At the U2 concert last month, Bono changed the lyrics of Beautiful Day from "See China right in front of you" to "Maple Leaf Ballroom right in front of you". I just did a quick Google search, and it looks like U2 played a venue by this name in 1981. That Bono has a good memory.
The concert was at some place west of downtown called the Maple Leaf Ballroom; it really was a ballroom, mirrored ball and all. I didn't know Toronto at the time, and I have no idea if the venue survives. The warmup act was the Diodes, Toronto's best local punk band at the time. The lead singer kept hitting the mirrored ball until it fell down and hit a member of the audience on the head. There were maybe a couple of hundred people milling about.U2 were four fresh-faced kids, and they played with an honesty and sincerity that was a complete change from the usual posturing and cynicism we were used to.
Anybody heard of such a place? Does it exist now?
Maple Leaf ballroom was the first concert U2 did in North America. My uncle owned the Maple Leaf Ballroom and it was located on St. Clair Avenue west in Toronto. The ballroom was used to dance hall for Irish and Scotish bands. Enjoy. Jonathan Carroll
Thanks, Jonathan. Just tracked down a poster with the address:
http://www.punkhistorycanada.ca/gallery/show.php?album_id=7&id=3779
665 St. Clair Avenue West
I was at that concert...
I was just listening to U2 now, and I remembered the concert and googled it, and here I am.
I was 16 and in high school, and won the tickets from a radio station called CFNY. I wasn;t really sure who U2 was at the time, but I went anyway with a friend of mine. at the time the fashion in high school was to wear Kodiak work boots, so when we got there and discovered this new "mosh pit" thing, we had these huge boots on while we were dancing.
I very clearly recall being at the front of the stage. the MLB was very small, maybe it sat 300. There was a main dance floor whose ceiling rose two floors, and a balcony around the top of that. The stage was about four feet above the dance floor, and about twnety feet wide and not very deep. There was no security, so you could get right to the front of the stage.
What I remember most is watching Edge do the intro on his guitar for "I will follow". I must have been about five feet away from him, as I very clearly remember watching his hand pick the strings and then how Bono sang it. For a 16 year old it was pretty freaking awesome!
D
listening to the Boy album now, I remember for sure that they played
"I will follow"
"Out of Control"
and
"Shadows and tall trees"
It was not a long concert. I read somewhere else on the web that they repeated three songs, which wouldn't surprise me, but I can;t remember.
Anyway, nice to rekindle a memory. Who could hvae guessed they would get so big?