“And, of course, I said, ‘Hey, let’s hand this to Adam (Clayton, the U2’s bassist). “The Centrum being added on at the end of the tour as their first arena concert shows just how big U2 had become in New England,” Alan said. While doing the U2 interview live on-air, Alan, to his surprise, was handed an announcement for the band’s first arena show in America to be held next month in Worcester. Edge, in fact, mentioned it’s great to be home.” "Bono had laryngitis, so they put him in bed and the other three guys came in and did the show … They were happy to be back in Boston. “It was three-quarters of the band," said Alan. The day before the two sold out shows at the Orpheum in ‘83, U2 were Alan’s guests on WBCN. ![]() U2 was already no stranger to the Bay State, Boston being a center point of the band's U.S. “We started playing U2 in August 1980 and connected with them in December 1980 when they opened for the Barooga Bandit at The Paradise.” “I was the first disc-jockey to play U2 on ‘BCN and (the band) said I was the first disc-jockey to play them in America,” Alan said recently. More: Listen Up: Abbey Road isn't what makes Cliff Goodwin's new album great. More: Worcesteria: Black Music Festival on Worcester Common a bright burst of joy amid a dreary rainy day More: Last Call: Samir Tokatli talks about life in Worcester, and preserving his Syrian heritage In 1983, Carter Alan was the nighttime DJ on WBCN 104.1 FM Boston and a friend of the band.Ĭurrently the mid-day disc-jockey and assistant program director for WZLX 100.7 FM, Alan has written two books on U2 (“Outside is America: U2 in the U.S.” and “U2: The Road to Pop”), as well as the books, “Radio Free Boston: The Rise and Fall of WBCN” and, his latest, “The Decibel Diaries: A Journey Through Rock in 50 Concerts.” albums charts for the duration of the American leg of the tour, and U2 started selling out 2,000-seat theaters, including two back-to-back nights, May 5 and 6, 1983, at the Orpheum in Boston. The success of “New Year’s Day,” “Two Hearts Beat As One” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday” from U2’s third album “War” marked a new day for the Irish rockers. U2, all in their early 20s, came out as a young, scrappy band of idealistic, enthusiastic and ever-so-earnest daydreamers and, by the end of the night, you could actually see them transform into bona fide rock stars. It was the first concert I ever saw that brought tears to my eyes, simply because it was so exhilarating, life-affirming and cathartic. On a personal note, I watched U2's Centrum show from the second row. This was an act that clearly was making that move up from theaters to arenas and they did it very successfully when there was a great deal of doubt.” 'War,' peace, and progress “The big story is U2 made the big step up. We had this happen when we actually reached to the next level (of playing arenas) and done a giant belly flop and lost our shirts, done poorly,” Law said. “When you take a risk like that, you can fall flat on your face. The band were college radio darlings, and definitely on the rise, but it was unclear if they could fill an arena on their own yet. It seems odd now, but Law says booking U2 was actually a significant gamble at the time. They clearly are always going to be extraordinary because they just have that much talent.” We didn’t know until that night in Worcester if that was the case. “U2 clearly showed that they had the chemistry, the talent, the art to make it work in larger venues. The question is do you really have the chemistry to fill that room with your art and your music?” Law said. ![]() (The Centrum is now known as the DCU Center) More importantly, it showed that U2 could play to an arena without losing any of the intimacy, energy or magic that they shared with the audience when they played in a small club or modest-size theatre, Law said. Not only did the Centrum show prove that U2 could fill an arena. Local news, more important than ever Great deal for first-time subscribers: $1 per month for first year They, obviously, added dates later but we were the first.” “The date in 1983 was their very first arena date anywhere. ![]() ![]() No, it was the Worcester Centrum.,” Law said recently. People would say, maybe, it was at Madison Square Garden or the L.A. “We made the first arena offer for U2 in America at the Worcester Centrum. And, in many ways, their pilgrimage from Irish club rockers to world-renown arena rockstars started in 1980 in Boston, and culminated with their first-ever, headlining arena show, which took place on 40 years ago this week on June 28, 1983, at the Centrum in Worcester.ĭon Law, pioneering concert promoter and current president of Live Nation New England, was responsible for booking U2 at the Worcester Centrum. U2 is arguably the biggest band to have emerged from the '80s, a band whose early live shows resembled religious epiphanies more than your average rock concert.
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