Don Henley News

Rocko Reedy has been working as a U2 roadie for 15 years. But it's safe to say he never had a night quite like the Vertigo tour finale in Honolulu, when his band Rocko & the Devils opened the December 9 show in front of nearly 50,000 fans at Aloha Stadium.

The Devils coalesced during load-ins and soundchecks in the late '90s while Reedy was working with Journey, but didn't make their live debut until 2002 in, of all places, Honolulu. Journey had sold out two shows at Blaisdell Arena without a support act, but on the first night, fans were still milling around outside or in the beer line until the third song. The next night, Reedy decided to play a few songs with the Devils at the outset so Journey wouldn't have to endure a half-empty arena.

"We get out there and everyone in the front row is looking up while we're playing this old Badfinger song, and we could tell they were thinking, 'Holy s---, is Journey fat!' We're just a bunch of ugly roadies getting up there," he recalled.

Since then the band has played a handful of shows "at state fairs" and other odd venues. Before long U2 manager Paul McGuinness got wind of Reedy's antics and told Bono about it.

"I had told Paul, 'If you ever need an opening act, let us know,"' Reedy said. "This got back to Bono, and eventually he asked me, 'Me and the boys would like to know if you'd like to open for us in Hawaii."'

And while he was clearly reveling in stadium-rock fantasy in Honolulu (bombastic covers of "Eleanor Rigby" and "I Wanna Be Sedated," transforming Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry" into "Dirty Roadies"), Reedy never lost sight of his main duty: "After I get done pretending I'm a rock star, I get to load all of this s--- out of here," he said from the stage.

Reuters/Billboard