1980-12-04

Baltard Pavilion, Paris, France

Set List of Show:

Additional Music

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

Show Details:

U2 played with Simple Minds at least one time in France in 1980. A tape of the performance exists, and the taper identifies this as December 4, 1980, and the location as Pavillon Baltard, in Nogent-sur-Marne. The taper was there to see Talking Heads, and was not a U2 fan, and has the ticket stub from the concert at the Pavillon Baltard.

Other sources list U2 as having played with U2 on December 3, 1980 at the Pavillon Baltard. This can’t be the case, as Talking Heads did not play that venue that night. Despite the poster pictured which listed Talking Heads playing there on both nights, they only did one show at the Pavillon, the December 4, 1980 show. On December 3, 1980 Talking Heads played Theatre Mogador in Paris instead. A concert for December 6, 1980 is sold with U2’s name on the ticket stub as well, but U2 are in New York that evening instead, so could not have played that show in Paris. Many recordings from the 4th are mislabeled as the 3rd, but are indeed from the 4th, and are identical to master recordings direct from the taper for the 4th.

So it turns out the history is likely that U2 played with Talking Heads on the 4th, left for New York on the 5th (during the show they say they are going to New York the next day) and that may be why the planned show for the 5th in Rochester was cancelled. Asked about the show by DJ Mary Cipriani, Adam mentions “I remember we were supporting one of our heroes, Talking Heads. Just being on stage was such a high for us. And that suit!”

Its apparent that some changes were made to the tour. Originally two Talking Heads shows were planned at Pavillon Baltard on both December 3 and 4, and U2 were booked to play with them on December 6 in Paris from the ticket stubs. A North American tour was booked instead starting on December 5th in Rochester (eventually cancelled and starting on December 6th instead.) It is possible that U2 did play with the Talking Heads on the 3rd as well but there is no confirmation that it happened, so we will choose to just list the date on the 4th, for which we have proof in the form of a tape of the performance.

U2 enjoy their time and get some sightseeing in in France. They visit the Palais Royal with photographer Claude Gassian for a photoshoot and they visit Notre-Dame with journalist Michka Assayas.

Officially Released Tracks