1981-02-15 - Hamburg, Germany - Onkel Po's Carnegie Hall

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review by 2UToo

3 months ago

Performance

Aside from a pretty big bum note by the Edge during the first '11 O'Clock Tick Tock', U2 open their very first German show ever with a strong duo of songs. Bono's falsetto is weak as usual in the early days but he makes up for that with lots of energy and some great belts while the band are playing tightly, adding to that usual 'Boy' Tour energy. Larry adds some GREAT fills during the song as well, making it a stand-out performance already. 'Touch' is also a quite solid performance although it's definitely not the most outstanding song from U2's early years. Unfortunately, the result of having to sing for an entire week without break proves to be a problem for Bono who really struggles with his voice during the 'An Cat Dubh' / 'Into the Heart' medley, not just his falsetto this time. He then introduces U2 but gets almost no reaction from the crowd. 'Another Time, Another Place' again shows Bono sounding tired in places but also adding surprisingly strong adlibs in other places. Larry's drumming is ELECTRIFYING in this song!!! 'The Electric Co.' continues with a similar energy and sees everyone pulling every string imaginable to finally win over the crowd for good!

'Things to Make and Do' is a pretty solid performance with more great drumming by Larry. Bono finally manages to connect more to the audience afterwards and the lads follow with a great 'Stories for Boys', again capturing that early energy really well. 'Twilight' follows and goes ahead as you'd expect at this gig: Great for the band, connect with lots of struggle for Bono's poor voice. 'I Will Follow' is FILLED with energy and works incredibly well as the main set closer. The band return for an encore and Bono kindly asks the people to rock out, asking them to move the tables and one audience member (obviously drunk) hilariously keeps shouting "We don't mind!" and "Move the tables!" which causes other people to laugh. Bono opens 'Out of Control' with MANY gutsy adlibs, cracking on all of them. The energy is through the roof though!

Sound

After some slight SPCing (the original recording ran just a tad bit flat) the sound is very good for such an early gig!
Recording: "Back Through the Mirror" - 3.5 stars

Audience

It's very audible that this audience is naturally unfamiliar with the band and it's almost humbling to hear them clapping at the lowest volume possible after the first few songs.

Overall

It's quite tough to rate these early performances with audiences taking their time to warm up to the band and Bono often struggling vocally but making up for that with his already present charisma and energy. The band are doing an excellent job but towards the end, and especially during the encore, Bono loses all control over his voice (which is quite ironic considering it starts with the song 'Out of Control' and keeps cracking all over the place.

Highlights:
• 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (Main Set)
• Another Time, Another Place
• Stories for Boys
• I Will Follow

all reviews

show	performance	audience	sound	overall
patou2
CMIPalaeo
FireSparky
TheOcean81
2UToo