Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Two Bands Two Bucks


This story ran neck and neck for first place in the Thievery Corporation contest and comes from long time DC resident and artist Jan Stovall:

In early December of 1980 I went with some friends to The Bayou for a bargain concert, billed as "Two Bands, Two Bucks."  The headliner was a local DC favorite The Slickee Boys with an unknown band opening for them. At the time I thought it was a clever idea to have booked the opening act for such a titled concert, since the band had the number 2 in its name. Turns out the band was none other than U2 on their first US tour, promoting their first studio album, Boy. The club was packed that night, jammed with rock and roll fans who came to hear good music but didn't realize it was history in the making. It was one of the most memorable concerts I've ever attended. I'll never forget the excitement I felt while dancing to "I Will Follow," screaming "This is a really good band!" And as much as I loved The Slickee Boys, I confess that U2 set the tone for the evening, and I wanted them to continue playing long into the night. But even if they could have performed for an extended period of time, at that point in their career their playlist was short, and apparently during the Boy Tour they had to repeat songs at each concert since their catalog was so small.



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