"When Love Comes to Town" (Alternate Version) [04:10]

Links to Video

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Video Information

This is an alternate video for “When Love Comes to Town” and is very different than the version many of us are familiar with. This version was aired most often on television in New Zealand and Australia instead of the version that was more common in North America and Europe. This video makes use of many outtakes from “Rattle and Hum” itself, but it also features extensive footage that did not make the movie. At one point we see a scene that never made it into the movie where Bono is quite emotional and obviously upset.

The video opens with a view of the Checkerboard Lounge and Blues Club, on 43rd Street in Chicago, we then see the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Throughout the video we see a number of other scenes shot around the USA, including footage of the Hernando de Soto Bridge crossing into Memphis, the original statue of Elvis located on Beale St. in Memphis TN, the marquee at Antones, a Blues club in Austin TX, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. We even return to the Checkerboard Lounge and there is footage of entering the building. The footage also includes a number of rural locations, including some burned out buildings, a church, and a number of rural roads.

This footage from the USA is mixed with two sets of performance video. The first is from Sun Studios in Memphis where U2 would record a number of songs for the “Rattle and Hum” album, this footage was from November 29, 1987 and lasted well into the morning of the next day. There is also footage of U2 and BB King both back stage rehearsing and on stage during a concert in Fort Worth Texas at the Tarrant County Convention Center on November 24, 1987 just days prior to going into the studio in Memphis to record the song.

This video was quite rare to be seen in the 1980s when the song was released, and the video has never been released on any commercially released U2 compilation. The version on the video “The Best of 1980 – 1990” is the more common version. The video also uses a studio version of the song, which the video used more commonly in North America never did.

Video Shooting Locations

Quick Start - Leaflet

Additional Screen Captures

Video Credits

Directed by Phil Joanou