1976-11

Mount Temple Comprehensive School, Dublin, Ireland

Set List of Show:

Known Set List:

"Show Me the Way"
"Beach Boys Medley"
"Bye Bye Baby"

Encore:

"Bye Bye Baby"

Additional Music

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by Feedback:

Show Details:

After forming on September 25, and some known rehearsals in October 1976, the dates of U2’s next steps are shrouded in a bit of mystery. A school talent competition was the next step forward for this young band, but the date of that competition is not known. The band continued rehearsing, first on Wednesdays alone, and then adding in Saturdays when the school was closed. The school talent competition would be the first public unveiling of the group, the first time in front of an audience other than a small number of friends who would pop into the ongoing rehearsals.

This first performance took place after Ivan McCormick left the band. Ivan shared with us, “I only lasted a few weeks. We did some rehearsals in Mr McKenzie’s music room at school where my lack of rock’n’roll savvy became more and more apparent.” Frank Kearns, a classmate and old friend of the band, remembered the talent competition would have likely been around the mid-term, possibly in late October. Adam Clayton remembers in U2 by U2 that the talent competition came at the “end of term”, sharing “that was where we decided we would make our debut. The gig was really the thing that we worked towards”. As the exact date is unknown we are placing this performance in November 1976, as this would give Ivan several weeks with the band, and the mid-term is usually at the end of October / start of November in Irish schools. Neil McCormick also remembers it as being as “the 1976 autumn term drew to a close.”

As it was a talent day for Mount Temple Comprehensive students, Feedback played with one member missing. The Edge’s brother Dick was at University and could not play at this show for students. Other students were also asked to put acts together, including Neil McCormick, who had written a short play to be performed on the same day. The performance took place in the school’s gym, with the band on a stage made out of tables.

The band have worked on three songs over the time they have been together including a cover of Peter Frampton’s “Show Me the Way” (Originally released in 1975), a medley of Beach Boys songs that the band have given a rock edge to, and a cover of the Bay City Rollers’ “Bye Bye Baby” (Originally released in 1975.) Frank Kearns remembers that “Bye Bye Baby” was played twice at this performance, but it is not known if it was played a second time as an encore, or because it was ended early due to issues with the performance the first time.

The performance went well with no big screw ups, and a crowd gathered who were appreciative of the four young men on a makeshift stage. Neil McCormick shares in Killing Bono that the performance was so good he decided not to do his one-man play which had been due to follow Feedback on stage. He describes the scene, “The gym was in complete uproar, with kids singing, yelling, screaming, clapping, dancing. I looked about me in a daze.” McCormick shares he was inspired to go into music by seeing the performance, working with his brother Ivan.

Adam shared in U2 by U2, “It was all over in a flash, and that may relate to just general stage fright and nervousness. But it was one of the most amazing buzzes, a huge shot of adrenalin. In that ten minutes a world opened up of how things could be.” Larry shared, “After that, I think we were in a band. We had actually managed to play in public together without totally disgracing ourselves. It was as if my identity changed.” Bono also felt changed by the experience, “Everything changed for me, because now I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. There it was, the thing I didn’t know.”

Officially Released Tracks