– U2 – Live At Hammersmith Odeon, London – October 1982 – BBC Radio 1 –
I haven’t run any U2 on this site in almost 10 years. So when I ran across this concert from 1982, I thought I would run it to remind myself what U2 was sounding like prior to the release of their landmark album Joshua Tree in 1987; five years after this concert.
And how times have changed. In the early 80s U2 were scrounging and touring and putting in endless days on the road. In short; the slog. They were gaining a reputation as a live band, but their albums weren’t clicking yet with an international audience. It’s interesting to consider it’s been 48 years since they first got together and formed a band.
Further evidence there’s no such thing as an overnight sensation. But U2 had all the earmarks of a band destined to go places. Even early on, Bono was charismatic and connected with his audience. They still do.
So as a reminder of what bands go through as they work through their formative stages, and as a reminder that U2 were never just an ordinary band, here is their concert, recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in October of 1982 by the venerable BBC Radio 1.
Play loud.
Since it’s Monday, a little sincere hounding might be in order:
Is it still 2025? Seems like ten years have passed since January. Past Daily is still quietly standing, still cranking out history and pop culture and still looking for your support. Fundraisers are pretty much tapped out – everybody seems to be doing them and even I’m sick of being hounded for money.
Still . . . some of these things are expensive to pull off. In case you didn’t already know, Past Daily is an extension of my archive (The Gordon Skene Sound Collection) – all the stuff I have collected since the beginning of time (it seems) – my goal is to share all of it with you, and since we’ve started there are over 11,000 posts which you, as a subscriber, can explore with thousands more waiting to be digitized..
And in case you didn’t know, once you subscribe you get notified every time we post something and you can download the audio file which you can’t do if you don’t subscribe. That’s the catch.
But it’s my way of saying Thank You for your support and helping me pay all the costs of keeping Past Daily up and running every day.
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We can use the company. And 2025 doesn’t appear to be going anyplace any lifetime soon.
