The Sad Punk
Blue Crack Addict
Before the sunglasses, the lemons, the treatment of famous blues musicians as butlers and the kermit voice, but sometime after the white flags, Live Aid and the quintessential mullet, there was Inthistown.
Yes, that's right, folks. 23 years ago today, U2 performed on the short lived RTE2 late night program TV Gaga. They played a never-released track called Womanfish, a very early version of (I) Trip Through Your Wires, and a sub pub-rock cover of Knockin' On Heaven's Door.
The legend lives on today.
YouTube - U2 - Woman Fish
YouTube - U2 - Trip through your wires
It was the first public appearance of the full band since the conclusion of The Unforgettable Fire tour, half a year prior. Since then, Bono had travelled to Ethiopia and witnessed the dire situations there firsthand, he was involved in Little Steven's anti-apartheid "Sun City" single, plus he sang in a Clannad song (and did a great jog at the end of it, I must say!). After all this, he returned to the public eye as a changed man, or at the very least as a lost extra in Escape From New York. Expert artist Dunlop del Shintaprick documented the change at the time, as he saw it:
The set was spontaneous, daring and shocking. There were no standards played, no Pride, Bad or NYD. There were two entirely new songs, played pretty badly. Many U2 fans have since longed for such a thing to occur again. They consider themselves to be Inthistowntastic, and have held conventions on the date of the 30th of January since then.
Poster advertising Inthistowntastic convention 1988. City unknown.
Poster advertising Inthistowntastic convention 2001, in Osaka, Japan.
A number of questions have risen in regards to the performance - was it planned at all? Were any of them inebriated? What in the name of sweet fuck was Bono thinking when he decided to wear that garb? And others. And they may never be answered, except for the inebriation one, which is more or less definite. The other definite thing is that Edge worked a beret pretty damn well. Oh, and that the lyrics to the early Trip Through Your Wires will basically always be funny.
So, today I ask the lot of you to commemorate this event the best way possible - have a drink with your mates. Or watch the videos. You don't have to do anything, actually. But at least sit down and think about what it means to you.
Proposed cover of Inthistown graphic novel, written by Garth Ennis.
Yes, that's right, folks. 23 years ago today, U2 performed on the short lived RTE2 late night program TV Gaga. They played a never-released track called Womanfish, a very early version of (I) Trip Through Your Wires, and a sub pub-rock cover of Knockin' On Heaven's Door.
The legend lives on today.
YouTube - U2 - Woman Fish
YouTube - U2 - Trip through your wires
It was the first public appearance of the full band since the conclusion of The Unforgettable Fire tour, half a year prior. Since then, Bono had travelled to Ethiopia and witnessed the dire situations there firsthand, he was involved in Little Steven's anti-apartheid "Sun City" single, plus he sang in a Clannad song (and did a great jog at the end of it, I must say!). After all this, he returned to the public eye as a changed man, or at the very least as a lost extra in Escape From New York. Expert artist Dunlop del Shintaprick documented the change at the time, as he saw it:
The set was spontaneous, daring and shocking. There were no standards played, no Pride, Bad or NYD. There were two entirely new songs, played pretty badly. Many U2 fans have since longed for such a thing to occur again. They consider themselves to be Inthistowntastic, and have held conventions on the date of the 30th of January since then.
Poster advertising Inthistowntastic convention 1988. City unknown.
Poster advertising Inthistowntastic convention 2001, in Osaka, Japan.
A number of questions have risen in regards to the performance - was it planned at all? Were any of them inebriated? What in the name of sweet fuck was Bono thinking when he decided to wear that garb? And others. And they may never be answered, except for the inebriation one, which is more or less definite. The other definite thing is that Edge worked a beret pretty damn well. Oh, and that the lyrics to the early Trip Through Your Wires will basically always be funny.
So, today I ask the lot of you to commemorate this event the best way possible - have a drink with your mates. Or watch the videos. You don't have to do anything, actually. But at least sit down and think about what it means to you.
Proposed cover of Inthistown graphic novel, written by Garth Ennis.
