1978-05-04

McGonagles, Dublin, Ireland

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U2 play a series of Thursday night shows with The Vipers at McGonagles. The show ran from 11pm – 3am and took place in the Memphis Rock Club. Little information is available about this show. The set list is not known.

Although some sources say U2 played four weeks straight at McGonagles with The Vipers, they would not play the following Thursday, The May 11th performance at McGonagles is by a band called Sacre Blue, who are about to leave for Europe on tour, and it’s billed as a goodbye gig to Dublin, ahead of the tour. Ann Henry was advertised as appearing with Sacre Blue. Likewise on May 18, another band is also advertised, Stagalee. If U2 played with The Vipers on these nights, it was not at McGonagles.

U2 played McGonagles a number of times in the late 1970s. The venue, located at 21A South Anne Street, started hosting concerts in 1978 and continued to do so until 1992. Prior to that, it was known as The Crystal Ballroom. Bono’s parents, Iris and Bob would often go dancing at The Crystal Ballroom and Bono would later write about the venue in “The Crystal Ballroom”: “My mother died when she was at her father’s funeral. I was only 14. And in this song I am singing, “Everyone is here tonight, everyone but you.” And it’s me wanting to see my mother dance again in the Crystal Ballroom and for her to see what happened to her son.” On July 1, 2018, Bono remembered from stage that U2 had played McGonagles 29 times in their career. That night was their 30th performance at Madison Square Garden, making it U2’s most played venue, but up until that point, McGonagles appears to have been the most played.

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