WORLD DEBUT:

U2 12/03/1984 Radio City Music Hall - New York, New York

From Audience>Sony Handheld Cassetter Recorder>CDR>PC>FLAC

Taping location: Approx 5th row center.

December 3rd, 1984: 

1-11 O'Clock Tick Tock
2-I Will Follow
3-Seconds
4-MLK/The Unforgettable Fire
5-Wire
6-Sunday Bloody Sunday
7-The Electric Co.
8-A Sort Of Homecoming (Tape Flip)
9-(Tape Flip) Bad
10-October/New Year's Day
11-Pride (In The Name Of Love)
12-Party Girl
13-Gloria 
14-40


This is the first time this show has been mastered from the ORIGINAL MASTER CASSETTE. I was the travelling companion of the taper. He was notorious for losing things, so I made sure this was in my possesion for the future.

The show was unsual in many regards. It was their first "big" show in New York. It was a benefit for Amnesty International. Also there were several disturbances during the show. The crowd was in an absolute frenzy. I had never felt such electricity. Check out "I Will Follow". A fan tries to jump onstage and a scuffle ensues, resulting in Edge's Gibson Explorer being snapped at the neck. They broke his fucking guitar! There were a few more crazy stoppages. 

The sound at the show raised the hair on the back of my neck. HUGE...powerful, electric...concert sound today SUCKS!! When the first few notes of "11 O'clock" hit, I knew I had entered a new realm. The guitar was like a giant reverberated church bell, the bass was throbbing but precise, the drums were snapping and the voice was clear as a trumpet. The record out at the time, "Unforgettable Fire", had completely absorbed me. But live, oh boy, what an experience. I saw them about 5 more times on the UF tour around NY, but this was the best, apart from front row seats at the Nassau Colloseum in 85. Yeh, I'm bragging a bit. :)


The sound:

I despise audience recordings in general, but I will tolerate it for rare Hendrix or Doors, but this one blows me away. The clarity comes and goes for the first 3 songs, but then it stays big and detailed for the rest. Enjoy.

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December 6, 1984 NY TIMES:
ROCK: THE IRISH QUARTET U2 AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL
By STEPHEN HOLDEN

-and- roll cathedral on Monday with the appearance of U2, the young Irish quartet whose Christian, antiwar anthems have earned them one of the most devoted followings in rock. That devotion is well- placed.

Over the course of four albums and a live mini-LP, U2 has evoked a sternly apocalyptic mood with an impressive clarity, power and lack of histrionics.

Using the minimalist esthetic of punk as a starting point, U2 has evolved a distinctive style that is austere but passionate. The oracular lyrics of U2's exuberant lead singer, Bono Vox, convey the elemental terrors and joys of life in a lean poetic diction that the music elevates into a chanted rock prayer.

U2's dirgelike melodies strongly reflect the modality and incantatory quality of Gregorian chant. But there's also a more contemporary folkish element in their music. ''Pride (In the Name of Love),'' an eloquent tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, reiterates a sunny refrain against guitar textures that intermingle echoes of bagpipes and peeling church bells. Along with such other U2 anthems as ''Sunday Bloody Sunday,'' ''New Year's Day,'' and ''I Will Follow,'' the song conjures a majestic new fusion of sacred music, political concern, and rock.

When U2 began recording four years ago, its signature sound was a surging drone of pummeling drums and colliding bell-like guitar textures. Since then, the band has expanded its vocabulary to incorporate jittery funk rhythms and a stuttering high- powered rock beat that recalls the Who's 60's standards. The rhythmic broadening has helped turn U2 from a good into a great band whose passion is matched by its technical resourcefulness.