U2, "Under a Blood Red Sky"
Don waves the white flag
Don’s Pitch:
Under a Blood Red Sky hit shelves in November 1983. Clocking in at barely 35 minutes and drawn from three concerts during U2’s War tour, the album distilled the essence of a young band burning with righteous ambition, riding the fault line between their post-punk emergence and inevitable arena rock grandeur. It was U2 taking the pulpit, preaching in open air, and transforming their growing cult into a throbbing congregation, long before Bono’s televangelist stage.
By 1983, U2 were already more than just Dublin upstarts. They were political, spiritual, and defiantly earnest at a time when excess dominated rock. Ironically, when they attempted to spoof this excess in the ‘90’s on the forgettable albums and tours immediately after Achtung Baby, it fell on deaf ears. By then, they had reached the mountain top and lost their right to punch above their weight.
But back before they reached the stratosphere, Under a Blood Red Sky captured the band’s almost messianic conviction in the live setting. Bono wasn’t just fronting a band. He was testifying. From the famous intro, “This song is not a rebel song; this song is Sunday Bloody Sunday,” to his iconic white flag-waving during “New Year’s Day,” this was performance as an act of protest, devotion, and communion.
The album opens with the crisp, insistent riff of “Gloria,” a track that felt cluttered by studio ambition on October. But here it’s stripped down and delivered like a prayer shouted from a rooftop. The rawness is the point. The Edge’s guitar isn’t slick or flashy; it chimes, it cuts, it bleeds. Larry Mullen, Jr. and Adam Clayton lock in a rhythm section that never strays far from the martial thump and anxious heartbeat that defined their early sound. But the real emotional centerpiece is “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” It’s not just a protest song. It’s a lament and a call to arms.
As a live album, Under a Blood Red Sky is not flawless. The editing between venues is sometimes jarring. Its brevity leaves listeners wanting more. And it leans heavily on familiar material without offering many surprises. But its imperfections provide its power. Unlike later, more polished live offerings (Rattle and Hum, Elevation 2001), this record isn’t precious. It’s urgent, capturing a band on the cusp of becoming important, not yet weighed down by expectations, but driven by purpose.
I truly think this is one of the best live albums in rock history. It wasn’t just a document. It was a declaration. It served notice that U2 wasn’t just another band climbing the charts. They were something rarer as new wave crested and hair metal spiked. In a decade often ruled by gloss, here was a band who sounded like they meant every word. Come to think of it, we sure could use a band like this today.
Ken’s Response:
Well, here we are, July 2025, finally doing the second live album I ever got into: U2’s Under a Blood Red Sky. (In case you’re wondering, the first was The Beatles’ Live at the Hollywood Bowl, which sounded like it was recorded in a Pringles can outside of Wellesley College on Marathon Monday.)
Recorded in 1983, back when Bono and I both had full coifs, and The Edge wore beanies unironically, it’s short, it’s sweet, and it captures U2 in their proverbial starting blocks. Maybe that’s not fair….Boy and War were amazing albums. But hindsight is 20/20, and U2 was about to enter the pantheon.
Professionally speaking, this album is a masterclass in live recording. From the echoing intro of “Gloria” to the thunderclap finale of “40,” every track is perfectly engineered and gives the impression that you’re actually at the show. The band is tight. Bono’s vocals inspire the cliché: “Women want me, and men want to be me.” And by “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” even the most cynical listener is ready to stand on a chair and shout about injustice.
But let’s not forget the true star of the show: Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Yes, the venue deserves its own paragraph. Nature’s own rock coliseum, it provides the kind of epic backdrop George R.R. Martin would envy. It’s the only venue where you don’t know if the band is about to launch into a protest anthem or battle a dragon.
But seriously, folks, Under a Blood Red Sky remains a defining piece of music history because it caught a band on the cusp of mega-stardom. In short: it rocks.
Pitch Successful (reminds me I have to pick up more ice for “New Year’s Day”)
Mitch’s Response:
Like all great historical events, I can remember exactly where I was the first time I saw the U2 at Red Rocks concert that ran on MTV nonstop throughout the ‘80s (they hadn’t invented “Ridiculousness” yet). We were visiting family friends who were slightly older and slightly cooler than us (they had cable and a pachinko machine!) and I was instantly transfixed by the image of Bongo waving the flag against those big, red rocks. The music felt big, the amphitheater felt big, even Bongo’s hair was big. It felt important - like we were experiencing the birth of a new era in music. Our era. I was smitten.
U2 was one of my big bands in the early-‘80s. I loved Boy and War (you can file October under “sophomore slump defined”); I was a diehard through The Unforgettable Fire; I started to lose interest with The Joshua Tree; and by the time of Pop and Bongo’s “MacPhisto” character I actively disliked them. Yet my love for early U2 was always lying dormant deep inside, just waiting to be rekindled by…Don’s pitch.
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U2’s career arc is so weird. They went from being the coolest band in the world to an international joke by the time they forced that shitty album onto our iPhones. Did they change or did we?
In retrospect, everything that I grew to hate about U2 is clearly present on Under a Blood Red Sky - the mediocre musicianship, the pomposity, the tendency towards anthems - it’s all there from the beginning - like looking at an adult’s baby picture.
But everything that I fell in love with is there, too. The vibrant aural soundscape that The Edge creates with his guitar effects. The truly transcendent vocal performance by Bongo at the top of his game (“Bongo Vox” is a stage name that means “beautiful voice”). The, uh, other two guys. It’s all there, and it’s a delight.
Under a Blood Red Sky is a truly great live album that brings me back to a time when I thought both U2 and pachinko were the coolest things ever. (Pachinko is still pretty cool.)
Pitch Successful (Am I bugging’ ya?)
CJ’s Response:
I tried it deadpan. I tried it with dramatic pauses. I tried it by running my fingers through my non-rockstar hair before I said it. “There’s been a lot of talk about this next song…” No matter how I did it, though, the guy staring back at me in the mirror did not look or sound like Bono.
And, man, did I ever want to look and sound like Bono.
Under A Blood Red Sky arrived at that time of my life when I was just learning what music could do to me. How it could make me feel. The power it had over me. I found that the right music could make me rage and scream and stand in front of a mirror for hours trying to get a bit of stage banter just right.
That’s what U2 did for me.
The U2 of 1983 had Bono‘s undeniable force of personality propelling the band to international stardom. And while The Edge was never gonna be anybody’s guitar hero, he found just the right tone, didn’t he? Then you had those other two guys just waterskiing in their gigantic wake. How could a young man like myself not be hooked?
This album was the pinnacle of my U2 fandom. The music was honest and heartfelt without a hint of the pretense that would manifest itself on future album covers where nobody in the band looked at the camera. (Note: There’s an excellent picture of me and my three college roommates on a mountainside in Germany gazing forlornly in four different directions in mock imitation.) Maybe that’s why the kids who came of age under this blood red sky are so disappointed that U2 traded their rebel credibility to become the worst kind of corporate contrivance: thought leaders.
We’ll always have Red Rocks, though.
Pitch Successful (I know a guy called Don. Party Don.)
Don’s pitch was successful and U2’s Under a Blood Red Sky will be added to the Newbury St. Collection (alongside The Joshua Tree and Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark). What’s your take on this iconic band and live album? Please let us know in the comments.
Please join us next week when CJ hops a train heading North with a pitch for Neil Young’s Live at Massey Hall 1971.
I have to admit I’m flummoxed at all the people (both here in EONS-land and out there in the real world) who jumped the U2 ship at The Joshua Tree. I’m giving them a complete free pass into any Hall of Fame from inception through Achtung Baby.
I’ve always admired Edge’s ability to paint the corners. His guitar frames a portrait; Bono’s lyrics & melody give it form. Adam & Larry grant each song grace to bang you over the head, or tug on your heartstrings. I asked a friend of mine if U2 hit the mark for him. Without hesitation, he said, “Don’t I have two hands & a heart?”. The kids call that “a vibe”. That’s what I call a classic.