two days to disassemble, and the new game time made it "logistically impossible" for the installation to be broken down between a Friday night concert and a Sunday early afternoon game. The release added: "In order to accommodate the New York Jets, the NFL and the state of New Jersey, which owns the stadium, and out of respect for U2 and Jets' fans of Jewish faith, U2 agreed to move their show rather than pursue other options."

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