TWO PREVIOUSLY unheard U2 tracks from the bands early days have surfaced online.
Recordings of the little-known songs In Your Hand and Concentration Camp were uncovered by the U2 fan site ATU2.
They reportedly come from an August 1979 gig when the band was still in its relative infancy.
Coming in the years before the group was catapulted to worldwide fame, the songs came as part of a mid-afternoon performance at a venue called Dandelion Market in Dublin.
The recordings were made by musician Pete McCluskey whose band, The Strougers, were serving as the support act to Bono and Co. that day.
According to the fan site, the recording is the only one in existence to feature the two tracks, which were apparently jettisoned from U2’s set lists in the years that followed.
"On Aug. 11, 1979, U2 played a 3 p.m. concert at Dublin’s Dandelion Market, a venue long since demolished, and on the present site of the Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre," ATU2 explains.
"U2 played 10 concerts there in 1979, the first in May 1979 and the 10th just before Christmas. At the Aug. 11 Saturday afternoon show, the support act was The Strougers, and their band member Pete McCluskey recorded the concert in its entirety.
“Ever since only the full performance of Out Of Control has been made public by McCluskey via YouTube in 2011, and since then the recording has become the Holy Grail of U2 live recordings.
"The set list contains several unreleased tunes, featuring two early U2 songs that were never officially recorded, not even in demo form. To our knowledge, they do not exist on any circulated live recording. Essentially, they are previously unheard by U2 fans around the world."
Curious US fans can listen to In Your Hand and Concentration Cramp via the YouTube links embedded in this article.
