28/10/1978 Abbey Inn, Tralee, Ireland. U2 & The Hype Concerts 1978.

This is a complete list of known U2 concerts that took place in Ireland in 1978. I have spent many hours trawling the Irish Newspaper Archive, The Dublin Library and talking to those that were there, too make this the most complete document of U2’s early career. This site would not be possible without them, the Dublin Library & the Irish Newspaper Archive.

28/10/1978 Abbey Inn, Tralee, Ireland

bbey Inn, Tralee, Ireland

Attendance; unknown
Support; unknown
Admission; unknown

Set; unknown Stac Coll U2 sound engineer 1978 – 1980 (R.I.P.)
The second night was more of the same but smoother, no Judean Peoples Front etc. In hick towns Friday night is agro night; the slaves have a few bob & either they have a ‘good time’ or someone gets their head kicked in.

Saturday Nights

Saturday night is different; it’s time for the ladies to sniff out a good mate, for breeding & paying purposes, for the babies & the bills like. Cheap for a leg-over .. but a lifetime to pay. Marriage is mortgage spelled wrong, till death do us part plus vat. So Saturday night was o.k. They went into the second half like seasoned pros. It was something to behold; how fast they learned. It was a time of many discoveries, like buddha on the back line, Larry, the pillar of the entire edifice.

Back To Dublin

We drove straight back to Dublin after it. The band were asleep before we were near Limerick. The road home was me & Phil talking, quietly, not out of any protocol but in consideration. Phil remembered a gig I did wearing a Donny Osmond t shirt. I diverted that one with the [true] story of opening a squat next door to a cabinet minister. In Hampstead, only the best of course …