Audience

CDR

2

DVD 2329; lineage: "My Hometown" (Golden Stars, GSCD 1016) Silver CD > CDR (.cda files) - EAC - .wav - Traders Little Helper - flac

Live at Croke Park, Dublin

I can remember this gig as if it was yesterday. "Hats, Flags or Headbands" etc.
The triumphant return of the lads to their native city after an absence of almost two years.
I remember an eerie resonance as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was played for the first time in the arena
that spawned the first Bloody Sunday in Ireland. This, if memory serves, was the first time the
Gaelic Athletic Association opened up one of it's stadia to a rock concert so it was, in their eyes,
a bit of a gamble. It paid a helluva dividend though and following this, mini-festivals sprouted up
all over the country as a lot of the grounds badly needed renovation.

I also think (and stand to be corrected) that this was the first ever European gig that a (then)
upcoming band called REM debuted at. My mates and I must've been the only group of people in the
crowd with an REM banner and the bass player gave us a noticeable thumbs-up at the end of the set.
They didn't even play Radio Free Europe, which was our fave. Again, if memory serves, In Tua Nua
(Irish band) and Squeeze were also on the bill. I'm sure there was at least one other but 23 years
of living have dulled the memories.

Poignant for U2 was "A Sort Of Homecoming" and they played a version of Bruce Springsteen's "My Hometown"
to reinforce their affinity with the Dublin crowd.

This is a CD that I bought through Record Collector magazine in the mid-nineties. It originated from
Italy and has little by way of sleeve notes except to misspell Croke with Croce.

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