1978-03-02

RTÉ Television Centre, Dublin, Ireland

Set List of Show:

Songs Performed:

"Street Missions"

Additional Music

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by The Hype:

Description:

U2 perform on <em>Young Line</em> on RTE, their first television appearance.

Show Details:

U2’s first television appearance was as a four piece, still under the name The Hype. The band performed “Street Missions” and this was aired first in March 1978, and again in June 1978 as part of a best of review, both part of the series Youngline on
RTÉ. There has been some confusion on when this performance took place due to the second airing.
RTÉ have confirmed U2’s first appearance was March 2, 1978.

The band had talked a producer for the show into coming to see a rehearsal for the band. Hearing “Glad to See You Go” the producer asked if the band had written it, and Bono claims that the band said they did, although it was a cover of the Ramones song. They didn’t play that song in studio, then chose to do one of their own songs instead, “Street Missions.”

Larry Mullen in U2 by U2 spoke about the performance, “It was like being brought into the cockpit of a plane, having never been in a TV studio before, it was much smaller than I thought it would be. It was white, with lights hanging from the ceiling. There was no audience…We couldn’t believe we were going to be on TV.”

Dik Evans who was still part of the band at this point had been unavailable regularly for some time, busy with his studies in engineering, and was unable to take part in this performance. Not long after this performance, the band said goodbye to Dik and became U2.

Youngline was a show aimed at young people, and ran on RTÉ from the mid-1970s until May 1984. The show aired on Thursday evenings in 1978.

Officially Released Tracks

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