“They asked for permission for a stage invasion, via friends from Dublin…”

The Downtown Kampus gigs opened at the Arcadia in Cork in November ‘77 and took off very quickly, so by the time 1978 came around, U2 were keen to play. I gave them their first support slot with XTC in October ‘78. I was impressed by their attitude as a young band, and the following May gave them another prestigious support with The Only Ones – they had gone down really well with the crowd a few months earlier, so I knew it would be a stormer of a gig.

After that, it was equal billing on a four-header with DC Nien, The Virgin Prunes, and Steve Rapid’s band Z; then, double-billing with DC Nien or The Prunes – and then they were headlining with local supports. I had also booked them, in the early days, for a short series of gigs I ran in Thurles, so I promoted about a dozen shows with them in all.

From the beginning, regardless of anything to do with musical ability, they struck me as a band that had ‘vision’; they seemed organised, seemed to care about connecting with, and impressing, their audience. They thought about what they were doing. They had a proper, planned performance, which they also appeared keen to build on – for example, they asked for permission for a stage invasion, via-friends from Dublin, for ‘Out Of Control’, and that sort of thing. And they were always willing to talk to the local radio DJs from some of the tiniest pirate radio stations – I remember accompanying them to one such interview in some young guy’s bedroom in Cork. And they were very nice guys to deal with, always respectful and polite.

The gig in December 1980 was more of an event than previous ones – with the release of the Boy album, there was a sense of them having arrived at a new highpoint in their career. But I always thought they were career-minded and had a chance of being successful, though I can’t imagine that anyone had any idea of just how successful they would or could become.

The U2 camp at the time consisted of the band themselves and Paul McGuinness; and at that December gig, for the first time, their agent Dave Kavanagh, who I had known and liked for years as manager of Sacre Bleu. All their technical crew were my Kampus crew, and friends, some of whom went on to work with them – in fact drum tech Sam O’Sullivan and soundman Joe O’Herlihy are still there 40 years on. So they were always an easy band to deal with. And they obviously loved playing the Kampus gigs: one of the regulars mentioned recently that he bumped into The Edge and asked him if remembered the Arc gigs, and Edge said ‘of course’. That was the first time they ever saw a queue outside one of their gigs. They had moved up a step in terms of professionalism in the summer of ‘80, having acquired Dave as their Irish booking agent – that was the first time I was presented with a contract for them. At that summer gig they had Paul Morley and a photographer from the NME in tow, which must have made it more nerve-wracking for the band, but they did really well that night.

I always chatted with the band: Bono particularly would make a point of connecting. I was living in Dublin at that stage too and so we would all generally stay in the Country Club Hotel in Cork. After the gig that was being reviewed by Paul Morley, I gave Larry and The Edge a lift back to Dublin, as Paul McGuinness had to ferry Paul Morley and photographer David Corio back, along with Bono and Adam.

That year, it was always the Kampus shows that British A+R scouts were invited to, so there was a big progression in professionalism in their presentation. But the December ’80 gig was a step further again. At that stage they were very familiar with my stage crew and soundman Joe Herlihy, so the band seemed really at home in the Arcadia.

Overall, there was a feeling that night that the gig was a bit of an ‘event’ . There was a good buzz – the Kampus was very much a sort of club scene, with a regular crowd, which increased to whatever extent for particular party nights, or particular visiting bands. It was also the last gig before Christmas, so that in itself would have added to the night. I think we had about 1,200 people in, which was a very good, bigger than average crowd.

The audience response was great. There are some fantastic shots of U2 playing the Kampus gigs which show just how enthusiastic the crowd was. But, of course, that was just the start of something much bigger.