My Exeter Gigs - Paul O'Carroll
I was a fresher in 1980 and, looking back now, it’s hard to appreciate the wealth of live music we were offered because at the time I took it completely for granted that you could see bands like Echo and the Bunnymen, Tenpole Tudor, Aswad and U2 in the space of a few weeks. U2 were beginning to make some waves at the time running up to their first gig at Exeter; I had heard about them on the radio and their first single, 11 O’clock Tick Tock, was on the jukebox in Cornwall House. The concert took place in ‘The Pit’, in Cornwall House on October 7th and U2 were supported by Midnight & the Lemonboys, members of whom went on to form other bands such as Peter and the Test Tube Babies and Transvision Vamp. Publicity for the gig was through the flyer below, a montage of reviews of the ‘Boy’ album from the music press. Entry was £1.25.
Fast forward three years to 1983 and U2 had become an established name. Hugh Yexley was the Social Secretary at the time and I was the Guild’s Stage Manager, responsible for getting the bands’ gear in and out of the venues (Great Hall, Devonshire House Refectory and The Pit in Cornwall House), looking after the dressing rooms, making sure the bands knew what was happening when, where to go and generally making sure that gigs ran smoothly which basically involved ensuring there were batteries in the Maglite torch. Several months earlier, when we were offered U2, there was some debate as Hugh was not a fan and was inclined to pass; I and others tried to persuade him that it would be a guaranteed sell-out and would ensure we had a healthy bank balance to finance future concerts. Critically though, in those days, if a band wanted to play in the South West, they would either come to Exeter or go to the Cornwall Coliseum in St Austell and I think what swayed Hugh’s decision more than me or anyone else was the prospect of losing out to the Coliseum. They were subsequently booked for the Great Hall on March 8th.
On the day, the band arrived for the sound-check mid-afternoon. There were the usual messages coming through from the university staff in Northcote House to keep the noise down but the band persisted, Bono paying particular attention to get Larry Mullen’s backing vocals from the drumkit right. They then went to the Rougemont Hotel in the city centre to relax pre-gig. It was around then that news began to seep through that the album ‘War’ had gone to the top of the album charts, knocking Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ off the top spot. The band were late to return to the venue due to the celebrations at the hotel and, as I led them from their bus with their half drunk bottles of champagne up the stairs to the dressing rooms in the Great Hall, they were clearly buzzing.
I don’t honestly remember too much about the gig itself as I was probably dipping in and out of the Great Hall during the performance, but I recall Bono scaling the speaker stack and him breaking into Michael Jackson’s lyrics at various times.
I was later elected as Resources Officer to the Guild of Students and one of my responsibilities was to produce the Student Handbook, sent to all incoming new students. I happened to use the ticket for the 1983 U2 gig on the front cover.
