by Ian Molyneaux

I wasn't actually at this concert, but I would like to share a story.

I was attending Queens University Belfast (QUB) at the time and did attend quite a few concerts. This U2 concert was announced at the same time as a concert by Stiff Little Fingers - a popular (in the UK and Ireland at least) Belfast punk band. Both concerts were to be held in the QUB Student's Union building, and if I recall it correctly, U2 were to play on a Thursday night and Stiff Little Fingers (SLF) on the next night (Friday).

As U2 weren't a big name at the time (they hadn't been signed by Island at that point), I chose to go and see SLF on the Friday night. It was a good show by a great pop-punk band, but of course as you can imagine I regret not going to see U2 on the Thursday night as well. I saw them later - in 1982 in Belfast again, and in 1983 in Dublin, but it would have been very cool to be able to say that I saw them before they broke.

On the other hand of course I went to see many concerts in my time by bands that never did break into the big time. They did their tours but never hit the big time as U2 eventually did. At that time who was to know tht U2 would end up as one of the biggest bands in the world. They were just another touring band passing through town.

Anyway - back to that concert. I talked to friends afterwards and it turned out to be a strange show. At the time U2 were trying to secure a record deal, so Island Records had sent someone to be at the Belfast concert, along with 3 people from Blue Mountain Music - Chris Blackwell's music publishing company. The concert didn't go so well, not because of the way that U2 played (they played well acording to my friends) but because of the audience reaction. The rapport that U2 usually have with audiences wasn't there that night, primarily due to the reaction/attitude of the audience.

Belfast is usually behind the times in most things, and in late 1979/early 1980 many young Belfast concert goers were still looking for something to pogo to - in the punk style - when they went to a concert by a 'new wave' band. Other places would have got over the whole original punk ethos by 1978 but Belfast crowds still wanted bands to play fast and not talk between songs. So as you can imagine Bono's sermons between songs weren't exactly what the crowd was looking for. The Belfast crowd wasn't familiar with the music and so weren't impressed by a band that didn't just play fast and a singer who dared to talk to them between songs. So the crowd told U2 things like 'stop fucking preaching and play'. Bono, being Bono of course wasn't having any of that so he preached all the more. Which led to more abuse from the crowd.

The band have said since that it was a long night for them, and all the worse because the concert had been set up to be a showcase for them in front of the Island/Blue Mountain people. By the end of it they were embarassed, since part of the hype about them had been their ability to connect with audiences.

All you can really say is that if the U2 organization had wanted to impress record industry people, choosing the Belfast crowd to do it in front of wasn't the best choice.

Of course it all turned out well in the end. U2 played 3 more shows around Ireland after that Belfast show and then returned home to Dublin for a big 'celebration' concert at the National Stadium on February 26, 1980. They were back in front of a familiar adoring crowd, and had lots of family and friends at the concert. Most importantly Bill Stewart from Island was there and he was blown away by the way that U2 played and more importantly the way in which the band connected with the audience and created a great atmosphere. Stewart offered U2 a deal with Island Records right after the concert.

So it all ended up happily. But imagine what might have happened if Stewart had been put off from attending that Dublin show by reports of what happened at the Belfast show.

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