Det er 36 år siden i dag, et nyt håbefuldt irsk rockband startede ud på tour for deres debutalbum, en blåøjet affære kaldet Boy. På baren The General Wolfe i det nordlige Coventry samlede Dublin’s U2 små 100 mennesker til det første af de 57 shows bandet spillede frem til starten af december. Uvirkeligt at dette siden så problematiske band engang kunne vække noget i mange af os, men her kunne f.eks. luftige ‘Twilight’ fra debuten, eller ‘Gloria’ fra 2’eren, ungdommeligt troskyldige rocknumre med højt til himlen, hele hjertet på ét brædt og en guitarist at dø for, lige netop det. Her en datidig øjenvidneberetning ude fra www:

They came on about 10.45 – a 4 piece comprising: blonde bassist in specs (good looking): lead guitarist in paint stained jeans: drummer with earring: vocalist in leather with mass of hair. They play a very powerful set with few bad numbers. When they play fast and loud they’re excellent – hard hitting drums, powerful multi style guitar breaks, solid bass and eccentric vocalist obviously enjoying himself. But the slower numbers dragged on a bit. Much of the vocals were inaudible but the lead singer’s antics and enjoyment did a lot towards nullifying that complaint. They were on for an hour and did two encores. The national music press says they’ll be the next big thing and for once they could be right.

Hvem der ønsker opleve det omtalte ‘leather with a mass of hair’-syn, så findes det lige her i en samtidig promo-video…

Ser dette klip og tænker forundret igen; var man nogensinde faldet for denne megaloman, havde han ikke haft The Edge’s lysende guitarspil til at give sit altoverskyggende ego poesilignende vinger?!