6/06/2007

JUNE 4: starts "Conspiracy Of Hope" tour / Bono joins Bob Dylan on stage twice / students are massacred in the Tiananmen Square / U2 allow some fans during the soundcheck!

"11 O´Clock Tick Tock" tour - june 4, 1980 U2 perform in Manchester, England at the Beach Club. Support is "Fashion".

"Boy" tour - june 4, 1981. U2 perform at Salford, England at the Friars Club. Support is "Altered Images".

"Conspiracy Of Hope" tour - june 4 1986 U2 join Peter Gabriel, Sting, "The Neville Brothers", Joan Baez, Bryan Adams, Lou Reed and Jackson Brown at the Cow Palace, California, for the first date of the Conspiracy of Hope tour in aid of Amnesty International. The agreement between the various acts is that each set will consist of 30 minutes, and U2's will be 45 minutes long. U2 select songs that are in the context of the show: "C'mon Everybody", "Pride(In the Name of Love)", "New Year's Day", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Maggie's Farm", "Help", "Bad", "Sun City", "I Shall Be Released". When U2 come on stage, white flags appear everywhere, as they will for the remaining 7 dates of the tour. The Edge's guitar cuts out at the beginning, leaving the band wondering what to do. Bono again fills the void with some quick ad-libbing. Bono urges the crowd to sing "Pride(In the Name of Love)" for "Martin Luther King, and every prisoner in every jail, wrongfully imprisoned!" Before "Maggie's Farm", Bono blindfold's himself and walks to the edge of the stage, and up onto the speakers--he removes the blindfold and starts to sing. He will perform this act every night of the tour. Lou Reed adds vocals to "Sun City", a song written by Little Steven to discourage fellow artists from performing in the rich, white community in South Africa. The crowd sing the key words, "Twenty three million can't vote because they're black. We're stabbing our brothers and sisters in the back!". Bono introduces Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" as the song "that says it all".

"Bono joins Dylan" - june 4, 1988. Bono joins Bob Dylan on stage for a version of "Maggie's Farm" in the RDS, Simmonscourt.

"Bono joins Dylan again" / "massacre in the Tiananmen Square" - june 4, 1989. Bono joins Bob Dylan on stage in Dublin, Ireland at RDS Simmons Court. Bono steps onto stage during "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and sings a line or two. A version of "Maggie's Farm" is performed in which Bono sings "...Well there ain't no work on Charley's farm no more" referring to Ireland's Prime Minister Charles Haughey. The same day, thousands are massacred in the Tiananmen Square crackdown on student supporters of democracy. Thousands more are rounded up and sent to jails and camps by the Chinese Communist Government. "Ideas won't go to jail." -- Alfred Whitney.

"ZOOTV" tour - june 4, 1992 U2 perform in Dortmund, Germany at Westfalenhalle. During the soundcheck on the first day, U2 allow some fans who are waiting around to sit at the back of the venue. Bono introduces Elvis' "Can't Help Falling In Love" as "a song from our next album, which features only Elvis songs," and performs a long acoustic version. He also sings "She's A Mystery To Me", and tells the fans to "Enjoy the show," after which the fans are escorted out again. Support is B.P. Fallon and "Fatima Mansions".

"ZOOTV - Zooropa" tour - june 4, 1993. U2 perform in Munich, Germany at Olympiastadion.

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