still haven't read the rest of the thread (cept p1) , but i will (a lot of time in the WTAHAN )
here's my story.
i'm
about to be 56.....
I can still rock out with my younger (late 20's & 30's) PLEBA friends when we go see UF play
I'd been reading
New York Rocker - one of 2 maga(zines) that started out soon after the bands of CBGB's emerged: Television/ Patti Smith Group/ Blondie/ The Ramones etc.... 75 ish to chronical Punk/ New Wave in NYC, and later out into the (our NY/NJ/Conn) Tri-State/ later on- the whole USA & Great Britain/ Europe etc over the years.
So there I was picking up a ?
Oct or November 1980 issue.
When I get to the section for
Live Reviews I
read about U2 for the first time.
The Editor ( Andy Schwartz) effused (paraphrase); '... these guys are full of passion, and they play anthemic songs. If they
can stay together i think they're destined to
make it to Stadium Level....'
Now, most of my previous to u2 Ultra-favorite Bands have always had anthemic/ passionate music & passionate interactions with their audiences: The Who/ Bruce Springstten-E St./ Patti Smith Band .
SO this
pronouncement put me on alert for them!
Unfortunately I
missed U-2's (how they first had their name ) live debut in the USA .
As far as I can make out from my calendar notes of '80- oh yeah,
1] it was a kind of a drag in the 2nd half of the year for me in some major ways, WHILE
2] at the same time I & friends were
seeing our CBGB's fav bands go up the ladder of increasing audiences/bigger Venues - and that was also the around the time Tom Verlaine resurfaced after Television broke- so we were very busy with all that. Plus Bruce, and The Who (getting back together was it? or playing for the last time? ack! must look through calendars!) LOL
I
never saw any ads for U2 in say, The Village Voice, or (RIP) the Soho Weekly News
during that fall 80 either.
I think the same sort of elsewhere attention operated in/ thing happened in 1981 re CBGB's Bands + Bruce + WHo etc. AND we had seen The Clash at Bonds & Irving Plaza before that.
But I and friends
did hear IWF/OOC at the time it hit the radio-- still had pretty good FM rock radio then (altho
The Pix radio station that played
more New Wave & punk than any other NYC commercial station was going to be changed in ?late 80 or 81.
THERE was also a cool Interview the Editor of NYR did the day after he had seen U2/them (pre-USA tour) at London's Marquee Club. I was very impressed with certain aspects of their approach to music/ playing live etc.
posting this part will continue in a min
We got the IWF/OOC single & later Boy. I actually
wasn't that impressed with the Album over all>>> except I thought
IWF & OOC were *magic* !. But I
wasn't going to discount them b/c I trusted NYR's editor's opinion. I would just have to wait for their next tour.
I got October, and again while i wasn't totally impressed wit the whole album - ireally loved - I Threw A Brick and another track. Again - I'm not sure they toured the USA or or the East Coast, at least in 1982 .
Well, 1983 rolls around. War hits the record shops. THIS was the breakout album for me - what I considered their first REALLY GOOD album! My friends & I
were definitively on the look out for their tour.
BUT then it turned out I had to give up MY seat to the Pier 86 show! :
( i still regret that! drat!)
But it didn't matter in that way (wanting to see them) in the sense that I was DEF going to see them the NEXT Time/Tour!
AND I was in the area earlier that concert day to take a Circle Line boat trip - which a friend had given me as a freebie prize.
I
deliberately picked that afternoon- IN CASE -because the Circle Line was RIGHT NEXT TO The Pier 86 place I might catch them rehershing-- AND I DID!
Edge started playing the Piano for NYD, and Adam added in his Bass, and then we speeded to fast & loud to hear any more! because of boat height I also could see them -- little figures in the distance - on the stage!
I (w friends)
finally got to see & hear the whole band in Dec 1984 at radio City Music Hall-- it was an Amnesty International Concert Fund Raiser-- IF there was a supporting act I don't remember!
In fact I don't have that many clear memories of the show, except us getting up out of our seats a lot to dance and sing our hearts out! I think Bono had on a whitish shirt, dark pants and ? went out into the audience.
ANd so I've been seeing them EVER SINCE that show (Except I didn't see the Pop Tour- I'm a very visual person and I really didn't like the way they looked for the tour.
)
They became a part of my Rock Pantheon way back.
Hoping of course to get to one, may be 2 shows this year!