When Adam missed a show

[jeevey]

I was watching ZOO TV from Sydney and was wondering if anyone remembered this clearly.

When Adam missed the show in 1993, did the media pick it up? Did MTV's 120 minutes or Rolling Stone mention it- was there discussion among fans? It's really a part of the U2 mythos now, but I'm wondering how widely it was circulated at the time.

 

[Nick66]

I'm not sure. I'd imagine the local media at least mentioned it in their reviews of the show.

I believe I learned about it reading Bill Flanagan's excellent "U2 at the End of the World." Best book on U2 I've ever read, and if you haven't read it I highly recommend it...it's great insight into the band during that era.

 

[jeevey]

I did love that. What an inside view of the whole thing. And Flanagan is really a very good storyteller, which is rare in a rock and roll book. I laughed a ton when reading it.

 

[digitize]

I wish a good bootleg existed for that show. Last time I checked, the only bootleg that I could find was horrendous.

I second the heaping of praise onto U2ATEOTW.

 

[cobl04]

That is a terrific book. One of the very few I've actually finished since leaving high school. My favourite part was probably the Tokyo bits, and how Bono was "trying to throw his arms around the world".

 

[The Panther]

I also love(d) the Flanagan book. Returning to it recently, however, I was surprised to find it a bit overly pandering. It was as though Flanagan had a bit of an agenda to make every silly pub conversation the band and friends had sound revelatory, and to right every incorrect wrong assumed about U2's personalities (Larry is actually smart and funny, etc., Edge likes dance music, etc.). Other than this minor PR agenda, it is undoubtedly the best book about U2.

What's really funny now is to read the section -- I think it occurs when they're touring New Zealand -- where Flanagan and the band talk excitedly about "the Internet" and the future of music "downloading". It reads exactly like the scene in Austin Powers where Dr. Evil, who has traveled to the future, talks about "lasers", trying to impress everyone with his cutting-edge technological knowledge.

 

[jeevey]

Do you mean he was trying to impress us with how prescient they were? Given that the book was written in 1995, I did think it was pretty prescient. Esp in the part regarding the negotiations with Island, I thought it was interesting that the whole industry was aware that hard copies were on the way out and something like digital distribution was bound to exist, although they couldn't quite imagine how.

I appreciated the effort to enlarge the personalities of the band. He certainly also did enough confirming the usual characterizations of the band as well (oh, Adam dances with models on the grass, troublemaking roadies get sent to Larry for discipline and Edge takes mad-scientist notes while high? so surprised.) I appreciated him talking about how the whole band participated in conceptualizing the tour, as well. Like it's not ALL Bono and his big ideas all the time.

I loved the bits about Bono's out of body polarity therapy, and Sinead singing to her baby doll, and the Tinkerbell waitress in Australia. Flanagan is damned funny.

But seriously, are there no Australians here who were rabid fans in 1993? Does no one know?

 

[cobl04]

The people who could answer your question don't post much anymore. I was 2 or 3 at the time.

 

[Nick66]

I thought one of the most interesting parts of the book was just how close they came to parting ways with Adam, along with the friction on one hand between the band and Paul, and also between Bono/Edge vs. Adam/Larry, re: how to split royalties. At that time it wasn't the big, happy family that we've alway been led to believe they were. They eventually sorted it out, but back then it was a big issue and there was real resentment going on there.

 

[jeevey]

Yes, I was profoundly shocked when Flanagan asked if U2 could go on without Adam and Edge said, "Yes, definitely." I wonder if they'd still say the same. The parts about Adam and Paul's alliance was also fascinating. U2 has worked so hard to present a united front- and I think to actually be united- that that sort of detail is really unusual and fascinating.

Like practically every scene in the other U2 masterwork FTSD, it really makes me appreciate how hard they work. My favorite characterization of the band ever is Eno's line from the film: "They're very loyal to each other, and they're really, really kind to one another." That says it all for me- everything that there is to love about U2.

 

[cobl04]

I admit I skipped over a lot of the label/money stuff. Found it incredibly boring. He just quotes Paul or whoever for like three pages at a time. Like massive slabs. Boring.

 

[AndrewCowley]

I attended that show (and of course the 2nd night too). My memory is a little sketchy... it definately wasn't a secret and nor was it just the hard core fans at the front of the GA line who knew about it. But the media didn't go crazy with it. So somewhere in between a 'secret' and a media frenzy. I do recall that Stuart Morgan played ok, but there was some songs that sounded a bit off. Mysterious Ways may have suffered.

 

[lemonfly]

I attended that show (and of course the 2nd night too). My memory is a little sketchy... it definately wasn't a secret and nor was it just the hard core fans at the front of the GA line who knew about it. But the media didn't go crazy with it. So somewhere in between a 'secret' and a media frenzy. I do recall that Stuart Morgan played ok, but there was some songs that sounded a bit off. Mysterious Ways may have suffered.

Interesting. If he had missed the 2nd show as well, I'm sure the media would have sensed a much bigger story brewing, and moved in for the kill. In retrospect, U2's legendary PR machine dealt with that story with breathless efficiency (the phrase "unspecified overindulgence" always makes me chuckle). Btw, words can't describe how insanely envious I am that you attended that 2nd show

 

[AndrewCowley]

Interesting. If he had missed the 2nd show as well, I'm sure the media would have sensed a much bigger story brewing, and moved in for the kill. In retrospect, U2's legendary PR machine dealt with that story with breathless efficiency (the phrase "unspecified overindulgence" always makes me chuckle). Btw, words can't describe how insanely envious I am that you attended that 2nd show

Envy indeed. I had a great spot. Right in front of the b-stage. People criticize the crap out of that version of WOWY but I can tell you, being there and watching Bono sing it in his MacPhisto guise with his face just dripping with emotion was INCREDIBLE.

 

[An Cat Gav]

I was watching ZOO TV from Sydney and was wondering if anyone remembered this clearly.

When Adam missed the show in 1993, did the media pick it up? Did MTV's 120 minutes or Rolling Stone mention it- was there discussion among fans? It's really a part of the U2 mythos now, but I'm wondering how widely it was circulated at the time.

It was fairly big news in the music press and even the ordinary press, remember that Adam had been recently engaged to Naomi Campbell and was now known to people other than U2 fans.
I remember it being on MTV news quite a bit and also in the NME (which was going through one of it's quite like U2 phases) as well as other music media sources. Made the tabloids too of course, Adam had been previously charged with possesion of marijuana in Ireland so this was a nice easy story for the press to speculate about.

 

[YBORCITY]

Interesting. If he had missed the 2nd show as well, I'm sure the media would have sensed a much bigger story brewing, and moved in for the kill. In retrospect, U2's legendary PR machine dealt with that story with breathless efficiency (the phrase "unspecified overindulgence" always makes me chuckle). Btw, words can't describe how insanely envious I am that you attended that 2nd show

It would have been a HUGE deal if he missed show #2 as that is the show they used for the ZOOTV concert film.... And if I remember correctly that night was supposed to be a "dress rehearsal" for all of the cameramen to get their correct angles for the real shoot the night after. I have a feeling it was seen as a big deal to the band and principles.

Also on U2@TEOTW, great book, I too revisited it for abouth the 10th time just a couple of months ago.

 

[gareth brown]

really need to get my hands on that book at some point!

 

[namkcuR]

I'm re-reading U2ATEOTW right now(for at least the third time). I haven't gotten to the stuff about Adam's missed gig yet, but I did just finish the chapters about the Zooropa recording sessions. Those sessions are fascinating to me because the whole process of making that record was/is so atypical for U2.

I still think the leftover tracks from those sessions(Bono version of The Wanderer, the "Zooropa" versions of If God Will Send His Angels, If You Wear That Velvet Dress, and Wake Up Dead Man, and even the genesis of Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me) are among the holy grail of unreleased U2 stuff.

I mean, the way the book makes it sound, these tracks were finished tracks that were cut, not just demos(aside from HMTMKMKM). There was an argument over which version of Wanderer to put on - Bono was the one really pushing for the Cash version, and he obviously won - and the three future Pop tracks were cut at the last minute because they were rockier than the rest of the record and they wanted to make the record more cohesive(which makes me wonder what Velvet Dress originally sounded like).

It's a shame Zooropa didn't get its own anniversary release. We may never get to hear this stuff.

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

I still think the leftover tracks from those sessions(Bono version of The Wanderer, the "Zooropa" versions of If God Will Send His Angels, If You Wear That Velvet Dress, and Wake Up Dead Man, and even the genesis of Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me) are among the holy grail of unreleased U2 stuff.

Oh wow I did know that. How amazing would it be to hear those early versions!

If You Wear That Velvet Dress is one of my all-time fav U2 songs! On many days I'd rather just sit down and listen to Pop as an album than anything else.

As for the topic, it would be interesting to see a youtube clip or something at least from this show.

 

[jeevey]

Thanks very much, Gav. Exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Von Schloopen]

I was watching ZOO TV from Sydney and was wondering if anyone remembered this clearly.

When Adam missed the show in 1993, did the media pick it up? Did MTV's 120 minutes or Rolling Stone mention it- was there discussion among fans? It's really a part of the U2 mythos now, but I'm wondering how widely it was circulated at the time.

The media didn't pick up on it.

No mention at all.

 

[Diemen]

Quit trolling.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Thanks very much, Gav. Exactly what I was looking for.

My pleasure Jeevey.

 

[ChargedVT]

I would die to see some actual footage of Stuart playing this gig. There definitely would have been some footage from that gig spliced into the Live From Sydney video as they always use footage from multiple nights but obviously they weren't going to put him in there. I think he kinda stuck to the shadows though...

 

[gvox]

I would die to see some actual footage of Stuart playing this gig. There definitely would have been some footage from that gig spliced into the Live From Sydney video as they always use footage from multiple nights but obviously they weren't going to put him in there. I think he kinda stuck to the shadows though...

Was it actually Stuart, back then? I'm too lazy to dust off the cobwebs in that section of my brain..lol

 

[ChargedVT]

Yep. There's a photo of him in Pimm's live book, dressed in Adam's stage gear

 

[Globo14]

I thought I remember reading somewhere that some shots of the crowds, or at least shots from a perspective where the bass player couldn't be seen were from that night.

 

[jeevey]

In U2 @TEOTW Flanagan talks about how hard the camera crew had to work to avoid showing Stuart in the shots. "Avoiding him like a prostitute at a church picnic," I think the phrase was. Paul and the band initially suggested that EDGE should play bass and Dallas do guitar. Can you imagine?

 

[gvox]

Hah, now I do remember that! Thanks guys.

I wouldve liked to see Dallas on guitar...maybe not for a whole show, but they should bring him out one day for a tune.

Imagine that one time they bring out the techs and the techs jam out a U2 song, in full. That'd be pretty cool, actually.