Making the band

It seems impossible, but it's true: U2 has not played the Triangle in more than 26 years, a drought that will end this weekend. U2's 360 tour is bringing a state-of-the-art roadshow into Carter-Finley Stadium, including a massive stage that looks capable of interstellar travel. It will no doubt be an amazing spectacle.

Still, it will take a lot for Saturday's show to be more memorable than the band's only previous Triangle performance, at which U2 wasn't even the headliner. It was UNC-Chapel Hill's 1983 "Spring Fling" concert at Kenan Stadium, a bill U2 shared with Grandmaster Flash, the Producers and headliner Todd Rundgren. Afterward, however, U2 was pretty much the only thing the attendees were talking about.

It happened April 23, 1983, a cold and miserable day for an outdoor concert -- similar to the weather when U2's performance at Denver's Red Rocks Amphitheatre was filmed that June for "Under a Blood Red Sky." But the misty rain only contributed to the ambience, even if it kept attendance down. The Daily Tar Heel reported the crowd size at 4,300, yet most people who were there insist the actual crowd was much smaller than that.

U2 played Kenan Stadium at a key moment, on the cusp of a breakthrough. Chapel Hill was U2's first date on its U.S. tour for the "War" album, which had just been released that March. The single for "New Year's Day," which would be an MTV staple by summer, had just debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 2. U2's days as an opening act were numbered.

That 1983 U2 show was a seminal occasion for the local music community, too, and memories remain strong all these years later. We decided to collect some of them, and here's a sample.

"It was the best show I've ever seen, and most people I've talked to who were there considered it a fairly magical experience. I remember thinking 'This really should be filmed because it's amazing.' It was raining, overcast, ugly. It was wet up there, and at one point Bono climbed up the scaffolding. We were wondering if he'd fall down, and he went into 'Singin' in the Rain.' It just worked."

-- Glenn Boothe, owner of Local 506

"It was at the stadium and we filmed everything back then. So I had my Super 8 camera set up by the stage. It was a rainy day, so I thought it'd be cool to film them. I got them walking out, going onstage, Bono climbing the scaffolding. Then I just got too into the show and wasn't filming anymore. In the middle of U2's set, it started just pouring rain, got very moody and atmospheric. And after they were done, it felt like the day was over and everybody left. There were maybe 500 people there by the time Todd Rundgren came on. I know I've still got that film somewhere. I need to look for it."

-- Filmmaker John Schultz

"I embraced U2's uplifting, quasi-spiritual approach because I had recently lost my father and a good friend. And they were great, rain or no rain. Bono got those of us who were closest to rush the stage and we had to jump a fence or two, but we got there. Bono had a white flag, which he waved around -- a modern-day peace symbol. Then as the band played on, he found a way to climb the scaffolding, with the flag, in the rain, to the top. That performance was just what my confused, addled mind needed to see."

-- Doug MacMillan, lead singer of the Connells

"I saw the same tour about four months later -- what a contrast in stage presence. I thought the Kenan show was Bono convinced he was a rock star, totally self-confident in his artistic vision and an amazing performer, while the rest of the band was still kind of breaking it in. By the end of the summer, they were like a completely different band. They came out just blasting. A hit song and relentless touring will do wonders for confidence."

-- Brent Lambert, proprietor of Kitchen Mastering studio

"When it was raining and Bono was on top of the scaffolding, the electricity that went through the crowd was unbelievable. You could just feel this surge through the crowd, a spontaneous burst of magnetism between band and audience that kept getting better and better. They played the next night in Virginia, and I remember us standing around afterward, looking at each other and saying, 'We've got to go.' So a road trip was planned right then and there. We knew something special was going on and it just seemed too important to miss. I've seen a lot of concerts, and that's one I remember just like it was yesterday."

-- Fred Mills, who subsequently became editor of the U2/USA fanzine

"My only scheduled interview was with Bono. Edge happened to be there, just sitting around. So I talked to him, too, and his interview was actually better because he was so excited about the tour. U2 was an opening act -- I've still got the ticket and their name isn't even on it because they were added late. It was kind of a sparse crowd, but they just blew everybody away. I've talked to so many people who were there and they still marvel over how amazing it was. There was something different about them. You knew they'd be huge.

"It would be interesting to talk to them again, see how they've changed offstage. After the show, Bono was trying to find me to talk some more, ask what I'd thought about the other bands. You don't usually get a lot of that backstage. They were genuinely nice, really into hanging out with people. I bet it's very different now. All that fame, it seems like you'd just have to build up certain walls."

-- D.D. Thornton, who interviewed U2 for Winston-Salem radio station WKZL

'I was a huge fan, 13 years old, living in Rocky Mount. My best friend's older brother was gonna go, but our parents didn't like the sound of us hanging out with college kids. 'Besides,' they said, it's gonna rain, they'll call it off.' So I didn't get to go -- and my friends who did go have talked about it forever. It's the one show of my life I completely regret missing. So my affair with U2 in North Carolina has been a struggle. They were going to play Carter-Finley in 1997 and I was ecstatic, had fourth-row seats. But they canceled that show.

"I moved to Michigan and saw Raleigh on this year's tour dates and thought, 'Of course. As soon as I move away, they come to Raleigh.' So I'm coming back. U2 at my alma mater? I wouldn't miss it."

-- Stephen Judge, who works for Daniel Lanois' management company

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