1981-05-11

Rainbow Music Hall, Denver, CO, USA

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

"The Ocean"
"11 O'Clock Tick Tock"
"I Will Follow"
"I Fall Down"
"An Cat Dubh"
"Into the Heart"
"Touch"
"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"
"Twilight"
"I Will Follow"

Additional Music

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

"Frère Jacques" (Jean-Philippe Rameau) / "Cry" (U2) / "Yankee Doodle" (Traditional Nursery Rhyme) / "It's A Long Way to Tipperary" () / "Let's Twist Again" (Chubby Checker) / "I'm Twenty One Today" (Written by Alec Kendal) /

Show Details:

U2 play the Rainbow Music Hall in Denver, Colorado, in a performance which is broadcast by Denver radio station KAZY-FM. Recordings of this performance do exist. Tickets for the show are general admission, and cost $5.20. The show is advertised with an 8 pm start time.

The show takes place the night after Bono’s 21st birthday and the band are celebrating. Not only the birthday but the fact that the promoter, think highly enough of U2 to have invited them back for the second time in six weeks to perform at this venue.

“11 O’Clock Tick Tock” includes Bono’s nod to “Frere Jacques” Introducing “I Fall Down” Bono says “we’re going home soon, and we’ve got a new song, it’s called ‘When I Fall Down.’” The song was introduced earlier on the tour and what started as a rough song is becoming more polished with each play. “Touch” makes a reappearance at this show, a song that hasn’t been played often on this leg of the tour, and hasn’t been heard for a month. (At least that we know of some shows do have unknown set lists in that period.) Following “Touch” Bono says “you’re not supposed to act like this in the middle of America. You’re supposed to be laid back you know” while he enjoys the screams of the audience.

“The Electric Co.” includes both “Cry” and “Yankee Doodle,” forgetting the words to the latter and crying “Help Me” multiple times. In the introduction to the band ahead of “Stories for Boys” Bono mentions that “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” a reference to the famous song. In the middle of “Boy / Girl” Bono stops to tell the crowd “does anyone know that John Travolta has been offered the part of Jim Morrison. This song is about dancing. I believe you know a film called Saturday Night Fever…” and then launches into a short snippet of “Let’s Twist Again.” During “Out of Control” Bono invites the crowd to “join hands, put your hands in the air, to the sides, in the back.”

During the encore break the band stay on stage and open a bottle of champagne to celebrate Bono’s 21st birthday the night before. “Well I’m not sure how to open it not being used to champagne, do you know?” Bono asks the crowd, and then asks someone to open it and the bottle is passed around as the band start “A Day Without Me.” Bono speaks about Barry Fey who has been promoting the band, and has arranged this second show in a short time before playing “Twilight” and announces they will be back in the Fall, which is “pretty good because we don’t say Fall we say Autumn”. He also slips in a reference to the song “I’m Twenty One Today” during “Twilight”. The show ends with an energetic version of “I Will Follow.”

Many sources list either the Brains or Kamikaze Klones as the opening act for this show. But there is some confusion as U2 played the Rainbow Music Hall three times in less than a year. Tim Whitlock offers some help with this one, “The Brains opened for the first U2 show. My band Lunch opened for the second U2 show several weeks later. One of many great memories.” Kamikaze Klones also opened one of the three shows, likely the one in February 1982. It was Lunch who opened the May 1981 show in Denver.

Officially Released Tracks