"Gloria" - U2

Single

Track Listing

Alternate Tracks:

Background Information

“Gloria,” the second single from U2’s October album, was issued just prior to the release of the LP. The version released on single is the same as that on the album in most regions. The single released in Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg not only featured a different cover, the version on the release was faded out two seconds earlier.

“Gloria” was released only on 7-inch vinyl, in a sleeve featuring a photo of the band mirrored four times. In The Netherlands as mentioned above, and in New Zealand, alternate cover art was used, although the track listing remained the same. “Gloria” was the second U2 single to chart in the UK. However, it peaked at #55, lower than the previous single, “Fire.”

The B-side of “Gloria” was a live version of “I Will Follow” recorded in Boston, MA on March 6, 1981. This same concert had been mined previously for material to fill out the 12-inch single release of “Fire“ and the US 7-inch release of “I Will Follow.”

U2 filmed a video for “Gloria“—it was only the band’s second video, following the one released the previous fall for “I Will Follow.” It became the first U2 video to receive significant airplay on MTV in the USA. The “Gloria” video was directed by Meiert Avis, who had also directed “I Will Follow.” The video featured U2 floating on a barge near the Grand Canal Docks in Dublin (not far from Windmill Lane Studio, where they record). A crowd of U2 fans is gathered on the docks, dancing and cheering as U2 perform the song. The clip ends with an aerial view of the action and a wide shot of the docklands area.

In concert, “Gloria” was introduced during The October Tour, and was regularly present in the set list throughout the tours for War, The Unforgettable Fire, and The Joshua Tree, as well as on The Lovetown Tour. It also appeared, albeit with less frequency, on The Vertigo Tour in 2005. Snippets of “Gloria” have also made rare appearances over the years, most recently at a single show on The U2360° Tour in 2009. The song reappeared in 2015 during The Innocence and Experience Tour being performed at 17% of the concerts. A live version from December 6, 1982, recorded in London, was released on the deluxe remastered version of October. A live version from Red Rocks, a natural amphitheater outside of Denver, CO was recorded on June 5, 1983 and features on both the Under a Blood Red Sky album and companion video, U2 Live at Red Rocks. A December 31, 1989 performance from Dublin, Ireland was featured on Love: Live from the Point Depot, a subsection of the iTunes-only release The Complete U2.

Two further edits of the song are known. An edit of the album version was released on a promotional single for “Gloria” in the UK which ran 3:55 in length. And in Argentina a super short 2:29 edit was released on promotional vinyl. More information about both of these can be found in our entry for the promotional single.

The album version has also been featured on several promotional compilations such as the “Sampler Cassettes” from 1986 and 1987, and the Japanese-only “Special Collection 1980-1987.” The song has not been collected on any commercially available U2 compilations. The live 1981 recording of “I Will Follow” found on the original “Gloria” single was included on the bonus disc accompanying the deluxe reissue of <em>October<em>.

Liner Notes

Produced by Steve Lillywhite. Live tracks from the Paradise Theatre Boston – Mass. USA, March 1981.

(Although not credited on the original release, Bob DeMuth is credited with engineering of the live recording of “I Will Follow” in the liner notes for U2’s remaster of “October”.)

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