Even Better Than The Real Thing?

Lookalikey lick-a-likey!

e’s regarded as the world’s leading Bono impersonator, and when the U2 doppelganger swung by Greystones yesterday, it was easy to see why.

In the right light, with the right shades, and at the right angle, Pavel Sfera is the spitting image of the Dalkey deity.

There are many strange, mysterious ways to make a living, and young Pavel is clearly very happy with being the self-proclaimed Bono’s Double. Heck, he even registered that title for his website.

And sure, why wouldn’t ya? When not busy netting between €1,000 and €3,000 for an appearance, Pavel has also fronted his own U2 tribute band, Desire, for the past 20 years.

And this California dreamer appears to have the approval of the Hewson lad too, Bono even recommending Pavel as his stand-in for a Vogue photoshoot.

Currently bouncing around Ireland for kicks, social media shenanigans and the occasional commercial video for a corporate client in Pennsylvania, Romanian-born Pavel was in Greystones on Wednesday, swinging by AnniePooh’s on Hillside Road.

Being from California, the man needed his dairy-free 99, and Annie – convinced it was the man himself – happily obliged. Given that big brother Norman Hewson lives just up the road, sure, why wouldn’t young Paul be in town?

By Pro Bono’s side in AnniePooh was Deirdre Aherne, a local lass who got U2 their first RTÉ TV appearance way back in the day. An appearance that caught the attention of Colonel Paul McGuinness.

In the meantime, Pavel appears to be happily blurring the line between reality and royalty, as his ever-deeper philosophical musings on social media threaten that ‘Poems are a coming’. Hewson, we have a problem…

Clearly, the lad is having fun though, even if he has to tell people pretty much daily that he’s not the Messiah.

“I was down in Westport last week,” Pavel told us this morning, “and the person there for a good 20 minutes about my experiences of being a Bono lookalike for so many years. And even after all that, the lady said to me, ‘I think you’re just trying to tell everyone you’re an impersonator so no one will bother you‘.

“I get that kind of stuff all day long…”

You can find out more about Bono’s Double here, book the lad himself here, and find the real thing over here.