Live Performances
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" has been performed more than 600 times by U2. It was first heard by a live audience in December 1982 in Glasgow, Scotland, on a twenty-one show "Pre-War Tour." The band were particularly nervous about playing the song in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Upon introducing the song there at the Maysfield Leisure Centre, Bono promised to "never play it again" if the crowd didn't like it. The crowd overwhelmingly enjoyed the song; The Edge recalls that "the place went nuts, it drew a really positive reaction.", also saying that "We thought a lot about the song before we played it in Belfast and Bono told the audience that if they didn't like it then we'd never play it again. Out of the 3,000 people in the hall about three walked out. I think that says a lot about the audience's trust in us." The band remained apprehensive, however. Even by the song's sixth performance, Bono was introducing the song with the statement "This song is not a rebel song."
Throughout 1983's War Tour, Bono continued to reassure audiences that "This song is not a rebel song, this song is 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'" highlighting the non-partisan intentions of the lyrics. The live performances on this tour featured a routine during which Bono would set a white flag in the front of the stage while the band vamped three chords—B minor, D major, and G major. (though the band traditionally tune their instruments down a half step so the chords are B flat minor, D flat and G Flat). As the band vamped, Bono would sing "no more!" with the audience. These performances were highly effective with U2's audience (at the time, U2 were most popular as a college rock act). Live performances of the song subsequently appeared on their 1983 live album Under a Blood Red Sky and their concert film Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky. In the Unforgettable Fire Tour of 1984 and 1985, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" continued to be a prominent midpoint of each U2 concert—as did the "no more!" interlude. Along with a performance of "Bad," the song was performed at Live Aid in July 1985.
As U2 reached new levels of fame in 1987 with The Joshua Tree, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" continued to be a focal point of concerts. Some performances featured slower, more contemplative versions of the song; other concerts saw the wilder, more violent version. This tour marked the first time "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was played in Northern Ireland since 1982, and it has not been performed there since.
The 1988 rockumentary Rattle and Hum includes a particularly renowned version of the song, recorded on 8 November 1987 at the McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado. On this version Bono's mid-song rant angrily and emphatically condemns the Remembrance Day Bombing that had occurred earlier that same day in the Northern Irish town of Enniskillen:
| “ | And let me tell you somethin'. I've had enough of Irish Americans who haven't been back to their country in twenty or thirty years come up to me and talk about the resistance, the revolution back home...and the glory of the revolution...and the glory of dying for the revolution. Fuck the revolution! They don't talk about the glory of killing for the revolution. What's the glory in taking a man from his bed and gunning him down in front of his wife and his children? Where's the glory in that? Where's the glory in bombing a Remembrance Day parade of old age pensioners, their medals taken out and polished up for the day. Where's the glory in that? To leave them dying or crippled for life or dead under the rubble of the revolution, that the majority of the people in my country don't want. No more! | ” |
After the Joshua Tree Tour, Bono was heard saying the band might never play the song again, because the song was "made real" with the performance in Denver, and it could never be matched again. Following their original intent, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was not played during any of the forty-seven shows on the Lovetown Tour in 1989. The song reappeared for a brief period during the Zoo TV Tour, and late during the second half of PopMart Tour (1997–1998), U2 played an emotional concert in war-ravaged Sarajevo that included a solo performance of the song by The Edge. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was subsequently played live in this style until the end of the tour in March 1998.
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" was played at every concert on the 2001 Elevation and 2005–2006 Vertigo tours. Performances in 2001 frequently included parts of Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" and "Johnny Was". A memorable mid-song message referencing the Omagh bombing of 1998 ("Turn this song into a prayer!") is captured on the live DVD U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle. In concerts in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the "no more!" interlude was replaced by Bono holding an American flag.
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" was used during the The Vertigo Tour of 2005 and 2006, as one of many politically driven songs performed during the middle part of the band's set. Bono extended the "no more!" interlude to explain a headband he had donned in the previous song. The headband depicted the word "coexist" (written to depict a crescent, a Star of David, and a Christian cross). The Coexist symbol is trademarked in the United States by an LLP in Indiana, and the original artwork was created in 2001 by a Polish artist. As with the 2001 shows, the Vertigo tour saw the song applied to subjects further afield than The Troubles in Northern Ireland. During 2006 Australian shows, in Brisbane, Bono asked for Australian Terrorism suspect David Hicks to be brought home and tried under Australian laws. In subsequent Australian concerts he dedicated the song to the victims of the 2002 Bali Bombings – where 88 of the fatalities were Australians – saying 'This is your song now!'. The song was also performed at every concert on the U2 360° Tour, paying tribute to the 2009 Iranian election protests on each occasion by projecting scenes from the protests and Persian writing in green on the video screen.
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