Well it looks like I got my daughter’s birth date wrong but I got all confused with my dates in the previous bog. I do know Jessica was born on 9th August 1982 so that makes the Gateshead, U2 and The Police gig the end of July and 82 not 83. That year, 1982 from that show through to Redrocks on 5th June 1983 was a crucial year for the band. They’d just started to make an impact in the States and Redrocks turned that right around for them. MTV and their new channel Showtime showed Redrocks in it’s entirety instead of a clip as was originally intended and it kick started things from there on.They also did the Midsummer nights Tube a couple of weeks after Gateshead as well as a prior Tube performance in the March.
That’s all incidental, I was talking about daughters and births so to finally repair any damage meant that me and Marie were following the band out on the October tour ..we did the same on the War tour but for the purposes of being factually correct and in the context of the blog….October. I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t started….I must check dates before I start to write.
What I do remember about the gig was that it was far from sold out which was weird because for Sting it was a bit of a homecoming, The Police had been out on the road for years and this was supposed to be a celebration. I also recollect The Beat, Lords of the New Church and Gang of Four being on the bill. The Gang of Four were really good that day and U2 were great…but I do confess to a bit of bias. I have some brilliant photos which I’ll get round to posting, Bono being passed around the crowd above their heads and Adam’s famous haircut…certainly not top of any bill !
Bono saw every opportunity from day one to connect with a crowd, to make them pay attention and for hem to watch everything he was doing. He was a great front man and what he lacked in singing ability back then was more than compensated for by his charismatic stage presence. Their tour manager Dennis Sheehan hadn’t started to work for them then and they had an old school friend called Tim taking care of that function. There were two guys I remember, Tim and a guy called Pod, no his initial wasn’t I. Bono used to climb the PA and wave the white flag and it was impossible to stop him. Time and time again his manager as well as the rest of the band would tell him to stop it, he could fall……..and time and time again he agreed but when show time came he just went off and did it all over again. That day the PA stack was particularly high and Bono was up on the scaffolding and shinning his way along to the top of the columns. Never mind anyone else, I was shitting it ……it looked very precarious.
Away again I drifted in to U2 live stories which should give me more than a good excuse to remember those brilliant times we had back at The Edge…………that being the name I awarded to the family home. It seemed appropriate for the time. I remember once doing an interview somewhere and someone asked me why did I call my house The Edge……’Well Bono is a pretty stupid name for a house’ I replied.
Tales from The Edge about me , Radcliffe and a bunch of notable suspects will be forthcoming.
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May 24, 2011 - Posted in News By: tonym Tags: Bono, Redrocks, The Police Gateshead, U2