Nearly a thousand fans showed up to catch sight of Bono at a Boston bookstore this afternoon.

The singer was at the store to join author Michka Assayas to launch his new book 'Conversations with Bono'.

So many fans had started queuing outside Barnes and Nobles from early morning, following the announcement on U2.Com that Bono might show up, that the store had to shut for business all morning.

'What a break,' said one fan Karolina, who had been standing in line for three hours. 'I'm Polish, I live in Ireland and we've come come over to Boston for the show. We couldn't believe it when we heard he was going to be here.'

When Bono arrived, fresh off the plane from New York and en route to the soundcheck for the first of three Boston shows tonight, he introduced the book to waiting reporters.

'It's Michka's book,' he explained. 'I just agreed to let him ask me all of these hard questions. We've known each other since we were kids really, like 22year olds, and even many years ago we used to talk long into the night.'

'It's not a rock book really and it's not a biography,' added Assayas, who had flown in from France. 'It's about getting inside the mind of this man who is a really nice bunch of guys!'

Between them the pair autographed several hundred books in just over an hour - many fans had two copies, one for themselves, one for a friend. And no-one was more surprised to meet Bono than the assistant store manager.

'It's unbelieveable ,' said Russel Gannon. 'I have tickets for the Boston show tonight and it will be my tenth time seeing U2.
'I first saw them in Boston at the Orpheus in 1983 and I always wanted to meet them. I worked in music with HMV for ten years and never got a chance to meet them but now I'm working in a bookstore, Bono has come to my store!'