A is for Awards

Where to start? They tie with Stevie Wonder for holding the most Grammy awards (22), and have also bagged 14 Meteors, seven Brits, 10 Q awards and six MTV video music awards. They've been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Bono has the distinction of being the only person nominated for an Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe and Nobel prize. Time mag made him person of the year in 2005, alongside Bill and Melinda Gates.

B is for Ballymun

Bono claimed to be from Ballymun although he is actually from the leafy suburb of Glasnevin North. The band immortalised the infamous Ballymun towers in 'Running to Stand Still', the fifth song from The Joshua Tree, about a heroin-addicted young mother ("I see seven towers, but I only see one way out").

C is for Croke Park

It's been 22 years since the band played Croker on their Joshua Tree tour. Light A Big Fire, the Dubliners, the Pogues and Lou Reed played support. Bono was in his element, berating the politicians of the day, so plus ça change there. This time around Damien Dempsey, Glasvegas, Kaiser Chiefs, Republic of Loose, the Script and BellX1 are on the bill, although the stage for their 360° Tour is actually only 270° due to Croker space constraints. Whoops.

D is for Dandelion Market

Where the St Stephen's Green shopping centre now stands was the site of some of U2's first ever gigs. The Dandelion market was a Dublin institution that sold tie-dyed shirts and sheepskin jackets and the boys played six legendary afternoon gigs here in May 1979. By September of that year the market had closed.

E is for Eno, Brian

The Roxy Music founder member and father of ambient music is pretty much a fifth member of U2, having first worked with the band as producer on 1984's The Unforgettable Fire. He's produced seven albums for them in total and describes his relationship with Bono as "as close as you can possibly get".

F is for Fanning, Dave

When U2 took their first three properly recorded tracks to the radio DJ in 1979, he played all three every night for a week, asking listeners to vote which one should be the A-side of their upcoming single. 'Out of Control' won and, since then, U2 have granted Fanning the first global airing of all their singles. He is a close personal friend of all the band members.

G is for God

Bono, Larry and the Edge were members of the Shalom Christian Fellowship in the early '80s, as they tried to figure out how to balance Christianity with being rock and roll stars. Today, the band are not as vocal about their religious beliefs but they profess to be spiritual.

H is for Hats

The Edge hasn't been seen publicly without a hat since he started losing his hair in his early 20s. He even wore one at his wedding to Morleigh Steinberg in 2002. How many hats does he have? Two years ago he reckoned he had 375 – and 15 bandanas. Keeping them all necessitates a hat wing in his house.

I is for Irish

Pedants point out that Ireland's greatest rock band, and some would say the greatest rock band in the world, isn't 100% guaranteed Irish – the Edge was born in Wales and Adam is from Oxfordshire. But if strict Irish provenance doesn't apply to the national football team, why should it here?

J is for Joshua Trio

The parody band, whose purpose was to bring the music of U2 to a wider audience, included Father Ted writer Arthur Mathews, and Paul Woodfull, the creator of Ding Dong Denny O'Reilly, the drunken republican ballad singer.

K is for Killiney

Many the U2 fan has taken the Dart to Killiney to gaze in awe at the big black gates leading up to Bono's mansion. If they don't spot the great man himself, who is often seen power walking around the area, other celebrity residents Eddie Irvine and Enya serve as consolation prizes. The Edge lives close by, but for the rest of the band, a trip to Rathfarnham (Adam) and Howth (Larry) is required.

L is for Lola Cashman

Mess with the mighty U2 and you won't emerge the victor, as Cashman – the band's former stylist, who they sued in order to retrieve souvenirs, including Bono's stetson hat and a pair of trousers – discovered to her cost. She said the items were given to her as mementos. The courts thought otherwise.

M is for Mullets

When bad hair happens to good people. Arguably Adam's was the worst, not even being a mullet proper but some kind of massive peroxide woolly 'do. Larry, as ever, looked like his hot self and no mullet could ever detract from that. Luckily age cannot wither him.

N is for Naomi

Naomi Campbell was engaged to Adam Clayton in 1993, and part of the U2 entourage around that time. She was never reported to have thrown a phone at any member of the band, which may have paved the way for the 360° Tour to be sponsored by Blackberry.

O is for One

One, but not the same, a lyric inspired by a note Bono sent to the Dalai Lama which formed the inspiration for the band's best song, written and recorded in Berlin during the fractious Achtung Baby sessions.

P is for Platforms

Bono wears lifts in his shoes, and chunky platform heels to distract from his diminutive frame. Mr Hewson, who stands at 5' 6" (without lifts), is said to be achingly self-conscious about his height.

Q is for Queen

Bono is actually Sir Bono. Even though he's not exactly eligible for one, Bono received an honorary knighthood from the Queen in 2007. At the time, Bono said his son believed he was "becoming a Jedi".

R is for Red

The Red Campaign or 'Product Red', spearheaded by Bono, raises money for Aids charities in Africa through sales of products by Gap, Converse, Starbucks, Microsoft and more. It has been criticised regularly for a perceived lack of impact and its overspending on advertising.

S is for Spider-Man

In just over 18 months' time, Bono and the Edge's Spider-Man musical will hit Broadway. It's a rather unexpected undertaking for the twosome, who wrote the music and lyrics during an extremely busy time. It debuts at the Hilton Theatre on 18 February, 2010.

T is for Tax

U2 are well into all that they can't leave behind, especially piles of dough to the exchequer. So their tax affairs are partly conducted from the pristine Dutch capital of Amsterdam.

U is for USA

The band's love affair with America is well documented. They have sought both musical and spiritual solace from the USofA, snuggled up to leaders from Bush to Clinton, and played at Obama's inauguration celebrations.

V is for Video Killed the Radio Star

U2 have become famous for the elaborate visuals featured during their live shows. The 360° Tour features 888 LED screens, spanning 3,800 square feet and comprising 500,000 pixels.

W is for Windmill Lane

The heavily graffitied boarded-up property in Dublin's docklands is where the band recorded the guts of three of their albums, Boy, War and The Joshua Tree. The building lies as a reminder of a dispute between residents and developers about turning it into a much larger structure.

X is for Xanax and Wine

This song released on the Complete U2 box set is a rare nod to drug use, albeit of the prescription variety. An outtake from the How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb album, Bono sings, "I got CCTV, pornography, CNBC, I got the nightly news to get to know the enemy."

Y is for Yeah x 16

Bono agrees with himself 16 times in the final bars of 'Vertigo', a single release of 2004 that indicated the band were still able to rock out and were on a creative high since the 2000 release of the acclaimed All That You Can't Leave Behind.

Z is for ZooTV

The ZooTV tour was a showcase for Achtung Baby, and a pop-culture overload of imagery and irony built around Bono characters the Fly, Mr MacPhisto and the Mirror Ball Man.