1981-05-15
California Hall, San Francisco, CA, USA
Set List of Show:
Additional Music
Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:
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"Frère Jacques" (Jean-Philippe Rameau) /
"It's A Long Way to Tipperary" () /
Show Details:
This early show on the Boy tour is one of the first U2 shows that has been professionally filmed. The band is filmed from multiple angles and this footage has appeared via the Bill Graham Archives. Romeo Void, who cancelled their appearance with U2 at their previous show opens the concert tonight. A second band, B Team, is also on the bill for the night, ahead of Romeo Void. Debora Iyall, the lead singer of Romeo Void joins U2 on stage as well for “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” the second time it is played.
Early in the day at sound check, U2 do a number of run throughs of “I Will Follow” which are all filmed for a possible video. To our knowledge the video footage is never officially used as a video, and the promotional video that is associated with the song does not come from this day.
During “11 O’Clock Tock” Bono adds his references to “Frere Jacques”. Introducing “I Fall Down” Bono explains that it is a new song that the band have been working on, “We’re travelling in a big bus across your country for the past two months. We actually rehearse in the back of this bus. This is the result of that, this is ‘When I Fall Down’.” The song was first played earlier in the tour, and at this point is well rehearsed, although still has significant differences from the version that will be recorded for October. “Touch” is introduced by Bono referencing “It’s A Long Way to Tipperary” but without telling the story about how far they are from home that usually accompanies the reference.
“Cry” opens “The Electric Co.” and Bono includes the “Send in the Clowns” snippet. During the song Bono heads to the side of the stage and climbs the speaker stack at the side jumping back down for the end of the song. Bono introduces the band tonight, “We’re called U2 and we come from Dublin in Ireland. There’s one thing we don’t usually do which is introduce the members of the band, but as the Edge is stalling for time, might as well introduce The Edge, Larry, Adam, and I’m Bono and this is ‘Stories for Boys’” while Edge is fixing an issue with his guitar. “Boy / Girl” includes a very young girl from the audience invited to the stage while Bono breaks into a “Let’s Twist Again” snippet. Bono later hoists her on to his shoulders to finish singing the song, holding the girl’s arms into the air, and eventually signalling a stage hand to help him get her back into the audience. He then signals the audience for a light and proceeds to try to light a cigarette and ends up playing with the lighter. “Out of Control” finishes the main set.
The band return for the encore, launching with “Twilight” with Bono introducing it with “It’s not very often you get to play with your favourite band! Oh Romeo!” a reference to Romeo Void opening the show. Bono does the “Can you feel it, It’s a feeling” introduction to “Twilight” that he has been doing on this leg of the tour. They leave the stage after “Twilight” as the lights go dark, with Bono announcing “I’m not afraid of the dark” The band are urged back out, and Bono uses a flashlight to light himself in the darkness. “We don’t really know what’s exactly gone wrong, but this is something like they suffered I think, during the second World War. Is there anybody can fill in the time with a few stories maybe? By the way, this is the time when everybody makes up their mind we weren’t as good as we were supposed to be because everything fell down” and the lights flick back on and the performance continues with “I Will Follow” after a bit of additional storytelling by Bono.
A champagne bottle is opened before “A Day Without Me” with Bono announcing “somebody’s delivered a gift, I presume this must be for you” and opening it with a spray of foam but taunts the audience with it instead of giving it to them telling them “it’s bad for you” as he tells the audience he’ll see them in the Fall. Up next is a reprise of “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” this time featuring Debora Iyall from Romeo Void joining U2 on stage part way through the song joining arm in arm with Bono to start and later dancing around the stage with Bono. Bono calls them “Donnie and Marie, yeah?” Bono leaves out the “Frere Jacques” snippet in this second version of “11 O’Clock Tick Tock.” The show finishes off with a reprise of “The Ocean.”
Larry is on a drum riser on stage tonight dressed for the show in black. Edge is dressed in grey with paint splattered jeans. Bono is dressed in black pants and a white puffy shirt. Adam has a red and gold vest on over black clothes. Behind the stage is the UK cover of the Boy album featuring Peter Rowen.
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