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The only two dates definitely fixed at the moment are Dublin's Phoenix Park on August 14th with Simple Minds, Eurythmics, Steel Pulse and Perfect Crime, and the Rockpalast Concert at Lorelei in Germany with Dave Edmunds, Stray Cats, Joe Cocker and the Steve Miller Band on August 20th.

Edge got married on Tuesday 12th July to Aislinn O'Sullivan at Enniskerry, Co. Dublin, and then left on honeymoon to Sri Lanka for a well-deserved break. Bono was best man, and among the guests were Steve Lillywhite and the Virgin Prunes.

U2's planned trip to Japan and Australia before the end of the year does look definite now, but no actual dates have yet been coordinated or finalised. The band also hope to be working on some new songs, if not actually recording them, before the end of the year.

U2 AT THE CENTRUM - WORCESTER, MASS. 6.83
By Dave Rawson

There's always something refreshing about a band that plays rock 'n roll the way it was meant to be played - stripped down to its bare essentials, a voice, a bass, a guitar and was drums. It's all the more satisfying when the fundamentals are executed by a band as invigorating and innovative as U2.

In just a little more than three years, these four young men have catapulted from the clubs of their active Ireland to the top of their profession. Last sight, an ecstatic crowd of about 10,000 in the Centrum learned why.

Cramming 17 songs into 85 minutes at breakneck speed, U2 demonstrated why they are one of the freshest acts on the musical scene today. Their repertoire of relentless, crashing dance music and potent political rockers translates almost as well in as arena as it does on vinyl. The show had been billed as U2's first arena show, but after playing to a quarter-million people at the US Festival in California a few weeks ago, the band certainly wasn't now to the experience.

They opened with 'Out Of Control', the perfect choice for the moment. It sent the crowd out of control. By the time lead singer Bono made it to the second verse of the next song, 'Twilight', an eager fan had thrown one of the arena chairs on stage. Bono promptly joined in the spirit by doing a two-step on the prone seat. Three months ago, U2 had played to two sold out crowds at Boston's Orpheum Theatre. Last night, Bono decided early in the set to put any ill minds at ease about how the band would play in an arena the size of the Centrum. "Tonight we're going to turn this large complex into a living room", he declared.

Well, not quite. But the band came prepared for the task. Huge speakers lined both sides of the stage, and the volume level could have challenged any one of the heavy metal monsters. Which is not to say the show was unnecessarily loud. The sound was crisp and clean, with The Edge's ringing guitar piercing through the hall.

U2 followed Bono's proclamation with a non-stop stream of some of the band's best tunes - 'Two Hearts Heat As One', 'Seconds', 'Sunday Bloody Sunday', and one of the night's highlights, 'The Electric Co.'

Bono, one of the most frantic and inexhaustible performers you'll ever see, was in constant motion. When not planting a flagpole raised during 'Surrender' in between two speakers, he was moving from one side of the stage to the other, leaving a crew of roadies scurrying in his wake. The Edge is a stunning guitar player. His soaring leads sometimes obscure the fast that he must play the part of two guitarists on most songs. And on 'New Year's Day', he has the unenviable task of having to trade off on guitar and piano.

Because Bono and The Edge are such dynamic performers, and thus share most of the spotlight, it's almost too easy to forget drummer Larry Mullen Jr and bassist Adam Clayton. But they form a powerful duo and Clayton's intricate fills make this one-guitar band all the more palatable.

By the time U2 wrapped up the regular set with 'Gloria.', only 60 minutes had ticked off the clock. Despite such a fierce pace, they came back to perform 'Party Girl', only to see Bono sobbed on stage by a group of about a dozen women, one of whom tried to handcuff herself to his leg.

"In any other city, there would have been a riot by now," he said good-naturedly. And he was right. But there wasn't. There were just four more songs and a lot of satisfied customers.

A VISIT TO DUBLIN - HOME OF U2
by Fred Schuers - Contd from last issue.

When U2 first came on the scene, 'atmosphere', sooner than rhythm, was their strong point. To fill in colours the three-piece couldn't provide, Bono and The Edge sprinkled the 'Boy' tracks with glockenspiel, punctuating 'I Will Follow''s bridge with the sound of breaking bottles and closing the track with a knife jammed into whirring bicycle spokes. For 'October', Edge taught himself piano, supplanting the glockenspiels, and injecting searing slide guitar on 'Gloria', 'I Threw a Brick', and elsewhere. (On War's 'Surrender' he plays s 1945 Epiphone lap steel guitar he found in Nashville.)

For 'War', the band caved in the soaring cathedral they'd created with Lillywhite, stripped down to a kind of 'club' sound, and added violin ('Sunday Bloody Sunday' and 'Drowning Man' from Stephen Wickham. They also imported la-la's from Kid Creole's Coconuts and trumpet from Kenny Fradley, With the abandomment of that big, atmospheric sound came a greater degree of realism in the lyrics, although one cut, 'Drowning Man', retains the 'wide-screen' feel of the earlier LPs. While his bandmates went an holiday, Edge doctored the song. In a fashion similar to 'bowing' a guitar, he set his electric piano at zero volume, struck a chord, then turned it up, for a chiming, modal sound that Bono finds 'Gaelic'. Adam added a 6/8 baseline, and Larry, for the first time, played with brushes. Something in the song's Celtic feeling set off one of Bono's more forthright spiritual forays, and he allows as to how it way be his notion of God speaking: "You know, 'Take my hand, I'll be here if you can - I don't want these famines to take place, these car accidents, this world of chance, this is not how I intended' - but what comes out is also a love song."

This proclamation arrives simultaneously with a hard left across a narrow concrete bridge. "Bono," says Edge with the air of someone used to such notifications, "the windscreen wipers?" In fact, the wipers have been griming away uselessly since a shower ended fifteen minutes ago. "This is my road," says Bono, switching them off. "On the left there that big house belongs to Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy. And," he says, slowing dorm a few yards further slang to turn into a driveway of a rather grand home, "it would appear on first notice that I have as much money as Phil Lynott. But you'll notice that I'm not stopping at this house. Because I live in the stables." We jounce a few more yards to Bono's cottage on the beach, on the north side of a peninsula known as Howth Head. Tidy, with two windows glowing amber, it looks like a hard place to desert in favour of playing Indianapolis. Inside, we're greeted by Bono's wife Alli, an apple-cheeked dark Irish girl whose smile could be put on a tourist poster to typify the wise, surpassing sweetness of the island's inhabitants.

The couple were married last August, and as we head for Sutton Castle to eat dinner, they tell me about the raucous reception they held there, during which, of course, the band commandeered instruments from the hired help, climbed on a table and assisted Paul Brady in playing 'Tutti Frutti.' Bono was carried about on his brother's shoulders and spent his wedding night in the Castle without the benefit of electricity (which the band's exertions had snuffed). For U2, it was a celebration of more than ordinary significance - partly because it was their first work break since their Island signing in 1979, and partly because Bono and Adam sealed an unspoken pact. Since the late summer of 1981, when the band came off the road to slam out the 'October' album, Adam had grown alienated, through a feeling of being sealed off from Bono, Edge and Larry as those three grew more and more committed to their heartfelt but rather private brand of Christianity. "It is what," says Bono emphatically, "gives me the strength to get up every day and put forth a hundred percent of my energy." 'October' centred on Christian topics. At a time when, as one insider says, "Adam may well have believed he was about to be kicked out of the band" Bono asked Adam to be his best man at the wedding.

Adam is entirely at hone with Bono's commitment. "It's very easy to be cynical about it, to knock it down. But it exists for the public on a heart level you can't intellectualise about, and I think Bono the singer is such an interesting person not because he stands on a street corner with his Christianity but because of the conflict within him between Christianity and the rock 'n roll that's what I find fascinating about him. I like to see Bono working under pressure, 'cause he's a great improviser, and I think he sings notes, sings words much better when he's a bit desperate. That's when the soul comes through."

Bono wrote 'Boy''s 'Out Of Control' immediately upon rising from a troubled sleep on his 18th birthday: "I said, 'Well, here we are. I'm 18, and the two most important things in my life - being born and dying - are completely out of my hands. What's the point?' At that point in my life I had a lot of anger and discontent when I couldn't find answers. It was violent, but mentally violent." Thus 'October''s 'I Threw A Brick Through A Window' is a kind of screed against the singer's inability to find meanings in his own life - but a brick is never mentioned except in the song's title.

From the perspective of the recently completed 'War', Bono would seem now to believe that he has been a bit self indulgent: "On the first record, the lyrics were impressionistic - and adolescent. On the second, with a lot of travel behind me and a lot of experience going through the brain, I used more images - still refusing to tell the story line but giving more signposts."

With the band's increasing confidence, their songs, which have always borne the simple publishing credit 'U2', become more truly four-sided, and their favourite metaphor of a table stabilised by four legs becomes truer. "I think we've reached the point", says Adam, "where we have the skill to direct the playing on each song right towards the feeling that caused the song to be written. We're trying to strip away everything till we get to that cause."

By Peter Wiles
Photo By Andrew Swains

All right. I admit I'm dense. Until I saw U2's uplifting (in more ways than one - more about which later) and inspiring concert at the Orpheum I had never really given much thought to the band's name. And though I admired the mixture of fervor and ardor with which they approached their music on their records, and was respectful of the spirituality they evidenced simply because it was so heartfelt yet understated, it wasn't until I saw them for the first time that I understood why other people have fallen all over themselves to try to describe the surge to your soul a U2 concert gives.

Maybe it's that it's easy to become a cynic in this business; it's so easy b become a cynic period. Remember when rock was supposed to allow you to reach for the stars instead of just your wallet? 'The music can set you free, my ass. But U2 is one of the very, very few bands that still believes in rock as an ideal of something more than itself. When Bono sings "I Will Follow," it's not that he's espousing the correctness of the path he's chosen (he's one of the few "Christians" in music - T-Bone Burnett being another - who doesn't make you want to gag) because the band takes it to another level, a possibility of transcendence in general that virtually all rock musicians today are too jaded to even consider. And be offers it saying "You too." Until the concert I never got it. Bono and the band and audience. Music isn't just musicians, it's you too.

Whew. I admitted I was dense, but I didn't mean to get carried away like some zealot. But it's hard not to when you remember things like Bono exhorting the crowd with, "I promise you're going to sing tonight." Not "lemme hear you say yeah." When they started with "Out Of Control," Bono calmly announced, "You may leave your seats now Boston." He went out into the audience on the back of a bouncer. He was physically lifted by fans into the side box-seats of the Orpheum at not inconsiderable peril and continued to sing up there. Three white flags went up on long poles (with an electric fan placed to keep them fluttering) during "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and of course Bono took one all over the stage and up into the seats. A very stout young lady in a white dress got up on stage and cut up the carpet with Bono (she could really dance) and when they were through, he didn't hand her over to some stage goon but rather gallantly escorted her to the side curtains, off stage, where she eventually went back to her seat. In all, Bono developed a rapport with the audience you rarely get to see.

And in the spirit of individualism the band espouses, they did it all themselves. You'd figure they'd get a keyboardist to do the all-important piano riff on "New Year's Day" right? Nope. The Edge (my only complaint can't we have some real names?) sat down at an electric grand with his guitar in his lap and alternated plunking out notes, switching back to guitar. plunking. No sidemen for these guys.

They didn't need them. Their snood was full but smart. They had punch but the volume wasn't gruesome. Although "New Year's Day,' 'Gloria," "I Will Follow," and "Sunday Bloody Sunday' were, naturally, enthusiastically received, attention never flagged. The band's pacing and their hold over the audience made the entire night one long, lovely climb to climax.

It might say something that a friend noticed the difference in the crowd after the show. Them was no rowdy jostling for the exits, no obnoxious war-whoops or stumblebums. People were charged up, but everybody seemed accomodating. It was as if all these people looked and noticed everyone had honestly shared this musical experience. As if saying, "I just had this great time. You too?"

U2 PEN-PALS/SWOPS AND TRADES SECTION

To contact other friends and fans of U2, send in your name and address and we will include it here. You can also include U2 items that you're offering to swop if you wish, like the early deleted singles, etc, but please keep the listing fairly brief.

Julie Nickeas, 8 Mersey Drive, Hillock Estate, Whitefield, Manchester M25 6LA.
Would also like to swop concert photos.
Henri Sneyers, Weverstr. 27, 5667 RM Geldrop, Holland
Mike Kauffman, 11 Reedale Close, Liverpool M8 59P, Merseyside. Would like to swop live tapes also.
Amanda Murphy, 5 James Square, Billericay, CM11 2LN, Essex.
Anna-Marie D'Cruz, 45 Cambridge Road, North Harrow, Middx HA2 7LA. Also, does anyone have any photos of U2 at the rock festival in Finland?
Mary Cipriani, WUJC 88.7FM, John Carroll University, University Heights, Ohio 4421, USA.
Catherine Benyon , 4 Leslie Crescent, Gosforth, Newcastle on Tyne NE3 4AN.
Tina Morris, Elmfield, Bradford on Avon, Wilts BA15 1RH.
Rachel Remolds, 1716 Harrah Road, Niles, Michigan 49120, USA.
Rachel Stock, 62 Augustine Way, Haverfordwest, Dyfed SA61 1NY.
Linda Maxwell, 76 Edinbey Ave, Toryglen, Glasgow, Scotland.
Alan Gibson, 243 Lock Lane, Partington, Nr Urmston, Manchester M31 4PL.
Lori E. Pike, 1755 N. Berendo, Apt.28, Hollywood, California 90027, USA.
Lynne Neely, 27A Overton Street. Halfway, Cambuslang, Glasgow G72 7QH.
Majella O'Donavan, 18 St Fanahan's Place, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, Eire.
Simon Jones, NA(AH) Jones D194672R, NP2070, TEV Rangatira, BFPO Ships, London.
Anna Gall, 60 Balnagask Road, Terry. Aberdeen AB1 3RE, Scotland.
Diane Carter, 40 Coppice Wood Crescent, Yeadon, Leeds LS19 7LG.
Tash, Thorne Cottage, Appledore, Burlescombe, Nr Tiverton, Devon.
Chris Perrotton, 47 Studios Road, Shepperton, Middlesex TW17 OQJ.
Iris Hoffman, c/o Weiss, 2 Avenue Close, London NW.8.
Tanya Stephen, 142 Balgrayhill Rd, Springburn, Glasgow G21 3AE.
Simon Lee, 17 High Street, Crediton, Devon.
Chris, 40 Greenacres, Ludlow, Shropshire: Would like to thank U2 for a great performance at Torhout, also to thank the two air stewardesses from Scotland, the Two Glasses from Newcastle. Jimmy, Martin the Drunk!, and 'La, La, La, La' for a great time.
Richard Smith, 81 Gants Hill Crescent, Gants Hill, Ilford, Essex IG2 6TS. Wants either the 1981 NME Dancin' Master tape w. 'An Cat Dubh' live or 'I Will Follow/Out Of Control (Iive)' single in exchange for either soundtracks of Last American Virgin (I Will Follow) or They Call That An Accident (2 versions of October) or the 12" of Sunday Bloody Sunday.

THE U2 'ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE' QUIZ

Many thanks to Barry Cross from Oxford for putting this quiz together. Use each of the 23 clues below, and fit each answer on to the grid. The correct answers will only fit onto the 23 lines in the correct order, allowing for the one letter already provided by the vertical line of "Another Time, Another Place". If you have any ideas for a crossword or similar puzzle on U2, send it in and I'll try to use it in a future issue. Here are the clues:

1. The Studio, 2. Co-produced U2's debut, 3. A day without him, 4. Location for a Celebration, 5. U2.3 but not boy, 6. First Island release to be co-produced by U2, 7. Produced by Bill Whelan, 8. The black cat, 9. Working title for 'October' album, 10. Will Vincent Kilduff be back, 11. Inspiration for 'Shadows And Tall Trees', 12. The message from 'Scarlet', 13. US remix man, 14. She got herself up on the 48th floor, 15. The Edge AKA, 16. Kenny Fradley shines through, 17. Whatever happened to him, 18. Bono's Wah! Heat choice, 19. Paul McCartney also had one, 20. Trash, Trampoline and her, 21. Edge's brother is still one, 22. Did he only produce at 11 O'clock, 23. The boy. Good luck! Answers next time.

TORHOUT ROCK 83 - U2 LIVE IN BELGIUM - 2nd JULY 1983
Christina Glass, Stakeford, Northumberland.

What can I say? The best I've ever seen? It certainly was! The day of the festival was warm and sunny and the field crowded with French, Belgians and English, not forgetting Scots and Irish: We managed to get right to the front so we could lean on the barriers and look onto the stage. We caught all of the Eurythmics, whose set was surprisingly good, largely due to Annie Lennox' great voice. But as the Eurythmics went off and the familiar U2 gear was being set up, the crowd seemed to sense what was coming and the atmosphere became charged with electricity and excitement. For what seemed like hours we waited, with joyous expectancy, for every last bit of equipment to be set up, whilst being pushed and shoved against the barriers as people fought to get nearer the front, and frequently hit with flags and banners. It was well worth it! Just when we thought everything was ready the roadies carried out a large ramp and placed it between the stage and the fence, directly in front of me.

I soon realised what it was for when suddenly, with an enormous roar of the crowd as they surged forward, U2 ran onstage into the brilliant sunlight and burst straight into 'Cut Of Control'. Bono used the ramp to get nearer the crowd, and to my delight looked straight down at me whilst singing. He later said he recognised faces from England (Newcastle to be precise!) Then came 'Twilight' during which Annie Lennox and Jim Kerr could be seen bopping away at the side of the stage (as everyone was by this time). Then followed the thunderous bass and echoing piano of 'New Year's Day', the swirling magnificence of 'Gloria', the haunting melody of 'An Cat Dubh', and the razor-sharp guitar line of 'Two Hearts'

By this time the crowd was at fever pitch and the sun continued to beat down, causing a few unlucky souls to be carried off with heat exhaustion. U2 themselves remained constantly excellent in their performance with Bono leading the way. During 'Surrender' he walked along the fence to the other side of the stage, singing all the time, and when he couldn't keep his balance any longer fell off into the crowd amidst cheers and outstretched arms. During this brief interlude The Edge, Adam and Larry kept on playing, with Adam walking along the ramp to the crowd as if to emphasize the great bass line of 'Surrender'. Then Bono announced that he wasn't very good at making speeches but that he'd have to learn for The Edge's wedding the next week! A big cheer went up at this news - congratulations to Mr and Mrs Edge:

Soon we heard the opening drum beat of 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and the flags and banners were held even higher - if that were possible - as they waved in the breeze. Bono took a flag from a French boy next to me and held it high in the air. He scattered a bunch of flowers over us, which were soon also being waved in the air. The Edge sang 'Seconds' for us with Bono, Adam and Larry on back-up vocals. It seemed to be the end, except that we were treated to two great encores!

We were given a tremendously energetic rendition of 'I Will Follow' during which Bono ran right down the aisle through the crowd and climbed up the scaffolding to sing his heart out. This amazing show finished with the beautiful and devotional '40', which ended with the solitary beat of Larry's drums as U2 themselves went offstage, with waves and smiles at the cheering crowd. We were left feeling elated and fully satisfied knowing we had been part of such a fantastic experience. All that remains to be said is Thank You U2 - to quote Mike Peters of The Alarm - "the best rock 'n roll band in the world!"

COMPETITION WINNERS Contd. U2 IN GLASGOW 12.82 Matthew Reid

U2 burst onstage to a sellout Glasgow Tiffany's crowd. Immediately they went 'Out Of Control' and this old favourite, ironically their first single and their first song tonight had the happy crowd moving to its beat. More favourites followed - 'Twilight', I Threw A Brick', 'A Day Without Me', with the brilliant split between the latter two continuing the movement on the dance floor. Bono then involved the crowd in a sing-along to 'Surrender', and then went into the latently powerful and thoughtful 'An Cat Dubh'. The Edge's guitar here was excellent and how the crowd appreciated it!!

Even more favourites came forth - 'Cry/Electric Co', 'I Fall Down', a fantastic rendering of 'October', 'New Year's Day', 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'. Before going off. U2 brilliantly played 'Gloria' and 'I Will Follow' in succession, the latter of which almost brought the house down. The crowd desperately wanted more music and the band were back on quickly, Bono armed with a bottle of champagne, which he had difficulty opening. Bono declared that he wasn't used to champagne! A typical Glasgow crowd responded with the war cry "Geez a drink, Geez a drink". U2 then played '11 O'Clock Tick Tock' and quietened the proceedings somewhat by playing 'The Ocean' with its beautiful, haunting melody. Off they went again, but were back quickly and finished off with 'Fire' and 'A Celebration'. This was a typical U2 performance - the energy and commitment, the passion and feeling for every individual in the hall. U2 reach the parts that other bands don't care about - their music is music for the head, feet and the heart.

By the way, the champagne was sent backstage by Simple Minds, returning a compliment U2 had paid them a few weeks earlier in Dublin.

If you wish to write to the band personally, we can pass your letters on, or write direct to Sister Sister, 39 Chestnut Grove, Kingswood, Clondalkin, Co. Dublin, Eire. Sorry no more lyrics this issue - hopefully next time.

Compiled and edited by Geoff Parkyn. Published by U2 INFO SERVICE, P.O.Box 48, London N6 5RU, England. Please remember to include return postage for personal replies to any correspondence. Special thanks to Paul McGuinness, Neil and all at Island Records/Island Music. Cover photo by Ian Finlay. Live photos by ANTOINE MOONEN taken at Toronto's Massey Hall late May 83, Steve Rapport.

Thanks also to Dave Mawson, Fred Schuers, T. King, Harry Cross and Christina Class.

And thanks to U2 - and you too:

Best wishes,

Geoff

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Richard F Hare
Purveyor of poor quality U2 tribute sites since 1996