During 1977 U2 started playing to live audiences using their name they were known as at the time, The Hype. These were mainly concerts in church halls, schools etc in the Sutton, Howth area of Dublin. Their first major gigs in the city centre of Dublin would not take place until February 1978 supporting The Vipers at McGonagle’s.
00/12/1977 Nucleus, Raheny, Dublin, Ireland.
Attendance; unknown
Support; unknown
Admission; unknown
Set; includes Brown Sugar
The Edge remembers from U2 By U2 “At one point Bono wants to play “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and Dik starts to play “Brown Sugar” instead. In U2 by U2, The Edge recalls: “We had a gig lined up at the Nucleus, a little club in Raheny, but we played so badly at the school disco that the DJ who worked at the Nucleus, who was also from Mount Temple, wouldn’t put us on. He insisted on coming to an audition. We played him some songs and very begrudgingly he put us on at the Nucleus. Before the show we decided to go and get drunk, because we knew that was what you did when you were in a rock band. So, as appalling as we normally were, we were just indescribably bad, and the sound was atrocious. We were in this tiny little prefab scout hut and we couldn’t afford a proper PA. We recorded the show and a couple of days afterwards we listened to it in utter disbelief at what we were hearing. Bono was just bellowing and all you could hear was this really distorted noise that sounded like the early Stooges. Unfortunately I think we were playing an Eagles song. That was the same occasion when Bono introduced ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ and my brother started playing ‘Brown Sugar’, getting his Stones mixed up. It was truly one of the absolute low points. Everyone was out of tune. On the recording you can hear the DJ leaning in when we’re halfway through the set saying, ‘Would you ever just stop? Please stop! They’re all sitting outside.”
There is a photo of the band playing this concert in U2 By U2.
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