1979-01-27

Buttery, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Set List of Show:

Known Set List: (Incomplete)

"Concentration Cramp"
"Street Missions"

Additional Music

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

Show Details:

U2 play two shows on this day, the first an afternoon show at McGonagles, and this the evening show at the Buttery at Trinity College. Support is by three members of The Virgin Prunes, calling themselves System 20 (Likely Gavin, Guggi and Dick). Admission to the show is set at £0.60 and the capacity of the room is listed at 350 for the show, but it is unknown how many actually attended. The show is attended by Hot Press reporter, Bill Graham who contributes a lengthy review to Hot Press about the show.

“The later date was two hundred yards down the road in Trinity but the late arrival of the hired equipment and a hurried sound check weren’t the best preparation. Not that it fazed the support, System 20. The economy version of the Virgin Prunes, the Hot Tuna to their Jefferson Tricycle, System 20 are the Prunes alternate project in their free time. The provocation squad in handipack size, it was demented put ons as per usual. It didn’t quite work but this writer didn’t worry. After all, this coven are the perfect vehicle for interminable (and…. interruptive….) subjunctive clauses, incomprehensible speculations and no diatribes?! – about the state of the art and occult references to Rumanian structuralists and Polish sculptors. Anti rock demanding anti journalism, all they need is a convincing theory. System 20 will probably never perform again.

U2 were solace for the bewildered, even if their set slumped slightly in the final third, before a racing version of “Street Mission”. So if the band were scrambling, it’s indicative of their growth that an average set nonetheless promoters their merits rather than exposing their failings. Partially, it’s due to Paul Hewson. Undoubtedly, the best front man since Geldof, he’s a powerfully charged battery of energy, and utterly unignorable. His enthusiasm is such that even a potentially pessimistic song like “Concentration Cramp” doesn’t flounder in grim negativity, he and the band trampling underfoot all those confining restrictions of school days. Furthermore, except for one purloined Kinks riff, U2 owe no obvious debts to earlier styles. Their songs are uniquely their own, vibrant celebrations that are both direct in impact yet not so simple in style. It’s U2’s most enduring asset that they’ve taken only the ideals of the new wave, but not its licks, so that while their songs retain pop vivacity, their structures stretch towards more complex forms. They are already their own category. So many estimates of local bands end with double edged compliments, ifs, buts and luke warm qualifications. U2 belong to a whole other league.”

The full details of the set list are unknown but “Concentration Cramp” and “Street Mission” are known via the Graham review.

Officially Released Tracks