1981-05-29

Palladium, New York, NY, USA

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

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

Encore:

"Twilight"
"I Will Follow"
"11 O'Clock Tick Tock"

Additional Music

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

"Frère Jacques" (Jean-Philippe Rameau) / "Cry" (U2) / "I'm A Believer" (The Monkees) /

Show Details:

U2 play at the Palladium in New York as they near the end of the North American leg of the Boy tour. The venue is a former movie palace that had been converted to a music venue starting in the 1960s. The attendance at this show is reported as 3400 by U2 Live. The show is advertised with an 8pm start. U2 will play the Palladium again on the War tour in 1983.

Like the previous show, the band take the stage to the sound of bagpipes and go into “The Ocean.” “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” includes the references to “Frere Jacques” that Bono would often add to the song. During “I Will Follow” someone lets white mice go on the stage and Bono stops at the end of the song “I don’t know who is throwing little white rats onto the stage but you’ve got the wrong band. We’re from Dublin, but we’re called U2” (A reference to another band from Dublin, The Boomtown Rats). “I Fall Down” is introduced as being “about a bus. This is part of the bus. It’s called ‘When I Fall Down.’” A second song from October is also played, the new single “Fire,” which Bono introduces as “we’ve got a new record out in Great Britain and the surrounding areas, in the next two week, it’s called ‘Fire’, this is its third time being played.”

Bono talks about the bands history in New York while introducing “Another Time, Another Place”. “We’ve only played here twice before. That was at a place called the Ritz. Have you heard of that or something? Is that popular? This is much bigger.” “The Electric Co.” features the “Cry” opening, and also includes a snippet of “New York, New York”. During “Boy / Girl” Bono adds a snippet of “I’m A Believer.”

For the encore, the band has a special guest with them for “11 O’Clock Tick Tock”. Busta Jones, known at the time for his work with the Talking Heads. U2 have met Jones when they played with the Talking Heads in 1980 in London and Paris. Jones does an extended solo in the middle of the song.

There are two opening acts for this show, Teardrop Explodes, and a band from Philly, The A’s.

Officially Released Tracks