1980-10-14

KRO Studios, Hilversum, Netherlands

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

"11 O'Clock Tick Tock"
"I Will Follow"
"Touch"
"An Cat Dubh"
"Into the Heart"
"A Day Without Me"
"Twilight"
"The Electric Co."
"Stories for Boys"
"Boy / Girl"
"Out of Control"

Encore:

"11 O'Clock Tick Tock"

Additional Music

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

A Little Night Music

Show Details:

This is U2’s very first performance outside of the UK and Ireland, and it takes place at KRO Studios in Hilversum, The Netherlands. The performance is done for Dutch radio. The performance is organized by the record label, who are starting promotion of U2’s album Boy which is due to be released the following week. Harry de Winter, producer of the broadcast spoke about the band’s arrival: “We broadcast many live recordings made on location, but we also recorded bands in our own studio. The U2 boys arrived in the afternoon in a tattered van. They were completely excited, as it was their first time in Europe. Paul McGuinness, their manager, seemed like a school teacher. What stood out was how driven they were. They were really going to conquer the world. They were very concentrated while rehearsing in the afternoon, with Bono as a conductor.”

The broadcast of the show on KRO is the following day. They broadcast the entire performance except for the first version of “11 O’clock Tick Tock” opening the broadcast with “I Will Follow” instead. Bono knows this and invites the audience to join them at their show at the Milkyway “in an hour’s time”.

A snippet of “Send in the Clowns” is included in “The Electric Co.”

The band played to about 100 spectators in the radio studio according to De Winter. De Winter said that Bono “enchanted everyone who was in the studio” that day. U2 would hear themselves on the car radio as they were going to the concert the next night being held at the Milkyway.

Officially Released Tracks