1981-04-18

Harpo's, Detroit, MI, USA

Set List of Show:

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

Encore:

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

Additional Music

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

A Little Night Music

Show Details:

U2 play a show at the club called Harpo’s in Detroit. The show is put on by the promoter “Son of Bamboo” and tickets are $4.00. Tickets are available at the club box office, as well as Sam’s Jams, Dearborn Music, Peaches and Schoolkids. The show is advertised to start at 9pm. The club is a big one, and an estimated 1400 people are in attendance at this show. Bono struggles with the size of the venue, asking to see people closer, and later taking a walk into the audience during “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” and also allowing some fans to join the band on stage.

A new sound engineer has joined the band starting with this show, who has previously worked with the band at shows in Ireland. Joe O’Herlihy becomes a permanent fixture on the tour from this time on, and sticks around for the next four decades with the band.

Snippets during the show include the now routine references to “Frere Jacques” during “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” and the inclusion of “Cry” and “Send in the Clowns” during “The Electric Co.” It is also the second time ever that U2 play “I Fall Down” live in concert, which is still being developed for the October album. Bono says “I’ll tell you this has never been perf…oh well, it was performed last night, once. This is the second time this is being performed.” The song is very different than the recorded version that would appear later in the year on album, and the lyrics are only sketches of what they will become.

Two opening acts have been suggested for this show over time. Both were local to Detroit. The opening act was actually a local band called Ivory Tower, and attendees remember the opening band was a covers act doing covers of the Police, Cars, and Elvis Costello that night. The other band mentioned is Toby Redd. They were listed in one advertisement for the show as the opening act, but this is a misprint, and the band’s name was copied down from a previous listing. Tony Cutino from Toby Redd confirmed they never opened for U2, “Toby Redd opened for a lot of big names but never U2.”

Officially Released Tracks