1981-11-22

Ritz, New York, NY, 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"
"The Ocean"
"I Will Follow"

Additional Music

Pre-Recorded Exit Song: "This Is Radio Clash" -

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

A Little Night Music

Show Details:

U2 are growing bigger and word is out in New York. They are able to book The Ritz for three nights in a row, which is impressive for a still relatively new band. During the day U2 work with producer Sandy Pearlman on new material and at night they play The Ritz. U2 are billed as U-2 for the show, and tickets for all three are $11.50. The shows are late night shows and the doors open at 10pm. The shows are reported as a sellout in Pimm’s book U2 Live and he lists attendance at 4800 for the three shows combined. The band have played here twice before, and will return twice more in 1982, and Bono will appear on stage with The Alarm at this venue in 1983. There is little detail known about the first two shows, but video and audio recordings exist of the third night.

The show is a standing only show, there are no seats. The band play a tight set, including a longer encore than they usually play. Introducing “An Cat Dubh” Bono asks the crowd “This is our last night here. Three nights in this big ballroom. I think this was an Irish ballroom was it? Well it is now.” as he drenches the crowd in water. During “Rejoice” Bono playfully dons a hat from the crowd, before deciding better of it, and putting it on The Edge’s head. Hands tied up with the guitar Edge shakes his head to lose the hat. Snippets include “Cry” and “Send in the Clowns” during “The Electric Co.” Bono gets the crowd bouncing for “Out of Control” and there is a sea of people jumping in front of him.

Introducing “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” Bono comments on how late it is. “This is far too late for everybody to be up, this is called 11 O’Clock Tick Tock…” Throughout the encore Bono works the crowd hard, wanting to see them higher and higher. At the end of the show after an extended instrumental ending to “The Ocean” U2 leave the stage but they come back for a rousing encore of “I Will Follow” with Bono bouncing around the stage.

Officially Released Tracks