The First Time

9 Jul 2010597
When was the first time you saw Larry, Edge, Adam and Bono play live ? How old were you ? Was it last year on the 360� Tour or was it in another millennium way back when ?

'A hot summer day in Paris at the Vincennes Hippodrome.' remembers Dom from France. 'I was 23 year old (and) when the band finally arrived, the sunset was behind the stage and I felt like in a dream. The first song they played was Exodus from Bob Marley...'

'I was a highschool senior,' says someone else. 'And still look back at this concert at the Rosemont Horizon as my greatest moment with U2.'

'On the Vertigo Tour in Brussels, Larry puts his drums right in front of me...'

'Yale University in New Haven: epic, unforgettable show with Bono climbing anywhere he could....'

You've been posting some extraordinary memories of the first time you saw the band play live - unforgettable nights on every tour they've ever played. And not just the show - sometimes unlikely encounters with the band.

'I was 11, I lived across the road from Croke Park. That evening (of the show) our street football match had play stopped by a white Mercedes and out of the car jumps Bono in a white suit. He said hello, gave my mum a hug, shook my hand, jumped back in the car.....'

What about you ? How did you end up at your first U2 show ? Does the venue still exist ? Who did you go with ? Was there a moment you'll never forget ? One of the band do something that's stuck in your mind? A song that changed everything?

Google your memories and tell us below about the first time you saw the band live. Don't forget to add in your name and city/country at the end of the post so we know where you're from.

(Incidentally, keep a copy of your post� once you've added it below. Then post it again in our� tour section - on the night and on the tour of the show you're writing about. If you've got a photo - the band, you and your mates, the ticket stub - the tour pages are where you can upload it. The more reviews you add, the more encyclopaedic an archive of the band's touring history we'll create. Thanks.)
Comments
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boborock
Werchter 07-07-1985
The first time i saw U2 was the Unforgettable Fire Tour i was 22 years old. The Unforgettable Fire 6th leg: European Summer Festivals 1985-07-07: Festival Grounds - Werchter, Belgium Setlist: 1.11 O'Clock Tick Tock 2.I Will Follow 3.Seconds 4.Out Of Control / Get Up Stand Up (snippet) 5.MLK 6.The Unforgettable Fire 7.Wire 8.Sunday Bloody Sunday 9.The Cry 10.The Electric Co. / Amazing Grace (snippet) 11.A Sort Of Homecoming 12.Bad / Norwegian Wood (snippet) / Ruby Tuesday (snippet) / Sympathy For The Devil (snippet) / Walk On The Wild Side (snippet) 13.October 14.New Year's Day 15.Pride (In The Name Of Love) encore(s): 16.Party Girl 17.Gloria 18.40 / Do They Know It's Christmas (snippet) / We Are The World (snippet) I have seen u2 now 10 times en the 11th is soon to come its on 18-09-2010 in paris .
boborock
The first time
The first time i saw U2 was the Unforgettable Fire Tour The Unforgettable Fire 6th leg: European Summer Festivals 1985-07-07: Setlist: 1.11 O'Clock Tick Tock 2.I Will Follow 3.Seconds 4.Out Of Control / Get Up Stand Up (snippet) 5.MLK 6.The Unforgettable Fire 7.Wire 8.Sunday Bloody Sunday 9.The Cry 10.The Electric Co. / Amazing Grace (snippet) 11.A Sort Of Homecoming 12.Bad / Norwegian Wood (snippet) / Ruby Tuesday (snippet) / Sympathy For The Devil (snippet) / Walk On The Wild Side (snippet) 13.October 14.New Year's Day 15.Pride (In The Name Of Love) encore(s): 16.Party Girl 17.Gloria 18.40 / Do They Know It's Christmas (snippet) / We Are The World (snippet) Festival Grounds - Werchter, Belgium It was super great now i saw u2 10 times and go to paris 18-9-2010 for the 11th time i can,t wait to see them.
Back in early 80s
I first saw the video for New Years Day and thought to myself...."WHO IS THAT" I was IN LOVE!!!! I rushed out the next day looking for the EP for the song in downtown Toronto. When they came to town for the "War" tour, my parents gave me tickets for my birthday, they played Massey Hall on my actual birthday(May 17th). I think I still have the ticket stub in my scrapbook. A friend of mine(Chris Buck), who, I believe has gone on to be a very successful photographer; gave me a beautiful black and white pic of Bono on stage. What a magical night it was! I still remember Bono climbing up the front of the balcony! I was mesmerized. I saw them again at the same venue for The "Unforgettable Fire" tour. Then myself and some friends were down at The Exibition(now defunct) stadium, hanging around outside just to hear them. Some kind stranger came up to us with ONE free ticket....he asked who would most like to see the band. All my friends agreed that I was the super U2 fan, so I ran up the ramp after the show had already started and stood at the back and watched! I was in heaven again! I have not seen them since....until....this year, for my Christmas/Birthday, my brother and his wife gave me 2 tickets to the July 3/10 show at Rogers Ctr. The show has been postponed until next summer and I can't WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you are feeling much better BONO xoxoxoxox Rosslyn in Toronto
kasmin
Bono is a God
I was for the first time in concert with U2. My best friend loved this band since we where childs and I didn´t respekt U2 really. I was always thinking that U2 had too much success and did not realy do something new. Today, I was very surprised. This was the best concert event I ever have come to and I have been seeing about 400 concerts. This concert had everything. Human, feeling, politic, humor, agressiv and life. I was really having new experience and fun, it was good for my soul. Thank you Bono(U2) comming to Denmark. You where great.........
bignewfy
bignewfy
I saw them in 1980 in NYC at the Astoria. You could tell then that they were special. Haven missed a show in 30 years since. Thanks for all the good music and good times. God bless you!!!!
doutora
POP MART TOUR
MORUMBI-SAO PAULO-BRAZIL! PERFECT!
doutora
u2 first time in Brazil 1998
Good time!I l was 20 years old,living so far from Rio or Sao Paulo.Pop Mart tour.A lot of people were crazy about the first time u2 in Brazil.Big show,at Morumbi Stadium. It's very good the sensation...U2 by our side! I remember Larry using Brazil's soccer t-shirt.10!!!!!!!!! It's so good to heard u2 alive!Thank you boys....
eeezeelee
Way back then...
Ah, it was December 1983.The War Tour was warming up and I was in Birmingham (UK). My God Sunday Bloody Sunday was like nothing else around. Bono climbing along the balcony and all over the speakers. A scramble for the whilte flag and Bono telling 'em. "It's a flag of peace. You're not supposed to bloody fight over it". Haven't seen the boys live since Wembley '92 and Salman Rushdi came on....
Broendum
The first time.......
The first time, I went to a U2 concert was yesterday 15/8 in Horsens. I have not had the opportunity to watch a U2 live show before in spite of the fact that I have been a fan for many years. So I was excited when I finally got the tickets for me and my friends - all 70.000 tickets were sold out within 45 min. so it was actually quite an achievement. BUT WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME...........I have barely slept since, I do not want to go to work, I do not want to go shopping - WHY - because then I cannot listen to the songs from yesterday over and over again - I HAVE BEEN TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY ADDICTED BY THE by the very first live injection. I have become a junkie searching for the next fix - will it be in Rome, Vienna or maybe in even in New York - I will tell you later........ The U2 Junkie alias Helle from Denmark
khannon
Memorial Drive Adelaide 1984
Live at Red Rocks was the reference for their first Australian tour and the band didn't disappoint with their infectious energy and self belief, as well as a bunch of pretty good songs. Love wavered a little with Lovetown in 1987 - they were so far up themselves - but fell in love again during Zoomerang in 1993. Still with 'em after all these years up themselves or not.
khannon
Memorial Drive Adelaide 1984
Live at Red Rocks was the reference for their first Australian tour and the band didn't disappoint with their infectious energy and self belief, as well as a bunch of pretty good songs. Love wavered a little with Lovetown in 1987 - they were so far up themselves - but fell in love again during Zoomerang in 1993. Still with 'em after all these years up themselves or not.
gunnerlind
Copenhagen, Gentofte, 1993, Zoo TV Tour,
I was 17. I will never ever forget when they played Running To Stand Still, With or Without You, One etc. Best concert experience ever... Also went to the Pop Mart Tour in Copenhagen i 1997, but it wasn´t quite the same. Yesterday I saw them again in Horsens, which was awesome, but maybe because I am now 34 and more experienced, I am more relaxed about it. Back in 1993, U2 was my point of reference, the soundtrack of my life back then....
fubben
Gothenburg 1987
I fell in love with U2 when I stayed up all night and watched Live Aid 1985. I had liked them before but that sunny day in July when I saw them on TV on LLive Aid, I was stuck and has been since then. My first live concert was Gothenburg, Eriksbergsvarvet, 1987.
jorgemichel
Madrid 15th july 1987
I was 18. I travelled 600 kms. to be there. I have to remind you that thre was a time when travelling 600 kms meant something. The show was on a Wednesday. I left home on Monday and came back on Friday. What a week, what a night. Impressive atmosphere, superb performance. Even the band remember that show in U2 by U2.
lane04
De Kuip Rotterdam may 11th1993
The first time to be left behind baffled by what happened on stage by the band. Bono requested my Zippo lighter during Love is blindness. He never got it. In stead he got a broken lighter. This was the start of flickering the ligters on the beat. This was a brilliant sight. It was repeated for many years until the introduction of mobile phones as a replacement for the lighters. It was the best gig I have ever seen until now. Even compared to Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel or Bruce Springsteen. I must say the latest tour came very close. But still the Zooropa tour is my most favourite gig ever.
AlexCervantes
360º Tour - Barcelona - Peruvian fan
I was waiting at least 20 years for see the band. U2 helps poor countries (but don't go there for play their music), 20 years passed IN A LITTLE WHILE (that song was waiting on my head many hours - days - then the concert)....Guys, please come to Perú (you'll never forget it)
Sweden-Japan
The first time my brother and I was suppose to see U2 was at the Vertigo concert in Gothenburg 2005. But, all the tickets were gone 20 minutes after they were released so we didn't get them.. So, the day after my brother went online and found out that the only tickets left were concerts in Miami and Tokoyo. Well, a few days later we had booked our tickets to Japan and little over a year later we were off. I was 17 and my brother 20 but I hadn't been that far away before but a well planed trip started in Nagoya and after visiting a couple of Japanese cities we ended the trip in Tokyo and U2. I still get chills every time I hear "City of blinding lights" and I can say that that was the first and only time I've seen my brother cry.
Cyril30
"Rock Am Ring Festival 1985"
My first U2 concert was the legendary gig at the first "Rock Am Ring Festival" at the Nürburgring race track in 1985. I was almost 11 years old and my mum took me with her because my dad didn't want to go. Then I was lucky enough to see U2 also in 1985 on my 11 th birthday in Dublin's Croke Park. Since then I saw a lot of shows at all their past tours. By end of the second leg of the European 360* tour I will have seen 51 U2 concerts in the last 25 years. Just yesterday I saw a magnificient show in Hannover.
Vertigo Tour
It was May 21, 2005... at Madison Square Garden the first time I saw U2. I was only 11 years old. My U2 fanatic mother had seen them so many times and she thought it was time for me to finally go. Along with my 15 year old cousin and my dad we all sat in a-m-a-zing seats at the back corner of the stage. It's one experience I will never ever forget, simply because and I knew every word to every song.
Lillie
1987
First time I saw the boys was at Cardiff Arms Park in July 1987. My friend & I had goose bumps when they first came onto the stage. Have seen their shows several times through out the year and they keep getting better & better. Was lucky to see them on the 360 tour at Cardiff last year. The boys play rock n roll.
Natasa
July 1993 Zooropa Munchen
I was 25 and after that on each tour in different city. And each concert have special place in my heart. I can wait for September, because I am getting back to Munchen after 17 years. Red zone... here I come :) Natasa, Slovenia
pie8ter
22 june 1985 longest day concert
Milton keynes bowl. Rained all day as i recall. Actually went there to watch REM, but come away gobsmacked at U2, brilliant. didn't mind getting soaked after watching them. others on the line up included Faith brother, Ramones, Billy Bragg and spear of destiny. Great day
Bulky
October 1989 Melbourne Australia
It was Melbourne 1989, the Tennis Centre, I was only 16. After it all finished and we drifted away from the Melbourne Tennis Centre (Rod Laver Arena) the echo's of "40" filled the night with groups of people all around singing and chanting as they left such an amazing concert. Robbie. Melbourne, Australia.
KattU2
DC- Constitution Hall
I'll never forget it- 1984 in DC- Constitution Hall- if you could see this venue you wouldn't believe it- it's really small and it was awesome- I was a JR in High School and had just gotten my license. I wish I could take a trip back in time so I could cherish it again
sandjo
1er live
La première à plus de 1500km de Biarritz (France) destination Berlin....C''était il y'a 1 an et tout simplement époustouflant, extraordinaire et j'y retourne le mois prochain au stade de france. Mon ami qui n'est pas forçément fan en ressortant du concert et en réécoutant l'album m'a fait la réflexion suivante : Le concert est beaucoup mieux que l'album...simplement inoubliabel
barbarabz
Sarajevo, 23rd Sep 1997
My first U2 concert - first row, just under the stage on Kosevo stadium, in Sarajevo, still hurt by recent war in Ex Yugoslavia. I even predicted Bono, calling up to the stage MISS Sarajevo from their video...Very emotional. Simply unforgetable. Barbara, Slovenia
tg636
In Foxboro, 1987
The first time I saw them was Sept. 22 1987 on the Joshua Tree tour in Foxboro MA. I was 23 and didn't have any money. I won a pair from a radio station. Bono had his arm in a sling. There were no giant screens like modern stadium shows have. It rained just before the show but no rain during the show. The crowd sounded great singing I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. I had seen Bad at Live Aid and knew what a powerhouse it was and was very happy they did a great version of it. They did a fantastic The Unforgettable Fire. I told people The Edge's guitar was meant to echo in huge canyonlike spaces. It was the first time I had seen a great act in their breakthrough prime. I thought it was all downhill from there, little did I know what lay 4 years ahead. I got the tour book too, and wanted to see the desert where the pictures had been taken. It had taken me a long time to find a way to see them and I was very excited. It blows my mind that I am 46 now, so it was half my lifetime ago.
keesvandaal
Rotterdam - Joshua Tree summer 1987
Typing this I realize that it's almost 25 years ago .... It was the first time I saw U2 and ever since I was very lucky that I could get tickets to see them in every tour which brought the Irish Fab Four to Holland I hope to that we all may enjoy them for another 25 years.....
keesvandaal
Rotterdam - Joshua Tree summer 1987
Typing this I realize that it's almost 25 years ago .... It was the first time I saw U2 and ever since I was very lucky that I could get tickets to see them in every tour which brought the Irish Fab Four to Holland I hope to that we all may enjoy them for another 25 years.....
Taglia Tielie
Rotterdam, May 10 1993
Saw them first on Bono's birthday in the Feyenoord stadium in Rotterdam, during ZOO-TV tour in '93. Wasn't that big a fan before. I thougt they were just a rock band like so many. Then came Achtung Baby and I was hooked. the concert blew me away. Completely. Follow them ever since and even got to value the early songs :-). Thanks for the ride so far U2, may it long continue.
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