Thread by @davidfholt

As you might have seen, U2 recently debuted their residency at the $2.3 billion Sphere venue in Las Vegas.

Almost anytime I think about U2, I can’t help but think about their performances in Oklahoma City over 40 years ago at venues that were somewhat less grandiose.

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One of the great things about watching live music is the potential of catching artists in a modest and intimate setting before they are playing arenas, stadiums or Spheres.  With that thought, U2’s 1981 & 1982 shows in OKC are probably my favorite all-time examples of this.

Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. formed @U2 in 1976 in Dublin, Ireland. After a few name changes they landed on U2 in 1978.  In October, 1980, they released their first studio album - Boy.

@U2 Following the release of Boy, U2 embarked upon a U.S. tour in early 1981.  Today, a U2 tour would fill stadiums.  In 1981, it brought them to a most unlikely place - Northwest 10th & MacArthur in Oklahoma City. A bar known as Quicksilver’s.

Quicksilver’s was a small bar at 1164 N. MacArthur, at the end of a strip center.  In 1981, you could still legally drink at 18, and Quicksilver’s catered to that younger crowd. They would later lament the increase to 21 that came in 1983.

oklahoman.com/story/news/198…

That nondescript space has operated as a club and music venue under many names in the last 40 years.  I’m not exactly sure how long it lasted as Quicksilver’s, but it was still Quicksilver’s in 1985 when the Red Hot Chili Peppers played there.

On Friday, April 3, 1981, the nation was still closely following the aftermath of the shooting of President Reagan, which had occurred four days before. U2 headed up to OKC from their show the night before in Dallas, passing through assassin John Hinckley’s hometown of Ardmore.

Quicksilver’s did not have a stage, so U2 set up on the dance floor & performed in front of a banner with the Boy album cover.  There are no known photos from the evening, but below are images from the U.S. Boy tour in 1981. In one image, you can see the banner that hung in OKC.

U2’s tour publicity proclaimed they were “the talk of the town.” One spectator at Quicksilver’s would later estimate there were about 60 people at the show.  Another estimated 50. Many of those present were wearing cowboy hats and did not seem to know who U2 was.

An exact set list doesn’t exist for the OKC show, but this site captures many of the songs that likely would have been played.  It is likely U2 opened with “The Ocean,” as they opened with that the night before and the night after.  

u2gigs.com/tour68.html

Below is a link to an audio recording of U2’s show a month previous in Boston - March, 1981.

Below is a video recording of their show a month later in California - May, 1981.

After the 1981 U.S. tour, U2 went back into the studio.  Their work was complicated by the fact that two weeks before their OKC gig, Bono’s briefcase of lyrics was lost backstage at a show in Portland.  Nevertheless, their second album - October - came out in October 1981.

The album dropped two months after the launch of MTV.  October included the song “Gloria,” the first U2 video to be played on MTV.  

With this new album, U2 would again embark on a U.S. tour, stretching across late 1981 and early 1982.

This time, U2’s Oklahoma City destination would be Jammys at 3046 North Portland, just west of Will Rogers Park.

Like Quicksilver’s, Jammys on Portland was a music venue in a strip center. It only operated as Jammy’s for three months in 1982.  In early 1982, promoter Vernon Gowdy III was offered the chance to have U2 play Jammys for $1,500.

Jammys advertised “all the cold beer you can drink.” U2 would play on a Wednesday, which also meant it was Ladies Night (free admission for women).

The band was a little more famous this time around, so The Oklahoman published a preview story on Tuesday, February 16, 1982 (on page 54).

Oklahoman writer Gene Triplett spoke to drummer Larry Mullin by phone and wrote:

“Drummer Larry Mullin shuns labels especially the one that reads ‘new wave’ and says he'll leave it up to the Oklahoma City audience to decide what kind of music U2 plays.”

oklahoman.com/story/news/198…

On Wednesday, February 17, 1982, the band once again came to OKC from a show the night before in Dallas.

The band and crew arrived in the afternoon to work through some electrical issues.

The radio station KATT promoted the show. Some remembrances of the two U2 shows confuse them. It is likely that KATTMan meant the 1982 show when he would later write that it was “THE most Intense and energy filled performance I have ever witnessed to this day.”

In contrast to the show the year before, this time U2 drew about 500 people. Men paid $6. U2 opened with “Gloria”.  They also played a rough cover of “Southern Man” and invited someone from the audience onstage to sing the lyrics.

Other remembrances from Vernon Gowdy III…

There is no full set list for the night, but this link reflects set lists from other shows on the tour. 

u2gigs.com/tour128.html

A band called Fingers opened for U2.  Rick George from Fingers would later recall Bono standing on a monitor, reaching into the air and knocking out a ceiling tile.  There are no known photos from the OKC show, but this image from another night seems to capture a similar moment.

This image of The Edge was taken six days earlier in New Orleans.

Greg Garrett was writing about music in OKC at the time and later said that Bono told him that night “We’re going to be the biggest band in the world some day.”

Here is audio from their show a month later in NYC…

Six months after the OKC show, in August, Bono got married. In September, the band went back into the studio and recorded War.

As the first drum beats of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” circled the world, it was evident U2 wouldn’t be playing strip centers in Northwest OKC anymore. But those 1981 and 1982 shows will always live on in local live music mythology.

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