1981-03-18

Student Union Ballroom, San Jose State University, San Jose, California

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

"The Ocean"
"11 O'Clock Tick Tock"
"I Will Follow"
"An Cat Dubh"
"Into the Heart"
"Another Time, Another Place"
"The Electric Co."
"Things to Make and Do"
"Stories for Boys"
"Boy / Girl"
"Out of Control"

Encore:

"A Day Without Me"
"11 O'Clock Tick Tock"
"The Ocean"

Additional Music

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

Show Details:

U2 play a free show at San Jose State in the Student Union Ballroom as part of the Boy Tour. The show is opened by Romeo Void, and the tour stop is presented by KSJO and KFJC radio stations in conjunction with the Associated Students Program Board. The venue is meant to hold only 1000 people but the lure of a free concert by a hot upcoming act gaining lots of notice in the press draws in almost twice as many.

The venue is on the second floor of the Student Union building, and the people packed into the small room lead to the building starting to shake. The building had been engineered to be earthquake proof, and was actually flexing due to the crowd enjoying the show. This lead to the building being re-engineered with extra support following the U2 show. During the show the swaying could be seen, and the tall speakers in use at the show were actually moving on stage and being held in place by crew. Some attendees to the show report standing still at the show but still being forced into the air due to the flexing of the floor.

The band met with press both before and after this show, but few were in attendance to meet with U2.

Howie Klein wrote a review of the show, “No one at the school figured a relatively unknown band from Dublin, Ireland would draw nearly twice as many anxious fans as the room could properly hold. They did. And it seemed that each and every one of them wanted to dance — vigorously — on the earthquake-proofed floor, which is built on springs and is capable of vibrating the entire building with the right stimulus. U2 was definitely the right stimulus. If their album tends towards an arty presentation of their abstract and spiritual — even subtle and delicate material, their live show was every bit as aggressive, direct and powerful.”

Officially Released Tracks