U.2. For City Date

The Connacht Tribune by Aaron J. Sams (1980-05-09)

U2 who comprise Bono (vocals), Dave Edge (guitar), Larry Mullin (drums) and Adam Clayton (bass) were formed in 1978 by four Dublin classmates. Their first public appearance was at the Civic Week Talent Contest in Limerick at which they won £500 which was enough to buy the instruments they had borrowed.

Following this early success they gigged around Dublin, with occasional forays into the country, through 1978 and 1979. They made numerous T.V. appearances on Our Times, Young Line and the Late Late Show, and supported such visiting acts as the Stranglers, XTC, the Only Ones, Doll by Doll, Thin Lizzy and Talking Heads.

In September 1979 they released their first disc on C.B.S. Records. This was an E.P. entitled “U2 Three”. The record went to No. 3 in the Irish charts and is still selling well. It was made “Single of the Week” in the English music paper Record Mirror and was C.B.S. Ireland’s most successful rock single ever.

In December 1979 then undertook their first British tour, which attracted rave reviews from NME, Sounds, Record Mirror. John Peel started playing their record on BBC Radio One. In the Hot Press readers poll, February 1980, they won the best Irish Band category, beating such established names as Thin Lizzy, Horslips, Undertones and Boomtown Rats. They also won awards for Best Live Band, Best Irish-based Band, Best New Band, and Best Single of 1979.

Their second single, “Another Day”, was released in February 1980 and had there been an Irish chart at the time it would surely have figured prominently. It was a massive airplay hit.

This success and the band’s triumphant sell-out concert at the prestigious National Stadium in Dublin led directly to the band’s international record deal with Island Records on whose label the band’s third single, “11 O’clock Tick Tock”, will be released on May 16th. This coincides with the band’s first headline tour of Britain which starts May 22nd. In Ireland the single will be available on the CBS label.

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