Thread by @kristiwooten

Lots of bad stuff going on in the world, so I'm about to unleash an epic music thread about something good that happened two years ago today in Atlanta (and goes back to 1981). Please follow along, especially if you like @U2.

.@U2 played in Atlanta on May 28, 2018 (photo below). That same month @Atlantamagazine published my long-read about the band’s relationship to our city.

It all began 4 decades ago on Peachtree Street. #U2inATL

📷: Me

atlantamagazine.com/great-reads/u2…

On a muggy May evening in 1981, four young Dubliners (none older than 21) pulled up to the curb across from Atlanta's Fox Theatre and lugged their instruments into the Agora Ballroom (now a parking deck).

It probably looked like this:

📷: 50Dates50Posts #U2inATL

Before the show, Atlanta journalist Tony Paris interviewed Bono for Muzik magazine.

Over a burger and fries, the 20-year-old Irishman talked about the “big-screened textured feel” of U2’s sound and lyrics about defiance, God, and his mom's death.

📷: Tony Paris / #U2inATL

In 1981, Atlanta was a complicated city with global aspirations.

Former UN Amb Andrew Young was mayor;

Ted Turner revolutionized news;

the CDC developed definitions for AIDS;

and jets blasted from Hartsfield.

📷: Atlanta Time Machine / #U2inATL

U2 came back 7 months later.

📷 Adrian Boot shot pix along W. Peachtree St.

The band played “I Will Follow” twice in its Agora set.

This Dec 1, 1981 bootleg proves the spiritual sound of U2's debut album, Boy hasn't changed much since. #U2inATL

Here's an ad from the AJC for "The U-2" from Nov 1981: #U2inATL

By 1983, U2 had performed four times in Georgia.

Fans remember pouring out of the Atlanta Civic Center, waving flags & singing songs from October and War. “40” had become an exit anthem for the band. #U2inATL

📷: @atu2 @u2gigs @U2blog

A writer @RollingStone gave Bono a Martin Luther King Jr. biography, Let the Trumpet Sound.

U2's 4th album, The Unforgettable Fire included songs “MLK” & “Pride” for the slain Atlanta Civil rights leader/Nobel Peace Laureate who became a fixture in the band's ethos. #U2inATL

Atlanta's @RepJohnlewis heard “Pride” & “Sunday Bloody Sunday” on radio & identified w/ U2's messages of freedom & equality.

U2 played the Omni in April 1985 w/ MLK projected onscreen.

Bono flew his dad in for the show. #U2inATL

📷 Pinterest

#U2inATL Here's the Omni, btw:
📷 Atlanta Time Machine

By July 1985, Atlanta had already become a specific if rarely mentioned part of U2’s journey.

U2 met R.E.M. at Torhout/Werchter music festivals in Belgium.

Mike Mills remembers singing Irish folk ballads on the bus between the shows. #U2inATL

Days later at Live Aid, U2 became global superstars as their performance of “Bad” was broadcast to 1/3 the world's population.

@MichelleNunn was 18 at the time. That TV moment influenced her future career in nonprofit work and activism. #U2inATL

While writing The Joshua Tree, U2 returned to ATL in 1986 as part of an Amnesty International tour.

A press conf. was held at the King Center, attended by Coretta Scott King.

Mayor Andrew Young declared June 11 “Conspiracy of Hope Day.” #U2inATL

📷 RickDiamond/TonyParis

How cool is this? #U2inATL (expand photo) Conspiracy of Hope Day in Atlanta 1986.

On that same 1986 visit, members of U2 jammed two nights at an Atlanta Ramada Renaissance bar, captured on video by Peter Gabriel.

Amnesty re-released the footage decades later. #U2inATL

rollingstone.com/music/music-ne…

U2 returned to Atlanta’s Omni in Dec 1987 on The Joshua Tree Tour.

Bono sang snippets of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” & “We Are the World” during “40.”

In 1988, the band paid homage to the American South w/ Rattle and Hum. #U2inATL

📷 Pinterest

By the time Achtung Baby was released in 1991 and U2 hit the road in the U.S. in 1992,

the Berlin Wall had fallen,

Maynard Jackson was Atlanta’s mayor again,

the Gulf War happened,

and Bono had begun calling the White House from the stage. #U2inATL

U2 played the Omni in March 1992 and promoter Peter Conlon booked the Zoo TV tour again as the inaugural public concert at Georgia Dome on Sept 25- a sold-out show for 50,000.

Public Enemy & Big Audio Dynamite opened. #U2inATL

📷 Me
(video is March)

Chuck D had moved to ATL &drove himself to perform at the GA Dome show.

He says U2 taught Public Enemy about how tours should be run.

At the time, Public Enemy had released a protest song to push for all 50 states to recognize the MLK holiday. #U2inATL

spin.com/2011/11/public…

Meanwhile, as R.E.M. became U2’s rival for “biggest band in the world,” the relationship between the bands strengthened.

In 1993, before U2 released Zooropa, members of the bands performed as "Automatic Baby" at Bill Clinton inaugural ball. #U2inATL

U2 was experimenting with its image and sound over the next few years and brought the ironic, larger-than-life PopMart Tour to Atlanta in 1997.

It received middling reviews in Atlanta press outlets. #U2inATL

Late 1990s: Bono was involved w/ “drop the debt”. ATL charities were, too. In 2000, Newsweek asked, “Can Bono Save the Third World?” (TIME asked the same in 2002). All That You Can’t Leave Behind came out 8 days before the election of G.W. Bush #U2inATL
newsweek.com/can-bono-save-…

U2 played two Elevation Tour shows at Philips Arena in 2001, one in March and one in November, bookending the terrorist attacks of September 11. People wailed when the band opened the March show with the lights on. #U2inATL

.@taianderson of @thirdday remembers waiting in line for hours in GA in March to be "inside the heart" - even though his own band was big enough to fill the same arena. This concert changed lives. It did mine. Listen to Bad/40/Streets. Whoah ... #U2inATL

In November, U2 & R.E.M. had dinner in Athens. At the ATL show, Bono dedicated "Kite" to Mike Mills, whose father passed recently. George Harrison died the day before. The band played "My Sweet Lord" & closed show with "Walk On" and prayers. #U2inATL

2002: Bono & Bobby Shriver founded DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa). Bono visited White House to discuss AIDS. Bush later announced PEPFAR that also raised the profile of the Atlanta-based CDC. Bono’s charity work increasingly intersected with ATL leaders. #U2inATL.

On January 17, 2004, the King Center in ATL honored Bono with the Salute to Greatness Award. Bono, in his acceptance speech, spoke of how the Irish “despaired for the lack of vision of the kind Dr. King offered people in the South in their struggle." #U2inATL Photo: Erik Lesser

The King Center hosted Bono, John Lewis, and Chris Tucker in a roundtable with AIDS activists, doctors, and scientists to discuss how to tackle the AIDS epidemic in Africa and rethink the impact of international aid. Bono also visited King's crypt. Photo: AJC

ONE and CARE advocates engaged both John Lewis and Georgia’s U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson in cosponsoring bipartisan legislation around food security and public-private partnerships in Africa. Third Day also became involved with ONE. #U2inATL

Since 2004, U2 has released four albums, played two nights at Philips Arena on its 2005 “Vertigo tour” and returned to the Georgia Dome in 2009 with the “360 tour.” #U2inATL

On Dec 1, 2011, 30 yrs after U2 played 2nd ATL show at Agora, Coca-Cola announced a partnership with (RED) to fight AIDS. That same day, B attended a World AIDS Day event in D.C. w/ Pres Obama & Atlantans Helene Gayle, Sanjay Gupta, and Muhtar Kent. #U2inATL

In 2016, Bono finally met ATL's other Nobel prize winner, Jimmy Carter, when both men were honored for their humanitarian work. #U2inATL
photo: WeAreFamilyFoundation

Wait - we're already to 2018 and U2 hadn't performed in Atlanta since 2009? True. No I+E, No JT2017. GA Dome was torn down, new stadium not ready, arenas booked. Bono had several health scares. Would Atlantans ever see the band again? #U2inATL

Here's a couple more things that happened in ATL in 2005 and 2009, while I prepare for the finale ... #U2inATL

When I started researching this story for @AtlantaMagazine in 2016, I was surprised at how many people in our city had been touched by the band over the years, in brief encounters, in real working partnerships with the band or Bono. It was more than a fluke. #U2inATL

Everyone I interviewed was amazing. But I had writer's block, emotions. I'd never had so much trouble getting words to the page before. It's like I didn't want to write it because I feared it would be the last time U2 would come to ATL. #U2inATL

I talked with dozens of people about U2 for this piece, and I hope you'll read the story after the thread to see some of the quotes that made the cut (link coming soon)...#U2inATL

The print magazine had been out a few weeks and the online story broke a few days before the show. Honestly, I was so drained from living and breathing U2 for months that I almost didn't go to the show @Infinite_Center. I was weepy and overwhelmed. #U2inATL

Music writers will understand. You can't get too close to your subject or it's like a moth to the flame, and my wings were singed. My friend kindly drove me to the show. When we pulled up in the parking lot, I didn't want to get out of the car. #U2inATL

It had started to rain a little. I checked my phone to see if I could maybe get an Uber home and I had a notification that the band tweeted my story. So I went in. #U2 inATL

I'm glad I did. The arena was one of the smallest on the tour. I'd never heard a crowd sing so loudly. When U2 played "Pride," there were definitely spirits in the room. Larry got lost and wouldn't finish the song, which ran over its usual length. #U2inATL

It was a few weeks after the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s murder. The world in 2018 was so different than in 2009, the previous time the band played in Atlanta. Now in 2020 with coronavirus, one wonders when large shows will be possible again. #U2inATL

Thank you for going on this journey with me. I am so grateful to have experienced wonderful music over the years and I hope the love story between U2 and the people of our city continues. #U2inATL. atlantamagazine.com/great-reads/u2…

Wow. I did this whole thread and didn't even notice that May 28th is the anniv of the founding of Amnesty International, as listed on the Atlanta Mayor's 1986 proclamation. So many parallels. Also, the symbolism of Dec 1 as World AIDS Day? Whoah. #U2inATL time.com/longform/world…

When I said "wailed" about the March 2001 Elevation tour show, I meant we were all cry-screaming tears of joy and relief. Leaving house lights on meant audience saw itself as part of the show. U2 had become human again. #U2inATL 📷 Source: U2station
u2station.com/tours/2001/03/…

Hey @threadreaderapp unroll us, please

Also, I don't want to forget this: I'm grateful to Bernice King, who was very kind to me and helpful during this story. B honored this at the show by talking about the King Center as MacPhisto removed his makeup. #U2inATL

https://twitter.com/kristiwooten/status/1001417956209954816

So grateful to have you all visit this thread! Thank you! Be sure to check out the story for all the quotes and more. atlantamagazine.com/great-reads/u2…

A few hours after this tweet, a sharp reminder that we're now in 2020: there were peaceful protests in Atlanta. Then violent destruction. I believe and agree with Bernice King as she explains the purpose of nonviolence: wsbtv.com/video/?id=4914…