NEW YORK (AP) — For its last of eight shows at Madison Square Garden and the finale to its North American tour, U2 welcomed some very famous guests.

On Friday night, lead singer Bono gave a shout out to “the 42nd president,” Bill Clinton, for helping to negotiate peace in the 1990s in the band’s native Ireland. Bono later praised the former president and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is running for president, for their efforts in fighting AIDS.

U2 performed for more than two hours, with thousands singing along on such favorites as “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” The Clintons received warm applause, but the biggest cheers came when for the band’s encore it brought an old friend on stage, Bruce Springsteen, who played acoustic guitar and joined them for “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and the Ben E. King hit “Stand By Me.”

Both the Clintons and Springsteen have close ties with U2. Bono has appeared at events for the Clinton Foundation, while Springsteen helped induct U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and stepped in for Bono at a show last year when the singer was still recovering from a bicycle accident in Central Park.

The New York shows wrapped up the North American leg of U2’s “Innocence & Experience” tour. The band will play in Europe this fall, starting with two shows in Turin, Italy, in September.