1981-11-15

Toad's Place, New Haven, CT, USA

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

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

Encore:

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

Additional Music

Pre-Recorded Exit Song: "Once In A Lifetime" -

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

A Little Night Music

Show Details:

U2 return to Toad’s Place, their third time playing at the venue, including a stop on their first North American tour in 1980, and a follow up show in May 1981. Pimm’s U2: Live book lists the attendance at 600, and lists this show as a sell out, although some attendees say that it was not sold out but there was a good crowd at the venue regardless.

The band spends the afternoon at a local radio station (possibly at Yale University), doing press before the show. The show sees the return of “A Day Without Me” to the set list. “The Electric Co.” features “Cry” and “Send in the Clowns.” It also sounds as if Bono is trying to work out a snippet during “With A Shout” but doesn’t quite get there.

Bono saying they had played a year ago, gets a huge round of applause, but calls the fans out, saying they couldn’t all have been at that show, the band had only played to about 25 people. At the start of the first version of “I Will Follow” Bono invites the crowd to tear the walls down.

Although often identified as the show that Bono discussed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions where Bono knocks the drum kit over angry with Larry, and the Edge pulls him out of a row with the drummer, we are unsure that this is the show. Other sources identify that this happened earlier in U2’s career, at the 1980 show where U2 opened for Barooga Bandit, of which there is no recording. The band does have some difficulties at the start of “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” causing a restart of the song, but only about 15 seconds are lost, far from a huge dust up between the band. They do seem to struggle throughout the song at different points, but the song does not stop again, with Bono trying to keep the crowd entertained throughout. Larry stops at the end of the song before Bono is finished, and Bono does demand that Larry continue playing, and it sounds like he goes over and bangs at the drums. After about 10 seconds of demanding that Larry play again, we hear some chaos, and then the drums start again. Bono apologizes at the end of the show for having problems with his voice, and tells the crowd that The Edge is trying to fix the technical problems. Realizing they cannot end with “The Ocean,” the band switch it up and play “I Will Follow” again in the encore, ending the show on the song.

At the end of the show “Once in a Lifetime” is played over the PA. After the show The Edge and Bono came out with the crowd and shared a few drinks with those there for the show.

Officially Released Tracks