War Tour
| Tour by U2 | |
Promo poster
|
|
| Associated album | War |
|---|---|
| Start date | 1 December 1982 |
| End date | 30 November 1983 |
| Legs | 2 to 5, depending upon definition |
| No. of shows | up to 110, depending upon definition |
| U2 concert chronology | |
The War Tour was a concert tour by the Irish rock band U2, which took place in 1982 and 1983 in support of the group's third album War. The tour took place in Western Europe, the United States, and Japan, with new material from War taking an increasing role as the tour progressed. Venues were mostly halls, but some arenas were introduced later on. U2's performances were very well received both critically and commercially, especially in the United States where U2 broke through to become a major act. Scenes of lead singer Bono waving a white flag during the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" became an emblematic image of this phase of U2's career. It was their first tour as full-time headlining act and their first to be profitable.
The live album Under a Blood Red Sky and the concert film U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky both originated from performances on the tour. The latter matched U2's concert fervour with the spectacular natural setting of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in the rain to produce a memorable document of the War Tour and to further increase the group's popularity; U2's filming of the Red Rocks show was later selected by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the "50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll".
After War had been recorded, but three months before it was released, U2 began playing the Pre-War Tour: 20 shows, and a television appearance, in halls in Western Europe, commencing on 1 December 1982 in Glasgow and finishing in the band's home town, Dublin, on 24 December. These shows generally featured only three songs from the upcoming album – "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "New Year's Day", and "Surrender". The 20 December performance in Belfast's Maysfield Leisure Centre represented the first airing of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" in Northern Ireland; lead singer Bono told the crowd, "We're going to do a song for you now. If you don't like it, we'll never play it again. It's called 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'." The reception was positive, and the song stayed in. Subsequent introductions would explicitly clarify the song's purpose: "This song is not a rebel song, this song is 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'!"
...
Wikipedia