1981-11-03

Fabrik, Hamburg, Germany

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

"Gloria"
"Another Time, Another Place"
"I Threw a Brick Through a Window"
"An Cat Dubh"
"Into the Heart"
"Rejoice"
"The Electric Co."
"I Fall Down"
"October"
"Stories for Boys"
"I Will Follow"
"Twilight"
"Out of Control"

Additional Music

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

"Cry" (U2) /

Show Details:

U2 perfom in Hamburg, Germany at Fabrik, a former machine parts factory in Hamburg, now turned into a cultural centre, including concert space.

The Psychedelic Furs are due to open the show, and they are at the venue on the day of the show but decide to cancel at the last minute, leaving only U2 on the bill. (Some sources say the Furs were not allowed to soundcheck and choose to leave, rather than play). The crowd do not take well to the news, and many in the crowd have been drawn there by the Furs.

The show starts out with Bono apologizing for the delay in the show starting, “sorry for the delay, the piano broke down, things like that.” as the band starts in on “Gloria.” He is met by angry responses from the crowd but the band continue. Three-quarters of the way through the song the band has to stop to address people who are throwing things at the band on stage, “In Dublin people who come to our concerts show people the way out that start throwing things on stage, I expect that here or we leave the stage.” They quickly restart the song, but it is the start of a tough night for the band, facing a crowd that are hostile towards them.

U2 includes “Cry” and “Send in the Clowns” during “The Electric Co.” Again as the band finishes “The Electric Co.” Bono makes an attempt to address the crowd. The crowd are standoffish at best, and downright hostile in some cases. Bono knows that the crowd got off to a bad start when news of the Furs cancellation reached them. “The atmosphere in here has got to change. Um, you’ve been sold a dummy tonight, you know what I mean? You expected to see two bands and there’s one band. It’s not our fault, it’s not The Psychedlic Furs’ fault. They wanted to be here.” and later saying “Let’s break through this!” as the band starts “I Fall Down.”

The whole concert falls apart with “I WIll Follow.” The agitators in the audience are taking their frustration out on other attendees at the show. “This isn’t a circus right?” Bono says addressing the crowd after the band stops playing for the first time about 90 seconds in. “I’ll tell you something about violence. I come from a country where violence is real, not pretend, not pretend violence. You want to know what violence is? You want violence? I want to talk to you? You come back here and I’ll talk to you about violence.” The band starts again, but again, the have to stop before Bono finishes three lines of the song, this time Bono asks the crowd “We want to get on with this. Do you want to get on with this or should we leave now? Is there anybody here who wants to hear what we’re doing, or should we just go now? We’ll try again.”

The band manage to finish “I WIll Follow” on the third attempt, and finish out the main set with “Twilight” and “Out of Control.” But the band cut their losses there, and do not attempt an encore and do not return to the stage.

Officially Released Tracks