100 Concerts / Concert #1

Headline Act: U2
Touring Album: War
Opening Act: The Alarm
Date: June 23, 1983
Venue: Sunrise Musical Theater, Sunrise, FL
Ticket price: $10.75

$10.75 for this ticket. I've paid more than that for a beer at recent shows.

I was 15 and still had my virginity. With rock concerts? Check. With women? Check. I've lost it on both fronts, but this evening in 1983 was far more memorable.

The Mohawk. Objects on head are larger than they appear.

The Sunrise Musical Theater, since converted into a church, was a cozy 4,000-seat venue with very few bad seats. My brother, my very good friend Brian (still to this day) and I didn't look like many of those in attendance this night. While U2 was not a true punk band, they were cool enough to draw several hundred mohawked, avant-garde-looking concertgoers needing to be noticed for their artsy "new wave" style.  As a straight-laced kid, this felt like a pretty wild scene, I felt cooler by association and in those awkward teen years you will take a cool-boost anywhere you can.
 
Before I open a giant can of word-ass about U2, I must talk about the opening act, The Alarm, from Wales, who played as LOUD a set as I've ever seen. Their hair was higher, spikier and teasier (yeah, I made up my own words) than any group I have ever seen. Like U2, they had political and spiritual themes in their music. Among their most popular songs at that time, "68 Guns" and "The Stand". I immediately loved their energy and sound; within days of the show I  bought "Declaration", their debut LP which is still one my favorite albums of the 1980s.  

Early promo photo of The Alarm. These guys were frickin' loud and good.

Years later they had a radio hit with "Rain In The Summertime", but they broke up after just six studio albums.  In 2004, VH1 rounded up the members of the band for the awkwardly satisfying show "Bands Reunited".  As a longtime fan of The Alarm, I was emotionally invested in this made-for-TV reunion, and they still sounded really good.  If not for U2 being bigger, better, and more talented, The Alarm might have been a really big band in the '80s.

As for the performance by U2? Wow.  I don't want to overstate this - but those next 2 hours changed my life.

For me, this was a perfect storm of concert greatness. I was at an impressionable age, seeing a future Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame band on the support tour of their first significant album ("War") and first major political statement ("Sunday Bloody Sunday"). In the MTV rotation, this song stuck out like a Hell's Angel at a Girl Scout meeting.

1983 MTV, Journey's "Separate Ways" = Cheese.

Consider this quick list of some 1983 MTV hits: Hungry Like The Wolf, Electric Avenue, She Blinded Me With Science, Come On Eileen, Separate Ways, Down Under, Der Komissar, and on and on...

Those are some memorable pop songs, but all of them combined don't convey 1% of the cojones that explode out of the drums and the piercing guitars that begin "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The song is built from genuine anger and frustration stemming from years of violence in Ireland. Unlike many of the groups churning out MTV fluff, U2 brought a punk attitude to their early music (Iggy Pop and The Clash were influences) combined with some of the theatrical qualities of their musical heroes (David Bowie, The Who). Here's a classic performance of the song, captured at Red Rocks in Colorado just 2 weeks before our Florida show. This version was immortalized on the "Under A Blood Red Sky" EP and video.

According to Wikipedia (the website's motto: "Most of this shit is true."): "The band have said the lyrics refer to the events of both Bloody Sunday (1972) and Bloody Sunday (1920), but are not specifically about either event. The song takes the standpoint of someone horrified by the cycle of violence in the province. Bono rewrote The Edges's initial lyrics, attempting to contrast the two events with Easter Sunday, but he has said that the band was too inexperienced at the time to fully realize that goal, noting that "it was a song whose eloquence lay in its harmonic power rather than its verbal strength." In the 1972 incident, 26 unarmed protesters were shot,14 were killed by gunfire from British soldiers in Derry, Ireland.

When U2 performed the song, the crowd was eating out of Bono's hands. We were chanting "NO MORE!" over and over as Bono led us on. His passion and anger were theatrical but sincere. He carried around a large white 'surrender' flag, marching to Mullen's militaristic cadence, trying to impose his will not only on the crowd but on to the culture of violence itself.

Henry Rollins is to Black Flag as Bono is to White Flag.

So here was this young band - still in their early twenties and just beginning to hit their stride.  This was like seeing a young Mickey Mantle swatting 4 home runs in a game while stealing 3 bases and making two spectacular diving catches - making it look easy, winking at the camera while walking off the field with two pin-up models. In 1952, his first full season in the bigs, The Mick hit .311, belted 23 HR's with 87 RBI - all at the age of 21. Like young Mantle,  U2 on the "War" tour was just a glimpse of greatness to come.

Back to the show. During "The Electric Co." (from "Boy"), the band moved into an extended jam. Edge noodled on the guitar as Bono worked the crowd. Without warning, Bono stopped singing, ran off the stage  and up the side aisle of the theater as spotlights followed him (without any apparent bodyguards nearby). He boldly burst into the frenzied crowd as the band played on and the spotlights shut off.  We knew Bono was somewhere among his adoring fans, but where?

The Mick, long before Jagger.

The tension was building. Moments later, the spotlights blasted awake and there was Bono, in the middle of the crowd, being supported 5-6 feet in the air by fans who were pawing at him while never daring to let him fall.  The Edge, Adam, and Larry continued to jam as the crowd body-surfed Bono back to the safety of the stage. He never appeared flustered during the risky experience. He retook the stage to finish the song without missing a beat. Like the young Mantle, he never took his eye off the ball.

During the song "Gloria" the song is stripped down to bass and percussion for a moment while The Edge slowly builds to a crescendo and the vocal chorus of "Gloria - in te domine". I must admit I'm a bit rusty on my conversational Latin, but according to Wikipeda: "Gloria in te domine / gloria exultate" translates into "Glory in you, Lord / Glory, exalt [him]". Thank you, Mr. Wiki.

Bono at the US Festival showing off some great '80s hair.

At the climax of the song, spotlights from the back of the stage shot up high and hard directly into the upper center balcony of the theater, seemingly right at our seats. The band was silhouetted from behind, it felt like I was caught directly in the spotlight at the very moment the music peaked and the crowd swooned. It only lasted for a few seconds but it felt like a perfect alignment of the planets.

Yes, I still have the original T-shirt from this show.

With the set now concluded, some fans headed for the exits. Moments later, the band returned to play "Party Girl" and "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" before leaving the stage. More fans headed for the parking lot. Again, the lads came back with their first hit, "I Will Follow", bringing down the house and walking off to thunderous applause. They were done, it seemed. As more fans left, many of us remained, wishing for more, more, more. Unbelievably, they returned again, a 3rd encore! The song was "40", the closing song from "War".  The chorus asks "How long to sing this song?" and the crowd eagerly sang along over and over.  Finally, Bono waved goodbye and left the stage. The Edge, Larry and Adam kept playing as the crowd sang in unison "How long?" The Edge retired his guitar for the night, waved farewell and walked off.

No, it hasn't fit me for 15 years. No, I will NOT throw it out.

"How long to sing this song?", we continued over the steady drums and bass. Eventually, Adam stopped his playing,  handed his bass to a roadie and waved goodbye.

"How long?", we pleaded, hoping the night would never end. Larry hammered out the beat a few more times as the crowd sang in full throat. He crashed his cymbals and bass drum one last time and disappeared.

The show was over. "How long to sing this song?", we sang and sang and sang for another minute or two.  No one wanted to leave. We had all witnessed something special, and we knew it immediately.

For the first time, I had a new favorite band that felt like my band, not my brother's or sister's.  It was an instantaneously strong connection, one that has led to many more memorable concert experiences and thousands of hours of musical enjoyment.  I will have much more on U2 later in this blog.

Here is the unofficial set list from this show: Out Of Control, Twilight, An Cat Dubh, Into The Heart, Surrender, Two Hearts Beat As One, Seconds, Sunday Bloody Sunday, The Cry-> The Electric Co., I Fall Down, October, New Year's Day, Gloria, (encore) Party Girl, (2nd encore) 11 O'clock Tick Tock, I Will Follow, (3rd encore) 40

Bono has been well-decorated and admired for his incredible political and humanitarian efforts. If you are interested in reading about his inspirational charitable work, I recommend the book "Bono" by Michka Assayas.

This series of conversations between the singer and the author cover a variety of subjects, most of which are not about music. You can't help but admire the man who has given so much effort and gained great political clout while striving to achieve the end of Africa's debt and starvation.